Is Befriending Fear The Best Way to Overcome Anxiety?

This article originally appeared on Yoganonymous.com.

Image via Bella Naija

If you take a good, hard look at your fears, and step a little closer to them, you might find that they don't scare you as much. 

Sonia Evers just wrote a soul uncovering piece about how she tackled her life-long battle with anxiety. Sonia, like many, has grappled with anxiety from a young age, and she has found that no matter how many techniques she's tried, she just can't let go of the tension and the adrenal rush when she is out-and-about in society. 

She's spent years trying to push her anxiety away, banishing it from her body and from her mental system—however, this banishment technique did her no good. It didn't worsen her anxiety, but it definitely didn't help it either. So what did help her? A new mindfulness technique, called Stepping Into Fear, created by Dr. Ronald D. Siegel, a Psychotherapist from Harvard. 

Sonia says that Siegel's technique isn't like a normal meditation. Normal meditations calm you, ease your mind, and actively reduce tension in the body. Siegel's meditation, however, can incite a full blown anxiety attack—leaving you in tears, hard of breathing, and fully facing that which scares you the most. Sonia says that with this technique, she has been able to reduce her anxiety and understand the root causes of her problems, which stem from deep-seated levels of care. It's about amping up the courage to face what fears you, and overcome them for good.

Dr. Siegel says, “Courage is not about not feeling or avoiding fear. Courage is about doing what’s frightening and staying with the fear because the activity is something that you believe is worthwhile.”