What scares you? For some people, it’s heights or public speaking or spiders. Halloween celebrates thrills, chills, and things that go bump in the night.
While Halloween tends to be a fun holiday defined by disguising our true identity with make-up and costumes, it echoes how many of us deal with our fears the other three hundred and sixty-four days of the year - hiding behind a mask. Yoga provides a safe space for us to examine our fears and offers tools to become more courageous.
The Yoga Sutras state that the fear of death is the biggest fear we face and is the basis for all other fears. In the second pada, Patanjali refers to this concept as abhinivesha. Learning to live in the present moment is a powerful way to stop worrying and being scared of the future. Fear can only exist in relation to what you anticipate happening.
Fear doesn’t exist when you are in the moment. Every minute of your day is an opportunity to move from a place of courage or from a position of fear.
Often in our lives on and off the mat, our primary desire is to protect ourselves from pain. If your heart has been broken or you’ve suffered physical or mental pain––and who hasn’t––you could be holding yourself back.
Of course, you don’t want to be dangerous and reckless, but are you restricting yourself too much?
Yoga can help by giving you space to examine your thoughts and feelings on the mat and encourage you to step out of your comfort zone in a safe space. When you recognize what feels scary to you, you may realize your fears aren’t as deep as you assumed.
Through the process of self-analysis, you develop a stronger sense of your strengths and weaknesses. The more we understand ourselves, the more comfortable we are shedding the masks we’re accustomed to don for protection.
This week, in celebration of Halloween, we invite you to four classes that might scare you for their intensity, or encourage you to be fearless and courageous.
1. Carson Calhoun - Rocket Yoga 1: Yogi Leg Day
2. Keith Allen - 25-Minute Full Body Yoga (FREE class)
3. Rob Loud - Birds of Paradise
4. Kristin Gibowicz - Courageous Flow