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

Plonka, Lavinia

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1585423939 ISBN 13: 9781585423934

Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group, 2005

Synopsis

The ordinary manner in which we carry ourselves physically, our automatic gestures, and the accustomed comforts of our bodily habits inadvertently reinforce fear's hold on our lives. What Are You Afraid Of? explores how our fears often arise from physical and mental triggers that have been learned over the course of our early lives-and can be un-learned. Fear, explains award-winning movement teacher Lavinia Plonka, is not the product of intractable psychological demons; instead, it often revolves around repetitive body/mind cues. By teaching the body new habits through a series of exercises and postures, the cycle of fear can be broken.

About this title

About the Author:

Lavinia Plonka is an Emmy-nominated choreographer and former artist-in-residence at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City. She is a longtime student and teacher of the Feldenkrais Method and other movement practices.

Review:

According to the author, a seasoned workshop leader in movement therapies, "fear is often the process of taking a past negative experience and posing it as a potential future negative experience." Children who are raised by overprotective parents, for example, can turn into adults who are so frightened that they will not even drive a car. Their fearful disposition, Plonka says, may be expressed by rigid posture or shallow breathing. She offers a series of physical and mental exercises designed to uncover the layers of anxiety that mask the cause of current fears, such as fear of starvation, illness or death. For example, she recommends dealing with fear of injury by doing breathing exercises, "discovering your options" through body movement and writing down new ways to handle fearful emotions. Many of Plonka's strategies for living bravely are drawn from the work of Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais, a pioneer in the field of how the nervous system is impacted by "movement, repetition and rest in a safe environment." While the author doesn't delve deeply into the psychology of fear, her sensible and clearly explained program should help provide relief for many beset by debilitating anxiety. 
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About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 1585423939
• ISBN 13: 9781585423934
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 192