Hi Fear, meet Courage!
Is our fear rational or irrational? And how many times have fear held you back from thriving?
Let's look at courage and its relationship to fear.
Courage, along with trust in your own abilities, already starts to be awakened at the Solar Plexus Chakra, but it is also a quality of the Heart Chakra.
Franklin D. Roosevelt said, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself", but wouldn't ignoring your fear act more as a fertiliser for it? Wouldn't fearing fear just create more fear? or come back and bite you in the butt later? I'm not sure ignoring the emotion, or any emotion, would be my advice to you from me.
Where do you experience fear in your yoga practice?
Maybe it's in Pincha Mayurasana (scared of falling over)? Maybe it's in a Warrior pose (scared of your legs not holding you up as long as you wish to)? Maybe it's coming to class at all (scared of how you're going to look in front of others)?
Next time you feel that tickle down your back, the tightness in your belly or heart, or however you experience this emotion of fear, I invite you to see it as an opportunity to explore more of your current circumstances and why this energy is there? (emotions are energy in motion). I invite you to approach it with curiosity & openness. Could you send Courage to greet Fear and ask:
“Hey there Fear, what's on your mind today? What do you have to say? Is there something you’d like to teach me? Are you rational / irrational?”
Sometimes, fear is there as a warning sign from our gut instinct to keep us safe & protect us. Sometimes, action will be beneficial and we will thank ourselves for listening. But other times, we'll discover that the feeling arising is a result of the conditioning of our mind and our habitual patterns (Samskaras), one example is self-doubt, and that it may just be irrational and unhelpful for our growth. Fear may be holding you back without any good reason. In this case, it may be good for us to sit down with the emotion for a while, courageously and patiently - taking the cold hand of fear into the warm hands of courage. A mudra like Abhaya Mudra or Abhaya Hrdaya Mudra could be helpful. The whisper of fear, may gradually turn into a cheer of courage! Patience and consistent practice of Svadhyaya (self study) is key here. We'll start to notice when and where fear shows up and as we learn to understand it, we learn how to respond.
"Fear itself is not to be feared, but to be heard and understood"
How do I know if the fear I feel is rational or irrational?
My suggested “answer” is: Learning to know yourself better through self-study and practice (Svadhyaya) is going to guide you to answer that question yourself. Your yoga practice is a perfect tool for finding clarity and truth. When you step on the mat (or off the mat) to practice yoga, you are diving in to understand the depth of who you are, including the signals from your body - A journey through the self to the Self.
