I find it nearly impossible to relax if I am doing anything that requires concentration, focus, and effort. I’m not yet to the point where I can land tricks (even a basic trapeze) mindlessly through pure muscle memory. And when I’m not relaxed, then by definition my body is stressed on some level: heart rate is slightly elevated, excitatory neurotransmitters are flooding my brain to keep me focused and alert and “on task”, etc.
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I can throw for 30 minutes and literally feel anxiety melting away. #throwtherapy
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I get it. It sounds like we have similar tendencies. I can stress myself out over pretty much anything. Not a desirable trait but I’ve got it so I just have to deal with it. If you can channel it, though, you can use it to your advantage. Big “if”, I know, but I really feel like it helps me in other scenarios when I’m actually trying to be competitive. It’s when I’m trying not to be competitive that it’s an issue 
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I am pretty new to throwing still but i find it extremely relaxing. I love the sense of accomplishment that comes with mastering a new trick. If yoyoing is the point of stress in ones life, life is probably pretty sweet.
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Its stress free however stressful for my back
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Learning anything new can cause stress. . I find learning a new element rather than whole tricks easier. I try and incorporate a new element into something familiar, rather than having a whole series of unfamiliar moves.
That does stress me out a bit if I fail repeatedly, and in the second case you’re trying to train your hands and remember the moves simultaneously. I like a mix of comfort and new moves combined.
I think another way to look at it is "are you impatient at times?"For me, yes. Getting good takes a long time for most players, and many skills are internalized after months or years.
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i think it varies quite heavily depending on how you approach yoyoing. If you are very competitive or so determined to hit tricks like you it can be frustrating or stressful. But if you throw just for fun with no pressure what so ever behind it i probably is very relaxing.
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I agree Andi. Sometimes it’s a matter of knowing what to focus on. Sometimes info overload can stress people.
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Listen to trance/techno/dubstep/and or something that your heart rate can sync with. I tend to listen to fast past music. Helps me slow down my heart rate.
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Yoyoing allows me to relax. And the resulting calmness helps me keep my promise to myself to never kill again🙀
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But you are killing! Killing Smallville bordem!i!
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I can’t help but think that a lot of you may have forgotten what it was like to be a beginner. It’s easy to be chill when you can hit tricks with 80-90% consistency and avoid knotting the axle without much concentration or focus. I won’t be there for a long time…
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Ha! “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over, and expecting a different result.” Albert Einstein
Put that metric up against our yo-yoing habits, and there are probably a bunch of crazy people here!!!
I know there are tricks for me that haven’t gotten much better for years… 
I think yo-yoing can be stressful in that it can be competitive, and frustrating. There is some maintenance, and variables to figure out. It can be stressful to damage a yo-yo, or feel like you’ve over spent. It can be stressful to be disappointed in a yo-yo. I think all those things are more than balanced out by their corresponding positives.
To this:
Of course you feel what you feel, however, perhaps it’s still actually reducing stress overall for you? When you concentrate and focus, your mind is taken away from other things for a while…
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Well that’s true, I suppose. But when I’m chillaxing at home, I’m not generally stressed about anything. The yoyo isn’t so much an escape from other more stressful things in my life, but more of a welcome distraction from boredom.
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Ehhh, nope. I still can’t hit a good portion of them.
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I find playig with a yoyo helps any anxiety go away and I find it relaxing. I know that I will never take part in a competition as it isn’t something I am interested in and I play simply for fun and my own enjoyment. I find that over time I have improved and that in itself is a reward. Sure it can sometimes be frustrating that you keep failing to land a trick and you knot the string but so what, it’s just a toy!
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I think it depends what you are going for!
When I was into Competitive yo-yos, I would get stressed out the day of the contest! Practicing in a corner my routine over and over until I hit it clean. It was stressful because I wanted to do great obviously and not let down my family and friends who were there.
On the other hand, Yo-yoing is definitely Stress-free for me. Back when I was in school I would always take study breaks and jam out to some tunes and play with my yo-yos. I think it is very theraputic and I just get lost into a zone were I’m just flowing with my yo-yos doing random tricks to music and doing whatever feels right even if I’m messing up, I feel relaxed and have fun doing it!
-Eric
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I hear ya. I do get stressed but now I keep in mind that I will start out trying a new trick and failing each time but the successes come between the fails, then more success, then I almost don’t have to try that hard at all, and then I actually show the trick to a co-worker! Then I think I will forget how to DO the trick and start to worry! Sometimes if I get too stressed I will just practice mounts and get faster and faster and increase my accuracy. This I find pretty stress-relieving!
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- Stressful
- Could be either
- Stress-free
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voters
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competition prep and learning difficult new tricks can be stressful sometimes
just keep in mind that you don’t need to focus too hard for too long when yoyoing
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