What helps me…is you Tara. I accidentally found your website during the summer of 2013 and have been an avid follower of your teachings and books. I practice R.A.I.N on a regular basis and I am learning slowly the importance of ‘trusting the gold’. So grateful for your free teachings without which I wouldn’t have access to such wonderful guidance and healing. Namate & blessings
I have incorporated self-compassion into the the room through meditations and discussion of allowing the self-compassion to acknowledge, curiosity, and kindness to the emotion of fear within the body.
Wynde Vastine, Another Field, San Pablo, CA, USAsays
Starting small and working up to bigger fears. Practice. And thanks to experience of facing fear and holding that feeling with great tenderness, realizing the fear is actually just another key to loving compassion. It’s worth it.
Wendy Carter, Social Work, Colorado Springs, CO, USAsays
Fear in a healthy level keeps me mindful and alert and I have leaned to listen to it, talk to it, even at times thank it for being there. It seems if a person doesn’t learn how to read it, that it can get out of balance and goes into the state of chronic anxiety.
I share a similar overview of evolutionary neurophysiology to frame the functions of fear and engage them in being mindful of the present with their senses in order to practice noticing what’s working (safe) in the moment.
Breathing and exercising which incorporates deep breathing, even just fast walking- this helps my body to relax and I can then find the space to face my fears: become curious, think through, plan, come up with steps and solutions. Anything that relaxes you such as music, singing, nature, giving, loved ones…
Understanding of what is happening. Stepping outside, observing, using RAIN to Recognise, allow, accept, notice where it is felt in the body, and asking what they need. Thanks Tara.
Thank you Sofia for your informative talk. I have been living with chronic anxiety for the past year. At first all I wanted to do was medicate it away and get to the root the absolute reason for my suffering. But there is NO SINGLE cause but rather a combination of causes. I am learning that I must take care of myself, that I cannot run away or medicate it away. I must accept it, face it and transform the energy and use it to heal myself. I think the serenity prayer says it all. Namaste
Ah, its a life story. Right now though my big deep fears are looming large as I am doing a PhD at age 62. Its like every time I submit written work Im trying and trying and bashing my head against a brick wall and just falling short of where I wanna be. I realised it was fear that was choking me and my relationship with my supervisors – very like the man in the first video you mentioned, who was so in awe of his CEO he choked up in meetings. In doing the PhD I knew I was confronting – head on – my big fears.
What helps me is sharing it, connect with someone who won’t judge me. The other thing that might help me is to actually ask for help. I have recently done it about my fear of driving…. I used to drive a lot, travel long distances and enjoy it. Since an accident, I let my anxiety grow so much that it has control over me now.
So, I am about to face my fear next week. My therapist has suggested to do a session whereby he accompanies me whilst I drive.
After going through some years of depression, and therapy, then being diagnosed WITH PTSD five years ago, I was introduced to Mindfulness and Meditation. After going to some classes and continuing with my therapy, in combination with my Spirituality, I was advised to step off the curve into the darkness that I had feared for so many years, to see where it would take me. My Spirituality, DBT, Meditation, and Mindfulness, all in combination has given me a new and wonderful experience with life. I don’t look at life through a lens of fear anymore. I see my life full of newness and purpose and I’m so grateful and thankful for the opportunity and Blessing to work with all of you that has been there with me and for me on this wonderful journey. I look forward to continuing on this path for as long as The Lord has a purpose for me. Thank you to you all.
Accepting the fear that arises, welcoming it, and surrendering to the journey of going into the depths of the sea with an intention to rise to the surface and transform onto land. Within this space I find a sense of grounding within the fear.
Leaning into the fear, having a supportive network to lighten up the perceived fear and being kind and compassionate to self and others, prayer and meditation.
Not being alone, having someone else or my dog and cat with me.
If I am alone, I can try to calm down with deepening my breathing and looking around my space to pay attention to things I see to become aware of the present moment, being safe in the present moment. Once I am calmer, I can problem solve about the situation that is scaring me… explore options for taking action to deal with it.
Connecting with trust in the ultimate outcome of goodness in my life, opening a heart space, hand on heart and breathing into it, repeating I’m ok, I’m ok. Or maybe it could be surrounding other beings (animal as well as human) in other places experiencing bad things with heart energy and prayer for an end to their suffering, for them to be held in energies of love and compassion.
Lol, that all sounds great when I am NOT feeling fear. Being able to interrupt a fear reaction in progress seems more like a crap shoot of whether I can do any of those things or not.
The ‘real but not true’ statement for myself and clients. Also doing various Tara Brach courses and listening to her podcasts daily so that i keep being reminded, encouraged, inspired and so i keep learning so that i can give the best care/hold the space in the mental health and suicide prevention work that i do.
Good energy flow within which is aided by self-nurturing habits. (Sleep, movement, meditation). Loving these difficult sharp edges of my Being having exchanges with reality. This is not natural or easy yet and requires slowing the patterned response that hasn’t been examined in the light and in a friendly way. Anxiety over big untouchable systemic calamities are the worst; not for me personally but for our children and grandchildren. When I resolved to at least personally never to create disruption mindlessly by over consuming or wasting, that helped my conscience. But how to spread mindful living so that human multitudes can create meaningful pivot? Thanks for this query and this series!
I find it helpful to focus my attention on a releasing breath – a deep inhale and stronger exhale through the mouth – until I feel myself resting more in my core which feels more stable. As you suggest, I try to let the fear be there but I also use language to identify it eg., I’ll be rejected, look stupid etc. and then I offer some self-compassion.
Focusing on something Higher used to help me so much, but right now after just getting the diagnose of Non-Hokdgkin’s Lymphoma is not helping, I feel very lost and my spiritual practice is no longer helping me as it used to, to keep focusing on something higher.
I also experienced fear when diagnosed with Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. Cancer is very scary. I needed to talk to others who survived and to get clear answers from my doctors as to the treatment and prognosis. I also had to grieve the loss of my health as I knew it. A spiritual director had told me in the past that one is not able to feel God when grieving. Hearing that was helpful because I did not feel that it was just me that could not feel that connection. My diagnosis was in 2016 and I have been in remission and good health after chemotherapy and preventative immunotherapy. I attended an 8 week Mindfulness while I was doing chemo and it was very helpful.
I have learned to breath when I feel fear… Also to ask myself “is this true?” When I am overthinking about some issue…
However fear and anxiety still appear sometimes without any special reason… in the morning for example, right after waking up…
Thank you so much Tara for all your teachings. You have accompanied and helped me during the hardest time of my life, my mother’s illness and death… thank you so much
when my mother died, i lived in my aparment a terrible situation, with my father and with my mother,in niza, and when my mother died i feel fear to loose her, i have a great relation with my sister, she help me a lot in all this things, but i feel when my mother died, desprotegida, i feel in my live, spiritual presence i don´t feel alone, but when my mother died, i feel alone, and i feel fear,now i feel much better my refuge is the oration and this is my company.thank you so much!.
Listening to teachings about fear helps me to see that I’m not alone with those feelings. There are many others, it is normal to have this feelings, I don’t need to hide them or be ashame. It is good, even if it is not easy to talk about them with others. Its helpful to here that I can overcome those feelings. Thankyou for this webinar!
Prayer helps me face fear. Asking myself ‘How’s my now? I am 34 years sober and that helps me face fear. I go to 2 AA and 2 Meditation meetings a week. Jack cornfields book ‘A Path with Heart’ is helping me.
I am 71 years old and my loved 🥰 ones live on the East coast. I live in Issaquah, WA. I am visiting for the first time in 2 years. I am fearful of flying because of COVID and and crazy people in the air and delays. I also am having a hard time riding on the Freeway. Everyone goes too fast! This isn’t pleasing to my husband.
Thank you for this free course!
Jennifer
I see you are from Issaquah. I live in Edmonds. I have the same issue with Freeway and husband. It’s alot! I went to Bastyr and the Dr. gave me GABA pills… and some liquid drops to put under the tunge sp? of (dopiman and serotonin) that work homiopathically) I depend on the mindfulness teachers like Tara, Rick Hansen, and also love John and July Gottman material… Relaionships are strained by the situations present. Also rereading Mindsight by Daniel Siegel.
One thing that has really helped me to face fear is to do the RAIN practice that you shared with me. Another is to call someone and simply talk about the fear. I did this two days ago when for the first time in 6 years, I hosted a group lesson and it was on Zoom, with which I wasn’t very familiar. I called a teacher friend who had been teaching a classroom on Zoom all last year. She asked me about my lesson plan, gave me a suggestion, and boosted my courage. The anxiety was reduced and I was able to do the class.
I am looking forward to the next Awakening the Fearless Heart training.
Yep, deep restorative sleep. Also, I’m turning naps into quiet unfocused awake meditation with music when I need to transition from intense work to physical exercise or from home to going out in the world
Stephanie Mendel, Another Field, Belvedere, CA, USAsays
To face fear I connect with the part of me that loves me, values me and believes in my finding my way back to accepting and valuing myself. A half smile also helps my stomach relax. Humor helps too.
What helps me…is you Tara. I accidentally found your website during the summer of 2013 and have been an avid follower of your teachings and books. I practice R.A.I.N on a regular basis and I am learning slowly the importance of ‘trusting the gold’. So grateful for your free teachings without which I wouldn’t have access to such wonderful guidance and healing. Namate & blessings
I have incorporated self-compassion into the the room through meditations and discussion of allowing the self-compassion to acknowledge, curiosity, and kindness to the emotion of fear within the body.
Starting small and working up to bigger fears. Practice. And thanks to experience of facing fear and holding that feeling with great tenderness, realizing the fear is actually just another key to loving compassion. It’s worth it.
Courage
Fear in a healthy level keeps me mindful and alert and I have leaned to listen to it, talk to it, even at times thank it for being there. It seems if a person doesn’t learn how to read it, that it can get out of balance and goes into the state of chronic anxiety.
I share a similar overview of evolutionary neurophysiology to frame the functions of fear and engage them in being mindful of the present with their senses in order to practice noticing what’s working (safe) in the moment.
Breathing and exercising which incorporates deep breathing, even just fast walking- this helps my body to relax and I can then find the space to face my fears: become curious, think through, plan, come up with steps and solutions. Anything that relaxes you such as music, singing, nature, giving, loved ones…
Therapy, journaling, Healthy Minds App, connecting with nature through swimming, agriculture, being with other animals, etc.
I did with the tightness in my jaw and it spreads through my whole headache and is very painful.
Thanks Tara – this has reminded me to revisit Radical compassion and the RAIN process – so good!!
Getting support from my friends and family.
Understanding of what is happening. Stepping outside, observing, using RAIN to Recognise, allow, accept, notice where it is felt in the body, and asking what they need. Thanks Tara.
Normalising it for myself or clients. Using active externalisation techniques to enable relationship with it.
Thank you Sofia for your informative talk. I have been living with chronic anxiety for the past year. At first all I wanted to do was medicate it away and get to the root the absolute reason for my suffering. But there is NO SINGLE cause but rather a combination of causes. I am learning that I must take care of myself, that I cannot run away or medicate it away. I must accept it, face it and transform the energy and use it to heal myself. I think the serenity prayer says it all. Namaste
Ah, its a life story. Right now though my big deep fears are looming large as I am doing a PhD at age 62. Its like every time I submit written work Im trying and trying and bashing my head against a brick wall and just falling short of where I wanna be. I realised it was fear that was choking me and my relationship with my supervisors – very like the man in the first video you mentioned, who was so in awe of his CEO he choked up in meetings. In doing the PhD I knew I was confronting – head on – my big fears.
What helps me is sharing it, connect with someone who won’t judge me. The other thing that might help me is to actually ask for help. I have recently done it about my fear of driving…. I used to drive a lot, travel long distances and enjoy it. Since an accident, I let my anxiety grow so much that it has control over me now.
So, I am about to face my fear next week. My therapist has suggested to do a session whereby he accompanies me whilst I drive.
Letting go and leaving it in Divine hands.
After going through some years of depression, and therapy, then being diagnosed WITH PTSD five years ago, I was introduced to Mindfulness and Meditation. After going to some classes and continuing with my therapy, in combination with my Spirituality, I was advised to step off the curve into the darkness that I had feared for so many years, to see where it would take me. My Spirituality, DBT, Meditation, and Mindfulness, all in combination has given me a new and wonderful experience with life. I don’t look at life through a lens of fear anymore. I see my life full of newness and purpose and I’m so grateful and thankful for the opportunity and Blessing to work with all of you that has been there with me and for me on this wonderful journey. I look forward to continuing on this path for as long as The Lord has a purpose for me. Thank you to you all.
Accepting the fear that arises, welcoming it, and surrendering to the journey of going into the depths of the sea with an intention to rise to the surface and transform onto land. Within this space I find a sense of grounding within the fear.
Avoidance is only a temporary fix. Avoidance makes what we’re afraid of scarier.
Embrace the cactus
Leaning into the fear, having a supportive network to lighten up the perceived fear and being kind and compassionate to self and others, prayer and meditation.
Not being alone, having someone else or my dog and cat with me.
If I am alone, I can try to calm down with deepening my breathing and looking around my space to pay attention to things I see to become aware of the present moment, being safe in the present moment. Once I am calmer, I can problem solve about the situation that is scaring me… explore options for taking action to deal with it.
Connecting with trust in the ultimate outcome of goodness in my life, opening a heart space, hand on heart and breathing into it, repeating I’m ok, I’m ok. Or maybe it could be surrounding other beings (animal as well as human) in other places experiencing bad things with heart energy and prayer for an end to their suffering, for them to be held in energies of love and compassion.
Lol, that all sounds great when I am NOT feeling fear. Being able to interrupt a fear reaction in progress seems more like a crap shoot of whether I can do any of those things or not.
Thank you for the video. I found it helpful. Lately, I’ve been imagining a swirling ball of light in my belly. It seems to loosen the grip of fear.
The ‘real but not true’ statement for myself and clients. Also doing various Tara Brach courses and listening to her podcasts daily so that i keep being reminded, encouraged, inspired and so i keep learning so that i can give the best care/hold the space in the mental health and suicide prevention work that i do.
Meditation and movement
Good energy flow within which is aided by self-nurturing habits. (Sleep, movement, meditation). Loving these difficult sharp edges of my Being having exchanges with reality. This is not natural or easy yet and requires slowing the patterned response that hasn’t been examined in the light and in a friendly way. Anxiety over big untouchable systemic calamities are the worst; not for me personally but for our children and grandchildren. When I resolved to at least personally never to create disruption mindlessly by over consuming or wasting, that helped my conscience. But how to spread mindful living so that human multitudes can create meaningful pivot? Thanks for this query and this series!
Dear Tara:
I have a great problem now…I hate everyone, everything. It burns in my chest I do not know what to do. help
Just listening to Tara frequently helps me in so many ways. Facing fear is just one of them. Thank you Tara
Pause and Remembering :
F.forgetting
E. everythings
A all
R right
Vs. the 12 step adage…
F ___k
E everything
A and
R run
🙂
I find it helpful to focus my attention on a releasing breath – a deep inhale and stronger exhale through the mouth – until I feel myself resting more in my core which feels more stable. As you suggest, I try to let the fear be there but I also use language to identify it eg., I’ll be rejected, look stupid etc. and then I offer some self-compassion.
Will use it on myself to begin with. Thanks
You and your writings Tara are immensouly helpful to me.
Takes time but I am practicing.
Thank you
BILL BURNS
Focusing on something Higher used to help me so much, but right now after just getting the diagnose of Non-Hokdgkin’s Lymphoma is not helping, I feel very lost and my spiritual practice is no longer helping me as it used to, to keep focusing on something higher.
I also experienced fear when diagnosed with Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. Cancer is very scary. I needed to talk to others who survived and to get clear answers from my doctors as to the treatment and prognosis. I also had to grieve the loss of my health as I knew it. A spiritual director had told me in the past that one is not able to feel God when grieving. Hearing that was helpful because I did not feel that it was just me that could not feel that connection. My diagnosis was in 2016 and I have been in remission and good health after chemotherapy and preventative immunotherapy. I attended an 8 week Mindfulness while I was doing chemo and it was very helpful.
I have learned to breath when I feel fear… Also to ask myself “is this true?” When I am overthinking about some issue…
However fear and anxiety still appear sometimes without any special reason… in the morning for example, right after waking up…
Thank you so much Tara for all your teachings. You have accompanied and helped me during the hardest time of my life, my mother’s illness and death… thank you so much
Taking a deep breath and concentrating on the exhalation
when my mother died, i lived in my aparment a terrible situation, with my father and with my mother,in niza, and when my mother died i feel fear to loose her, i have a great relation with my sister, she help me a lot in all this things, but i feel when my mother died, desprotegida, i feel in my live, spiritual presence i don´t feel alone, but when my mother died, i feel alone, and i feel fear,now i feel much better my refuge is the oration and this is my company.thank you so much!.
courage to keep moving
Listening to teachings about fear helps me to see that I’m not alone with those feelings. There are many others, it is normal to have this feelings, I don’t need to hide them or be ashame. It is good, even if it is not easy to talk about them with others. Its helpful to here that I can overcome those feelings. Thankyou for this webinar!
Remembering a time when I was open and receptive in Art and Nature.
A time I created without an audience or judgement. For myself and
the spirit.
I usually find that there is a deeper fear that I haven’t articulated yet. Deep meditation helps me get through those layers.
Another compassionate being
To investigate the fear with compassion.
I send my angels ahead to make things right for me. I use loving kindness or Metta when people cut me off on the freeways.
Meditation and coming back into their body
Prayer and closing my eyes breathing deep and imagining in my mind a beautiful view.
Prayer helps me face fear. Asking myself ‘How’s my now? I am 34 years sober and that helps me face fear. I go to 2 AA and 2 Meditation meetings a week. Jack cornfields book ‘A Path with Heart’ is helping me.
I am 71 years old and my loved 🥰 ones live on the East coast. I live in Issaquah, WA. I am visiting for the first time in 2 years. I am fearful of flying because of COVID and and crazy people in the air and delays. I also am having a hard time riding on the Freeway. Everyone goes too fast! This isn’t pleasing to my husband.
Thank you for this free course!
Jennifer
I see you are from Issaquah. I live in Edmonds. I have the same issue with Freeway and husband. It’s alot! I went to Bastyr and the Dr. gave me GABA pills… and some liquid drops to put under the tunge sp? of (dopiman and serotonin) that work homiopathically) I depend on the mindfulness teachers like Tara, Rick Hansen, and also love John and July Gottman material… Relaionships are strained by the situations present. Also rereading Mindsight by Daniel Siegel.
Thank you Tara,
One thing that has really helped me to face fear is to do the RAIN practice that you shared with me. Another is to call someone and simply talk about the fear. I did this two days ago when for the first time in 6 years, I hosted a group lesson and it was on Zoom, with which I wasn’t very familiar. I called a teacher friend who had been teaching a classroom on Zoom all last year. She asked me about my lesson plan, gave me a suggestion, and boosted my courage. The anxiety was reduced and I was able to do the class.
I am looking forward to the next Awakening the Fearless Heart training.
Cynthia Fagan
I, speaking for myself Pray , then try to figure out different solutions and solve the problem one step at a time ,
Sleep
Yep, deep restorative sleep. Also, I’m turning naps into quiet unfocused awake meditation with music when I need to transition from intense work to physical exercise or from home to going out in the world
To face fear I connect with the part of me that loves me, values me and believes in my finding my way back to accepting and valuing myself. A half smile also helps my stomach relax. Humor helps too.