Yoga to overcome fear by Eliane Carotta

My first experience in Yoga was in Brazil and it was terrible!
I didn't connect with the teacher, and the style I tried by the time wasn't what I was looking for.
Years passed by and when already in Miami, I had my second experience right before my firts teacher training. I tried an Ashtanga class and it was a hard challenge to my body. I loved it.
During the teacher training, the two important things I learned were the spiritual side of Yoga and how to control myself and feelings, specially how to overcame fears.

During almost fifteen years of Martial Arts, I was always surrounded by tough guys and learned how to have a tough attitude (without losing my feminine side, of course), but since they were all huge and used to treat me like the little sister, I was always in the comfort zone, and never tried to really overcome my inner fears. In fact I didn't even think about it. The body was in shape, the ego was surrounded by lots of testosterone, and everything seemed ok. 

One day in a Jiu-Jitsu class (the Brazilian martial art I used to practice), some guys were trying to do hand and headstand and I was amazed, but couldn't do it... To be sincere, I never tried, was always scared thinking I was protecting myself, because the truth is: I was frustrated and sad for not being able to do it. I built a protection inside me that nobody saw, but that little thing bothered me A LOT.

During my first TT in Miami (under teacher Reed Taylor from It's Yoga), I was asked to do a headstand. I panicked! During seconds my body froze and I didn't know what to do. I was studying to be a teacher, there were at least ten people looking at me, and I felt the dumbest person in the world.
To make a long story short, he helped me and taught me how to hold somebody... I was doing it by myself after a week, with that amazing feeling: overcoming a fear!

Yoga really empower you and can even unblock negative feelings and fears from childhood. It requires practice and persistence, but if it happened to me and to LOTS of people I've met, it can happen to YOU!

Besides overcome your physical, you also can improve other fears: the fear of poverty, the loss of a relationship, or of a job. It's all on your mind, and YOGA can work on your mind braking the negative cycle of energy. It's like an anti depressant or an anxiolytic, but without side effects.

Namaste!