When most people think about managing anxiety, they might envision therapy sessions or meditation apps. For Melissa Leong from Foodderati, the answer came in an unexpected form: martial arts training that transformed her relationship with anxious thoughts and overthinking. Leong is an Australian freelance food writer and critic, most popularly known for being a judge on MasterChef Australia.
“It’s been really helpful, oddly enough, with my anxiety,” Leong shared in a recent interview with ABC, describing how stepping onto the mats became a powerful tool for mental wellness rather than just physical fitness.
The practice demands complete mental presence in ways that traditional exercise often doesn’t. “Because you need to be fully present with somebody else and you don’t often know them, so it’s like hello and suddenly you’re inside their armpit,” Leong explains.
This immediate intimacy and vulnerability strips away the luxury of anxious rumination. “You kind of need to dispense with overthinking things and just get involved in being present and learning.”
This forced mindfulness creates what psychologists call flow states—moments where anxious thoughts simply cannot compete with the immediate demands of technique, timing, and physical awareness. The brain’s tendency to spiral into worry about past regrets or future catastrophes gets interrupted by the urgent need to respond to a training partner’s movements.
“You’re in the moment and you don’t overthink what could possibly go wrong. Because if you’re not present, you’ll be submitted,” Leong notes, highlighting how the practice naturally punishes mental wandering while rewarding focused attention.
For someone who describes herself as “a naturally anxious kid” who has “grappled, pun intended, with depression and anxiety throughout my life,” this present-moment training offers tangible relief. The physical demands of martial arts create a unique neurological environment where stress hormones like cortisol decrease while mood-stabilizing neurotransmitters increase—a combination that directly counters anxiety’s physiological effects.
Yet Leong’s journey wasn’t without its own anxious moments. The initial hurdle of walking through the gym doors triggered familiar patterns of overthinking. “I remember the first day that I turned up, I sat in the car going, am I going to do this? And then the overthinking starts about, you’re going to walk in there and, hey, that chick who used to do MasterChef, let’s have at her.”
These pre-training jitters reveal how anxiety often amplifies social fears, creating elaborate scenarios of judgment and confrontation. However, Leong discovered that her anxious predictions didn’t match reality. “But nobody thinks about those things because it’s a really beautiful community.”
The social environment of martial arts gyms often surprises newcomers with its supportive atmosphere. “You tend to find that people that join martial arts gyms and things are very community-oriented and they’re very calm people because they don’t need to be violent,” Leong observes.
“I think that the little things that we can learn that help us just be still help me. So that’s the added benefit,” Leong reflects. Her experience shows how martial arts training creates a unique therapeutic environment where one can address anxiety from multiple angles simultaneously.
