Why Skydiving Is Therapeutic: Transforming Fear Into Freedom

Anyone who has focused on mental health knows that there are many different ways to approach the topic. And if it were possible to prescribe skydiving therapy, lots of sky-savvy therapists would go right ahead and do it!

If that’s surprising to you, you probably have questions like, “What are the mental benefits of skydiving?” and, “Are there spiritual benefits of skydiving?” Skydiving is, after all, a pretty powerful force for good. It’s amazing what a skydive can do for a weary heart; a directionless moment; soggy motivation. Skydiving isn’t just for “adrenaline junkies.” Far from it! 

Skydiving can be therapeutic (as well as fun!) – we see it in action every day. Here are some of the ways it can help your overall quality of life.

How Skydiving Offers a Therapeutic Experience

Skydiving isn’t going to solve your problems (unless your problem is having open weekends and the burning desire to pick up the hobby of a lifetime… then, yeah. It’ll solve all your problems). That said: Skydiving offers a massive shift in perspective. So, what is the psychology of skydiving? 

Skydivers share the conviction that the act of skydiving puts the jumper into a deep “flow state,” living entirely in the moment, which opens up a lot of space for healing and moving forward. Past damages and future concerns dissolve during a skydive. For at least one crisp, clear minute, you are present. To some folks, that’s priceless.

We know that everyone who joins us out at Skydive Monroe has a story. Guests arrive as strangers and then, after the experience is over, we receive and witness a flurry of hugs, celebrations, and tears in the landing area as emotions and stories pour out.

The Mental Health Benefits of Skydiving

Beyond the hyperfocus of freefall, there are some lasting mental health benefits to hurling yourself out of an airplane door. A lot of people ask, “Is skydiving good for anxiety?” While doing something that elevates your heart rate and causes stress doesn’t seem like it would be good for your nerves, it is!

Skydiving allows you to live in the moment and forget your woes, even just for a little bit. This alone can change your point of view (both literally and figuratively!) and offer some perspective on whatever you’re dealing with. After having a bit of a break from your worries, they might just become easier to work through.

The endorphins that are released during a skydive are also a fantastic way to give your brain and body a shot of the feel-good hormones that help combat anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues.

And these effects don’t go away as soon as you land. The buzz that comes from jumping out of an airplane can last for days, or even a lifetime if you’re able to carry it forward!

Skydiving and Building Confidence

One of the most prominent effects of skydiving on your mental health is the boost in self-confidence. Your friends and family might shake their heads and tell you you’re “crazy.” Your brain might tie itself in knots over the idea. To stand up amidst all that naysaying and jump from 14,000 feet despite the clamor of your own heart, and then falling head-over-heels for the experience? That’s power, y’all. The experience of a skydive is like an electric shock, jolting you into the realization that if you can jump out of a plane, you can do anything.

Many of our guests come to us amid significant shifts and challenges in their lives: a divorce, a cancer diagnosis, and the loss of a loved one. These guests don’t decide to skydive because they’ve lost hope and feel like they have nothing to lose – on the contrary. They want to approach what they’re going through from a different angle. They want to prove the power of possibility.

Folks also come when the challenges are happy ones: a proposal, a graduation, a new job. Whether for the hard or the happy, these shake-ups require the shaken-up to step into a new imagining of themselves. “Leap of faith” much? Taking that cliché and turning it into a whooping, yowling, laughing celebration is often just the thing to bolster your belief in yourself.

Overcoming Fear Through Skydiving

In the same vein as building self-confidence, going skydiving can teach you how to overcome fear. After all, it would be a little bit unnatural to feel at least a little bit afraid of jumping out of an airplane in mid-flight! And you learn an awful lot about managing fear and anxiety when you go ahead and do it anyway.

Techniques like visualization, education, and breathing will help you get through the scariest parts of the skydive… and life. There are a lot of parallels between jumping out of an airplane and jumping into life challenges, and the tactics you use to hype yourself up for your skydive apply to any stressful situation you find yourself in.

Once you overcome the stress of skydiving, both your brain and body will know that familiar feeling of looking fear straight in the face and declaring that it has no power over you. 

We are lucky that we get to do the job we do, and that we get to share in our guests’ profound stories. Every day, we get to make the world that much brighter by bringing new skydivers into the air up there and showing them how healing a little freefall can be.

Curious? We’d love to show you – book your skydive today! Blue skies.