Kung Fu and Qi Gong

[mjharper]

I sometimes suffer with anxiety (social anxiety) and have recently started Kung Fu and Qi Gong. Do you think in time these activities can alleviate anxiety - I always feel great after training - I've also started running about 4x a week

thanks

Mike

[donjitsu2]

Yes.

Beer also helps with social anxiety.

[vociferor]

Is the source of your anxiety a lack of confidence?

[bawang]

doing squats have cured my social anxiety disorder

[Hebrew Hammer]

The only real answer is how you are feeling...

Although I'm not a psychotherapist, I work in the mental health field, anxiety is fear...often very intense fear. By taking Kung Fu and Chi Kung you are addressing this condition on all accounts, you are doing something social in a safe setting. You are improving your fitness, your martial skill (presumably), and this in turn should develop your confidence in yourself and in social settings.

I also believe the body craves physical activity, you are rewarding this, and probably firing off some endorphins which will help improve your mood. Lastly, Chi Kung can be somewhat meditative and relaxing in nature...and again one would think it will help your anxiety.

[Scott R. Brown]

A bit of introspection will help you discover what it is about social encounters that trigger your anxiety. Most likely it was a pattern or series of events that created the unease at the beginning.

When we encounter circumstances we interpret them according to our past experiences with similar circumstances. Fear/anxiety is interpreting a circummstance as a danger to our self. That danger in your case, accoording to your report, is social. It is likely you seek social acceptance, and have not received it in the past. So you are reasonably cautious in social circumstances.

Being in a socially supportive environment will help, but also recognizing your anxiety is due to you interpretation of events and choosing to interpret these events differently will help as well!

[YouKnowWho]

The other day I watched the movie "Eden Lake", It bothers me a lot since those evil kids got away after killing. After I had punched on my punching bag, my anxiety was gone.

[Hebrew Hammer]

doing squats have cured my social anxiety disorder

I assuming you do these nude?

[Dragonzbane76]

Is the source of your anxiety a lack of confidence?

I was going to say the same thing actually.

my answer would be yes. building a basis in the martial field will give you confidence in yourself and how you hold yourself. watch out though it can become a passion. :)

[Water-quan]

A bit of introspection will help you discover what it is about social encounters that trigger your anxiety. Most likely it was a pattern or series of events that created the unease at the beginning.

When we encounter circumstances we interpret them according to our past experiences with similar circumstances. Fear/anxiety is interpreting a circummstance as a danger to our self. That danger in your case, accoording to your report, is social. It is likely you seek social acceptance, and have not received it in the past. So you are reasonably cautious in social circumstances.

Being in a socially supportive environment will help, but also recognizing your anxiety is due to you interpretation of events and choosing to interpret these events differently will help as well!


Psychobabble.

[Water-quan]

I sometimes suffer with anxiety (social anxiety) and have recently started Kung Fu and Qi Gong. Do you think in time these activities can alleviate anxiety - I always feel great after training - I've also started running about 4x a week

thanks

Mike

A bit of anxiety is part of who you are. If you think about it, you're worrying about being you! Which kind of feeds in to further worries about being who you are.

I'm still ill at ease with most people. It's part of who I am. Actually, there's a lot to be ill at ease about - most people are insufferable, lol. Funny how we think it's such a bad thing, as if it's 'normal' to just get on with everyone and feel comfortable with them. There are times I feel like I'm gonna puke up and faint meeting douche bags. The thing is, if you're like me, just now and then, you'll meet some people who make you feel like you do when you've been running - and they'll be the special people in your life. For the rest - in time you can learn to fake it- there's actually no reason why you should ever come to feel 'at ease' with people or situations who, or where, every ounce of your body is telling you you don't want to speak to or be at.

[Water-quan]

I was going to say the same thing actually.

my answer would be yes. building a basis in the martial field will give you confidence in yourself and how you hold yourself. watch out though it can become a passion. :)

And this is how the most insufferable people in martial arts are born...

[Lee Chiang Po]

Lear to jelk. In no time at all your self esteam will soar.

[vociferor]

...building a basis in the martial field will give you confidence in yourself and how you hold yourself.

For sure.

My own experience with social anxiety led me to a life of avoidance. I was so afraid of what people were saying about me, would/could say, may or may not do: that I slept all during the day and stayed up all night as a way to avoid it.

I also had the **** beaten out of me ona regular basis as a child by a drunken step-father for several years, so the idea was put in me that I could get the **** beaten out of me all the time, by anybody, for any reason. I'm not a violent person, I have never been (unless forced into the mind-set of self-preservation), so the only thing I could do was hide... to prevent altercations.


When I got older and started working through these issues: I found out that not everybody in this world was like that step-father. Not everyone wanted to hurt me, kill me or judge me.

But I still suffer, like many people i'm sure, of certain insecurities. Most of my own have been, if not based on psychological fear of abusive personalities... than my own bodyweight. Which I have taken to solving by Taking Care Of Myself and with jogging and martial arts, this has helped me not only improve my overall sense of self-worth, to build, or rebuild esteem... but to know that When I Am Doing These Things I am proving to myself, On A Constant Basis, that I am improving myself, my life, my situation.


Confidence is a good thing to have. But confidence with arrogance is as much a thing to watch out for as a lack of a healthy level of confidence (which every Centered Being should possess).


When I practice kung fu... when I execute a certain maneuvar and it's better than the last time, or it looks Perfect to me and i'm impressed; or I hear that voice in my head that goes, "MAN, that was good!"

I have to stop myself and realize that no matter how "well" it looked, it can always be better. That there is no such thing as "perfect", "the best"... and that even though my skill improves with practice I must keep in mind Musashi's wisdom, "An elevated spirit is weak and a low spirit is weak."

I get my ego in check with a calming meditation consisting of slow, deep breaths (utilizing the diaphragm)... and I don't continue my practice until I feel that that voice which pumps my ego up has subsided.


I continue to practice kung fu in this manner, improving along the way; acknowledging progress and feeling a sense of accomplishment, yet knowing it can always improve... and all this without possessing the unbalanced/unhealthy psychology of "a perfectionist"


It's not exactly the easiest thing in the world to do, to become or remain Balanced. But martial arts are a tool to help us "get there".

This is my personal approach to the problem of being too confident (with arrogance), and not confident enough (possessing a healthy level in the conviction of one's abilities). Hope it helps others.

[vociferor]

I've also started running about 4x a week

Running is incredible, both physically and mentally.

But what should be stressed is Consistency above all things.


Many people "just start jogging" and they do it fanatically for a month or two, maybe even five months or a year: Then suddenly stop. (I have done this myself)

They can choose to stop for a month, maybe two, a year, or even the rest of their lives... making all previous effort account for null.


In my personal practice, i'm making it an effort to develop a healthy level of consistency- so i'm always "There", so to speak. Not just today, not every other month... but Constantly. It's that Conviction which, to me, is The Essence of the meaning of Kung Fu.


Even if you start out jogging twice a week and maintain this for the rest of your life, it is better than if you jogged four times a week for 5 years and suddenly stopped.

[mig]

I sometimes suffer with anxiety (social anxiety) and have recently started Kung Fu and Qi Gong. Do you think in time these activities can alleviate anxiety - I always feel great after training - I've also started running about 4x a week

thanks

Mike

Some of the responses are quite accurate. Have you checked what TCM says about fear or use acupuncture to find energy for your internal organs that may have deficiencies, what about nutrition? What about your bad experiences in the past?
Exercises, forms and punching is helpful but I think I know when fears invades your mind still exercise is not yet the answer. There is a lot in the mental compartment that you need to work out.

[Scott R. Brown]

I sometimes suffer with anxiety (social anxiety) and have recently started Kung Fu and Qi Gong. Do you think in time these activities can alleviate anxiety - I always feel great after training - I've also started running about 4x a week

thanks

Mike

These activities can alleviate the physcial symptoms of anxiety. That is, release the pent up energy so that it is less likely to afffect your body negatively.

But the cause of the anxiety is what must eventually be addressed. Treat the cause as well as the effects for a lasting improvement in your condition.

[Scott R. Brown]

Psychobabble.

Truth!

Anxiety is fear. If it is of social settings, it is most likely a fear of not being accepted/approved of.

If this is true, there was a cause! The cause is commonly a history of a lack of approval and/or positive reinforcement in the past again commonly at vullnerable developmental stages of our youth.

One of the ways to address fear is to discover its source and resolve the precipitating cause.