What Are You Afraid Of?: A Body/Mind Guide to Courageous Living

As an underdog I read a lot of books on fear and on the body/mind connection respectively. This should be the first book I came across which devotes on both, and in particular how correct gestures/postures can help alleviate fear, especially those acquired during early lives. In this respect, the objective set per book title "What are you afraid of? A body/mind guide to courageous living" had been largely achieved, primarily by the first half of it. Sorry to say that the second half of it had been a little bit over stretched with theories. It would be better if the author can give more of the Feldenkrais Method and/or Yoga in fighting against fear/stress. Taking into consideration of the author's background (she's neither an M.D. nor a psychologist) I must express my heartfelt appreciation of her calibre of writing a book of such high quality. In short, recommended! Below please find some of my favorite passages for your reference. Checking on your tension spots: Stand quietly with your eyes closed. Imagine a line going down the center of your body. Where is your head in relation to that line? Is your neck in front of behind the line? What about your shoulders? Sometimes one shoulder is in front and one is behind. Is your chest thrust forward of the line, or somewhere behind it? Where is your pelvis? Is your lower back arched? Are your knees relaxed or are they locked? Do you feel the weight on your feet in the middle, front, or back? .....Chances are that if you feel yourself "out of line,' yiou are using tension to hold yourself in place. Take a fresh stance. Now notice: Are you really comfortable? pg 16 Fear defeats more people than any other one thing in the world. - Ralph Waldo Emerson pg 17 Success is never final and faiure is never fatal. It's courage that counts. - Jules Ellinger pg 93 He who is afraid of a thing gives it power over him. - Moorish proverb pg 98 An inflexible spine undoubtedly creates limitations in changing direction, let alone the ability to move ahead (or anywhere, for that matter!). It compromises one's sense of safety: with limited range of motion, how can you respond effectively to life's stresses? ..... A frozen spine often results in a frozen pelvis. A frozen pelvis can indicate impotence, an inability to act, a lack of freedom. pg 132

I've only experienced a couple of the exercises in this book and am so glad I got it. This book is great. I was afraid to excersise after a car accident because simple movements hurt. I was deathly afraid of physical therapists and thier torture machines. Thankfully someone recommended Feldenkrais and someone else reccommended this book in particular. I was afraid my life was over but not anymore. One of the excerises in this book is from Anat Baniels joint pain series so I bought Anat Baniels neck pain exercises. Even though I never thought about what I was afraid, I had a lot of fears and still do. I have a lot less now. Lavinia Plonka thank you! Great book! Let your life begin! reviews over!!!!! but on side note, why not get an extra copy and carry it with you, it's compact enough, when you see someone with a no fear t-shirt or big sticker on thier vehicle, give them a copy. They may not look like they need it, but it could be best book they ever owned.

Lavinia Plonka's book What Are You Afraid of? is certainly a book for our times. It seems that fear is everywhere, in our political, social, and private lives. I found this book enormously insightful. The author is direct and honest in her approach to acknowledging fear and gaining mastery over it. What I particularly found helpful was the focus on ACTION - do this and help is on the way. Ms. Plonka's extensive background in the Feldenkrais Method and her years as a performer lend credence to the exercises she offers here. The illustrations were a delightful bonus.

Once one has explored a bodywork-oriented fitness discipline -- Pilates, Yoga, Feldenkrais, Tai Chi, etc. -- in detail, you will begin to notice something interesting: there are certain exercises/postures/positions that are difficult where the difficulty has nothing to do with the mechanics of doing the exercise. You've got the strength, the flexibility, and the balance, but you still can't do it. Maybe the difficulties have to do with something that we are -- or were -- afraid of, and the fear is still embodied in our posture or our movement.In our culture, we usually pay little to no attention to such issues. In other words, we have a fear of revealing our fears -- especially to ourselves. This book is about the courage to see those fears and, through awareness, to begin to have some mastery over them.For me, understanding how I hold my fear in body is profound. It is the "juice" which keeps me practicing Pilates. While I most certainly appreciate the increased strength and flexibility I've achieved, this connection is what touches my heart. Courage is exactly what it takes to keep exploring this connection.I suspect a desire to avoid the mind-body connection is also why many people stop pursuing such disciplines. Many instructors are afraid (!) to discuss such things in their classes; they may or may not have a powerful relationship with these concepts themselves. Ultimately, I think ignoring this topic is counterproductive; students will eventually stumble onto it themselves. I also suspect that this is why more women persue these disciplines -- they tend to intutitvely grasp both the existence and the value in exploring this particular mind/body connection.To this end, this book is a great introduction to these concepts. I highly recommend it to anyone who regularly practices any of these disciplines. I also recommend it to anyone interested in gaining mastery of their fears -- this avenue is quite likely to produce profound results.Lavinia writes with great clarity and illustrates her points with many stories from her Feldenkrais practice. Highly recommended.