Meditation to Release Fear
Sunday, July 15th, 2007
I have been in many shapes:
I have been a narrow blade of a sword.
I have been a drop in the air.
I have been a shining star… –Legendary Welsh bard Taliesin
Fear: a great enemy, a great teacher. When we become too tightly bound up with our ego, when we identify ourselves too strongly with a story we tell ourselves, when we feel our life’s projects slipping away, and we grab desperately for control… This is when fear arises within us. It paralyzes us, it skewers us; our emotional and creative resources are cut off, and we feel frozen and helpless. Our task at that point is to face the fear squarely, to see it for what it is: a messenger of hope. We must allow the fear to pass; we must find its source and release it. By releasing our stories, our projects, and our unhealthy desires, by letting them be what they will be, we release ourselves as well.
In this meditation I guide you into a state of relaxation, and help you visualize the river of life before you. During the course of the meditation, you will focus gently on your fear, and identify its source. Once you have done that, you will be able to release the fear, and allow it to be carried away to the ocean, where all things are renewed.
In the fall of 2006 I posted a three-part series on my favorite meditation, which was actually three meditations rolled into one: a Meditation to Release Fear, a Meditation for Loving Kindness, and a Meditation for Living in the Present. The first meditation releases your fear, the second one replaces it with compassion, and the third locks you into the present moment. The three were intended to be done in sequence, and when this was done, the effect is a Meditation for Inner Peace.
I considered offering all three together as a single Meditation for Peace, but quickly found that the meditation would be extremely long. I may still offer that meditation in the future, but for now I have decided to create a guided audio version of each of the three meditations separately.
The first one is the Meditation to Release Fear, and this version differs somewhat from the description I offered last fall. In that article I warned that this meditation should not be done by itself, since it could release attachments that you might prefer to keep! I have reworked the meditation in this audio version so that there is no danger of that. Also, the meditation I described was extremely cerebral — it focused heavily on introspective questioning. In contrast, this audio guided meditation uses a combination of imagery and contemplation to achieve the desired effect.
As with any new meditative practice, repetition is key. The first time you try it, you may not experience much of a change. But as you repeat it a few times, you will begin to feel your fearfulness shift; and when you have practiced it enough, you should be able to remove anxieties by simply recalling to mind the image of the river conjured by the meditation. This has been my experience, and it has been extremely liberating in my daily life.
Enjoy! And do please give me feedback on any aspects you think could be improved, or parts you especially enjoyed. I’m eager to work with you to make this meditation, and the others I create for this site, better and better.
The meditation is 12 minutes long and 14 MB. It is available for a donation of any amount.
