I just came home from spending three days in New York City for Gabrielle Bernstein’s Spirit Junkie Master Class. It was an amazing, transformative weekend and I’m still processing it all, but I know that what I learned during those three days will continue to spill out into my blog, coaching and all that I do.

Today, I want to share with you one of the most powerful tools we learned over the weekend, and that is a simple technique for releasing fear. I first learned a version of this technique from my therapist a few years ago when I was working on letting go of anxiety.  For years, I would get hit with these anxiety storms, seemingly out of nowhere, and I felt powerless to overcome them. When I felt the anxiety coming up I would either try to avoid it altogether or numb it out with food (they don’t call it “nervous snacking” for nothing 😉 ) – neither of which ever worked.  Rather than ride out the feeling, I fought against it which only amplified the anxiety and made things worse.

The way my therapist explained it, resisting the anxiety was like struggling in quicksand, it was only taking me deeper. Rather, she said, I needed to accept the feeling and breathe into it. This concept seemed so counterintuitive to me at first.  “But what do you mean breathe into it?” I would ask her. The tool I’m about to share with you explains exactly what she meant.

Below are the steps for releasing fear outlined by Gabrielle Bernstein as taught to her by her coach, Rha Goddess (who, for those of you who don’t know, is basically a badass in heels).

A 90 Second Tool for Releasing Fear

1. Identify where in your body you feel the fear. Close your eyes and allow yourself to feel it. Maybe it’s a dull ache in your chest or a constriction in your throat. I often feel fear as a nervousness in the pit of my stomach.

2. Breathe into the feeling for 90 seconds. Allow yourself to really feel it. This is going to  feel uncomfortable. That’s ok. Remember, it’s only 90 seconds! Move past the resistance and allow the change to happen.

3. Surrender the feeling and consciously ask for it to be transformed. Give it over to the Universe, spirit, your higher power or whatever you believe in and set the intention for it to be transformed. 

4. Repeat. Use this any time you feel the fear coming up. Over time, you will feel it start to dissipate. In some cases you may even feel the fear transform instantly.

By letting go of fear, rather than resisting it or numbing it out with food, alcohol, work or whatever you allow yourself to break free of your ego’s patterns that are keeping you stuck. You release what’s holding you back and you become more of who you really are. When you can learn to simply be with the fear, it no longer has power over you.

I hope this tool serves you. If you try it, leave me a comment below and let me know how it goes! 🙂

xoxo

Kristi