Overcoming Stiffness?

I have determined that one of my problems in Muay Thai is a sort of self-imposed stiffness -- not the kind that comes from being inflexible, but the kind that results from being shy, LOL.

For the record, I've more or less trained myself out of my original shyness, which was pretty much debilitating -- but I still have a lot of trouble relaxing around people, which manifests itself in simple physical tension.  It's more or less like I restrain my own range of motion.

I don't do this when I'm alone -- this is something I noticed when I used to run in the woods.  By myself, I'm pretty fluid; around other people, I'm a freaking robot :D

I have also noticed that the severity of this stiffness correlates with how good or bad I feel about my body at any given moment -- when I'm feeling not-so-hot about myself, it's pretty bad.

I can't imagine anyone better to ask about how to overcome this problem than a bunch of other martial arts enthusiasts, so ... any thoughts?

hmmm.  not sure i have a good answer, but i have experienced similar to what you discribed on a number of levels.  my daughter, for example, when corrected in any movememt becomes stiffer and more body concious the longer sensei works with her untill her very stiffness (which wasnt' usually the origional issue) makes continuing the lesson pointless.  she is also enormously shy and hates feeling any type of spotlight on her. 

I on the other hand have a series of injuries, and while they don't impede movement themselves, when i am worried about them i become very concious of my body movements in a way that creates stiffness and impedes the flow of movement (and actually makes injury more likely i think)

for me i think that being concious and judgemental of my body is what gets in the way.  i think my natural movements and the way i have taught my body to flow when i don't think about it are much more fluid and graceful, and the thought process gets in the way.  i know for me, visusalization excerizes and repeted motions to engrain the movements in mucle memory have been effective in the past.  if my visison of what i am doing (supposed to be doing) is concrete and fluid, less thought goes into the movement, and i am less body concious because i have confidence in the fluididy of the movement.  does that make sense?  i am less likely to judge myself if i have confidence in what i am doing.

don't know if that can or will help at all...but i do sympathize!

I think that just being around people in your art more should help with the anxiety and decrease the stiffness.  Being the center of attention can be more challenging, but again, training yourself into believing that you can do it and that it okay if you don't do things perfectly should help.

We have one aikido practioner who when she started was very square and blocky.  If you touched her she'd jump even though she could see that you were going to.  Over the last few years she's almost at ease with the concept and if I do sneak up behind her and start rubbing her shoulders she's still able to be somewhat relaxed.