How to Overcome Fear
Article by Emily Wojcik - Updated November 2021. Join the Wild Free Organic email newsletter!
I have a deep desire for keeping my emotional energy flowing. Fear is one emotion that stops everything dead in its tracks. When I let emotions sit, they (like food) can go undigested and become toxic to the health, wellness, and balance of my whole being.
Take a breath with me
Relax your jaw and facial muscles. Let your shoulders down. Surrender any other tension you may be feeling in your body.
Breathe into the newly relaxed space within you, gifting yourself with as much expansion as is comforting.
Surrender the mind into an effortless concentration as you absorb the following perspective.
This is a safe space for all who read:
There are moments in our lives that trigger us: our hearts sink into our guts (and our butts) when we learn about something that terrifies us or we find ourselves in a precarious situation.
The world stops for an eternal moment.
Our emotions flare.
Our physical bodies show tangible signs of disruption.
Our minds race around in circles to find anything to hang on to-- any semblance of familiarity, comfort, justification or reasoning.
How do we manage ourselves when we are experiencing all of this?
The Physiology of Fear
The autonomic nervous system (the part of the body that functions without conscious thought) is the aspect that responds to fear first. It sets off a series of chemical reactions throughout many parts of the brain and into the rest of the body.
Blood vessels constrict, heart rate and breathing increases, muscles contract, sweat beads.
We may even feel our body wants to extricate the food we were in the middle of digesting. *cue reminiscent love for the previous meal </3
Since we are faced with varying degrees of stimuli, our bodies will have varying responses. Our subconscious beliefs, programming, and conditioning come to the surface. This can be what our bodies remember from previous experiences and/or how our parents and ancestors responded to fear.
Do you know how your body responds to fear?
You may be thinking: Emily, why would I want to know that? I don’t want to feel any fear ever.
It’s not the slightest bit fun. In fact, feeling fear in my body scares me just as much (if not more) than the trigger itself.
I have to agree… it’s not in my Pleasant Experiences Category either. But I am capable of feeling fear ripple through my mind, body, and emotions and that makes it a wonderfully viable aspect of me to observe and artfully master.
Okay, Emily, fabulous… how do we go about that? Below is the approach I take.
Four Steps to Overcoming Fear
1. Tune into the Breath
There is extraordinary power in Presence. We can absolutely get wrapped up in and overwhelmed by the physical body’s response—that is ultimately what makes emotions such a real experience: the physical body responds to a cascade of chemical reactions and produces new sensations. Those sensations can absolutely be alarming and don’t necessarily make it easier to consciously process the situation.
By breathing deeply and slowly, you welcome your full focus to witness how the inhales and exhales feel. Pulling your awareness into the present moment allows busyness to subside, anxiety and worry to disappear. Physiologically, slow deep breathes share oxygen with every cell and slow the heart rate. You’re giving yourself permission to become centered, grounded, and rational when surrendering into that state.
2. Drop into the body
Imagine your awareness dropping like a rock in a pond into the root of your pelvis. You can begin to breathe in more deeply into the body; really feeling your vessel. Fear challenges everything that we know about ourselves. It’s an extremely intimate experience. It is empowering beyond measure to witness and BE with yourself during your most vulnerable moments.
3. Drop any inner resistance by relaxing the mind
When we hit a limit of how much we think we can handle; we unconsciously tense our bodies. Here is a challenge to change behavior: allow stimuli, information, and emotions to flow through you without resistance. You step into your Higher Seat of Consciousness when you make the choice to observe yourself and experiences. I learned about equanimity and neutrality when I sat in Vipassana for 10 days. I’ve personally found this to be highly beneficial for a deeper and more thorough understanding of myself and the situation at hand.
4. As it is safe to do so, sit with it
Light a yummy smelling candle, dim the lights, get a soft blanket—soothe your senses as a way to be gentle and kind to yourself. Mastering the fear response is not an easy human lesson. Remember how deeply you love yourself, and make this part as sensationally delicious as possible to ease your way. Hold safe space for your Self to feel every suppressed thought and physical sensation that has been building up pressure, friction, and conflict within you. You can gift yourself with this intentional space to feel and process emotions that are held in your field and your physical body. Being purposeful with this process can hold the subconscious “Things to Process” door wide open. This is both an effective and efficient way to process and integrate emotional pain: going all in and feeling it fully.
This four step practice is definitely character building. The emotions don’t decrease in intensity, but we can choose to be empowered to respond in new ways to our lived experiences. Once I was able to embrace the courage I needed to develop a deep sense of Trust with myself, I was able to grant myself full permission to process emotions in a satisfying and effortless flow.
The Connection between Fear and Gut Health
Fear is such a powerful emotion that it interacts significantly with the physical body. One place that fear has the greatest impact is the digestive system. Depending on how strongly and how long fear is experienced, it can affect gut motility (the time it takes food to transit through the digestive system), the level at which food is digested, and how at ease you feel throughout digestion. Since being in a fearful state can degrade gut health, having poor digestion will leave you more vulnerable to experiencing fear. Prioritizing gut health with the FoodFast method while at the same time utilizing the meditation practice above will allow you to overcome fear triggers and responses that previously may have been crippling.
Overall, this is an amazing way to level up your your relationship with yourself and deepen into a successful gut health journey.
I love you
Be well,
Emily