You Can Now Go to a ‘Mental Health Gym’ to Work on your ‘Emotional Fitness’

If you want to get in shape, you go to the gym, so what happens when you want to get your mental health in shape? Kevin Love might have an answer.

Way back in 2017 (yes, nearly four years ago!), Love had a panic attack while playing a home game against the Atlanta Hawks.

“I was having trouble catching my breath,” he said in the The Players’ Tribune. “It’s hard to describe, but everything was spinning, like my brain was trying to climb out of my head. The air felt thick and heavy. My mouth was like chalk. I remember our assistant coach yelling something about a defensive set. I nodded, but I didn’t hear much of what he said. By that point, I was freaking out.”

As someone who suffers from severe anxiety, I can totally relate. Love is a pro athlete, so I can only imagine the amount of stress added to his plate. I know there are some days where I feel like I am struggling to stop myself from freaking out and having anxiety attacks. According to Fast Company, Love states that it is weird that athletes have so many people to help them with their physical fitness, but when he was lying on the floor, struggling to breathe, no one really knew what to do.

Mental health is just as important as going to the gym so Love teamed up to help launch Coa, a gym for mental fitness. Coa was founded by Alexa Meyer and Dr. Emily Anhalt and it is a therapist-lead, emotional fitness class platform. The idea behind it is to introduce mental health as a daily practice. The programs are built around Anhalt’s “7 traits of emotional fitness” which are self-awareness, empathy, play, curiosity, resilience, mindfulness and communication.

I'm in love with this idea! If you are interested in participating with me, just know that Coa will be virtual for the time being because of the pandemic. According to Fast Company, they do plan to start offering in person classes at different fitness centers around the country.