Overcome Fears with Neuroscience and Ancestral Spirituality

If you’re growing in your life, it’s probably due to fear.

While not all fears are bad, conditioned fears have a way of stopping actions that move us forward in our manifestation process.

You might find you even sabotage yourself when things are starting to work well in your life, which is also often a result of a conditioned fear.

This article will be using the Neurospiritual Method. You will learn how your brain processes these fears, what the roles of the subconscious and unconscious mind are in fears, and research-based ways to overcome conditioned fears.

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The Neuroscience of Conditioned Fear

Your fears can stop you from taking beneficial actions. And there are good reasons why this happens.

Conditioned fear is the response that arises from past experiences and learned behaviors.

It is often irrational and disproportionate to the actual risk or danger of the current situation.

Conditioned fear comes from earlier life experiences, where certain actions or situations were associated with negative outcomes.

It becomes tricky to pinpoint these, as they are often stored in memories in our subconscious mind, yet they are responsible for the actions we take and do not take.

For example, if you were criticized or punished for taking risks as a child, you might fear trying new things or stepping out of your comfort zone as an adult.

Differentiating Between Healthy and Unhealthy Conditioned Fear

Healthy conditioned fear helps you avoid genuine threats based on past experiences.

Unhealthy conditioned fear, however, restricts your growth and keeps you from achieving your goals.

It often involves an exaggerated perception of risk and underestimating your abilities.

For example, you might have a desire to launch a new business, but your conditioned fear stops you from taking the necessary actions to do so because it believes you will dramatically fail at it.

Origins of Conditioned Fear: Evolutionary Perspective

From an evolutionary perspective, conditioned fear helped early humans avoid repeating dangerous mistakes.

For instance, if a certain behavior leads to harm, avoiding that behavior in the future increases survival chances.

In modern life, these learned responses can become maladaptive when they prevent you from pursuing beneficial activities.

Neuroscientific Perspective: Brain Structures Involved

The amygdala and hippocampus play roles in conditioned fear.

The amygdala triggers the fear response based on past memories stored by the hippocampus.

The prefrontal cortex, which helps in rational decision-making, may become less active during fear responses, making it difficult to override the conditioned fear with logic.

It’s why conditioned fears put a stop to beneficial actions. Your brain has overridden logical decisions.

Cultural and Ancestral Perspectives

Cultural norms and family dynamics often shape how fear is conditioned.

For example, if you grew up in an environment where risk-taking was discouraged, you might develop a conditioned fear of failure or rejection.

At the same time, ancestral practices and wisdom can provide tools to unlearn these fears. Storytelling, community support, and rituals can help reframe fear and promote resilience. I’ll discuss these more later in this article.

Role of the Amygdala in Detecting Threats

The amygdala is crucial in conditioned fear.

When you come into a situation similar to a past negative experience (note that it doesn’t have to be exact, but just have similarities), the amygdala triggers a fear response.

This response is automatic and often occurs before you consciously recognize the trigger.

The amygdala’s primary function is to protect you by preparing your body to deal with potential threats.

Prefrontal Cortex and Rational Thinking

The prefrontal cortex helps you evaluate and respond to threats rationally.

It allows you to assess the reality of a situation and make informed decisions.

In cases of conditioned fear, the prefrontal cortex may be less effective.

The intense emotional response from the amygdala can overwhelm rational thinking, making it difficult to accurately assess the actual danger.

This can result in an exaggerated fear response, even when the threat is minimal or non-existent.

Physiological Changes in the Body

Your conditioned fears also show up in your body.

Conditioned fear activates the fight-or-flight response, leading to various physiological changes:

• Increased Heart Rate: Your heart beats faster to supply more blood to your muscles and brain.
• Rapid Breathing: Your breathing quickens to increase oxygen intake.
• Muscle Tension: Your muscles tighten, preparing for action.
• Dilated Pupils: Your pupils widen to improve vision.
• Redirected Blood Flow: Blood is diverted from non-essential functions, like digestion, to essential muscles and organs.

These changes prepare your body to deal with the perceived threat, even if it’s based on past experiences rather than current reality. And even they are non-existent.

How Fear Memories Are Formed and Stored

Conditioned fear is a learned response stored in the brain.

The amygdala and hippocampus work together to form and store these fear memories.

The amygdala encodes the emotional intensity of the fear experience, while the hippocampus records the contextual details, such as the environment and specific cues present during the event.

This partnership makes sure that similar future situations trigger the fear response quickly.

When you encounter a similar situation again, the amygdala activates the fear response based on the stored memory.

The Impact of Chronic Fear on the Brain

Chronic exposure to conditioned fear can have significant effects on the brain:

• Increased Amygdala Activity: The amygdala becomes more sensitive, making you more prone to fear responses. You might experience anxiety and difficulty managing fear.
• Reduced Prefrontal Cortex Function: Chronic fear can impair the prefrontal cortex, reducing your ability to think logically and control emotions. This can result in poor decision-making and difficulty regulating emotional responses.
• Hippocampus Shrinkage: Ongoing fear and stress can shrink the hippocampus, affecting your ability to form new memories and recall past ones accurately. This can lead to memory problems and an increased susceptibility to fear.

These changes can make conditioned fear more persistent and harder to overcome.

And again, fear lives in the body, so you may also experience:

• Hormonal Response: The hormonal response to conditioned fear involves the release of adrenaline and cortisol, which prepare your body for fight or flight even when the situation doesn’t justify such a response.
• Sympathetic Nervous System: The SNS activates, which then increases your heart rate, muscle tension, and other physical symptoms that can reinforce the fear response.
• Heart and Circulatory System: Your heart pumps more blood to your muscles and brain, preparing you for action. This physical response can heighten the sense of fear.
• Respiratory System: Rapid, shallow breathing is common during conditioned fear, making it harder to calm yourself and think clearly.
• Musculoskeletal System: Muscle tension is a typical response to fear, preparing you for physical action. This is why some people are constantly tense.
• Digestive System: The digestive system slows down as blood flow is redirected to essential muscles and the brain. This can cause digestive discomfort and other issues over time.
• Skin: Changes in blood flow can make your skin pale or cold, physical symptoms that can reinforce the feeling of fear.

The Unconscious and Subconscious Roles in Conditioned Fear

The Subconscious Mind: Gatekeeper of Conditioned Responses

The subconscious mind acts as a vast storage area for all your past experiences, memories, and learned behaviors.

It operates below the level of conscious awareness and influences your thoughts, emotions, and actions.

Key Functions:

1. Storage of Memories: The subconscious mind stores all your past experiences, including those that led to fear responses. These memories can be triggered by current situations that resemble past events, even if you are not consciously aware of the connection.
2. Association and Learning: The subconscious mind learns through association. If a neutral event is repeatedly paired with a negative experience, the subconscious links the two. For example, if public speaking was once associated with ridicule, the subconscious mind will trigger a fear response in similar situations.
3. Protection Mechanism: The primary role of the subconscious mind is to protect you. It triggers fear responses to prevent you from repeating actions that previously led to negative outcomes. While this mechanism can be beneficial in genuinely dangerous situations, it can also be maladaptive when it prevents you from pursuing positive opportunities.

Overcoming Subconscious Conditioned Fear:

• Reprogramming: Techniques such as positive affirmations, visualization, and hypnotherapy can help reprogram the subconscious mind to reduce conditioned fears.
• Exposure Therapy: Gradual exposure to feared situations can help desensitize the subconscious mind, reducing the fear response over time.

The Unconscious Mind: The Deep Reservoir of Instincts and Primitive Responses

The unconscious mind operates at an even deeper level than the subconscious.

It is the repository of instinctual drives, primitive responses, and deeply ingrained patterns of behavior.

Key Functions:

1. Primitive Instincts: The unconscious mind governs basic survival instincts, such as the fight-or-flight response. These responses are automatic and often bypass conscious thought.
2. Deep-Seated Fears: Some fears are rooted in the unconscious mind, stemming from early life experiences or even ancestral memory. These deep-seated fears can be challenging to identify and address because they operate at a primal level.
3. Influence on Behavior: The unconscious mind influences behavior through automatic responses and ingrained patterns. For example, an unconscious fear of failure might manifest as self-sabotaging behavior or chronic procrastination.

Addressing Unconscious Conditioned Fear:

• Deep Relaxation and Meditation: Practices that promote deep relaxation, such as meditation and breathwork, can help access the unconscious mind and bring awareness to deep-seated fears.
• Therapeutic Techniques: Therapies such as psychoanalysis, hypnotherapy, and depth psychology aim to uncover and address unconscious fears and patterns.

Integrating Subconscious and Unconscious Insights

To effectively manage and overcome conditioned fear, it’s essential to integrate insights from both the subconscious and unconscious mind:

1. Awareness: Bringing subconscious and unconscious fears to conscious awareness is the first step. Reflective practices such as journaling, mindfulness, and therapy can help uncover hidden fears.
2. Reconditioning: Use reconditioning techniques such as positive affirmations, visualization, and gradual exposure to retrain the subconscious mind.
3. Healing Practices: Incorporate ancestral and holistic spiritual practices, such as meditation, breathwork, and energy work, to soothe and heal the mind at a deeper level.
4. Support Systems: Seek support from therapists, coaches, and community groups to help navigate and overcome deep-seated fears.

By addressing both the subconscious and unconscious layers of the mind, you can effectively reduce the power of conditioned fears, promote personal growth, and achieve greater resilience and inner peace.

Why Action Is Necessary for Overcoming Fear

Taking action is a crucial step in overcoming fear.

When you confront your fears, you send a message to your brain that the situation is not as dangerous as it seems.

This process, called desensitization, reduces the power of fear over time.

Action disrupts the cycle of avoidance and anxiety, helping you build confidence and resilience.

Examples of How Inaction Can Worsen Fear

• Avoidance Reinforces Fear: When you avoid something that scares you, it reinforces the fear. Your brain learns that avoidance is the way to stay safe, which makes the fear grow stronger over time.
• Missed Opportunities: Inaction prevents you from experiencing growth and new opportunities. By not taking action, you miss out on potential successes and the lessons that come from facing challenges.
• Increased Anxiety: Avoiding fearful situations can lead to increased anxiety. The fear of the unknown and the “what if” scenarios can become overwhelming, making it harder to take action in the future.

Building Resilience: How Consistent Exposure and Desensitization Techniques Can Help Reduce Conditioned Fears

Consistent exposure and desensitization techniques are effective methods to reduce the power of conditioned fears.

Here are some practical techniques that you can incorporate into your daily life:

Gradual Exposure

Gradual exposure involves facing the fear in small, manageable steps, progressively increasing the level of exposure over time.

This technique helps desensitize the brain to the feared situation or object.

Steps to Practice Gradual Exposure:

1. Identify the Fear: Clearly define what you are afraid of.
2. Create a Hierarchy: Break down the fear into smaller steps. For instance, if you fear public speaking, start by talking to a friend, then a small group, and gradually increase the audience size.
3. Start Small: Begin with the least frightening step and gradually move to more challenging ones as you become comfortable.

Visualization

Visualization involves imagining yourself successfully facing your fears in vivid detail. This mental rehearsal can reduce anxiety and prepare you for real-life situations.

1. Find a Quiet Place: Sit or lie down in a quiet place where you won’t be disturbed.
2. Imagine the Scenario: Close your eyes and imagine the fearful situation. Picture yourself handling it calmly and successfully.
3. Focus on Details: Pay attention to details, including sights, sounds, and sensations. Visualize a positive outcome.

Mindfulness and Meditation

Mindfulness and meditation help ground you in the present moment and detach you from fear memories.

These practices can reduce anxiety and improve emotional regulation.

1. Mindful Breathing: Focus on your breath. Inhale deeply through your nose, hold for a few seconds, and exhale slowly through your mouth.
2. Body Scan Meditation: Focus on each part of your body, starting from your toes and moving up to your head. Notice any tension and consciously relax those areas.
3. Mindful Observation: Do activities that connect you to the present moment, such as walking in nature or focusing on the details of your environment.

Self-Compassion and Reflection

Practicing self-compassion and reflection can help you manage fear by treating yourself with kindness and learning from past experiences.

• Self-Compassion Exercises: Acknowledge your fears without judgment. Treat yourself with the same kindness you would offer a friend facing similar fears.
• Reflection Journaling: Reflect on past experiences where you faced your fears and note how you overcame them. This can build confidence and remind you of your resilience.

Positive Affirmations

Positive affirmations can counteract negative thought patterns and help rewire your brain for a more positive outlook.

1. Identify Negative Thoughts: Notice the negative thoughts that arise when you think about your fears.
2. Create Affirmations: Write positive affirmations that counter these negative thoughts. For example, replace “I can’t do this” with “I am capable and strong.”
3. Repeat Daily: Repeat these affirmations daily, especially during moments of fear or anxiety.

For further reading on the topic, you can refer to the systematic review on fear conditioning and extinction (PLOS ONE, 2008).

Ancestral and Holistic Spiritual Practices to Calm Fear

An integrated approach works best and for this, we will incorporate ancestral practices that also remove conditioned fears.

Traditional Rituals and Their Calming Effects

• Meditation: Many cultures have used meditation as a way to calm the mind and reduce fear. This practice involves focusing your mind on a particular object, thought, or activity to achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm state.
• Prayer: Prayer is another common ritual that can bring comfort and reduce fear. It provides a sense of connection to a higher power or the universe, giving you feelings of safety and protection.
• Community Gatherings: Coming together with others in your community can provide support and reduce feelings of isolation. Rituals that involve singing, dancing, or storytelling can help release fear and build resilience.

Storytelling and Wisdom from Ancestors

• Storytelling: Many cultures use storytelling to pass down wisdom and teach valuable lessons about facing and overcoming fear. Hearing stories of ancestors who faced and overcame their fears can provide inspiration and guidance.
• Ancestral Wisdom: Learning about the practices and beliefs of your ancestors can provide a sense of continuity and belonging. This connection to the past can be a source of strength and comfort when facing fear.

Breathwork: Techniques for Calming the Nervous System

Practice deep breathing exercises to calm the nervous system. Inhale slowly through your nose, hold for a few seconds and exhale slowly through your mouth.

Repeat this several times to reduce anxiety and bring your focus to the present moment.

Box breathing also works well. Inhale for four counts, hold for four counts, exhale for four counts, and hold again for four counts.

This technique helps regulate your breath and calm your mind.

Grounding and Present-Moment Awareness

Sit quietly and focus on your breath, bodily sensations, or a specific mantra.

Bring your attention back to the present moment whenever your mind wanders.

This practice helps you detach from fear memories and reduce their impact.

Nature also pairs well with mindfulness and grounding you. Do activities that connect you to the present moment, such as walking barefoot on grass, focusing on the details of your environment, or using all your senses to observe your surroundings.

Energy Work: Reiki to Balance the Body’s Energy

Reiki is an ancient practice that involves the transfer of energy from the practitioner to the patient to promote emotional and physical healing.

You can practice self-Reiki by placing your hands on different parts of your body and focusing on sending healing energy to those areas.

Herbal Remedies: Natural Ways to Soothe Fear and Anxiety

• Chamomile: Known for its calming properties, chamomile tea can help reduce anxiety and promote relaxation.
• Valerian Root: Often used as a natural remedy for anxiety and insomnia, valerian root can help calm the nervous system.
• Lavender: Lavender essential oil (in a diffuser) or tea can reduce stress and anxiety.
• Ashwagandha: This adaptogenic herb helps the body manage stress and reduce anxiety. You can take it as a supplement or in tea form.

Integrating these ancestral and holistic spiritual practices into your routine, you can calm your mind and body, reduce the impact of conditioned fear, and build resilience.

These practices provide a holistic approach to managing fear, drawing on the wisdom and techniques of your ancestors as well as modern understandings of the mind and body.