Today, while hiking Mt. Takao with some friends, we had many opportunities to talk about fear of heights.  Walking along the edge of a narrow path that drops off straight down on the one side and people walking towards you makes you think about these things!
 
I have had many opportunities to experience such a fear, as I think most people have:  climbing steps on the Great Wall of China with no railing, thousands of feet in the air, then having to turn around an walk back down those same stairs because you have no option; driving the long windy beautiful road to Hana in Maui, Hawaii, where there is no place to turn around and hardly room for two cars to pass in opposite directions, with the ocean straight down a cliff; climbing Mt. Fuji where there were places that just seemed to drop off into oblivion; riding in a glass elevator to a high floor in an office building.  I actually live on the 40th floor of a high rise in Tokyo with a balcony!  The list goes on and on.  Mind you, I don't like having any fear at all and think that we should not just accept it as a part of life and let it limit our activities.  So, as I was walking along some rocky paths today with my friends, I was purposely breathing slowly and deeply, purposely letting myself gaze over the edge, and purposely letting people pass me on the inner side against the safe mountain as I remained close to the edge.  Even while doing this, I was realizing that the fear was not intense as it has been in the past and made me consider what caused it to lessen. 

If you have experienced this fear too, there is some good news.  Most people tend to experience a certain tentativeness being in high places, so you are not alone.   Research shows that fear of heights is probably an ingrained evolutionary survival mechanism, like the reaction you have when something flies close to your head and you duck.  So, perhaps those two facts alone will keep you from thinking that you are some kind of crazy person, alone in this darkness.  Sometimes thinking you are the only one who is experiencing something increases the anxiety.  There is a wide continuum of fear.  The problem comes when it is not just a precautionary awareness, but it becomes an all consuming phobia that limits your activities, or causes a panicked reaction that actually could cause the danger that you fear!  Then it becomes acrophobia.  Many times these types of fears, while they may be ingrained, they are exacerbated by the early childhood reactions of a fearful parent or some trauma involving high places.  No matter, these fears can be reduced. 

One way is by doing the kinds of things I was doing today:  exposing yourself little by little to the thing you fear.  Begin by  breathing slowly and calmly, reminding yourself that if you take the proper precautions and pay attention, you will be just fine.  Climb the ladder one step higher than you may be completely comfortable with and remind yourself that you are safe.  Take that glass elevator just one floor higher than feels just right, reassuring yourself that it's OK.  Remind yourself that thousands of people do this very thing and nothing bad happens to them, so you can expect the same result.

Another way to lessen the feelings of panic is to feel the fear in your body (maybe your pounding heart or tightness in your chest or shaking hands).  Relax and ask to be taken back to the first time you felt this way.  Letting your mind just drift back to a memory of another encounter earlier in your life that may have caused this feeling to be so strong now.  Examine the belief you had then.  Did you fall out of the top bunk bed as a child and come to the conclusion that high places are scary or unsafe?  Listen for the truth about that, deep in your inner being.  You may hear something like,  "all high places are not dangerous, but you were just asleep and it was a one time event that never has to happen again."  Let the old wrong belief be replaced with the new, more accurate statement, letting the scary feeling subside.

When we experience a traumatic situation, the strong emotion attached to the event sears the memory into your mind and includes a globalized belief that you created at that moment about all such events.  When that happens, any time in the future when you experience anything that resembles the traumatic moment, your mind will replay the fear and belief without really examining whether or not it is true.  So often, we just accept these things as a part of life.  Rather that accepting these limitations, and the way they define our lives for us, we should challenge them and always be seeking truth so that we can live full, free and fulfilled lives, unlimited by our past!  Of course if your phobia is really stuck and your life is limited severely by your fear, I would advise you to seek professional help.  Sometimes, it just helps to have another person walk you through the healing.

Meditating regularly by quieting yourself and breathing slowly, imagining yourself to be one with your maker and all that he is, also reduces fears, calms panic, releases us from our limitations.  If we are one with God, how we possibly think we have any limitations or anything to be afraid of?  Really.   

www.marianneclyde.com/change_the_way_you_think.html