Amanda Ramcharitar Yoga

“and the dancers take you to the limits of what you can stand, they bring you face to face with every fear you ever had, and just before you go crazy they lead you back again. With song, dance, ritual & magic, they lead you back from the very edge of total insanity so that nothing can ever really scare you again” Anne Cameron

Going into a scary situation is no one’s idea of a good day.  Whether it be a meeting with the boss you are intimidated by, a Doctor’s test result appointment, an operation, the first big surf spot, touching down in a country you’ve never been, a stranger following us down a dark road, climbing up the bungy tower, having a baby, not having enough money to pay the rent, getting married, the list goes on and on of what scares us all.  Fear can paralyze a moment or a life.  It can make one turn away from choices we would have once faced and taken on, whether it be because of age or past experience fear is a real obstacle for many of us.

Not all of us have a cheer leading section of support, one that motivates us to move through what we are facing, or even someone we can express ourselves to.  In the nitty gritty of life, it has been taught survival is for the fittest, it is a competitive edge to be fearless.   However this fearlessness can bring insensitivity and non compassion.   So we stand between the lands of fearlessness and compassion with a big wasteland of doubt, misunderstanding, distrust, depression and confusion in between and here many of us wander, lost…

To know yourself is the first step towards the paradise of fullness.  To know the feeling of fear is in yourself is the clue to know what scares you.  To sit with yourself in a calm place, feel how your calm state feels, bring an image to mind of something that scares you in your upcoming day or week, feel this fear, then breathe through it, let the feeling pass and come back to your calm state.  This calm state is the center of you who you are.  It tells us what rattles us, what excites us, what terrifies us, the calm stillness is the gage and compass that everything passes through, but is unaffected by, as it is always present underlying all of the experiences of our life.  To become acquainted with this centre is key to our strength.

Fearlessness is not in a true sense, strength, it is acting from a place of fear, by constantly challenging one’s fear is being in a state of fear.  Acting from a state of knowing one’s feelings allows one to become mentally and emotionally stronger and stronger, as we can let the feeling go.  This mental & emotional strength can grow naturally without constantly thrashing in the throws of what scares us taking us closer to things that make us feel good.

Mental & emotional strength brings compassion, love and understanding as we can we truly relate to one another not from the competitive, judgmental stand point we have been bred into, but through the feelings that we all share…  Through these feelings we may make the choices that scare us the most, once we understand that fear is just a feeling…