The Hōm Collective on Sitting With and Then Moving Through Fear This Pandemic

This pandemic has brought us challenges and struggles that have pushed us to our limits. So many of us have been thrust into survival mode. As parents, our priority is safety—the safety of our children, the safety of a comfortable and controllable environment, and the safety in the predictability of routine. As I look back on my journey and especially in the last few months, I’ve had many moments where a sense of fight or flight kicks in and my immediate response as a mother was to flee or figure out how I can change the situation.

In moments of uncertainty, there exists the duality of fear and love. The energy of fear comes from a place of survival and our fight or flight. It’s a survival mechanism built into our nervous systems. So, how can we create a place of love from this fear?

I invite you to create a safe space with this fear. Many of us are in so much uncertainty because of the state of the world. The best we can do for our own mental health and safety, as well as the wellbeing of our children and our home, is to get comfortable with the discomfort and transform it into healing.

Sit With the Fear

Here’s how I sit with my fear—just long enough—and then move through it. It’s been an essential practice during these wildly uncertain times.

In order to arrive on the other side of fear, you have to sit in the discomfort. Invite the feelings of fear and overwhelm into your body and then begin to transform the relationship. This is not an invitation to wallow in depression, but learn where the feelings are coming from. What’s the trigger?

Identify the Physical Reaction

Next, tap into where the feeling of fear physically sits in your body. When you’re in a place of fear, your body reacts physically by maybe clenching or tightening. Once you observe this you have the opportunity to move through it physically. Is it jaw pain, an upset stomach, a tightness in your shoulders?

Once you have found the fear—both mentally and physically, you can begin to move through the feelings. Instead of having a fight or flight response, you can create more calming energy in your body. You have the ability to shift into an elevated space.

Here are four different practices to help realign your body’s energy and move it out of the place of fear and into a state of wholeness and balance.

Reiki Healing

Reiki uses intuition and a specific form of energy healing to remove blockages and balance your energy. By using hands and lightly touching the body, it brings your body, mind and spirit into a lighter space, where you can truly feel more like yourself. The practice can also be done as a form of prayer.

Flower Essences

Flower and tree essences help to stabilize the nervous system and energetic body, allowing your perspective to shift from a mindset of fear towards more mindfulness and ease in daily rhythms.

Acupressure

By simply massaging the pressure points in your body can help physically shift any trauma or pain stored in your body…

Reflective Therapy

Using a journal practice like free-writing can help shift, transform and better understand your mindset around your fears.

The Hōm Collective is an app and digital platform that allows women and mothers to connect through their unique experiences. To learn more, visit their website.

Please note: The Bump and the materials and information it contains are not intended to, and do not constitute, medical or other health advice or diagnosis and should not be used as such. You should always consult with a qualified physician or health professional about your specific circumstances.