Do It Scared: Coexisting With Fear Meditation

Use this body scan style guided meditation to work with fears big or small. This meditation guides you through a practice that will teach you a framework you can apply any time (on the mat or in life) to coexist with your fears so you can "do it scared" rather than trying to ignore your fears or pretend that you don't have them. This practice will help you soften into fears, so you can investigate where they are coming from. Recorded as a practice for Saturn (shani) in Vedic astrology.

Transcript

You might like to have a journal nearby.

You might like to have a journal nearby for after our meditation.

If you ever during a guided meditation or practice,

Feel the need like,

Oh,

That's too good,

I need to write that down.

Feel free.

You know,

I wouldn't worry too much about like breaking the meditative state or whatever.

The whole point of this is to unlock some kind of deeper awareness within yourself.

So if you do,

The idea is going to be that you want to remember that.

So we'll have a little bit of time for journaling afterwards,

But if you do feel called to write something down.

In the middle,

I think writing can be a really incredible form of processing.

So I won't discourage you from doing that.

We're going to come into our guided meditation and then just full warning this meditation.

It has potential to be a little more activating.

We'll start off on our backs and just get settled.

So as you're getting settled there,

You might like to have the soles of your feet on the mat or on the floor.

So a big theme of while Saturn is in Aquarius for the next couple of years,

It could be a relatively ungrounding time.

Aquarius is an air sign.

Saturn is governed by value,

The wind deity.

So we want to connect to our feet and lower legs.

Aquarius governs over the lower legs.

Grounding value happens through the feet often.

So that's why I recommend perhaps having the soles of your feet on the floor.

So you can connect down through your feet,

But as you settle into whatever shape you're starting in,

Can you just notice your breath?

Can you notice the natural state of your breath as you enter this practice?

What imprints of your day so far are showing up?

So if it's very early in the morning,

You might've just woken up,

Might not have been much of a day so far.

So what's the imprint of that?

Maybe it's the evening time and you've been through your whole entire day or some other situation.

And how is that showing up on your physiology?

How's your heart rate?

Can you even notice your heart rate?

Sometimes if you're in a very relaxed state,

The heart rate becomes very subtle and the more stressed you become,

The more heart rate becomes noticeable and elevated,

Is there any movement happening with your breath?

Can you sense your breath at your nose and can you let your breath reach your comfortable maximum now if it hasn't already,

So as you exhale,

Let out all the old stale air,

Be with that exhale.

And then as you inhale,

Breathe in as deeply as you feel like you can without trying to hold or grip the breath just to make it take longer.

So now as you're hopefully settling into your shape,

Can you connect to your feet?

Whatever points of your feet are touching the mat.

Can you just become aware of what points are touching?

What areas of your feet might be weighing heavier?

Does one foot seem like it's turning out more than the other or turning in more than the other?

If one portion of your foot feels like it's weighing heavier than the other on either or both feet,

Does one foot feel like it's weighing heavier than the other?

Are there any similarities or differences to how your feet are connecting to the support below you?

And can you just send your breath and your awareness there to your feet for a couple of rounds as if your feet were just growing roots with each exhale,

The bones of your feet growing a little heavier with each inhale,

Bringing up that grounding,

Nourishing energy from these imaginary roots below your feet and letting it come up into your body.

And then we'll come up from the feet.

Can you become aware now of your calves,

Your knees and thighs?

How do your entire legs feel?

If the soles of feet are on the mat,

Your legs won't be on the mat.

They won't be resting on anything,

But if your legs are resting,

Can you feel where they're bearing down?

Can you become a little bit more fully supported?

Perhaps it's also through your feet and your hips.

If your knees are lifted towards the ceiling,

Can you soften more deeply into this support below you into a sense of groundedness?

Can you bring your awareness now to your pelvis?

Does one side of your pelvis feel like it's weighing heavier than the other?

Is there any gripping happening around your hips,

Glutes,

Hip flexors,

The fronts of the hips?

And can you soften into support,

Into being supported?

What does it feel like to allow your body to be supported?

Can you bring your awareness now to your abdomen,

The soft portion of your torso all the way around,

Is your low back making contact with anything?

Neutral position would be that it's not,

But it's okay if it is.

Awareness,

Right or wrong answers.

Is there any movement happening in your belly,

In your sides,

In your low back?

Can you bring your attention now to your rib cage?

Perhaps you also notice again,

Your heart rate while you're there.

Notice your breathing rate.

Is there any movement happening at your rib cage with your breath?

It's okay if there is or isn't,

Again,

There's no right or wrong answers.

We just want to notice what's happening in our body at any given time.

Can you bring your awareness now to your shoulders,

Especially the tops of your shoulders,

Where they connect with your neck and the backs of your shoulders?

Perhaps where your shoulder blades might be laying on the mat,

Or if you're seated,

Are your shoulders elevated up around your ears?

If you're laying down,

You could even kind of scoot your shoulder blades underneath you.

If you feel the need to do that,

Create a little more space around the shoulders.

You take your awareness down your arms.

What portion of your arms are resting on some kind of support?

Can you release any tension through your shoulders all the way down to your fingertips,

Perhaps in the backs of your hands,

Your wrists,

And soften more deeply into the support below you.

Just let your body become heavy.

Can you bring your awareness now to your neck?

Is your neck connecting to anything again,

Neutral position of the spine,

The back of the neck would not be laying on the mat.

It's okay if it is also okay,

If it isn't,

Can you bring your awareness to the back of your head,

Your temples,

Your jaw?

Can you release tension from your cheeks,

Your brow?

And then can you just bring your awareness to your breath again?

Perhaps the breath has become very subtle as you've settled the body into stillness and to relaxation,

Hopefully here.

And then can you just do a quick body scan on your own?

Notice if there's any lingering sensations that are perhaps nagging or even subtle sensations.

What is present right now?

Can you just be present with what is now we're going to move through a meditation to work with fear that Saturn might be bringing up for you.

Saturn can cause fear,

You're responsible for fear.

So if at any point this becomes too activating or too much,

You're always welcome to stop the meditation at any point,

But you might come back to your breath,

Back to that body scan,

And then you can just come back to that body scan of settling your body into this supportedness into this stillness.

You can come back to that at any time,

Just scanning throughout the body and trying to release tension to soften will be a good way to ground yourself back down as this meditation can be activating or perhaps ungrounding.

So I just wanted to give that caveat.

So can you bring to mind now what fear is coming up?

So we'll just hopefully you want to work with one.

You don't have to repeat this exercise for anything,

But maybe you just know somewhere in your being,

Something you're scared of.

Be a situation you're scared of changing.

Something you're scared might happen,

Something you're scared to do,

Perhaps also because of what might happen if you do it right.

So just try to let your mind land on,

On one thing that's coming up for you.

Maybe it's your biggest fear.

Maybe it's not your biggest fear.

Maybe it's just a more benign neutral fear to work with right now.

So can,

As you let that fear become more clear in your awareness,

As your mind kind of lands on what that one thing is,

Can you notice where it landed in your body?

So did anything change with your breath?

Are there any places in your body gripping now that weren't before?

Does there just feel like an energy somewhere?

Is there a pit like feeling somewhere in your body?

Can you just notice what comes up for you as you let your awareness rest on this fear?

Something that scares you a little.

How does your body respond to that mental stimulation?

Does your breathing change?

And can you continue to notice,

Perhaps continue to just scan your awareness up and down the body?

Can you notice what's gripping what's quickening is your heart rate quickening?

Can you notice what energy or image arises related to this fear?

Are there images coming to your mind,

To your awareness?

Is there an energy moving throughout your body or landing somewhere in your body?

If you could give this fear a color,

What color would it be?

Does it sort of already have a color in your awareness?

Is that color landing in your body,

Wherever the fear is landing in your body?

Can you use your breath to soften that color,

To let it dissipate a little bit,

Maybe just lessen the intensity?

Be okay with letting it still exist there.

Can you let the fear hang around without trying to get rid of it or change it,

But softening your body's response to it and perhaps regulating yourself by slowing your breath,

Taking a deep exhale.

Does this fear have a name?

Can you give it a name?

And as you continue to investigate the fear and how it lands in your body,

Is there any amount of bracing happening in response to this fear?

If you get a little more friendly with it,

Perhaps after giving it a color and a name,

Can you ask that fear where it's coming from?

Most of the time,

Our fear is trying to protect us from the unfamiliar,

From losing things that we care about.

What is your fear trying to protect?

What does it want from you?

Does your fear want you to step more deeply into your power?

What would that look like?

How could you root down any deeper ground yourself?

Perhaps you come back to feeling your feet,

Feeling your hips,

Feeling your shoulders,

Back of your head,

Your jaw.

And so can you just spend the next few moments being friendly with the fear,

Asking it where it comes from,

What it wants from you and continuing this practice of softening your body so that you can coexist with the fear.

Please bring your awareness back to your breath now.

Take a nice deep inhale,

Filling the belly,

The chest,

All the way up to the collarbones.

Exhale.

Can you let it go even more slowly than you took it in,

Softening more deeply into that grounded position?

And in your own way and time,

You might hug your knees.

And if you're laying down,

You might find your way over to your favorite side or up to seated.

And if you have any insights you'd like to journal,

You might go ahead and do that.

And that concludes our Coexisting with Fear meditation.

I hope this meditation served you and empowers you to step forward with more courage and do it scared.