Befriending Your Fears

This guided meditation helps you befriend your fears and restore a sense of safety within your body.
Safety is a primal thing; and when we are faced with dangerous situations or stress, our safety is compromised and our bodies respond to that.

Transcript

Hello and welcome to this guided meditation on restoring safety within your body.

Safety is a very primal thing and when we are faced with dangerous situations or stress our safety is compromised and our body reacts to that in many different ways.

One of those ways is with a stress response in which we run away,

In flight,

We stand our ground and we put up a fight or we simply freeze just standing there and overwhelm and all of these things are triggered by fear.

Ultimately your mind is there to keep you safe from any perceived danger whether that historically was being chased by a wild animal or entering into an unknown situation or being stuck in traffic or the printer not working your mind doesn't know the difference.

It's a stressful situation and it reacts to that.

So this meditation will help you tap into any fears you may be facing right now and calm any physiological responses that your body is having.

Your fear is there to protect you,

It's not out to get you,

It's not something that needs to be avoided or gotten rid of but sometimes it can stand in our way,

It can keep us in our comfort zone,

It can keep us stuck and we want to move forward.

So this practice is about befriending your fear,

About looking it in the eyes and saying I see you but we're gonna do this anyway.

Know that all your fears are warranted,

They are all there for a reason and ultimately they are all there to help you and when we start to reframe fear in this way it becomes less of a scary thing.

The worst thing we can possibly do is be afraid or scared of fear.

So just start now by getting in a comfortable position either seated on the floor with your legs crossed and your arms resting loosely or sitting on a chair with your feet firmly planted into the floor or lying down with your arms by your sides.

Whichever option you choose just make sure your spine is nice and long like there's a string at the top of your head gently pulling you upwards.

And then relax.

This is a safe space for you,

You are safe,

You are secure,

You are held,

You belong here,

You are meant to be here.

Start now by taking a juicy deep inhalation down into the bottom of your belly and exhaling it all out.

One more like that nice deep inhalation,

Exhale it out.

And on this next breath I'd like you to deeply breathe into your belly as you did before but allow the breath to travel up into the chest.

Sighing it out.

One more like that allowing the breath to travel upwards.

Filling up the torso,

Sighing it out.

Take a moment to notice how your body feels right now.

Just dropping inwards ever so slightly.

And keeping your breath natural,

Smooth,

Unforced.

And if at any point during this meditation your mind wanders off onto a to-do list or something you have to do later or something you've done,

Just bring your attention gently and slowly back to your breath.

Guiding it back,

Breathing gently and noticing any sensations within your body.

Maybe there's some tightness or tension.

Just guide the breath there.

Maybe there's some tingling or prickling or energy in your hands or your feet especially.

Maybe there's feelings and sensations in your body on the inside that feel uncomfortable and uneasy.

That's okay too.

Everything is allowed here.

You are safe.

You are safe.

You are safe.

And now what I would like you to do is in your mind's eye,

Visualize a situation in which you are feeling fearful of or you're feeling stuck or stagnant like you don't have the answers,

That you're unsure of,

That feels scary and unknown.

Bring that situation into your field of vision right now.

Something that's causing you stress or uneasiness or discomfort.

And when you tap into that visualization of that situation,

I would now like you to notice how your body feels in response to that.

Can you feel a tightening or a contraction somewhere?

Can you feel tension or knots?

What's your instant reaction to this situation?

Do you want to curl up into a little ball?

Or do you feel like you want to raise your fists and fight it?

Or do you just want to sit here because you don't know what else to do?

All of these responses are absolutely okay,

Absolutely normal and absolutely natural.

You are a human.

We designed this way.

Just keep sinking into that feeling,

Locating it within the body and where you feel it most intensely.

I know this isn't pleasant,

But you are safe,

You are held.

Nothing is going to happen to you right now.

And once your attention is firmly on that place in your body that feels this the most intensely,

You can either place a hand there or you can circle the area with your hand,

With your palm,

And just rub it gently if that helps.

Anything to soothe it.

And then I would like you to repeat these words after me as if you are talking to that place in your body,

As if you are talking to that fear.

That uneasiness,

That discomfort,

That place in your body that does not feel good right now.

Take a deep breath.

I see you there.

And I thank you for showing up here.

I am grateful for you.

You don't need to push or force me anymore because I am safe.

We are safe.

I know you are scared and that is okay.

I feel you.

But just know that it is okay.

And I am grateful for you.

But just know that it is okay.

And we are going to go ahead and do this anyway.

I know you are here to protect me.

And I thank you for keeping me safe this far.

But we are just going to take a step outside of our comfort zone.

And then you will see that we are okay.

And then we will take another step.

And we are still okay.

And before we know it,

Look at us.

Look how far we have come.

So thank you.

Thank you for showing up today and being here with me.

We are safe.

We are safe.

We are safe.

And now what I would like you to do is take your arms wide.

Really expand them outwards.

And take your arms and wrap yourself up in the biggest hug.

Just hold yourself.

Embrace yourself.

Reassure your body,

Your nervous system that everything is okay.

And maybe you can incorporate some soothing touch.

Perhaps feeling your own skin or stroking your hair or your face.

Just really feeling held in this moment.

And when you are ready,

Release your arms down.

And we are going to take one final deep breath together.

Inhaling deep into the belly.

Hold for a second.

And exhale.

Sigh it out and relax.

Feel the weight of the body on the surface beneath you.

Feel the touch points of your hands,

Of your feet,

Of your legs.

If it feels good,

Take some gentle movements side to side.

Whatever feels good for you right now,

Whatever you need.

And whenever you are ready,

Take your time.

Gently and slowly opening your beautiful eyes and observing the world around you.

You are safe here.

You are held.

You are supported.

You are guided at every second.

Most importantly you are loved.

Thank you for sharing this meditation with me.

Namaste.

Reviews

This was so helpful for my fears today. It’s going on my fear playlist. Thank you so much, Kerry. 🙏🏻💚

Thank you so much for accompanying me today.

Kind words to offer your fear.

Beautiful and so moving. Thank you for sharing 🎶✨💕🙏

Very touching, deep and soothing. Thank you so much!

Good, cried ✨ wish it was longer.
Thank you 🙏🏼💖

Kerry has such a calming tone, and her meditation style is just so special 🌟 thank you so much Kerry✨

Thank you for reminding me that it's better to make a friend rather than an enemy of my fears 🙏

Feeling so deeply safe and connected with my body. A beautiful way to start the day thank you beautiful XO

Befriending fear and the anxiety feeling is something I had been aware of and practiced in the past but over the last couple of weeks/months had forgotten to do.
This is a welcome reminder of the benefits of turning towards, then facing these feelings with acceptance and confidence that it’s going to be ok. These feelings are perfectly natural.
They are actually here to help to protect us and we need to accept them and show them some gratitude and love.
Thank you for the reminder in this wonderfully calming meditation.