Facing Fear: The Power of Yoga Practice

Fear is the emotional imbalance associated with the water element and the winter season. It’s another emotion I’m well versed with and one I’ve only recently decided to face head on. Instead of embracing ‘Fearless Friday’ I’m acknowledging fearlessness. In fact I’m the furthest from that – I’m a big feartie! But there are plenty of ways I have learned how to overcome fear with yoga.

Getting Comfortable

To set the scene, I have been struggling to push myself out of my comfort zone. Instead I’ve been content to stay firmly in a warm and cosy area of my life. But nothing good ever comes from comfort zones, we never learn to fall or to fly.

My comfort zone involved not attending yoga classes. By avoiding what I once loved, my passion for it began to dwindle. Teaching my classes didn’t bring me the joy I once felt. I believed that I was being formulaic and my clients were getting bored of my teachings. But pushing ourselves is a little more challenging. Sometimes familiarity is the element we all crave and which can help calm anxieties through routine and predictability.

How Fear Works?

So why was I afraid? Well like all fears it comes from a place of complexity but is actually quite simple in its roots. I had created a story in my mind which over the course of 6 years grew quite considerably. I convinced myself that I would not be welcome at the classes. So I didn’t go. a

All my studies in Traditional Chinese Medicine tells me that fear is related to the water element. We can freeze much like a stream in cold weather. In terms of our Autonomic Nervous System this is also known as fight, flight or freeze. This is a response designed to protect us from physical or mental injury. My brain was simply protecting me by convincing me not to go to classes. So I didn’t push myself to face a challenge.

Facing and Overcoming Fears with Yoga

But I did. I found a class and booked myself in before heading out on a very cold Sunday morning. I decided to head to a very gentle and restorative class, and it all worked out quite well. The teacher was nice, other people taking part in the class spoke to me and I survived. Point proven. My Nervous System did not need to protect me, in fact it needed to take a step back and allow me to get on with things.

One class was the start and over the course of the week I managed to attend another class. This one didn’t go quite so smoothly – I got lost, couldn’t find parking and it was dark. When I arrived I realised I was booked into the wrong class. So I found myself in the self-led Mysore class instead of the Beginners Class. As I moved through the familiar sequence of poses I realised that just how much my fear had held me back.

Digging Deeper into Overcoming Fears

Suddenly on my mat in a room full of strangers I confronted the biggest fear of all – the fear or not being good enough! I accepted support from the teachers, I smiled and spoke with other students and in my head I made plans to return. Leaving the class I felt overwhelmed, because I had been reminded of how much the practice of yoga can help us to shift physically and on a much deeper level.

Through facing my fears this week I’ve realised why I began practicing yoga in the first place – it was to deal with the intrusive thoughts in my head. This is where the opposite of fear – wisdom – becomes evident. By proving to myself that I can push out of my comfort zone I’m creating new neural pathways to help me do this more in the future. My comfort zone is expanding and I’m rewiring my brain in the process, all through heading to a couple of yoga classes.

Overcome fear with yoga

In a way I’m glad that I’ve had this experience because it helps me to better understand the challenges of those coming along to my classes. I’ve been to other yoga classes and know what I liked and what I didn’t like. My classes are welcoming and inclusive, I hope. But I have needed that gentle bravery to help me move forwards and to reconnect with my passion for this amazing practice. Yoga is so much more than physical movements on a mat that you can or cannot do – it’s an inner practice of working through tough emotions and expanding ourselves beyond what we thought was possible.

So if you’re thinking of heading to a class and fear is taking over preventing you from moving forwards, try a small step to expand your comfort zone. You could try this short Grounding Class for winter as a way to overcome fear with yoga. Build your wisdom to overcome your fear and don’t let it hold you back from finding something that will make you feel happy.