I wanted to offer this practice of releasing fear.
One of my favorite quotes by Carl Jung is,
What you resist persists.
Right?
So what you resist persists the more that we avoid or push or suppress or turn away.
The more paradoxically,
The more that that gets louder or calls for our attention,
Beckons for us to listen.
And so mindfulness and the practice of being with yourself and this being human is not to get wrapped up in and highly preoccupied and focused on our emotional landscape,
But to be with it.
So to not resist it and also not get tangled.
So this practice,
My hope is offers you an idea of what that feels like in the body and utilizing the breath.
So finding a comfortable seat or laying down,
Gently closing your eyes if that's available to you,
Or just resting your gaze a couple feet in front of you.
And either way,
Letting your eyeballs soften in the sockets or get heavy.
Just imagine that you're turning towards the internal landscape.
Bring a hand to your heart and a hand to your belly and begin to breathe,
Breathing into your heart and breathing into your belly.
Feeling the weight of your hands soften your face,
Lean back into your shoulders,
Slowing down and settling into the body.
Feel the rise and fall of your hands as you breathe into them,
Softening the shoulders on every exhale,
Settling into your sit bones.
We spend so much time in the thinking mind.
So just feel yourself sort of sinking into being in this body.
This is the place where emotions are generated.
They're generated in the body and then they communicate and transform into thoughts.
So we're just softening the mind,
Letting go of thoughts and tuning into this breath.
Beautiful.
And now I'd like to just invite an openness or listening to any experience of fear in the body.
And if you hear sounds in the background,
I'm offering this sitting under a tree outside.
So you'll be hearing some sounds of nature rooted under a tree.
Let's do that together.
Imagine that your sit bones move it towards and into the ground beneath you like roots from a tree.
Imagine the thick,
Burly roots wrapping around rocks into the dirt and wrapping around each other,
Really steadying you and rooting you in this body.
Let's take a couple big breaths,
Opening the heart,
Inhaling into the heart,
Open and exhale.
We're making space for any fear to feel safe to arise.
And so then the invitation is to just inquire of yourself,
Where am I holding fear?
Where am I holding fear?
It's a gentle invitation.
Softening with the exhales,
You might notice sensation in the throat or the chest.
You might notice tightness or a blockage,
Might notice energy,
Just a restless energy or a beating heart.
I often feel it just between the chest plates,
Right in the center of my lungs,
A tightness in the chest,
I often call it.
But wherever you feel it,
It's okay.
We're just becoming aware of that.
And then with no agenda to make anything different,
We're just being with it.
Begin to imagine that your breath is red and warm and inhale into the space where fear is arising,
Shoulders or chest or throat or eyes.
And if there is no particular space,
Just imagine the warm breath moving through your body.
Breathe into the space inside your body to any fear and imagine the breath swirling around it like Disney wind,
You know,
Sort of moving around it,
Almost hugging it.
And then exhale,
Long slow exhale.
So it's a warm,
Loving,
Kind breath,
Simply acknowledging and accompanying the fear.
Beautiful and if it's available to you,
We'll just see if you can ask internally,
Fear,
What are you here to tell me?
What are you scared of,
Sweetheart?
Breathing,
Stay with it.
Breathing,
Long exhales to soften and you may be hearing something from the fear or you may not be.
We're just beginning this practice,
Getting to know the fear.
And then you might ask this experience inside of you,
What do you need to hear?
Just receiving the information.
You're not gold mining here.
We're not excavating.
We're just listening,
Genuinely listening without an agenda,
Fear,
What do you need to hear?
So things may be arising,
Some wisdom may be coming from within or if any of these prompts resonate with you,
You can offer the fear this,
May I trust I'm enough?
Or you are not alone or nothing is permanent,
Things will change.
Or may you be safe,
May you trust?
If any of those resonate or prompt some insight,
Just offering internally with tender love,
Whatever this fear needs to hear,
This fear is wisdom.
It's informing you of something.
If we can listen and offer soothing and love,
It shifts.
And I won't even name how it shifts because it's all a mystery,
But you sense into that,
Does it?
Does it shift for me?
So let's just begin to wonder what's happening now.
Just notice,
Just observe what's happening now.
Breathing into your hands,
Breathing into your heart,
Letting the visual go.
We'll just connect to your center.
So inhaling up and out the crown of your head and exhaling down and out your tailbone.
Leaning back in your skull,
Leaning back in your shoulders.
Breathing in your nose and a slow exhale out your mouth.
Beautiful.
And then just as you're ready,
Gently blinking your eyes open and stretching.
If your body needs a stretch at all,
Staying with your breath.
And I'll just invite you if it's available to grab a pen and a journal and just take a moment to write any insights or wisdom that came through.
And I want to be clear that this is in varying degrees,
Depending on the day,
Depending on the fear,
Depending on what's happening for us,
That sometimes a lot of information can come through.
Or sometimes we can notice that there's a lot of guardedness or tension or it's difficult to contact the fear.
That is also a lot of information that just informs you.
Oh,
Sweetheart,
You're really you're really feeling fearful.
These shields that we put up are adaptive and protective and they are welcome to.
And so it's not about again,
It's not about excavating or resisting the guardedness and trying to shove down into the vulnerability.
It's what you resist persists.
If we resist that,
The guard will get louder.
The protector will fight harder.
So whatever was here for you today,
Welcome it as best you can with loving kindness.
And let it be part of your journey of listening,
Listening to who you are and what emotional experience has to tell you.
All is welcome.
I bring my hands,
Palms together.
Bowing to you.
Namaste.
