“Fear has two meanings: Forget Everything And Run / Face Everything And Rise"
Namasté Everyone,
I know I’m not the only one that thinks things in the world around me feel fragile. Things that I expected to change slowly, if at all, seem to be changing rapidly. Beautiful places to live are burning down or flooding and freezing. Institutions that seemed solid and fixed—maybe flawed, but functioning—seem threatened. Minds and hearts seem more and more fixed in an us vs them division that keeps getting deeper and angrier. And we’re surrounded by media algorithms that benefit from conflict.
Anger is a difficult emotion. But fear often underlies anger and sometimes that is the difficult emotion we have the most trouble facing. Fear makes us feel vulnerable and not in control. And loss—of people, of cherished ideas, of security—makes us fearful. Fear can cause us to feel guarded and anxious and lead us to restrict our emotional flexibilty and resilience.
Unlike fear, anger can feel energizing and empowering. And it can become the default reaction to our fearful feelings. The emotional vulnerability of fear is often bypassed and replaced with anger because it gives us a sense of having greater control. Anger and the feeling of power it offers can lead us to reactions without thought—just another sign of emotional inflexibility.
Often, when we come to yoga, we’re looking for an escape from difficult emotions. We just want yoga to put us in touch with all our pleasant feelings. But a primary goal of yoga has always been to relieve our mental suffering. And we can’t relieve ourselves of our fear or anger by pretending it isn’t there. Learning to mindfully deal with our difficult emotions builds our emotional flexibility and resilience. Honing our skill in dealing with fear and anger can allow us to be more open to the diversity of life experiences and more able to channel our energy constructively to a purpose.
The steps we take in yoga to transform our bodies, are the same steps we take to transform our mind and emotions: 1) We set an intention and willingness to be with our feelings. 2) We acknowledge the feeling when it arises. 3) We observe and build non-reactivity. And we take these steps without self-judgement.
In the words of Tias Little, “The spiritual warrior is not someone who can plow into handstand or hold warrior pose for hours on end—nor one who remains aloof, fearless, and unaffected by the trials of the world. It is someone who has worked deeply through his or her own wounds. By attending to our pain, we become more accepting, making it possible for feelings of humility, grace, and love to then flow through us.”
Let’s become spiritual warriors together!
Shanti
Pattie