Dissolving Fear
"The moment you run away fear begins"
Jiddu Krishnamurti, Freedom from the Known
Non-judgemental attention
How does judgement relate to fear? Because fear is a state of avoidance, it can only appear when we judge that there is something worth avoiding. Non-judgemental attention describes the ability to navigate the world more through sensory experience, than through preconception.
Because our beliefs are largely conditioned by past experiences, fear serves to drive us away from uncertainty, and back into the familiarity of the what has happened before.
It is a mistake of think of fear as something that happens only in the big moments. Rather, the issue of fear is more pressing when it goes unnoticed. Conversations become limited. Relationships become controlling. Progression stagnates.
The idea of non-judgemental attention, which we might also call “joy” or “presentness”, is a state where fear has less opportunity to take hold. Being with sensory evidence may enable us to move forward into the future, instead of stagnating in memories of the past.
Working with fear
This module applies the concept of non-judgemental attention for a different approach to working with fear. The work is divided into two phases.
First, participants will use meditations focused on pure sensory experience in combination with uncertainty-provoking height exposure. This offers a context to establish non-judgemental attention, and then retain it in a more intense scenario.
Second, participants will use breathing exercises in combination with skill-based movements from parkour that provide opportunity for fear. Through this phase, you will find the fear in the small moments; where we may “close our eyes to see in the dark'“.