Boulder Counselor and Therapist | David Robbins, MA, LPC

Often when the subject of psychotherapy comes up one thinks of rehashing the past and analyzing the current situation using the conceptual mind. As if we can think our way out of different emotions. The mindfulness approach to working with the condition we call anxiety would be very different than this. As a therapist who utilizes mindfulness I encourage experience – meaning we directly contact our body and sensations associated with an emotional experience. We don’t think about them – we tune in and feel them directly as they are happening in the present moment. With anxiety these sensations are often quite unpleasant – a lump in the throat, tightness in the chest, difficulty breathing, perhaps tremors in the body, sweating, clenching the jaw, flushed skin, etc. With a mindfulness experience in psychotherapy we learn how to contact and direct our concentration and awareness to be with these sensations without being overwhelmed by them. Breaking them up into manageable pieces instead of one chunk of overwhelming anxiety that feels as if its going to break us apart or send us into panic. There is of course a mental element to this experience as well – often the mind is teeming with negative dialogue – perhaps worries or fears, or potential negative outcomes. For many people who experience anxiety there is also an inner dialogue of self-hatred. With a mindful approach to psychotherapy we also learn how to look at and witness these thoughts directly – we do not fight them as often we attempt to do to make unpleasant thoughts go away. Thoughts are often an unconscious battle or an attempt to distract us from the unpleasant sensations in the body. If the sensations in the body can be observed and stayed with – using an unconditional awareness they naturally resolve and integrate. Often our thoughts are so strong they move us out of the body and into the mind, and we get overwhelmed with the content of these thoughts. These thoughts are overwhelming us and also interrupting an organic experience of emotion in the body. If this experience can be tracked with awareness – it often resolves into a healing, releasing and integrative experience. As an experiential psychotherapist it is my job to facilitate and teach you how to be with your emotional experience this way. With mindful awareness we encourage complete experiences of emotions – that are uninterrupted – and allow you to heal and let go of the sense of stuckness that accompanies months or years of interrupted emotional experiences that overwhelm and accumulate in our bodies and minds.

With a mindfulness-based therapy we learn how to embrace our experience without having to resist or fight it, allowing ourselves to heal without fear. If you are interested in learning more or scheduling an appointment or free consultation call 303-225-2700.

I feel afraid or anxious so what do I do? I run away from what I perceive to be the cause of it, do something to stop it, do something to distract myself from it. Maybe you have your own strategy. All of these ways of dealing with fear have one thing in common – they will perpetuate that fear.

The secret that no one tells you is that to let go of the fear and anxiety what we really need to do is turn towards it and take a good look. Perhaps we even lean into the fear.

I am not suggesting you run into to traffic if you are afraid of getting hit by a car, or jump out of a plane if you are afraid of heights. What I am suggesting is that you turn towards the feeling of fear, rather than stuffing it, burying it, eating it away, or trying to distract yourself from it with drugs, alcohol, the internet, television, pornography – or whatever your particular method is. There are probably thousands of ways to attempt to avoid anxiety and fear. And none of them work, because the more we avoid and marginalize our feelings the more they grow and control us.

Our feelings are in our bodies and when we contact the actual sensations of the fear in our physical body we begin to unwind it. As we turn the light of our awareness towards fear we can begin to get to know it in all of its intimate details. In this way, much like in anything else in life, the more we know the less fear and anxiety there is.

Most people have feeling centers that they tend to experience uncomfortable sensation in when they are reacting with fear or anxiety. Feeling centers for you may be in your chest, throat, stomach, solar plexus, etc. These feeling centers can be accessed directly and gently through our conscious intention to feel them when we are activated by a particularly fearful thought or situation. We also feel positive emotions in these areas. The question to ask when you are experiencing happiness, sadness, fear, joy, resentment, anxiety, contentment, etc. is where am I feeling this in my body?

I work with clients to directly contact and turn toward their fears in a way that is safe and progressive. One of the benefits of therapy is that a therapist offers you guidance and support in facing and exploring your fears and anxieties with the light of awareness. A counselor is also trained in working with strong and potentially overwhelming feelings. You don’t have to do it alone.

The combination of learning mindfulness skills (approaching your fear with gentleness, and non-reactivity in the present moment) and emotional support from a trusted counselor can begin to unwind even the oldest and strongest fears and anxieties you are experiencing. In this way mindfulness-based therapy can begin to transform your fear into wisdom and wounds into healing.