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Fear is an instinct given to us by Mother Nature to save our lives. However, sometimes fear ruins our lives in so many ways. Have you ever experienced a travel fear related to going to new places? Have you questioned yourself with various degrees of anxiety: will I get lost in an unknow place? how will I communicate if I don’t know the local language? will I be safe?
Is fear of traveling alone, fear of flying, fear of traveling in a car, public transport anxiety eating your heart out? Or may be when you travel you never set foot into the ocean because you have a fear of open water; or, perhaps, you never saw the beautiful Chicago or New York skyline from the top of Hancock or Empire Buildings respectively because you have a fear of heights… If you have ever experienced any of the above travel anxieties and fears please, trust me, that you are not alone.
In the past year many people have developed a severe fear of Covid-19. Germaphobia in general is a common travel anxiety but what people have experienced recently boarders paranoia. I have friends who were very active before the pandemic and now they barely leave their houses. Unfortunately, the psychological effects of Covid-19 will be profound and long-term, that is if we don’t do something about it.
This is why I decided to devote my February Expert Opinion article to figuring out how to help people overcome travel fears and anxieties. I am very excited to discuss these topics with Anastasia Chai, a certified hypnotherapist who helps her patients address various anxieties and fears every single day. I have also set up a personal experiment with Anastasia to deal with my own travel fear and I will talk about the results of it below.
The Theory
Anastasia, let’s focus on what we are discussing today. People use the words Fear, Phobia, Anxiety interchangeably. Do they really mean the same thing or are there differences?
You are right. Often the words such as fear, phobia, and anxiety are being used synonymously. They sure are related but are not precisely the same thing. Fear and phobia can lead to anxiety, and anxiety can lead to fear and even phobia.
The easiest way to differentiate the three is to look at anxiety as an umbrella term. Things such as phobia and fear are types of anxiety, among others.
Excess anxiety is created when one experiences persistent fear about the future. This kind of fear affects multiple aspects of a person’s life over a substantial period without a particular and defined danger. It is the excess worry that is too grand for a single Cup of Calm to resolve. I say excess because some anxiety and fear are normal to help keep us safe in daily life. A healthy fear and normal levels of anxiety can be a source of personal power and strength.
You might ask, can one experience fear without the anxiety component? The answer is yes. Fear of a specific threat, such as fear of spiders or heights, is not necessarily associated with generalized anxiety as we know it; also, it can trigger a bothersome anxious response.
When speaking of fears, I always like to point out that humans are born with only two innate fears. Curious, isn’t it? Those two are fear of loud noises and fear of falling.
It’s safe to state that all other fears are learned responses to specific triggers. Among those learned responses, phobia takes a cake. Phobia is actually an ability to learn something exceptionally well very quickly, a quite extraordinary skill. The way the phobic response is developed is by integrating a new reaction to a stimulus so rapidly and so well that it becomes a part of the subconscious programming often with a single event. Wouldn’t it be great if we had an ability to become experts at anything we ever wanted in a moment without tedious time spend on studies? We actually do when it comes to fear! Phobia is an expert level fear learned quickly and efficiently under “right” amount of stress.
What is the basis of any fear? Where does it originate? I was not always afraid of flying. My fear sort of “showed up” after my kids were born. What gives?
It’s interesting, that your fear showed up after you had your kids. I say this because mine did too. While I didn’t become fearful of airplane rides, I became terrified of heights of all kinds; a tall ladder, long escalator. Even a second story balcony became slightly uncomfortable to be on more so if my kids were near me.
There are multiple ways to acquire new fears. We learn new fears by having unpleasant experiences, observing a traumatic event or hearing the information about something as dangerous. Genetics, family members with fears and phobias, and mental health disorders sometimes are contributing factors for developing fears.
Fears obtained later in life usually have to do with heightened concerns for our own survival once we have children to take care of. A new responsibility of raising a child who depends on us raises a new level of unconscious worry for our wellbeing. Self preservation becomes a top of subconscious programming once we become parents gifting us a specific fear as a tool to help keep us in one piece.
Can hypnosis help with any type of fear/phobia/anxiety?
Extensive research shows effectiveness of hypnosis in achieving a vast variety of goals as long as the root cause of an issue can be identified and a desired outcome established. It’s important to point out, a person has to want to change. Nobody can be made to do anything or helped with anything through hypnosis unless they truly want the help.
How exactly does hypnosis work to eliminate fear?
As a hypnotherapist I do not claim to eliminate or cure just like a doctor cannot make such claim. My goal is to help client change their perception of their fear so that it no longer has a grip on their life. Hypnosis works on allowing a client to overcome their fear on a subconscious level by reducing the negative feeling associated with it, establishing new empowering belief, and strengthening the mind to think differently while learning to remain calm.
I know that some people are skeptical of hypnosis. On the one side of the spectrum there are people who say: “Hypnosis is not going to work on me, you can’t hypnotize me.” On the other side of the spectrum there are people who are scared of hypnosis because they believe that the therapist will be in full control of them and make them say or do something embarrassing. What do you say to these people?
Surely, there is a lot of skepticism surrounding hypnosis. Unfortunately, based on popular media and stage shows, hypnosis is seen as a mind-control trickery which could not be further from the truth. Modern day hypnotherapy is simply a use of hypnosis as a therapeutic tool for relaxation with a goal of achieving desired outcome for a client. My goal as a hypnotherapist is to help a client to overcome whatever it is holding them back through empowering them to take responsibility for their self-improvement.
As a hypnotist, I do not have the power to make you do anything you don’t want to do. Imagine if I really did!
Hypnosis is a natural state of being, and you most certainly can be hypnotized as you go in and out of hypnotic state multiple times a day without even realizing it. If you ever daydreamed, watched a movie, or read a book, you have been hypnotized. Being in hypnotic state simply means your conscious mind freely drifted and your unconscious mind took over enduring a light trance state.
If you can follow step-by-step instructions and of at least an average intelligence, you can be hypnotized. On the other hand, some people are unwilling to follow suggestions or have set belief system that might prevent them experience hypnosis as a therapeutic tool.
What can a “newbie” expect during a hypnotherapy session?
A first part of hypnotherapy session is very similar to a general therapy. Client can expect to discuss concerns and state goals for the session. A portion of the session is spend on answering questions and addressing concerns if there are any.
The Experiment
Set up
I have a a severe fear of flying, Now you know why my blog is called Family ROAD TRIP Guru. 🙂 I have had this travel fear for years and I pretty much gave up on it, until I met Anastasia who forced me to try do something about it.
I had 2 hypnotherapy sessions with Anastasia, 2 and 1 hours long. The first part of each session was a discussion and the second was a relaxation practice. During the discussion we talked about all the details surrounding the fear of flying, when and how it start, how exactly it feels, the triggers, the effects – everything. This discussion was held on a conscious level.
What I have learnt
Through the in-depth discussions with Anastasia I learn that:
- Our subconscious learns all the time, the more you do something, the better you become at it. Unfortunately, the same goes for fear. The more you have experienced the fear the better your subconscious is at making you experience it.
- You have to learn NOT to fear the same way you learnt to fear and the longer you practice NOT fearing, the better you will become at it.
- You can CONTROL your fear
- I am not afraid of hypnosis, it is actually a very pleasant and calming experience.
What I have experienced
During the relaxation session, which is similar to a guided meditation session, Anastasia worked on my subconscious. For about 30 minutes I was visualizing different images that Anastasia was describing. I can summarize this experience as a journey to a warm, peaceful and beautiful place. I think Anastasia is an expert at what she does and she does it very well. On top of that her voice is very pleasant and reassuring. I wish I could take her with me on every airplane trip to sit next to me and talk sense into my head. 🙂
The outcome
I cannot tell you right now how I am going to feel about my fear of flying on board the plane next time I am going to fly because under the current pandemic circumstances it may take a while for me to be able to book a flight without associated headaches of testing and other logistical nightmares. But I can tell you for sure that I am willing to try. Before my sessions with Anastasia I was positive that I don’t even WANT to fly, now I would like to give it a chance. It is for sure a step forward in the right direction for me.
My plan for the future is that if I experience my travel fear again I will get back to Anastasia and we’ll discuss what happened and why and how we can improve the situation. Sometimes 1 or 2 sessions is not enough to deal with a specific fear. It depends on how deep the travel phobia sits inside your head and how willing you are to get rid of it.
ABOUT ANASTASIA CHAI
Anastasia Chai is a highly trained, professional Clinical Hypnotist, Hypnotherapist and a Certified Consulting Hypnotist in good standing with the National Guild of Hypnotists, an organization that sets the highest standard in the industry. She is a Master Hypnotist and NLP Master Practitioner registered with the Association of Integrative Psychology. Anastasia is also Reiki Master Teacher, Pranic Healing, and EFT practitioner. You can find out more about Anastasia’s practice on her website www.anastasiachai.com and Instagram profile.
Additional resources
Here are additional resources that you may find helpful for overcoming some of your travel phobias and anxieties:
- If you have the fear of flying specifically, check out additional tips in my article Defeat Your Fear of Flying.
- If you have a travel anxiety related to the safety of your belongings during travelling, check out my article Must Have Anti-Theft Travel Accessories.
- Here are a couple of fantastic books that will help you deal with your fears and inspire you to travel too:
4. Here are some great books specifically for kids to help them deal with their fears and anxieties (first one is for older kids, 2nd one is for anybody working with a parent and 3d and 4th ones is great for younger kids):
If you found this information on how to overcome travel fears, phobias and anxiety useful, please, share it with friends – it may save someone’s life and sanity. People often don’t open up about their travel fears or phobias in general so that even close friends and relatives have no idea that they are suffering in silence. If we spread this information as much as possible my hope is that it eventually will reach the people who need to read this.
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This is very interesting and useful conversation. Thank you Tatiana!
I am so happy you find it useful! Thank you for your feedback.
Very well written, Tatiana! This article addresses a topic that touches many of us on different levels. Some of us are in a great deal of fear about the world’s current state, some are terrified of dogs, and others are stuck in challenging situations, fearful of making the next step. At first glance, these fears might look like very different issues, but they have a relatively similar mechanism, which is an alert system to keep us from “danger.”
On a different note, you were a pleasure to work with on lifting your fear of flying. I can’t wait to hear of your new flying adventures as soon as you get the opportunity!
I really appreciate your thoughts on this matter! Your insights are invaluable. Always a pleasure working with great professionals.
Fascinating article. It is interesting how our fears tend to change over time and as we go through different experiences in life. I’ve had friends who have had some great results with hypnotherapy. It was a nice reminder to allow myself to think outside the box to resolve my fears. Thank you. -Andrea
Thank you for your feedback! I learnt so much while talking about Anastasia, how simple things can make a big difference in terms of fear.