The wide range of responses posted points to the complexity of addressing our fears. I make my way with the processes of rational, somatic, relationship, and mindful practice.
what helps me at times is making art about those fears, more than talking about them.
sometimes in retreats talking to other women who are on the same path of spirituality, helps as well.
Dear Tara, I.m not a good English speaker, so please excuse if I don’t pick the right words. Despite it I wanted to leave a comment. To breathe helps me to face fear. Focusing on my breath is like to provide an other stimulus and let fear become smaller. Thank you for your wonderful valuable work🙏🏼 Tomke from Germany
a daily routine of things that calm down my nervous system like slow walks in nature, yoga, meditation and especially for me as a 5rhythms dance teacher dancing and listening to music I love help me to stop thinking about future and past and to land in the present moment here and now inside of my body.
My life has been severely damaged by fear since I was young. I found this introduction compelling and motivating it also touched me as authentic. Thank you.
Learning to ride the unpleasant physical sensations of fear and recognise that these are no more than the products of my own anxious thoughts and beliefs, which have become a habit. This is work in progress. Thankyou Tara. I have found your talks and meditations so helpful.
Annie Schlachet, Counseling, Pompano Beach, FL, USAsays
That was very good to listen to and it helped me consider how to help clients in various ways. I am also wondering about the best way to help and comfort clients who are both afraid and angry about the horrific situation in Israel, having lost loved ones and being realistically scared of daily physical and psychological threats to their daily lives.
Thank you.
I have a regular meditation practice and often when I feel triggered I know it’s my core belief in action „ I don’t matter – I don’t belong „ I can see the connection to self doubt and lack of confidence – who would I be if i didn’t belief this? A great question Tara is posing. Yeah, I can see trauma and deep conditioning at the core of it and it’s not easy to feel and see that these thoughts are real but not true – so yes any support on that path is greatly appreciated. I love and deeply appreciate Tara‘s talks and the rain practice ❤️ especially the nurturing and compassionate part towards self loathing and self doubt has been so important to me. It’s hard at times to be my own best friend. So thank for for all your sharing, support and wisdom. 🙏Christel from Australia
Discussing my feeling with people who are closed to me. I feel understood supported and not isolated with my concerns. I use breathing to calm my mind and body and it reduces significantly my fear(s). Physical activities are great for a lot of my client and myself for improving the mood and reduced obsessive thoughts .
Just knowing Im not alone helps me. Sometimes I feel like an outcast. Logically I realise this is only my perception however my body reacts like it’s true. Calming needs to happen so I ‘see clearly’.
What’s helpful is learning to apply mindfulness to the need to let go of a train of fearful thoughts, Find seeds of positivity, and concentrate instead on the present moment (including the breath).
Anger is often hiding fear, and we deserve to listen to the fear and give ourselves the comfort and safety we didn’t get at the time. We’ll still be able to share, if we need to, what we would like to see change (the “message” of the anger) – but it will be easier to share in a way that might be heard, and bring connection rather than fire!
My client benefit for identifying , connecting and communicating with their fears. By allowing unpleasant emotions to be without the need to attach or run away from.
Irena Danys, Stress Management, Laconia, NH, USAsays
Beginning with guided self-compassion practices, including compassionate body scanning, to allow gentle reconnection and befriending with bodily sensations and signals, opening to compassion for self and others, to reduce the sense of isolation, to reframe “my fear” to “the fear”, knowing that one is not alone, nor abnormal in feeling this way.
What helps me face fear :
Just sitting with it, breathing with it, giving it space, allowing it to be, accepting it, and trying my best to befriend it. These are the things I try to do.
I am a runner from conflict. I have been my entire life. There are times in the past where I faced fear (eg starting a new job and going in on day 1 or applying for a new job and going in for the interview), public speaking. The list goes on. Basically, I forced myself to go and confront my fears by going in to the new job or interview, having that difficult discussion with your boss, etc. Lately however, I am afraid of my financial future and my health to work long past retirement age. This is going to be necessary, as I lost my spouce on 12/26/23.
Hopefully deal with intense anxiety. Problems driving, or being a passenger. I’ve driven my entire life (I’m 71), and grieve not being able to drive long freeways or highways. Losing my independence etc. 😞
No matter what happens I’m trying to remind myself that all causes of current suffering are inside, not outside. Everytime we feel bad, we try to blame some outer circumstances but in reality any unpleasant feelings are results of working of perception. We suffer when we believe that the world is at blame and try to change it to our (precisely to “our” perception) likings.
Hi, i work with Medical students, adolescents at the day care and ptsd ,and trauma experiencing clients.
I use meditation, imagination, grounding, CBCT methodsin my sessions. I also work with family members of psychiatric youth clients.
I find interbal sources so important, promising happier, meaningful, independent life.
I love Tara Brach lectures and energies .
She always inspires me a lot
I work with clients who experience fear and trauma from the past and present. I believe having additional ways to help others grow through these can be powerful.
My goal in therapy is to assist people learn to be the person they want to be and to live in peace and contentment in the life they have.
By mindfully noticing the bodily sensations that accompany fear, and that signal to our minds that there is something that may be harmful around the corner, we notice that the sensations themselves, while uncomfortable, are not something that we cannot survive. If we have practiced mindfulness enough, we can even use these sensations as an anchor, one that is generally easy to pay attention to, given it’s intensity; noticing it’s nuances: how does this fear feel different than that fear? When we realize and acknowledge that the sensations themselves are mostly what is causing us to freeze, to resist, or to run away in avoidance, we can calmly tell ourselves that we can survive this; it’s uncomfortable, but I’ll be ok. and maybe there’s even a part of it that can satisfy our curiosity, that we can embrace, and that we can use to motivate us, to get us in motion again; unstuck.
I call many of my intense reactions that produce anxious thoughts my trauma brain. I then can separate the feeling and I can figure out why and where
it is coming from. Then by naming it I can explain to myself and others what is happening and try to make changes.
Thanks dear Tara for this great summary.
Yes – acknowledging fear is crucial.
I am working with the edge against facing the fear. Often it’s a fear of getting swallowed by this altered state of consciousness.
So shifting awareness to proprioception often helps but not always.
I some cases I invite the client to find a safe inner space of home, which can be imagined intuitively in the body…from there the client enters through shifting from the place of the deepest self in the body to an earth spot, which comes up in a dreamlike way… this experience is a dreamdoor to express this perception through body posture, gesture, movement, sometime sound and this way, a sense of being held in oneself can arise. From there we can face the context, that triggers fear.
I’ve been watching and meditating with Tara (on Youtube) for many years. As someone with chronic Anxiety, I have learned that the best way is, as she says, to sit with the feeling and allow it space. I will practice a R.A.I.N or speak directly to the fear in a soothing way, letting it know that we’re safe, we’re no long in a passed life where things were stressful. All is well.
acknowledge the fear
lable it as feear, anxiety etc
accept it. don’t resisit it.
refocus to your task at hand
move on and show your brain you are not paying any more attention to this unproductive thought.
In my personal experience, fear of uncertainty is omnipresent, and even those who have learned to manage it very well, sometimes find themselves stuck in its aura. Learning and practicing with new techniques and perspectives can allow us to more often use it to our advantage. Consistent and regular practice is essential, and having more tools to work with, both personally and with clients, can make this regular practice more attainable, especially for the neurodivergent minds that may struggle more with boredom and distraction.
I engage in a simple mindfulness practice…deep-breathing, recognizing the here and now. I do retreat to a safe place…in a way I am lucky to have a safe place. I am grateful for this realizing that many do not.
When I am aware of my breath, and focusing on the present. I can move the fear thoughts to the side and deal with them more systematically later.
Acknowledging when fear is present, and if the capacity is available dropping into the body and sensation. Where do I feel the fear? Taking a breath or two to be with the sensation of fear. noticing what happens next, in the body. Moving from overthinking to sensation. With practice in small doses to move from overthinking to sensations, the emotion of fear transforms.
I am no longer a practioner, having retired almost 2 years ago. I’m a decades long learner in how to work with various issues, trauma, fear, anxiety, depression, disocciation. I found it interesting that with all the things I’ve done that focussed on breathing that I noticed that I was breathing very shallowly a lot of the time almost as if I was trying to not breathe at all. So I’ve made a larger part of my personal practice to check in with my breathing. I am astounded at the difference it’s made in just my overall sense of wellbeing, particularly with various kinds of disocciation and anxiety. Also grounding exercises and journalling.
I face fear by slowing down my breath, taking three deep ones, longer outbreath and doing metta. I try to just be with what is. I’m always working on not being reactionary in these moments.
The wide range of responses posted points to the complexity of addressing our fears. I make my way with the processes of rational, somatic, relationship, and mindful practice.
what helps me at times is making art about those fears, more than talking about them.
sometimes in retreats talking to other women who are on the same path of spirituality, helps as well.
not to fight it, just be with it and feel it in your body
Very helpful. Thank you.
Dear Tara, I.m not a good English speaker, so please excuse if I don’t pick the right words. Despite it I wanted to leave a comment. To breathe helps me to face fear. Focusing on my breath is like to provide an other stimulus and let fear become smaller. Thank you for your wonderful valuable work🙏🏼 Tomke from Germany
a daily routine of things that calm down my nervous system like slow walks in nature, yoga, meditation and especially for me as a 5rhythms dance teacher dancing and listening to music I love help me to stop thinking about future and past and to land in the present moment here and now inside of my body.
As I practice mindfulness I am finding RAIN helpful. Thank you Tara
My life has been severely damaged by fear since I was young. I found this introduction compelling and motivating it also touched me as authentic. Thank you.
Learning to ride the unpleasant physical sensations of fear and recognise that these are no more than the products of my own anxious thoughts and beliefs, which have become a habit. This is work in progress. Thankyou Tara. I have found your talks and meditations so helpful.
Somatic yinyoga sessions for fear
That was very good to listen to and it helped me consider how to help clients in various ways. I am also wondering about the best way to help and comfort clients who are both afraid and angry about the horrific situation in Israel, having lost loved ones and being realistically scared of daily physical and psychological threats to their daily lives.
Thank you.
What helps most, I think, is a loving and caring presence as a way to create a safe space to explore fear together.
Using some of Tara’s guided meditations regularly
I have a regular meditation practice and often when I feel triggered I know it’s my core belief in action „ I don’t matter – I don’t belong „ I can see the connection to self doubt and lack of confidence – who would I be if i didn’t belief this? A great question Tara is posing. Yeah, I can see trauma and deep conditioning at the core of it and it’s not easy to feel and see that these thoughts are real but not true – so yes any support on that path is greatly appreciated. I love and deeply appreciate Tara‘s talks and the rain practice ❤️ especially the nurturing and compassionate part towards self loathing and self doubt has been so important to me. It’s hard at times to be my own best friend. So thank for for all your sharing, support and wisdom. 🙏Christel from Australia
Accepting the strong feelings. Then riding it through with a mindful and compassionate heart.
let the body experience the sensations of fear without resistance and without the story of the mind.
Discussing my feeling with people who are closed to me. I feel understood supported and not isolated with my concerns. I use breathing to calm my mind and body and it reduces significantly my fear(s). Physical activities are great for a lot of my client and myself for improving the mood and reduced obsessive thoughts .
Just knowing Im not alone helps me. Sometimes I feel like an outcast. Logically I realise this is only my perception however my body reacts like it’s true. Calming needs to happen so I ‘see clearly’.
What’s helpful is learning to apply mindfulness to the need to let go of a train of fearful thoughts, Find seeds of positivity, and concentrate instead on the present moment (including the breath).
Anger is often hiding fear, and we deserve to listen to the fear and give ourselves the comfort and safety we didn’t get at the time. We’ll still be able to share, if we need to, what we would like to see change (the “message” of the anger) – but it will be easier to share in a way that might be heard, and bring connection rather than fire!
My client benefit for identifying , connecting and communicating with their fears. By allowing unpleasant emotions to be without the need to attach or run away from.
I hope to use it in my own life first..”..the daughters of the Buddha are fearless “…a koan I Iove …..to live each moment in the present…
Beginning with guided self-compassion practices, including compassionate body scanning, to allow gentle reconnection and befriending with bodily sensations and signals, opening to compassion for self and others, to reduce the sense of isolation, to reframe “my fear” to “the fear”, knowing that one is not alone, nor abnormal in feeling this way.
Mindfulness and the wanting to be here. I learned over time that staying with the experience helps a lot.
I get into fear paralysis / procrastination when it is an important / impactful task. I want to know how to get out of the cycle.
What helps me face fear :
Just sitting with it, breathing with it, giving it space, allowing it to be, accepting it, and trying my best to befriend it. These are the things I try to do.
I am a runner from conflict. I have been my entire life. There are times in the past where I faced fear (eg starting a new job and going in on day 1 or applying for a new job and going in for the interview), public speaking. The list goes on. Basically, I forced myself to go and confront my fears by going in to the new job or interview, having that difficult discussion with your boss, etc. Lately however, I am afraid of my financial future and my health to work long past retirement age. This is going to be necessary, as I lost my spouce on 12/26/23.
to know that i am not alone
as i continue to process & be courageous enough to stay on the Path of the Heart..no matter what
that i am learning to accept everything..ie all the feelings within my body
regardless
that is from a ground of fear in all it’s manifestations
Excellent presentation demonstrating Dr. T. Brach’s knowledge, competencies, and skills. Ronald Klein, PhD, ABPP/Psychologist
Physical exercise
Community service
Praying and meditating
Hopefully deal with intense anxiety. Problems driving, or being a passenger. I’ve driven my entire life (I’m 71), and grieve not being able to drive long freeways or highways. Losing my independence etc. 😞
No matter what happens I’m trying to remind myself that all causes of current suffering are inside, not outside. Everytime we feel bad, we try to blame some outer circumstances but in reality any unpleasant feelings are results of working of perception. We suffer when we believe that the world is at blame and try to change it to our (precisely to “our” perception) likings.
Hi, i work with Medical students, adolescents at the day care and ptsd ,and trauma experiencing clients.
I use meditation, imagination, grounding, CBCT methodsin my sessions. I also work with family members of psychiatric youth clients.
I find interbal sources so important, promising happier, meaningful, independent life.
I love Tara Brach lectures and energies .
She always inspires me a lot
MedItation
I work with clients who experience fear and trauma from the past and present. I believe having additional ways to help others grow through these can be powerful.
My goal in therapy is to assist people learn to be the person they want to be and to live in peace and contentment in the life they have.
By mindfully noticing the bodily sensations that accompany fear, and that signal to our minds that there is something that may be harmful around the corner, we notice that the sensations themselves, while uncomfortable, are not something that we cannot survive. If we have practiced mindfulness enough, we can even use these sensations as an anchor, one that is generally easy to pay attention to, given it’s intensity; noticing it’s nuances: how does this fear feel different than that fear? When we realize and acknowledge that the sensations themselves are mostly what is causing us to freeze, to resist, or to run away in avoidance, we can calmly tell ourselves that we can survive this; it’s uncomfortable, but I’ll be ok. and maybe there’s even a part of it that can satisfy our curiosity, that we can embrace, and that we can use to motivate us, to get us in motion again; unstuck.
I call many of my intense reactions that produce anxious thoughts my trauma brain. I then can separate the feeling and I can figure out why and where
it is coming from. Then by naming it I can explain to myself and others what is happening and try to make changes.
Thanks dear Tara for this great summary.
Yes – acknowledging fear is crucial.
I am working with the edge against facing the fear. Often it’s a fear of getting swallowed by this altered state of consciousness.
So shifting awareness to proprioception often helps but not always.
I some cases I invite the client to find a safe inner space of home, which can be imagined intuitively in the body…from there the client enters through shifting from the place of the deepest self in the body to an earth spot, which comes up in a dreamlike way… this experience is a dreamdoor to express this perception through body posture, gesture, movement, sometime sound and this way, a sense of being held in oneself can arise. From there we can face the context, that triggers fear.
I’ve been watching and meditating with Tara (on Youtube) for many years. As someone with chronic Anxiety, I have learned that the best way is, as she says, to sit with the feeling and allow it space. I will practice a R.A.I.N or speak directly to the fear in a soothing way, letting it know that we’re safe, we’re no long in a passed life where things were stressful. All is well.
acknowledge the fear
lable it as feear, anxiety etc
accept it. don’t resisit it.
refocus to your task at hand
move on and show your brain you are not paying any more attention to this unproductive thought.
Facing the fear and knowing the fact that it’s not going to kill and it’s irrational, one can get rid of any kind of fear.
I would like to have each day filled with joy instead of worry and fear about the future.
In my personal experience, fear of uncertainty is omnipresent, and even those who have learned to manage it very well, sometimes find themselves stuck in its aura. Learning and practicing with new techniques and perspectives can allow us to more often use it to our advantage. Consistent and regular practice is essential, and having more tools to work with, both personally and with clients, can make this regular practice more attainable, especially for the neurodivergent minds that may struggle more with boredom and distraction.
I engage in a simple mindfulness practice…deep-breathing, recognizing the here and now. I do retreat to a safe place…in a way I am lucky to have a safe place. I am grateful for this realizing that many do not.
When I am aware of my breath, and focusing on the present. I can move the fear thoughts to the side and deal with them more systematically later.
Acknowledging when fear is present, and if the capacity is available dropping into the body and sensation. Where do I feel the fear? Taking a breath or two to be with the sensation of fear. noticing what happens next, in the body. Moving from overthinking to sensation. With practice in small doses to move from overthinking to sensations, the emotion of fear transforms.
I am no longer a practioner, having retired almost 2 years ago. I’m a decades long learner in how to work with various issues, trauma, fear, anxiety, depression, disocciation. I found it interesting that with all the things I’ve done that focussed on breathing that I noticed that I was breathing very shallowly a lot of the time almost as if I was trying to not breathe at all. So I’ve made a larger part of my personal practice to check in with my breathing. I am astounded at the difference it’s made in just my overall sense of wellbeing, particularly with various kinds of disocciation and anxiety. Also grounding exercises and journalling.
I chant
Breathwork; yoga nidra, exercise, music
Creating safety and love
I face fear by slowing down my breath, taking three deep ones, longer outbreath and doing metta. I try to just be with what is. I’m always working on not being reactionary in these moments.
Really enlightening perspective on fear as sort of a companion or ally.