As I sit in my room, I look around and I feel fear creeping into my mind. This kind of fear often goes unnoticed but it is the kind that slowly joins my thoughts, and suddenly becomes a big part of my life.

When I teach yoga, I teach my students to let go of their fears. But I’ve learned, it is not as simple as I think to let go of these types of fears.

As I sit in my room, I stop and I breathe. I come to the conclusion that these fears are not going to control me or consume me any longer. I am going to let them go.

These are the fears about tomorrow. These are the fears of what our future will look like. These are the fears that we have absolutely no control over. These fears find their ways into our minds and stay for a while, like a bad memory or an uninvited guest. I am not going to sugar coat these words and tell you that there is one method to letting go of your fears. And actually, maybe letting go of your fears is not possible for you. But I think coming to this realization is important.

Letting go of our fears can mean a lot of things. But mostly, it allows room for different kinds of thoughts in your mind, or for things that actually deserve your attention. Living through fear is not really living, so it is not helping us whatsoever in our day to day lives.

As I sit in my room, these fears creep in. They continually remind me of the unknown, that I don’t know what is yet to come. I don’t know what will happen today, tomorrow, or a week from now. Again, I am going to let these fears go. If I don’t, I am not making space for the positive things in my life. Is that fair to me? No it isn’t. So I will make room.

Letting go, letting go, letting go. Why is it so hard to let go? These fears are not average fears, they stick. They go, sure. But they come back. How do we train ourselves to know what to do when they come back?

Yoga and meditation have helped me conquer some of my greatest fears, but what about those days when I can’t commit to my mat, when I don’t want to sit and listen to my breath, or when my thoughts are so tightly wrapped around inside my head that I can’t seem to find any release? This is where those fears thrive, this is where they live. They feed on these areas where thousands of our thoughts fall, they blend in, and then all at once they come out to play.

Let them go. Let them go. Let them go. You don’t need these in your life. All they will do is slow you down. Let them go.