Fear Of Drowning, Body Consciousness
By Bart Sharp
In the perspective of Body Consciousness we can go directly to the memories held in the body and relive them by experiencing the energetic bodily reactions that have been held from the past incident. When they are re-stimulated we can more easily release them. This is a personal childhood story of how a fear of water was released in an common sense way with the guidance of my uncle.
In my childhood I had a deathly fear of drowning in water. As a youngster I loved being in water yet became controllably afraid when I was in water over my waist. My mother explained to me why I was so fearful because I nearly died of drowning at two years of age. Those memories remained unknowingly repressed inside of me until I went out to a local lake to swim. It appeared I had a great fear of water and did not know how to resolve it.
My mother and my uncle decided it would be good for me to lose this fear of water as I would be missing out on a lot of childhood experiences if I could not swim. They concocted a plan.
My uncle explained to me very calmly his plan to cure me of my fear of water at the location of a local lake where we took boating ventures. I was willing to try as I did not like being afraid of water. While on shore my uncle put a lifejacket securely on me and showed how the preserver would not come off and under any circumstances. I would float safely in the water.
As I listened to my uncle I understood I was safe and was ready for his next stage of the home spun therapy. From that point my uncle and two older brothers who also were wearing life preservers slowly pulled me out into the deeper water. As I left my security zone of knee-deep water I began to quickly become nervous. As we slowly went out the anxiety increased and my uncle continually told me I would be okay. He reminded me everyone was safe in their life jackets and added it was okay for me to be afraid because I had drowned when I was a child.
We went out into the deeper water about 50 yards from the shore. For a seven-year-old child it felt as if we were stranded in the ocean. I screamed and cried in total fear. My uncle and two brothers allowed me to be in this high state of fear, their response was, “you will be okay, you just have to allow the fear to come out.” After a few minutes in the water I began to calm down and my uncle reinforced my calmness by assuring me there was nothing to be afraid of and I was overcoming a huge hurdle. Within ten minutes I was completely calm and knew I could now enjoy being in deepwater. My mother enrolled me in swimming lessons the next week and I began a journey of being a water lover for the rest of my life.
This story exemplifies how quickly fears can be released. It is best to take ourselves into the element where the fear was created, for me it was water. Then we allow the fear to be seen for what it is in a state of allowance and nurturance. Just about any fear will begin to transform when we are taken to the scene or energy of where it was created in. In the world of Body Consciousness we can go directly to the memories held in the body and relive them by experiencing the energetic bodily reactions of them, while freshly revived we can release them. Great transformations of our greatest Body Consciousness limitations can occur quickly and efficiently.