Working With Fear

This is a 25-minute meditation to begin to face and overcome your fears of the future. Fear is normal. Fear is natural. The response that humans usually have to fear is aversion. This meditation allows one to start facing and moving through their fears skillfully and lovingly.

Transcript

Hi,

Kimberly Johnson here.

I'm so honored you'll be sitting with me today.

I have been meditating since 2007.

I am currently under the mentorship of Jack Kornfield and Tara Brock.

My hope is leading you through meditations that give you access on the cushion and off the cushion to true peace,

To true joy,

To true presence.

If you want to find out more about my online offerings or my podcast,

You can go to kimberlycoaching.

Com.

Okay,

Let's sit.

This meditation is a meditation to help you be with fearful future thinking.

So go ahead and just start getting cozy on your cushion or in your chair or on the couch,

Wherever you find yourself.

And just begin to notice either your feet on the ground or the earth or notice where your bum and your sit bones are making contact with whatever surface you're sitting upon.

And just begin to notice the natural support that you have of the earth or of the chair or of the cushion.

How the outer world always naturally supports us without us having to ask for support.

The outer world always holds us without us having to ask.

Now slowly,

Maybe you could make your spine longer if that feels good raising the crown of the head toward the ceiling or toward the sky.

Making the body alert,

Making it ready for meditation.

And as we make the body alert,

Beginning to notice where we might be holding tension and gently releasing the tension.

Finding that balance between alertness and relaxation.

So maybe releasing any tension in the face,

The forehead,

The cheeks,

The jawline.

And then moving down and maybe relaxing any tension being held in the shoulders,

The upper back or the chest.

Slowly moving down,

Releasing any tension in the belly.

Letting the belly fall open in relaxation.

Moving down,

Releasing any tension in the hips or the hands,

The legs or the feet.

Finding your body in this balanced posture of alert and wakefulness as well as relaxed.

And from this outer posture,

Bringing the attention right to the tip of the nostril.

And beginning to slow the breath down,

Making it slow and long.

And beginning to pay attention at the breath right here at the nostril.

Noticing when you inhale,

Does it enter into the left nostril,

The right or maybe both?

Noticing when you exhale,

Does it exhale out of the left nostril,

The right or maybe both?

Notice if the temperature is different when you inhale,

Is it warmer or cooler?

And does it change when the exhale occurs,

Is it warmer,

Is it cooler?

Paying loving attention to the breath.

Letting the mind know that it can concentrate and calm down.

Letting the nervous system know that breath.

On your next breath,

Begin to bring to mind the area of life that you feel future fear.

Now,

If this is a scale of one to 10,

Let's make sure that we don't enter into the eight,

Nine or 10 zone,

Which I equate to be the trauma zone.

Keeping it at an eight or below.

And allowing yourself to really begin seeing your fear,

Whatever that fear might be.

Allowing it to arise in the mind.

Maybe seeing images.

Maybe beginning to notice what thoughts come with it.

Maybe notice if there are any emotions.

Just allowing it to arise.

Really putting yourself back into the thought of the fear without judging it,

Without needing to fix it,

Without attaching to it.

Just allowing it to be here.

Now,

Go ahead and notice where you can feel this fear in your body.

Maybe it's in the chest.

Maybe it's in the belly.

Maybe it's in the jawline or the hand.

And I want you to just begin noting the body sensation that's here.

Maybe it's tightness in the chest.

Pulsing in the chest.

Swirling in the belly.

Clenched hand.

Whatever it is.

Just begin kindly and gently making note of the body sensation.

Meeting the body sensation like you would meet a friend with kindness and love.

As you sit with the body sensation,

Begin to ask yourself,

Can I let this be?

Can I let this be here just as it is?

Can I let this fear be here just as it is without attaching to it,

Going down the rabbit hole of it,

Without feeling aversion to it,

Running from it,

Fighting it?

Can I just let it be here just as it is?

Desire.

As you ask yourself this question,

It's often times helpful to keep the body relaxed.

And sometimes it's helpful to place a hand on the part of the body that you feel the sensations the most,

As an act of nurturance and support.

Now allow yourself to bring to mind the fear one more time.

And this time I want you to imagine the fear happening.

Imagine the fear actually happening.

As you imagine it,

Keep your hand on the body part,

Just as an act of saying,

I'm here with you.

I'm not leaving you.

I'm right here with you.

As you imagine the fear happening,

And let it arise slowly.

And as it arises,

And maybe you notice that your psyche wants to wander,

Your mind or attention wants to wander,

You can gently whisper,

It's okay.

It's okay.

You can be with this.

It's okay.

You're capable of being with this.

It's okay.

I'm right here.

As you continue to imagine in your mind the fear actually happening.

If emotions arise,

That's quite normal.

Now,

As you continue to bring the fear to your mind,

Practice keeping 50% attention on where the mind wants to maybe go with the fear,

Where the mind wants to imagine the fear.

And keep the other 50% in the body where you feel the body sensations most.

Keeping that hand for support right there.

50% on the mental,

50% in the body.

Breathing and breathing.

Meeting whatever thoughts that might come or body sensations that might come.

Meeting them with deep kindness.

Letting whatever's arising arise.

Continuing to breathe as you focus 50% on the fear,

50% in the body.

And whispering to the body and the mind,

Whatever it needs to hear,

It's okay.

You can be with this.

It's okay.

I'm right here.

It's safe.

Breathing the slow breath as you continue to focus 50% on the fear,

50% on the body.

Meeting whatever arises with kindness and support and compassion.

Now slowly bring the 50% of the attention that's on the fear back into the body,

Bringing 100% attention into the body where you feel body sensations the most.

And gently just breathe into the body sensations.

Maybe the hand moves if it's a different place in the body.

Maybe the hand is in the same position offering nurturance and support.

And once again beginning to whisper,

Can I be with this just as it is?

Another line that's sometimes helpful is you are welcome here.

You are welcome here.

You are welcome here.

Now gently ask yourself,

What would the wisest version of myself do?

What would the wisest version of myself do?

And pause just for a moment to listen.

Now maybe if your hand is still on the chest you can gently lower it down if you haven't already.

Just take some slow deep breaths,

Maybe thinking any wisdom that came.

And if no real wisdom came,

No problem,

You can ask yourself that question every time the fear arises.

Taking a moment to just breathe gently,

Slowly,

Noticing how in your body you feel in this moment.

Facing the fear,

Turning toward the fear,

Sitting with the fear.

And maybe asking this vulnerable part of yourself that's experiencing fear,

What does it need to hear most?

What does it need to hear most?

And see if you can whisper it to yourself a few times before I end with the bell three times.

Taking a slow breath,

Letting the bell help you come out of meditation.

Thinking about each day as your lifeMRV a а Slowly maybe moving the legs or the arms or the fingers.

Taking some slow breaths.

Maybe blinking the eyes open looking at the color of the lighting from the time of day it is from where you are sitting.

Coming fully back into your environment.

My favorite acronym with fear is a future event appearing real.

Future event appearing real.

We can practice learning how we can sit with discomfort and sit with fear skillfully.

Fear is a part of this human experience.

There's nothing wrong with it.

There's nothing bad about it.

It's quite normal for the nature of the mind to bring up future fears.

This practice is to simply help you turn toward the fear.

Sit with the fear and nurture yourself whenever it arises.

You can return to this practice anytime the fear arises.

Doing it at full length or wherever you are taking a breath turning toward.

You are doing good.

Until next time.

Reviews

Good Stuff - thank you. Future events, appearing real! But they’re not! And they seldom come true, but even if they do, the world keeps spinning… Not the session was a great reminder. Thank you!

The wisest version of myself would accept that I can handle fearful thoughts and sensations and I don’t need to brace against them.

That was really lovely and much needed, thank you. X

This guided meditation is so helpful in working with anxiety. Staying with the uncomfortable feeling really brings it into perspective and helps me to stop “being afraid of being afraid.”

What a wonderful meditation and exploration of self. Thank you.

That was really an interesting and helpful experience. I'm trying make peace with my fears, will come back to this again for sure! Thank you 🧚‍♀️

Wow! I've never figured out how to sit with my fear but this helped a ton. I will be favoriting this and revisiting it often. Thank you thank you thank you!

Thank you for being here for me

Lovely guidance for higher mind support in the human condition❤️

Thank you sooo much for this meditation🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼.
Just perfect. now that I am learning not run from my emotions. 🙏🏼

Incredibly soothing

Very healing. Fearing fear is never useful. This meditation gave me courage to explore the fear I've been denying. Thank you for this offering.