Removing fear from the body

[jbischke]

I'm a firm believer that 99% of what we don't accomplish in life stem from one simple thing: fear. Fear of rejection, fear of failure, fear of what other people will think of us, etc.

I think a huge part of eradicating the unhealthy fears (i.e. the non fight-or-flight fears) is mindset. Realizing (as Steve puts in his most recent podcast) that we are always unconditionally safe. That's huge.

But I also think that past events, disempowering beliefs, etc. probably trap fear within the body. This manifests as stress, anxiety, depression, etc. and creates a cycle where we feel disempowered and therefore more fearful which leads to a greater feeling of disempowerment.

So I've been thinking about this and researching ways to try to eradicate fear not just from my thoughts but from my body as well. I think it's possible that a number of ways exist. For instance, here's something I found from Dan Millman:

MILLMAN: Well, this was based upon an ancient practice. The Mongolian warriors used to do a bone massage. It wasn't actually massaging the muscles. It was going as deep as the bone, actually scraping the bone surfaces. It sounds painful, and it's really not; it just goes deep into the body to release old fears which are stored in the neuromuscular system, and it does soften the body, and I will someday be working with this with other people, showing them how to do this.

Yoga seems to be good for this too. Rolfing perhaps (haven't tried it yet).

I'm wondering what else is possible. A determined effort to eradicate fear not just from the mind but from the body as well could produce an incredibly healthy and powerful human being.

Thoughts?

[Gary]

If you don't remove the underlying beliefs from the mind, fear will just be recreated in the body.

[jbischke]

I totally agree with you.

However, even as you remove the fear-creating beliefs (something I'm in the process of doing) I feel we probably have remnants of past fears, etc. So I'm looking for an approach that addresses both mind and body rather than just one or the other.

[kpreston]

Fear is a natural survival instinct; leave it alone.

Re-read your post.

I think a huge part of eradicating the unhealthy fears (i.e. the non fight-or-flight fears) is mindset. Realizing (as Steve puts in his most recent podcast) that we are always unconditionally safe. That's huge.

Disregard.

[jbischke]

Yeah, I think it's really important to differentiate healthy fears (e.g., I'm in the woods and I see a bear...time to run!) vs. unhealthy fears (e.g., I have to give a speech at work and I'm so scared that I call in sick rather than having to do the speech).

It's the latter I'm looking to completely eradicate from my life.

[Michelle]

You see? People do not wish to be free of fear. They are addicted to it.

Personally, I find when my body is ready to release old built up fear, it does just that. I'll suddenly feel nauseaus or have the need to cry.

I think getting something like a deep tissue massage or doing intense physical activity as well as meditation can all help the process.

[Doven]

I think what most people talk about may really be worry. Fear is actually momentary and is a natural response to keep us safe. It is a momentary precursor to our natural fight or flight mechanism. We are born with 2 built in fears...fear of loud noises and fear of falling. We learn others as we interface with reality such as intense heat, etc.

Worry on the other hand is another beast altogether. Worry is a perception that a future event will bring a negative outcome. These worrisome thoughts come about as we interpret reality and make agreements which are negative in nature. These thought forms get wired in and built upon as conscious circuits within the subconscious mind and then come up as filters. These filters obscure our view of reality and stimulate negative emotions which further creates ongoing stress. This stress creates disease.

The practice of being fully in the moment begins to short circuit and eventually rewire these worry filters. The key is to utilize a body awareness which allows blocked emotions associated with these worry thought forms to be released so a clean flow can reestablish. Body work, breath work and other related practices can help dissolve worry patterns. The key is to come out of mind and into space of body awareness (feeling). This allows energy(information) to flow again releasing stuck patterns.

[ginkgo]

Yes the body can store fear. I have been rolfed and have had deep tissue massage but cannot remember what it is called. I have heard about people freaking out with this kind of massage as they release stored traumas.

Someone says that fear is part of the survival instinct. But that is true of animals, not people who never die, since they were never born. The animal is its body, but you are something else that is totally incredible. My webpage on Enlightenment has a link to an online book that is all about you. It is called The Song of the Self Supreme.

You cannot think your way out of fear. Fear comes from thinking. That page on enlightenment is all about being happy and feeling perfect peace. When you feel that, then fear ceases to exist. As long as you have fear, you can never be happy. You can feel that experience where time stops. Fear (Eckhart Tolle talks about this) is from living in the future or thinking of the future.

So you need to practice those things that help you to live in the present instead of thinking of the future. They include (psychologists have studied this) yoga, martial arts, tai chi, meditation, playing sudoku and other things that generate what psychologists call the reverse wolf experience. Even Freud talks about the oceanic feeling when you feel one with the universe. Animals cannot feel this. The book above says that all suffering comes from duality.

Does anyone know what duality is. Many on yoga forums do not know what this is. Duality is the feeling that you exist and other things exist-- me and not me. Only when you feel the truth that you are everything and everything is you can you feel perfect peace and limitless happiness. There is a saying of mercenaries: "A coward dies a thousand deaths, but the courageous man dies only once."

A very famous American psychologist, Abraham Maslow (1908-1970), said "I can feel guilty about the past, apprehensive about the future, but only in the present can I act. The ability to be in the present moment is a major component of mental wellness."

[funchy]

Originally Posted by jbischke

I'm a firm believer that 99% of what we don't accomplish in life stem from one simple thing: fear. Fear of rejection, fear of failure, fear of what other people will think of us, etc.

I think you are absolutely right.

And the worst part is that our defense mechanisms block us from seeing it for what it is. A guy may make excuses on why he shouldn't talk to different women he meets, and in reality the problem isn't with the women, it's within him. Fear is the reason people don't find love and fear keeps unhappy people in bad relationships. Fear prevents people from risking failing so they don't try a challenging class. And then we tell ourselves "it wasn't worth trying for anyway" or "nobody succeeds at that" or "I really didn't want to do it".

Originally Posted by gary

If you don't remove the underlying beliefs from the mind, fear will just be recreated in the body.

I also agree with this.

I also believe if you don't change the underlying source of the fear in the mind, the mental roadblocks will also be re-created as well. The mental defense mechanisms & feelings of stress will return.

Originally Posted by michelle

People do not wish to be free of fear. They are addicted to it.

I don't think we're addicted to it. I think we're protective of our egos. If possibly failing a difficult class is going to be hard on my self esteem, it's so much easier to think up reasons not to take the class so I never have to deal with failure. Some of my bright friends talked themselves out of going to college or pursuing a more challenging career. It's so much easier for some people to be sure they'll never fail by never really trying.

I feel that part of the solution is to make our inner selves stronger. My whole outlook eventually changed: Who cares if I try something and fail the first time? Who cares if I walk up to a stranger and he/she rebuffs me? So what if I get turned down the first time I apply for a very competitive program. The worst they can say is "no".

Not to say i don't have fears. But once I realized that mistakes were a necessary part of learning & growing, failure stopped being a bad thing. You can't learn without making mistakes.

[My Darkest Hour]

I think that fear is there as a natural emotion, like love. We shouldn't try to remove it but continue despite of it.

As Funchy said, a part of the solution is to grow stronger.

[Andrew Brunelle]

I think we are here to make a fundamental choice between fear and love. It is the two root emotions that we feel in life. When we resonate with love, our vibration and frequency become faster and are able to better connect with our DNA to allow us to live a more empowering life. When we connect with fear, it is a very low frequency vibration, which doesn't allow us to utilize all of our DNA or anywhere near what we could if we resonated with love.

Why do you think the media tries to keep us in a constant state of fear? Because it keeps us disempowered. The only thing we truly have to fear is fear itself. So true.