Visualization for releasing small amounts of fear at a time
Please read through the entire visualization before trying it
Visualize yourself sitting outside in a beautiful meadow. There is a babbling brook off to your left, and the sun is shinning brightly in the cloudless sky.
Allow the peace and serenity of the day, the warmth of the sun, to seep into you. Stay with this image until you feel relaxed and safe.
Now, very slightly bring to mind a situation that causes you fear. There is no need to delve into the memory fully. Just touch on it lightly, and as soon as you feel the first inkling of fear press in around you, release the memory and turn your attention to just the feeling.
Focus on the sensation of this bite-sized amount of fear. Imagine the energy of the emotion shifting and separating into three thick, stormy-grey rubber bands around your body. One band wrapped around your elbows and waist, another midway up your biceps and chest, and the third wrapped around your shoulders. All three bands bind your arms tightly to your torso.
If the fear starts to feel overwhelming at any time, shift your attention to the brook or the grass blowing gently in the wind until it subsides.
Now place your attention on the large band around your waist and elbows. Focus on one spot of the stormy-grey band and imagine that your focus acts as a magnifying glass for the sun’s rays. As you watch, a small, bright yellow circle appears on the band. It grows to the size of a bottle cap and then stops, but from this yellow circle healing waves of the sun’s energy radiate out across the band.
As the sun’s energy spreads across the band, you can feel its warmth dissolving the fear that binds you.
Focus on another spot and cause another yellow circle of sunlight to form, expand, and radiate outward. More fear dissolves as the yellow light washes over it. Do this at multiple places around the band until the entire thing becomes a band of brilliant yellow light, flashes, and then fades entirely.
Take several deep breaths with your now freed abdomen.
Repeat the steps above for the band at the centre of your chest and the third one at your shoulders. Remember that if you feel like the fear is too much at any time, shift your focus away from the bands of fear to your peaceful surroundings.
When all three bands are gone, take a deep breath and enjoy the feeling of the sunlight on your skin and the sounds of the water nearby.
Stay with this image as long as you like.