Moving From Fear To Love

In this practice recorded live on the beach in Maui, Ramana Angel Heart guides listeners safely into a state of presence where you can look deeply into something that's bringing up fear, find the sensations of the fear in the body, and allow them to soften. In this guided practice, listeners can experience what fear is trying to tell you and come into a state of loving presence with all that arises.

Transcript

So what I'm hearing is that,

Let's see,

First thing you're feeling like you're choosing fear over love and you're becoming more aware of that pattern.

But you're feeling unable to come into a place where you can choose love.

So what I like to do for our meditation is to actually explore fear.

Because in order to transcend something and allow it to leave and move on,

It has to be totally felt.

And I'm not saying that right now we're going to feel all the fear you've ever felt in your entire life.

But if you think about this particular situation,

Let's just start the meditation.

I'll just guide it from there.

So just calling to mind,

Actually first checking how you're sitting and seeing if you want to shift in any way to get more comfortable and have a more elongated spine and more stability.

You can have your eyes open or closed.

It might be easier for your eyes to be closed for this meditation.

And simply,

It seems simple,

But it can be so hard.

Begin by focusing just on the physical sensation of the breath breathing you.

So you might want to put your hand back where it was or where you'd like it to be,

Like on your abdomen or your chest or your heart even,

Wherever.

And we'll start with just the phrase rise and fall.

So allowing your breath to be natural as you breathe in,

Concentrating,

Focusing on the breath.

When your abdomen,

Chest are nostrils and using the phrase rise if you need to,

Using the phrase fall as you breathe out.

Noticing thoughts as they arise and coming back,

Practicing this anchor,

No matter how you get tossed around.

The waves can't pull you under.

You can't get lost at sea.

You're anchored to the breath,

Life being lived through you.

And now I'd like for you to notice in your body a place that feels really warm,

Really soft,

Really nice,

Really at ease in this moment.

Could be your hands,

It could be your nose,

It could be your feet,

It could be a large area or a small area or maybe it doesn't feel necessarily pleasant but at least it feels neutral.

You just,

You can be aware of it and it's not really bringing anything up for you.

Once you find that place on your body,

Go ahead and put your hand there.

And it's really important to put your hand there because this is a way of self-soothing or nurturing yourself.

So the practice that we'll do relating to fear can sometimes be triggering and it can sometimes feel really overwhelming.

So finding a place in your body that feels safe,

That feels comfortable,

That feels at least neutral and knowing with your hand there,

Feeling into it and knowing that at any time if anything feels like it's too much,

You can always return back to this safe place.

So you can leave your hand there or you can let your hand rest back in your lap or on your legs.

Just begin to call to mind the situation that you've noticed brings you back into a state of fear.

And perhaps it's a hypothetical situation for the future that you are afraid of what will happen or perhaps it is a fear from the past and it's a fear that something happened that you didn't like and maybe that you don't want it to be repeated.

So calling to mind the situation and bringing in as many details as you feel able to.

Perhaps the person or people involved in the fearful situation,

A place,

A time.

You could even get so detailed as to what the background was,

What you were wearing,

What it smelled like.

This can be real or imagined.

Once you get to that place,

Thoughts might arise.

Let them come and perhaps even call to mind the fearful thoughts that you've been having.

Thich Nhat Hanh calls our brains radio non-stop thinking and we often hear the same songs on repeat.

So see if you can find those fearful thoughts that you've been repeating.

And maybe under the category of fear it could be anxiety,

It could be worry,

It could be depression,

It could be anger.

There's many,

Many,

Many,

Many,

Many ways that fear manifests.

It doesn't have to be terror or anything like that.

So just finding the thoughts and then consciously repeating one of them to yourself.

If I tell my mom I'm gay,

She will disown me.

Whatever your example is,

Say it to yourself consciously.

And as you say it,

Tuning into your body,

Just notice where that fear arises.

The places we often find fear are in our gut,

In our chest,

In our throat,

And in our hands.

So checking those places and checking,

Just opening up your awareness to see if there's another place in your body that the fear is manifesting physically.

And then taking a few moments in silence to just be fully,

Fully,

Fully present to every place in your body,

Whether it be one or many places where you feel that fear.

And just giving yourself this opportunity knowing that you are safe,

Knowing that you can always come back to the place that feels nurturing and feels safe,

Knowing that you can always open your eyes if you need to ground and come back or into our surroundings,

But giving yourself this opportunity to truly go in and feel the fear that arises in your body with that thought.

So being sensitive to your lived experience in this moment,

Recognizing if at any point feeling the fear is too much,

Letting your hand come back to the place in your body that feels safe or neutral.

And seeing if as you sit with the fear and as you really look it in the eye and be aware of it,

See if perhaps you can listen to it.

This fear is coming up because it's trying to protect you.

It is trying to keep you safe in the best way that it knows how.

So see if you can just hear beyond the thought,

Beyond the fearful thought,

Hear actually that your fear loves you,

That this feeling in your body is arising because it's trying to keep you safe.

And just notice what it feels like to experience that perhaps novel idea.

And then seeing if as you hold your attention,

Actually before you hold your attention somewhere,

Scan your body and notice if anything has shifted.

Perhaps you'll experience that the place that felt tense or tight or felt like there was pressure,

Heaviness,

Or contraction might have changed.

And seeing what is in your body now,

What's in your experience in this moment.

And then finding if there's a place inside of you that still feels this fear,

Seeing if now you can bring your awareness pinpoint into that spot and let your hand or hands go to the spot in your body that feels the fear.

This can be an important moment for really acknowledging the fear.

So letting the body through your hands know that you're here for it and then beginning to talk to the fear.

Let the fear know that it is okay,

That you're not trying to push it away,

That you're not judging it as wrong anymore.

You don't want it to stop,

But you're here with understanding.

You know now that the fear is doing its best to protect you,

That it loves you so much,

That it's calling forth physical sensations in your body to let you know that it's protecting you.

That it's protecting you.

And then perhaps rubbing or otherwise soothing the place in your body that feels fear,

Physically letting it know that it is loved.

The place that you feel fear is worthy of love.

The fear is worthy of love because this fear that you feel is just an expression of love.

Noticing if as you rub that place in your body where the fear is,

Noticing if perhaps the fear shifts or moves,

And noticing if there's a new place in your body where the fear appears,

Or noticing if perhaps as you direct your awareness and your breath to the place that you feel fear,

That you're not just being aware of the fear,

But you're also noticing that the fear generates emotional awareness starting to play up to your rear as well.

Maybe slightest somewhat woeful noDE think that these real things do take place when you feel fear,

That nothing can happen.

Also,

You notice how experienced it gets,

Or amazing things that are exhort Infantry usually come from enjoy voiced with spirits.

And then bringing one hand to your heart center and letting the other hand remain in the place,

If there is a place where you still feel the fear,

Letting that connection come from one hand to the other,

From the love to the fear,

From the fear to the love,

And recognizing that there is no separation between them.

Honoring your fear and sending it the love that lives in your heart space.

And accepting that this fear is part of you.

It's a conditioned belief or program,

Programmed thought pattern.

And it has felt real for you,

Maybe for a long time,

Or it could be a new fear.

But just allowing yourself to honor that there's validity in the fear and that you can create consciously to choose to live in a space of love and to even love the fear.

So feeling into the hand on your heart,

Drawing up that love with each breath in,

And then sending your love that you're cultivating into any places in your body that still feel fear.

And sending the love into those fearful thoughts to let them know that they are okay,

That you accept them,

And that you don't have to believe them.

Knowing that they come and knowing that as soon as you begin to love them and shine the light of your awareness on them,

Oftentimes they choose to leave.

And we'll sit in silence for a few moments just integrating this practice of looking deeply into fear and of coming into a space of loving even the fear itself.

And then dwelling back in to whatever extent feels possible into the heart space,

Into the space of love.

Visualizing whatever fearful situation from the past or future you started with through eyes of love now and seeing what is it like in your body as you consciously choose love.

And noticing in your body what the vibration of love feels like and what places in your body might feel more spacious,

More open,

More at ease,

More relaxed.

And just simply sitting with that,

Not clinging to it or thinking it's better than the feelings of fear.

Not wishing that this feeling of love would last forever,

But just simply accepting it,

Allowing it to be there in the exact same way that you allowed the fear to be there.

Loving the parts of you that feel love in the same way that you love the parts of you that feel fear.

And then recognizing that the feelings in your body right now are changing.

The cells in your body right now are changing.

And that these feelings of love,

The feelings of fear,

Feelings of everything in between are always in motion.

Our emotions are just energy in motion.

And when we can remember that they are changing,

It creates more spaciousness for us to allow life to unfold just as it is without making anything a problem,

Without judging anything,

And without clinging to it or holding on to it because we recognize that it's all fundamentally groundless.

It is all constantly in motion.

And we can learn to find peace in the uncertainty by recognizing that change is the only constant.

And by feeling into the heart space and honoring that the constant,

The paradox behind the constancy of change is also the consistency of the universal heartbeat of love that lies beyond your thinking mind,

That lies beyond your feelings,

Beyond your body sensations,

That is just the essence of who you are.

It's this love.

And that you can always come back and return to that equilibrium,

Even in the midst of all the change.

And perhaps,

Well,

In the practice,

The way that we began it by coming back into the breath,

Seeing the breath as love,

The kiss of the present moment,

Allowing you to be fully here now.

Reviews

Extraordinary... facilitating such deep change. You're very very good.

Beautiful & Transformative
Thank You 🌎🕊❤ will be returning to this 🙏

Thank you dear one. Amazing work

Love you sweetheart 💝 Your are a gift 🤗
Namasté 🙏🏼♥️

Thank you dear one for your guidance so clear and calming 🙏

Noticing how the sensations are changing. You are a gentle gem