Adapted from “Heal Thy Self”~ Saki Santorelli

This practice- examining and working with our fears can be done daily. As we begin to look deeply into our lives, we soon discover that fear itself is so ubiquitous. When feeling fear, we habitually tend to protect ourselves, through either reactive suppression or separation. Feeling the fear is often not the issue. Our work has far more to do with knowing when we are fearful, the ways that fear typically shapes our thoughts and actions, as well as working directly with the fear and its impulses to deny or flee.

In our daily activities, we shall intend with purpose to simply notice the tiny shock waves or impulses of fear that color our experiences. With the breath as an anchoring tool, see if we can stop, attend to, and feel the fearful experience as it arises up in our bodies. With whatever feelings appear to arise in the fearful moment, see if you can breath into the sensations- not “sweeping away” or “fighting”, but gradually softening, and allowing yourself to be with the waves of feelings & sensations just as they are… arisings that come and go with your attention. We simply want to become acquainted with the fear…

As we begin to trust our place- our relation with our fear- we begin to become aware of what stands beside our fear- a sense of curiosity and mystery for new terrain- something unknown and unfamiliar. If we can openly engage this new frontier, our lives begin to enlarge around us, and we have the opportunity to step into rather than away from it. As best you can, see if you can begin to sense this investigative fascination that underlies your fearful moment. See if you can orient yourself toward this quality of attraction without denying the presence of the fear. Are you drawn deeper into the discovery of the experience?

With practice, diligence, and devotion to this purpose, see if you can confidently work with surrendering to the fear. Allow yourself to open more and more to the feeling itself and to the possibility that you have within you the capacity to let down your guard and give yourself over to the moment- this capacity is mindfulness itself.

Embodying fearful experiences help us to modulate our relationship to fear, and the thoughts and actions spawned from both our orientation and association with the varying impulses and sensations that follow. In essence, fear can be tranformed into an ally with the right kind of orientation and attention… this is the basis behind our view of fearful experiences through the lens of mindfulness.

Our view of who we are, what fear is, and how we stand in relation to it may slowly be altered forever…

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