How to overcome fear?

Hello everyone
I have been studying buddhism for a while now and also been meditating but im looking for some wisdom on how to overcome fear during meditation and just in general? But specifically I sometimes I go into a deep state of meditation and something really intense my start happening like I feel like im coming out of my body but fear overides it and I have to stop , I want to overcome this any words of wisdom that could help me? Thanks you in advance

[sunsoul]

Fear in general can be embraced and overcome through reflection, meditation and getting in touch with your positive energy. Fear can appear very big at times but it is small compared to you at your full potential. Tapping into positive and wholesome thoughts will help you overcome fear. It can be a long process to rid yourself of specific fears but you can do a lot in the moment to empty your mind of the murky claws of doubt and fear. Every time we connect with our deeper, intrinsic nature we release a little more fear.

As to the OBE feeling, I think you would have to look at it with a slightly different lense. In Buddhist meditation, there is no focus on generating OBEs or astral projection. Perhaps you could work on your foundation first before these types of endeavours.

Hi sunsoul
Perfect answer just I what I needed thank you :) as for tne obe I just like pushing boundaries and exploring deeper to find the undiscovered. I need to work on being patient and perfecting my foundation of meditation, any advice on how to become more patient ? Im young and highly energetic so find being patient hard in certain circumstances. Thank you peace and love

[declan]

Hi Shinyhelmet.A good book that might help you understand how to deal with the feeling of fear during meditation is "Mindfulness in plain English" by Bhante Gunaratana

[RupertS]

Originally Posted by shinyhelmet

I just like pushing boundaries and exploring deeper to find the undiscovered.

That might already be the answer. Your ego or lower self reacts with fear to change and expansion. If you explore areas that were never visited by you and which represent new and undiscovered territory, your ego considers this as a threat, because every endeavor to explore yourself and step out of your comfort zone serves the ultimate goal of the death of the ego where we will all arrive at eventually.
So if you can see your fear as just a favorable sign that you are on the right path and are making a very brave and inspired step further, that might already help to take the sting out of it.
See it as a confirmation of your development and push on. :)

RupertS
Brilliant I think you hit the nail on the head ;) thank you for time to write that much appreciated. Peace :)

[RupertS]

Your welcome!
What helps me is to keep in mind that the true self will never be afraid to meet change and is very playful when it comes to making known the unknown.
The ego was meant as a protective shield when we were very young but the problem is that it just keeps everything new out and cannot consciously sort out what's useful and what's harmful. So the ego doesn't mean to undermine your development, but it just can't help but react with fear. That's the mechanism. No judgment. It's just mechanical.
And you are not :)

Love, Rupert

[Lumen]

I get this too. i think the trick is to just watch it non judgmentally because if you resist it persists.

Basically, there is a subconscious pattern in your head that thinks something bad might happen when you get to a certain point in your meditation. This pattern is like a thought in that it exists as energy in your subconscious mind and it requires energy to remain alive.

This might make you ask, so where does it get it's energy from? Well, the answer is that it gets its energy from your resistance to that thought. When you resist anything it creates negative energy and this fuels the negative energy pattern in your subconscious mind.

Thus, if you just observe the emotion (energy) and allow it to dissipate after a few minutes like it always does, you break the circuit feeding the energy pattern and the pattern loses it's energy charge and starts to gradual disappear the more you stay with it.

It might be very intense and as such not a good idea to try and sit with it all at once at first, but maybe try sitting with it for a minute at first, then next time 2 minutes and so on until it disappears. The key is to not react to it but just observe it.

Just remember in advance it is only energy and is your mind playing tricks on you and it can't hurt you. :)

Good luck.

Play chicken with fear