Overcoming the fear...

I did my first head stand in yoga class this past Monday. For those who know me, know that I've been practicing yoga for over a year now and I always dreaded doing head stands. The whole feet over my head thing just wasn't doing it for me. I was afraid every time I even attempted it in class. When the teacher would instruct us to pull our mats to the wall, clasp your hands together and place your head in between, I would start to panic. My mind would race ahead and see myself trying to kick my legs up and I would feel my heart racing. Yeah I know, crazy but this is what I would encounter every time. It was all in my head of course, and I knew it but I also knew that I had the power to change all of that in one moment. But I wasn't ready for that moment at all.

One time after class I told the instructor how I feared doing the head stands; I also told other people as well because of course I had to justify my fear by repeating it over and over. Again, all made up in my head; it's what we all do. We create the fear and then tell it to this person, the next person and it builds from there. That fear then becomes 'real' or our 'truth', when in fact it is all just created in our minds.

So the instructor said to me, "I started doing yoga in my early 40's and it took me two years before I could do a head stand. Take your time and don't rush it." This instructor just turned 60 a few months ago and I thought, well damn, what the heck was I so afraid of?! This 60 year old woman can bend and contort and twist her body into all shapes, and I was afraid of doing a little ol' head stand. Yes, I told this to myself but guess what? I was still afraid-smile.

It's amazing how our minds can literally manifest the fear you create all in your head. You create the fear, then talk about it over and over to justify it and then you physically feel the fear. You start to sweat, heart starts racing and you feel weak. All because you've made this 'thing' real in your head. Incredible how the mind works. My mind held onto the fear and my body followed; I knew I had to work on overcoming this...it was important to me that I did.

So how did I overcome the fear? Well, simple...I just told myself that I could do it. I kept visualizing myself at the wall, feet up and over my head and that I was alright. Nothing happened. I didn't fall over or hurt myself. I kept feeding my mind with that positive image of me doing it and I actually started to feel at peace with the whole thing. And being baptized last month helped me to realize that. Now, I'm Episcopal and was baptized as a baby and in the Episcopal faith, very much similar to Catholicism, you get sprinkled on the head. The church I'm going to now is Baptist and you are fully immersed. Well I can't remember the last time I've been fully immersed in water so for like 30 seconds when they told me I had to be baptized, I was afraid. However, I quickly overcame that fear because I told myself that it was unfounded. I wasn't going to drown nor would I be hurt in anyway. I visualized the water being soothing and forgiving. I visualized myself being fully immersed and imagined the feeling of it. So I did the same thing with this fear of doing head stands.

The first time I needed help from the instructor but I did it and was like WOW!! I really am doing a head stand right now. The second time, I still needed some assistance but almost got up there on my own. And this past Monday, it was me...all me and I smiled inside and outside.

Our minds are so powerful...it can create a thought and actually manifest itself through our actions. Think about one thing you fear or are apprehensive about; you know you can overcome that, right? First you have to be ready to overcome it and what I mean is, you have to be absolutely just tired of that fear ruling your life. If you are, then think and visualize nothing but positive thoughts regarding that fear. Every day...all day. This process will begin the re-conditioning of your mind and before you know it, the positive thoughts will overcome those negative ones. Try it, it actually works. Start with something small of course because the 'bigger' fears need more time to be re-conditioned (smile). But try and think positively about it. You may even have to say the positive thought out loud a few times a day as well as visualizing positive images.

I can say that my yoga practice is coming along very nicely now that I KNOW and THINK in my mind that it is. That's my 'new' truth and I'm sticking to it!

Mind over matter/body people...

Be well!