Welcome to today's meditation.
My name is Lola Wright,
And I am joined by Brendan Doshi.
Today's practice is a meditation to address fear.
Fear is an anticipated,
Expected,
Natural human experience.
The idea is not to avoid or eliminate fear from your experience of life,
But rather to
learn to be with fear,
Allow fear to come and go.
I invite you to practice witnessing fear in you,
And see if through this practice today
you can create an experience of space.
You have fear,
You may experience fear,
And you are not fear.
Fear may come,
Fear may go,
And you have a capacity to hold that,
And to create space
in that.
So allow yourself to bring to your mind's eye an area of life that may be provoking
fear in you.
You might notice a pattern of thought that gets triggered or poked.
You might notice a place or space in your life where you get hooked,
And fear can feel
like it's taking over.
Allow yourself to sit with that and observe it.
You might choose to close your eyes and deepen your breath into your belly.
Begin to notice where fear resides in your body.
Does it occur as constriction or contraction in your chest?
Do you notice tightening in your shoulders?
Perhaps clenching in your jaw?
You might even notice swirling in your belly.
Just begin to notice where fear takes up space in your body,
And as you're observing fear
in your body,
The sensations that are correlated with that experience.
See if you can create space between you and it.
Allow yourself to witness it,
Notice it,
Observe it.
You might even notice recurring thoughts that seem to provoke fear.
If your body and your breath begins to go faint or shallow,
If you begin to notice constriction,
Deepen your breath into your belly.
Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth.
You might even choose to give yourself the gift of an audible exhale.
Fear is here and it is not the all of who you are.
Continue to breathe deeply and allow the fear to come and go.
If you notice feeling gripped by fear,
See if you can make space and identify the recurring
thoughts that are holding fear in place.
Would you be willing to consider that your thinking mind is doing exactly what it knows to do?
It lives in a state of protection.
Watch the thoughts come and go.
What we're wanting to do is to create an experience of being with fear,
Distinct from
being taken out by fear.
You might choose to place a hand on your heart or your chest.
Place your other hand on your belly.
Breathe more deeply than may be typical or even comfortable for you.
You might say to yourself,
Fear I see you,
I feel you.
Thank you for doing what you know best to do.
An automatic mechanism of your body and brain is wanting to protect you.
Can you appreciate that it's doing the best it knows how?
With your hand on your belly and your other hand on your chest,
Notice the rise and fall
of your body and say to yourself,
In this now moment,
All is well.
In this now moment,
All is well.
In this now moment,
All is well.
Allow the body sensations of fear,
The thought patterns and the loops that the mind may do.
Invite all of that to relax.
Imagine a kind of release of this gripping,
Recurring feeling and again say to yourself,
In this now moment,
All is well.
Thank you fear,
I see you,
I hear you.
You have space between your feelings and your being.
At any moment,
You can bring your awareness to your breath and create a little distance,
A little space,
A little time.
All is well here.
