Deep breathing may not remove our fears, but it removes the power of our fears to fuel our imagination. Whenever fear attacks us, it fuels our imagination and makes our thoughts go toward various worst-case scenarios without necessarily analyzing how realistic or unrealistic they might be. When we have to deal with fear, one of the simplest ways is to take away the fuel for our imagination. One of the simplest ways to do that is by shifting our attention to our breathing. As we slow our breath and focus our attention on slowing our breath, our attention is no longer available for our imagination to run wild, and that’s how the control of fear on us decreases.

Watch this content at: How deep breathing decreases fear

***

18.35 And that determination which cannot go beyond dreaming, fearfulness, lamentation, moroseness and illusion – such unintelligent determination, O son of Pṛthā, is in the mode of darkness.