“I think mental health is extremely important. It's an issue that is now coming to the forefront but in the past has been pushed down, neglected either out of embarrassment or believing that you're the only one that is experiencing that.”
- Kobe Bryant for WE RISE
The late Kobe Bryant was a famous basketball player who is often regarded as one of the greatest of all time.
He was the first guard to be drafted into the NBA right out of high school, and went on to win 5 NBA championships.
Outside of sports, Bryant spoke fluent English and Italian. He sometimes gave interviews in Spanish and dabbled in French and Mandarin.
In many ways, Bryant utilized sports as a way to bring people together. He was very open and candid about his views on mental health, especially in regards to how fear and anxiety impacted athletes, including himself.
In response to Victoria Garrick, Kobe expressed the following:
"I think it's important for athletes to own what it is that they're going through. It's awareness, and I think a lot of times we try to tell children—tell young athletes in particular—that you have those thoughts and those feelings...That's weakness, that's bad, you shouldn't be feeling that. Which then causes them to feel some type of way about themselves and they carry that around with them the rest of their lives.
"I think the most important thing is for us to be aware of what's going on in here. Not that it's bad, good, and different, but it's awareness. And once you're aware of it, then you can choose to walk hand-in-hand with it or you can choose to fight it. But you're making that decision. If you’re just constantly burying that in a distance then it starts festering and it comes up in different ways and manifests itself in different ways.””
What Bryant discusses is a well-researched physiological phenomenon in how our bodies respond to mental stressors.
According to experts from Harvard and Michigan State University, “When we’re anxious, states of chronic fight-or-flight arousal can disturb the normal function of our organs.
“We see this when anxiety causes our stomachs to produce too much acid and gives us heartburn, or our intestines to dysregulate and bring on irritable bowel syndrome, or our muscles to seize and result in chronic back pain.
"Sometimes, even when our physical systems are functioning normally, our brains actually produce or amplify pain and other troubling sensations either out of fear or to fulfill psychological needs.”
The good news is there are treatments to overcoming physical issues with a psychological root, such as RTT (Rapid Transformational Therapy).
This form of therapy rid me of eczema—a skin condition I had been suffering from for +20 years.
Since then, I have used RTT to help people overcome a variety of issues, including
shoulder pain
bowel issues
back pain and
vision problems
If you’re interested in overcoming your physical limitations to fulfill your potential, then contact us for a free consultation.
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