Welcome, Spring Equinox! Releasing Fear in Big Ways

“Don’t give in to your fears. If you do, you won’t be able to talk to your heart.”
– Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

In the past two weeks alone, I’ve encountered many of my patients telling me of their stories centered around fear, release, and the obstacles that prevent them from liberating themselves from these fears.  Mind you, these are not fears they consider small.  Most of the time, they are long-time triggers of things revisiting them from their past — stability, survival, career, relationships, loss, abandonment — that they thought they’d already dealt with adequately, or swept under the rug.  Not so!  Mercury retrograde was in full swing during this time, and this one was a doozy, bringing back old demons past that reared their heads once again to test us on whether or not these chapters are truly closed.  Most of us have felt like our equilibrium has been challenged, and the real threat has been felt about whether or not we could survive such personal battles.

But, now Spring/Vernal Equinox is here, and this one is special.  After the 12/21/12 Shift Point, when we didn’t explode into a black vortex; but, rather, we eradicated old habits that no longer served us in order to ascend and own our highest purpose in this lifetime.  This continues and culminates with Spring Equinox 2013, which marks the end of 3D, meaning that we are entering a higher frequency of consciousness, much more in touch with our Higher Selves, which couldn’t have been possible had we not gone through all the shifts we have up until this point.  So, as uncomfortable as some of our challenges and triggers have been, we are meant to transcend our lower frequency issues, so we can own our fabulosity!  The time is now!  Mind you, this doesn’t mean that we all become jedis and cosmic warlords come end of the Spring Equinox, this is just the start of the opening that allows things to flow with more ease, an emergence.  A birthing, if you will.  How perfect for Spring!

Normally, I would talk about how the Liver is the organ in Chinese Medicine that is associated with Spring, and anger the emotion for Spring, which is what I did in a previous post, “Springing Forward, Bamboo Style”.  But I feel it’s more relevant right now to talk about how we are liberating ourselves from our fear.  Fear is the emotion of the Kidneys, which is the organ of Winter.  I got more in depth about this in my post, “The In of Yin and Why It Pays To Be Like Bruce Lee”.  As we revisit fear at a time when we are feeling the Spring emotion of anger, it can augment our sensation of feeling more out of control than usual.  Here is a time when the mantra, “Everything is happening as it should be, even if I don’t understand how yet” can be helpful.  Seems trite, but try it!  It works.

When it comes to fear, our biggest lesson is surrender.  This issue, too, has been coming up for many patients of mine.  How the heck do you surrender when you are practically paralyzed by your fears that are being triggered exponentially?  It’s no easy task.  But it is utterly freeing once you do it.  Just saying the words, “I let go, and give it up to the Universe”, or “I relinquish control to the Universe” changes the whirling that is taking place in your torso (most likely in that area right above the navel, the Solar Plexus Chakra, our center of control, and the seat of our intuition, or the area right below the navel, the Sacral Chakra, where our emotional foundation is, among other things.)

Fear overrides our connection to our Heart.  This is dangerous.  When you are operating from a place of fear, you are no longer connected with your Heart Wisdom.  Our Heart Wisdom is directly connected with our Higher Self.  When truly tapped into, it never lies.  This is when the practice of meditation, or how to center oneself, becomes extremely helpful.  When we are not centered and working from fear, and then try to tap into our Heart Wisdom, we may mistake our projected fears as possible feedback from the Heart.  How do we get in touch with ourselves when we are afraid?  How do we surrender at the height of our fear?

Ways To Disengage From Fear

1. Relinquish control – by giving up control to the Universe, or to the Powers That Be, you are surrendering control of what is beyond you at this moment.  Do this by setting your intention with mantras like, “I let go, and give it up to the Universe”, “I relinquish control to the Universe”, or whatever words work for you.  Once done, trust that what you have relinquished is now being set in motion for your greatest good.
2. Get back in touch with your heart – I learned this technique from Sonia Choquette, world-renowned revolutionary psychic, alchemist, healer, and spirited teacher.  Just place your hands over your heart, take 3 slow deep breaths, and complete the sentence, “My heart is telling me __________.”
3. Breathe – we are a society of shallow breathers.  The more we do, the less in our body we are, the less in touch we tend to be.  Breathe into your navel, just like we used to when we were babies, and release the exhale through your mouth.  Sometimes thinking the word “release” upon exhalation gives extra oomph!
4. Meditate – I know I sound like a broken record on this, but meditation literally saved my sanity a few years ago!  More about this in another blog post, since I do get asked often how to to best start meditating, or how to maintain a meditative practice.  If you can start with 5-10 minutes in the morning (or evening, whichever time resonates best for you) of just trying to sit still to clear your monkey mind, that’s an excellent start!  Every effort you make towards cultivating inner peace, such as meditation, is noted by your wise self, and soon, it will become habit.
5. Practice gratitude – the quickest way to realize the true expansiveness of your blessings at a time when you don’t feel you have any is to practice gratitude.  It can be as simple as, “I am grateful that I have delicious, healthy food to eat every day” to “I am grateful that I am able to make a living and pay my bills”.  Hint:  don’t add things like, “…even though I can’t pay all of my bills right now” or something else that contains a negative statement.  Framing things in the positive is always best.  More tips on practicing gratefulness in this post.
6. Book an Acupuncture or Reiki treatment with me– you didn’t think I’d miss including this point, did you?  Personal bias aside, there are Acupuncture points that help to ground you and reset your sympathetic nervous system.  Reiki excellently and gently balances you so you emerge from your session calmer, and as some patients say, “heavier”.  Very helpful when your head is full of fear and up in the clouds!
7. Realize that you are meant to step into your greatness – fear usually comes when you’re about to have a breakthrough. Plato once said, “We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.”  Own your light!

What are other ways you can disengage from your fear?
Leave a comment and let me know.

Notable Mentions!

• I’m proud to announce that I am the featured Phenomenal Filipina of the Month at Pinay.com, the site by and for Filipinas!
• Jill’s List “In the Spotlight” program will be shining the light on me and my practice, Alcantara Acupuncture, through their social media community via Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram tomorrow, Thursday, March 21st!  Check out my profile on Jill’s List here.  Jill’s List is new and fabulous because it’s like ZocDoc for alternative and integrative healthcare specialists, like me!

 

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