Practices
Every practice in the library, in one list. Narrow it by how long you have, who it is written for, and where you are right now.
Narrowed down
4 practicesHow long you have · Five minutes
Who it is written for
Where you are right now
On your own, or with someone · On my own
Theme · Facing it a step at a time
The early rungs do not have to be the real thing. A photograph, a video, or picturing it carefully with your eyes shut is a proper step and not a cheat.
This matters most when the real version is out of reach: the dog you cannot summon, the flight you cannot afford, the classroom that is thirty miles…
Start with the body. Slow breathing, muscles let go one at a time, a piece of music, a familiar object in a pocket. Small levers, and they turn fear from something happening to you into something you are doing something about.
Children in particular notice the body first: the racing heart, the sick stomach, the tight chest. That is the part they are actually frightened of.…
Solve the problem without leaving the situation. Change where you sit in the canteen, who you sit with, what you bring with you, but stay in the canteen.
Otherwise a good problem solving session quietly becomes a plan for avoiding more skilfully. The test is simple. Does this option keep me in the…
Before a step, write down what you will do when the fear arrives. Which breathing, what you will say to yourself, who you will speak to. Nobody invents a plan in the moment, they only follow one.
Keep it short and specific enough to be followed while frightened. It also gives you something to go over afterwards: what you used, what you forgot,…
Looking for a whole subject rather than a single practice? Start from the nine areas.