Overcoming Fear and Anxiety
Conscious texting with CB on +1310-361-5485, available to seekers in the USA and Canada only.
In this episode, Chandresh shares the root of our fear and anxiety, how this affects our creativity, and what steps we can take to overcome them. This episode invites seekers to pause and witness the vicious cycle of fear and anxiety, and take steps to change those patterns.
Have any questions or curiosities about your spiritual journey? Email Chandresh at askcb@leelagurukul.com.
Episode Transcript
Breathe in. Breathe out. Witness the breeze. Witness the silence. Witness all the sounds showing up in this moment. Keep yourself fully present, fully open to this experience. In the next few minutes, we'll unfold and move deeper into the root of our fear and anxiety. And may each one of us support each other through this collective consciousness, through the collective intention of going beyond our fear and living the best possible calming, grounded, and healing life.
I am Chandresh Bhardwaj, and this is Leela Gurukul.
Namaste everyone I hope you're feeling relaxed, grounded to absorb this experience today. And the reason I reminded you to just pause and fully be available in this moment for this particular episode is because the root of fear and anxiety it's scattered, it's not at one place. It's a lot in our imagination. It's a lot in the past and in the projection of the future and to fully absorb, to fully go deeper into this healing. You have to be here fully present with yourself. Not trying to fix anything, not trying to control anything.
So I recommend as you listen to this episode, maybe repeat it during your meditation. Maybe take notes, maybe just be in silence and fully just be, not try to do anything else, and just be fully available. And before we go deeper into this topic, a reminder to visit Leelagurukul.com and make sure you sign up for the waitlist for Conscious Meditation program. And the reason why wait list will be important because most likely the people who have signed up for the waitlist will be the, of course, first ones to be notified. And if the limited spaces are filled up, that's it, it may not even be open to the other students. So I highly recommend if you are even slightly interested in joining the Conscious Meditation program, sign up for the wait list so that one of us can chat with you when the time comes and we start this powerful meditative experience in Leela. Because if you are listening to this, there's a solid chance that you are ready for the next step.
So fear and anxiety.
I feel sometimes we have fear because of anxiety. And sometimes we have anxiety because of fear. They're so interconnected and they're always hanging out together. And in all these years, I think last year was probably the first time that I witnessed a 24/7 constant fear and anxiety. And that of course has to do with COVID the uncertainty, the unpredictability of the COVID-19.
There was one day when the news were just extremely negative, scary, confusing. And I remember sharing on my Instagram that if you just want to share anything, or if you need any meditations, spiritual guidance, don't hesitate to reach out. And I started getting multiple messages. I couldn't sleep that night because there were so many messages and that made me go deeper into this increasing anxiety and stress and overall fear. And Navrati also happened around the same time for those who are unaware.
Navrati is the tantra ritual of nine days where we meditate and we honor the divine feminine consciousness. And during that ritual Guruji my teacher, he picked up this mantra and that was of course written thousands of years ago. In that mantra, there were multiple pandemics mentioned. And that mantra was purchased to bring calmness healing and just safe energy because of any sort of pandemic, any sort of epidemic. And I was surprised this mantra, this scripture, that was manifested thousands of years ago. It not only talked about the pandemic, but it talked about the major worry in the pandemic. And that was fear, anxiety.
And I started realizing if I could get hold on anxiety and fear, you know, for me, for others, we may solve bit of the problem. And truly that became so helpful–that one tantra teaching became so incredibly powerful for me, for the students and for everyone that I've shared with.
So, first thing that I really wish to share with all of you, if you are facing any fear, any anxiety. The worst thing you can do is trying to fight with it, trying to control it, trying to get rid of it. The more you try to get rid of it, the harder it will become, because I'm very sure the people who are listening and those who have been struggling with any anxiety and fear, you all have tried getting rid of it. And it just doesn't work like that because not only we are afraid, we are fearful, we are anxious, but we are even more afraid of that anxiety.
We are even more afraid to face that fear and that fear has become so deep rooted that it's really driving all the major decisions in our life. We indulge in a toxic relationship or just unhealthy relationship because we are afraid to be lonely. We are afraid to feel that anxiety. And when we are in that terrible relationship, or it may not even be terrible, if it's just not the right conscious relationship, we are afraid to get out of it because we don't know how will we deal with that unknown that anxiety.
Many people meditate because they are afraid if they don't meditate, some terrible stuff will happen. So to escape that anxiety people get into meditation. I feel a major part of religion is based on this whole idea, the illusion of fear that if you do not worship, do not go to your places of worship, and do not abide by the laws of the religion you are in, something terrible will happen. And many people I know, I could say even more than 95% people I know who are religious, they all are in it only because of fear. There's no devotion. There's no love. The rituals they do are very monotonous, very mechanical, very robotic.
The fear continues to drive everything. Even in the last two years, anyone I know who was unwell either because of COVID or just unwell in any other way, my entire effort was to bring them to a certain state of calmness state of present moment, so that at least the healing, the treatments that are going to become more effective because fear will take you away from that. Even the basic treatment you're going through. Why fear and anxiety is increasing at a rapid rate? I mean, we can go into social media, the other digital media, the news, the global political scene, that division among everyone.
And this will become a two hour episode. I want to focus on some specific things and hopefully they will help you. They'll invite you to reflect on those elements. Number one, our entire idea of life is based on mind. And mind is collection of identity, information, and memory. Mind is not something you can really trust because today your mind is attracted towards someone and you may feel this person is a soulmate. And tomorrow, if this expectation is not met, the same person will get your hate. The same person will be far, far away from that idea of soulmate. Our mind builds identifications. And the moment you identify with something, the moment you start to become that rule, you will get stuck in it at some point, if it's all unconscious based. Your identification could be with your religion, with your relationship, with the belief systems that are driving you. The moment you're attached to it, the fear will come, the anxiety will come. Because there's always this human control, you know, you want to control in it. You want to fix things your way. You want to extract whatever you can extract from that situation. And if your idea of life is based on mind, you will feel that you are body and you have no clue that you are not body. You have a body, you are consciousness. And if you keep living as if you are this body, any anxious news out there about death will hurt you. It will penetrate your heart. Any news of death you hear will feel like a part of you has died because the fear will suddenly wake up and you will think life is so fragile. Maybe tomorrow it's going to be my turn.
And so much of this unconscious imagination starts to invite unnecessary anxiety, stress, fear, confusion. And the cycle never ends. A major root cause of this entire cycle is your identification with all these ideas. Invite yourself in meditation, to understand all these belief systems, all the roles that you identify with and build this ability to witness. Witnessing means observing without judging, observing without feeling the need to fix anything. Because more than 99% things don't need to be fixed. We cannot fix it.
Your breathing is happening at its own pace. It's purely organic. Your stress can damage it. Yoga and meditation can improve it, but it's going to happen irrespective of all of this. We can help it or we can damage it, but it's life. The life of this breathing. It's there its own function.
I'm looking at this tree right now from my window. I do not even have this much power that I can move a leaf on the tree while sitting here. It's moving at its own pace, connected with the breeze, the wind, the universe, it's all happening, organic. And our ego, it's so interesting, it feels that it can control it all and it can not. And hence, the anxiety shows up. The more unconscious life you live, the more anxiety there is going to be. If you don't examine your decisions, if you don't sit in solitude on a daily basis, you are going to pile up revenge plans, angry situations, a whole scenario in your mind. And none of that will ever manifest, but it's manifesting and playing at loop in your mind. And the fear will create and invite all relationships. And the foundation is going to be just that–imagination, illusion, and identification.
Today take a moment to not only reflect on what we discussed, but ask yourself why I'm not comfortable with the unknown and what little things I can do to embrace the unknown? What little things I can do to build a better relationship, with the uncertainty of life, with the unpredictability of life. And one final thing I'll share with you. When we talk about how mind cultivates fear and anxiety, it basically means mind is not letting you be in this moment, because in this very moment, the fear doesn't exist. The anxiety doesn't exist because imagination doesn't exist in this moment. The moment you switch these imaginations and you would jump into the past, you jump into the future and suddenly a certain uncontrollable fear shows up.
I highly recommend that you, even if you meditate for five minutes–do it, there is no right time or wrong time. There's no right duration or wrong duration, but for the sake of your mental health, for the sake of this beautiful life you have, give yourself the solitude to be in the present moment. Be here in this very moment. And even if you have to repeat a few affirmations to be in this present moment, go for it. Because anything you do to be here will be worth it. Walking in the nature, reminding yourself that only this moment exists and calmness, clarity, they are fully available to me in this moment. These little things will help you.
So it's not just meditation. It's going to be combination: the meditation, little bit of reading, hanging out with the right people. And if you feel someone is going through major anxiety and fear, listen, give them any love, compassion, maybe even advise, but step back so that you don't deplete yourself because you can only give what you have. If you don't have that calmness and peace, you'll end up draining yourself and you'll not be of any help to the other person.
So first come back to yourself, understand why my fear exists, the why is important. The root is important because each fear is telling you a story. Each moment of anxiety is telling you a story. If you are honest with yourself, you'll not only know the story, but you'll also know the dots. You'll know the plot twist and you'll know beforehand when it will strike again. And you'll be much prepared next time.
Be playful, be relaxed and invent new ways of being here in this moment. And I promise you, the fear and anxiety will not rule your life. I'll be curious to know your questions. I'll be curious to know how you will apply lessons to handle your fear and anxiety. If you end up sharing them on Instagram, do tag me and I'll share them on my page so that others can also benefit. Be safe, be well, and remind yourself, calmness and clarity are fully available to you in this very moment.
May the teachings of Tantra continue to guide you. And heal you. And I hope Leela Gurukul helps you to unlearn the old and embrace the unknown mystical possibility unfolding for you. To support this podcast, share it among the seekers who are ready for the next step in their spiritual path.
Useful Links
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