It’s natural to have fears, worries, and anxiety about the future. The trouble is when these fear-based thoughts get in the way of living life. Holding you back from thinking or doing other things because you are stuck on a loop of negative thinking. It’s not always easy to release a fear-based thought. It continues to surface in your mind. Even if you distract yourself, it still lingers in the background. In this meditation, you will be guided to confront your fear, release your grip, and find a way to settle into the now.
Find a comfortable position with your eyes closed. Begin to take in a deep breath in through the nose, continue to fill the lungs, and keep going until you can’t take in any more air. Once you reach the top, hold for a moment, pausing, holding on to the breath. Now exhale, sigh it out, releasing it with an AHHH sound. Do this once more – filling all the way up, pausing at the top, now exhale sighing it out. As you sigh feel the audible sensation passing through your body, feel the vibration from ahhhh. Now take in one more breath – breathing in through your nose, holding, now this time with lips sealed exhale the breath out of your nose while at the same time creating a humming sensation. MMMMMmmm. A couple more times in your own rhythm – breathing in to fill, pausing at the top, exhaling through your nose making a vibrational hum as you release.
Keeping your eyes closed, return to your natural breath. Allow the fear-based thought to come to mind. Is there something that has been bothering you? Do you lay awake before going to bed thinking about it? Does it surface throughout your day? Try to recall the last time you had this thought. How did it make you feel physically? Allow yourself to sit with this feeling. Observe where you feel it most in your body. Can you describe that sensation? Is it a pulling, a tightness, a heaviness? Does your breath naturally shorten when you think of it? Do you feel stuck or overwhelmed? Feel it fully. Now, picture yourself in a dark room, suddenly a tiger appears, this tiger represents your fear. Experience awareness of feeling fears fully at this moment. Shifting your observation to sit with whatever emotional quality is coming to the surface.
Now, imagine extending a hand out to the tiger, remaining open and aware that fear is present. Become curious about the tiger and what it represents. Welcome the tiger with open arms. By embracing the tiger and your fear-based thought you can choose to witness it and be open to the experience, allowing yourself to understand the thought fully. Mentally say to the tiger “it’s okay that you are here, there is a reason, and you are welcome to stay as long as you like until you feel comfortable to leave.” Imagine giving the tiger a great big hug. As you do give yourself a hug using both of your arms to wrap around your body. Take a big inhale releasing your grip and as you exhale hug yourself a little bit more. Release your grip and imagine the tiger walking away.
Sit quietly for a couple of minutes focusing on your breathing. Allow the sense of curiosity to lull you into a state of calm.
Whenever fear is expressed, there is a reason behind it. Allow yourself to sit with the sensation, observe the thought, and welcome it so that you can start to observe yourself a little more. Sometimes what we resist persists. If we don’t acknowledge the fear and let it run wild in our minds there isn’t a sense of relief or release. Instead, it will continue to pervade your mind, running on a constant loop until you address it, welcome it with acknowledgment, and send it on its way.
“Worrying is like praying for things you don’t want.” The negative emotion of worry is often a fear-based thought. Eckhart Tolle says “excessive thought activity often creates scenarios of things going wrong; that is not happening now; may never happen.”
When we harbor fear, we are manifesting itself into life at this moment, allowing it to come alive in our minds and bodies. We are forcing ourselves to live through it at the moment we have fear-based thought because it stimulates a physical reaction in the body, signaling the stress response to turn on. Even if the fear does come true at some point, by allowing its existence in the first place you will be living it twice.
Take a deep breath in, roll your shoulders down and back, and exhale through pursed lips slowly taking a sigh. Now take an even bigger breath – this time let it go however you feel obliged – you can sigh it out, release any aggravation, any resistance built in your body.
Release your fears. Sometimes, we’re so afraid we don’t know how afraid we are. Sometimes, we carry so much fear that it interferes with our ability to enjoy life. Feel and release your fears. Learn to understand and surrender to your fears. Let go of the heaviness, the darkness that follows you around. By releasing your fear you will make more space in your body to feel lighter physically, release fear in your mind create more space for positive thoughts to flow, and release fear in your life to allow joy to find its way to you.