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Insecurity is unusually well defended against argument. Every reassurance gets examined for whether it is really true, which turns comfort into more material, and that is why talking yourself out of it so reliably fails.
What this practice is
The practice does not engage with the content. Fear and insecurity both come with a case, and the case is designed to be argued with, so attention goes to the physical event instead: the tightness, the temperature, the pull to check something.
Met that way, both turn out to be smaller and more finite than they seem when reasoned with. Not gone, and not resolved, but bounded. That boundedness is the thing the practice produces and it is difficult to get to by thinking.
The two are treated together because they behave alike. Fear is about something happening and insecurity is about what it says about you, and both keep going by being given attention in the form of examination.
The tradition treats fear as an object of attention like any other and does not promise its removal. What people commonly report is a shorter interval between noticing the fear and putting it down. Whether meditation affects fear in a measurable way is a clinical question and it is not claimed here.
When to use it
Practise it regularly rather than at the moment of fear. What is being built is a familiarity, and familiarity is not available at short notice.
It suits recurring insecurity about your work, your standing or your worth, the kind that has a theme and comes round. If what you have is social self-consciousness specifically, that has its own sessions.
It is a poor choice for acute fear of something real and immediate. Fear of something genuinely dangerous is doing its job and is not the target.
The sessions
Overcoming Fear & Insecurity, one practice at four lengths, 8 to 24 minutes. Every session in this collection needs Premium. Four other meditation collections have a free session in them, and the free tier covers twelve guided sessions across the app.
| Length | Tier |
|---|---|
| 8 min | Premium |
| 12 min | Premium |
| 18 min | Premium |
| 24 min | Premium |
How long to practise for
Start short. Turning attention toward fear is not comfortable, and a length you can complete while uncomfortable is worth more than one you abandon halfway.
The longer sessions are worth it once the shorter ones have stopped feeling like an ordeal, because insecurity often takes a while to stop presenting its case.
The general version of this, and what a longer session actually adds, is in How Long to Meditate For: Choosing a Session Length.
How to use it
Go to the body and stay there. The moment you are examining whether the fear is justified you are inside the mechanism.
Do not reassure yourself. Reassurance invites the examination and it is the loop.
Let the pull to check something be noticed rather than acted on. That pull is often the clearest part of the whole feeling.
Expect it to be unpleasant early on. Most people find the first fortnight of this harder than avoiding it, which is exactly why avoidance works so well.
What usually goes wrong
Arguing with it. Insecurity is built to withstand argument and gets stronger from the attention. Going to the physical feeling is the only reliable way past that.
Reassuring yourself during the session. It feels kind and it starts the examination. Notice the urge and leave it.
Expecting the fear to go. What changes is how long it holds you, not whether it arrives. Aiming at removal makes every recurrence a failure.
Stopping because it is uncomfortable early on. The first weeks are the hardest and that is ordinary. If it is distressing rather than uncomfortable, that is different and worth stopping for.
Not by talking yourself round
PanchPrana keeps these at several lengths because turning toward fear is easier in small amounts to begin with. The confidence sessions are the ones for the hour before something, and this is the one for the pattern underneath.
Who should take care
This is a sitting practice with no physical demand. The cautions are about turning attention deliberately toward fear, which is not a neutral thing to do.
If you live with PTSD, complex trauma or a dissociative condition, do not practise this alone. Fear held in the body can be tied to a specific event, and meeting it without support can bring the event rather than the feeling. Skip it and work with a therapist.
If you live with panic disorder, take care and keep sessions short. Attention on physical sensations of fear can escalate into a panic cycle. Rest attention on the hands or feet rather than the chest or breath, and stop rather than continuing through a rising session.
Stop if distress climbs rather than settles, and come back to the room with your eyes open and your feet on the floor. Fear that keeps you from ordinary activities, phobias, and panic attacks are all treatable and worth a doctor. This is not a treatment for any of them.
See our full Health & Safety Disclaimer.
Common questions
Why does reassuring myself not work?
Because insecurity examines the reassurance for whether it is really true, which gives it more to work with. Going to the physical feeling avoids that entirely.
Is fear the same as anxiety here?
They overlap. Fear usually has an object and anxiety often does not, and the practices differ a little: anxiety work is more about the relationship to the feeling, this is more about meeting it directly.
What if the fear is about something real?
Then it is doing its job and this is not the tool. The practice is for fear that outlasts or outweighs the thing it is about.
It feels worse when I start. Is that normal?
For the first weeks, commonly. Uncomfortable is expected; distressing is not, and is a reason to stop rather than push.
Will this make me confident?
No. It changes how long insecurity holds you rather than replacing it with certainty, and anything promising the second is overselling.
