Moving More for Mental Health

In our latest mail out we’ve been looking at how group exercise and being part of a team not only improves our physical health but can make it easier to talk about how we feel, challenge mental health stigma and provide support.

Although we haven’t quite gotten round to setting up the office Parkour team just yet, Education and Young People’s Officer Chris is seasoned professional.

Chris is a Parkour coach, Crossfit enthusiast and has written a great piece for us on movement, sports and fitness communities.

“You did great. See you tomorrow.”

In movement, sports and fitness communities all over the world, phrases like this from a really key message — you belong here and we want you here.

Here at See Me we know that communities play a huge part in creating a positive, open environment for people to express themselves and talk about mental health.

Until I was around 21 I never really had any engagement with sport. I guess I was worried it would be too competitive, I would be the worst there, no-one would speak to me — and all those other concerns and negative self talk we have before trying something new.

At 21 I discovered Parkour — what excited me about it was that people seemed to be doing it everywhere — connecting through the internet and meeting up in cities worldwide. I liked that idea. So I turned up, and was welcomed with a smile, a handshake and a reassurance that the only expectation was effort. I was amazed at how quickly I felt at ease with the people I trained with. I built confidence, made friends and woke up every day looking forward to training.

Being part of this community became my whole life for around 10 years — I travelled the world connecting with people, training Parkour, delivering workshops and felt part of something bigger than myself. In 2017 one of my best friends — Brian — who was a real linchpin of the Parkour community died suddenly. Within a week a meet up was arranged in London and over 150 Parkour practitioners from as far as Australia(!) to celebrate Brian’s life and share in the grief together. The community was essential in the process of support and sharing that trauma.

Looking back I have no doubt that being part of a movement community kept me going forward and created a positive coping mechanism — and a safe space — to tackle many of life’s challenges.

In 2017 I also discovered my local Crossfit gym here in Glasgow. Crossfit has 15000 gyms worldwide and each one seems to be the same — great people with a shared passion who welcome you into their space, and support you to achieve your goals. You turn up, you train together, and before you leave you will get a positive affirmation from pretty much every member of the gym, followed by a sly “see you tomorrow.” I have had so many days of feeling stressed and down where I almost dreaded hearing that — but I felt better after every training session. I kept going back, I made some of my best friends, I talked my fiance into starting Crossfit and that community became so important to us that we had our wedding in the gym!

I’m sure this sense of community exists in every sport and for me its absolutely at the core of maintaining my physical wellbeing and my mental health.

There’s something very honest about moving together, working hard together and ultimately supporting each other to a common goal. This exists in all sports and movement, and it outweighs any sense of competition or personal gain in my experience. We know movement and sport is good for your mental health — there’s plenty of evidence of that.

The real diamond in there is that you participate with a community. Go out and find yours!