Today I would like to address the topic of fear and anxiety, which is fear with a specific cause.
Fear arises from projecting into the future the possible repetition of past events and unwanted emotions. Anxiety is linked to the fear of being overwhelmed by events or by life, and therefore gives rise to a feeling of helplessness.
Whatever their cause, fear and anxiety trigger an archaic reaction adapted to the situation we are facing: flight, fight or standstill (playing dead). They activate the survival mode of the body. Our muscles tighten, our heart speeds up, the secretion of cortisol and adrenaline increases, and the reptilian part of the brain takes over. Cortisol (the "stress hormone") prepares our body for intense exertion and adrenaline prepares it to be more responsive than normal. These two emotions must be temporary at the risk of exhausting our body.
Fear can save our life but can also ruin it if it is prolonged, with risks of panic attacks, chronic diseases, insomnia, physical injuries, fatigue, depletion of certain organs (such as the adrenal glands), and so on.
The vast majority of our fears stem from anticipation of a hypothetical future that oftenresonates with events from the past, especially from childhood. They could also be transmitted to us by those around us. For example, a parent who is abandoned at birth can pass on the fear of being abandoned to their own children and great-grandchildren.
Finally, they can be linked to associations. For example, following a trauma linked to a very loud noise or an explosion, if a door slams or one noise is louder than another, the heart speeds up and all the symptoms of fear are triggered, even if there is no danger.
Fear can also be hidden by another emotion such as anger or sadness. For example, we are angry or sad because we have not heard from a loved one... maybe behind this anger, this sadness, there is fear for his or her life, the fear of being abandoned or rejected, or a feeling of helplessness.
Kinesiology allows us to look back at these emotions, these past or inherited events, to transform our active memories into passive memories. A memory that provokes strong physical and emotional reactions is a so-called active memory. The goal is to emotionally unload these memories into so-called passive memories that no longer elicit overreactions. So our decisions are taken more calmly and with hindsight and are no longer driven by fear. To do this, in kinesiology, we combine the physical and psychological dimension by questioning the body through the muscle test. We look for the memory at the origin of stress in order to evacuate it and bring the body/mind tandem back into balance.
Next time, I will discuss boredom...
* Illustration Clemence Renault, https://www.instagram.com/clemence.renault/