Remote work changes your body—quietly and relentlessly.
Hours at a laptop can create a very specific pattern: a forward head, rounded shoulders, a braced belly, shallow breathing, and a jaw that tightens without you noticing. Over time, many remote workers experience an unexpected result: they still have sharp ideas, but their voice feels smaller on Zoom. Their communication feels effortful. Their confidence drops. They finish calls exhausted.
I call this pattern the laptop body.
And it’s one of the most overlooked causes of communication fatigue, nervous system strain, and low-grade remote work burnout—especially for digital nomads and remote workers who live on video calls.
This isn’t about “fixing posture” or forcing yourself to sit up straight. It’s about embodied presence: the felt sense that your body is included in what you’re doing. When embodied presence drops, communication becomes performative and tiring. When embodied presence returns, your voice and clarity return with it.
What is the laptop body?
The laptop body is a common remote work adaptation where your body organizes itself around the screen:
- head forward (to see/think/track)
- shoulders rolled in
- chest slightly collapsed
- breath restricted (often held during concentration)
- abdomen tight (to “hold it together”)
- jaw and tongue tension (especially on calls)
This is not a personal failure. It’s a predictable response to working long hours in a narrow visual field, often under pressure, often without movement.
And because the pattern becomes normal, you stop feeling it—until your energy, voice, and confidence start to suffer.
Signs you’re living in a laptop body
If you’re a remote worker, freelancer, or digital nomad, you may recognize these:
- you speak “from the throat,” not from the whole torso
- your jaw tightens during meetings
- your breathing gets shallow on calls
- you feel drained after Zoom (even if the content was easy)
- you avoid recording videos or speaking spontaneously
- you over-script because “winging it” feels unsafe
- you feel invisible in group calls
These are classic embodiment signals: your mind is engaged, but your body is partially offline. That disconnect is a nervous system issue—so the fix is nervous system friendly.
Why this is often a breath problem (and why generic breath tips don’t help)
Many people try a quick “take a deep breath” strategy. The problem is: deep breaths can increase tension if your torso is compressed.
When you’re collapsed, braced, or forward-leaning, deep inhalation often recruits the shoulders and neck. That creates more effort, not more calm.
What remote workers usually need first is space and weight—two signals that help the nervous system settle.
A 90-second somatic reset before a call (portable nervous system regulation)
Try this right before Zoom. It’s simple, discreet, and effective.
1) Create space (10 seconds)
Slide your chair back slightly. Let your ribs widen sideways. Soften your belly.
This is not “relax.” It’s “make room.”
2) Drop weight (10 seconds)
Feel your sit bones. Let the pelvis be heavy. Let the chair take you.
Weight is a safety cue for the nervous system.
3) Lengthen the exhale (20 seconds)
Breathe in through the nose. Then let the exhale be a little longer than the inhale.
Don’t force it. A longer exhale is one of the simplest ways to support nervous system regulation.
4) Speak from contact (20 seconds)
Place one hand lightly on the centre of your chest. Say one sentence out loud.
Notice whether your voice becomes steadier when your body is included.
5) Unbrace the jaw (30 seconds)
Let the tongue rest wide in the mouth. Let the teeth be slightly apart.
Jaw tension is often the last place remote workers notice—but it affects voice and confidence immediately.
That’s the reset. Ninety seconds. No big performance. Just embodiment.
Why digital nomads need this even more
If you move cities or countries often, your nervous system loses environmental familiarity. New chairs, new desks, new acoustics, new lighting, new social cues. Even “nice change” is still change.
This is why embodied presence is not optional for nomads. It becomes your portable stability.
When you can restore embodied presence quickly, you can:
- speak with more authority on calls
- create content with less strain
- lead remote teams more effectively
- write with more clarity (because you’re not forcing cognition)
- stop relying on adrenaline to show up
Embodied communication is a business skill
Remote work rewards communication. But communication isn’t only cognitive—it’s physiological.
If you’ve been trying to “improve confidence,” consider this: confidence often returns automatically when the body feels safe enough to be present.
This is what somatic coaching offers remote workers: not hype, not “push through,” but a reliable method for embodied presence in the moments that matter.
Start here (Remote Work Hub)
Practical embodiment + nervous system regulation for digital nomads and remote workers.
👉 Visit the Hub: HUB_URL
Optional baseline check → https://lindenthorp.com/body-awakening-scan
Book a 30-minute recalibration → https://lindenthorp.com/book
Follow Flourish Write Consult on LinkedIn for remote-work embodiment insights and resources:
👉 LinkedIn Company Page: LINKEDIN_COMPANY_URL
Comment prompt (to invite engagement)
Question: On Zoom, what do you notice first—tight jaw, shallow breath, rounded shoulders, or mental “blankness”? And what happens when you try the 90-second reset?