Face Off Against Fear: The 1st Period

You may have noticed a lot of hype in the media around the race for the Stanley Cup. Teams are facing off against each other in search of hockey‘s most prestigious trophy. Many of these great players have to face off against their hidden fears every time they step onto the ice. What about you? How effective are you in facing off against your fears? Over the course of the next three periods (I mean articles), let me share my seven-step approach to coping with fear.

How do the mechanisms of fear work? A key notion to keep in mind is that your breathing pattern coupled with your thoughts directly affects the body’s chemistry to produce physical symptoms to protect itself from danger or harm. These physical responses manifest themselves in the form of increased muscle tension, breathing rate, blood pressure, heart rate and perspiration. The sensations you feel are designed to happen quickly and powerfully to this perceived emergency situation. Often severe reactions manifest themselves in the form of panic attacks.

Your goal is to unlearn this conditioned response and learn to respond in a new way. The key is in learning how to alter these sensations through proper breathing and muscle relaxation. By shifting your breathing rate or pattern and by helping the muscles relax, you can decrease the effects of stress. Let’s take a look at the first three steps to facing off against your fears.

Step 1: Change your attitude

Just as a hockey player gets fired up at the start of the first period, you too need to focus on adopting a positive mental attitude regarding your fears. Make a point of accepting and believing that you can gain control over fear and your body’s response to stress. If we mentally label a situation as being dangerous or fearful, the body reacts by doing what it is supposed to do, respond physically. The first step to dealing with fear is realizing that you can do something about it. You can learn how to develop coping strategies that will minimize the body’s natural response to the stress associated with fear.

Step 2: Identify your most prevalent fears

A hockey player that is motivated to become better identifies early in his career those areas that need improvement. Are there areas or fears in your life that are holding you back from being the best that you can be? Take a moment now to make a list of those fears that are holding you back from being successful. What do you fear right now and in the future? Try to identify fears or worries that affect all aspects of you life such as relationships, finances, mental health, career, fitness, etc.

Step 3: Learn two calming skills

Calming your breath: The first breathing skill is “natural breathing” and is used whenever you are not involved in physical activity. It involves gently and slowly inhaling air through your nose and allowing it to fill your lower lungs first. You should then exhale easily. Natural breathing requires a relaxed attitude and gentle breathing pattern. The second breathing skill is the “calming breath” and is used when you feel panicky or anxious. This technique is great for controlling hyperventilation, lowering a rapid heartbeat and promoting physical comfort. Take a long, slow inhale as in natural breathing. Fill your lower lungs first, followed by your upper lungs and then hold your breath to the count of “three”. Exhale slowly, while you focus on relaxing your muscles in your head, shoulders and torso.

Get into the habit of practicing these two skills on a daily basis preferably 8-12 times throughout the day. All it takes is a few breathes between projects, activities or situations that may arise during your normal daily routine.

Quieting your body: This technique combines visualization with the calming breath. It is one of my favorite calming skills for relieving built up muscle tension. As with the calming breath, slowly fill your lungs with air and imagine that the oxygen is going to re-energize your torso all the way up to your brain. You may even feel a pleasant tingling sensation as you visualize this positive energy flowing from your core to the top of your head. As you slowly exhale, focus on the air flushing out all tension, all nntoxins, all worries through your arms and legs and out of your finger tips and toes. Imagine that the air is pushing or stripping all the tension in your muscles. Repeat this process several times while you give yourself some positive self talk about how great you feel with each exhalation. When done properly, you should feel rejuvenated at the end.

As with any new habit, please keep in mind that it requires both patience in allowing your body to develop and adapt to a new routine, as well as an on-going commitment to practice each calming skill frequently. These two calming skills form the foundation upon which the other four steps to coping with fear are built. I’ll see you at the start of the second period as we both face off against our fears together.