Maslov’s second hierarchy of needs is safety. Last week we spoke of making sure our basic physiological needs of food, water, shelter, sleep, and reproduction were being met. This week we focus on safety. Safety refers to personal security, employment, health, resources, and property. Do you feel safe in all of these areas? That’s the first question to ask. Living in fear is sometimes very obvious and sometimes undercover. Anger, jealousy, shyness, withdrawal, frequent negativity or seeing the wrong in things, and even frequent illnesses are some of the symptoms of fear in your life. Marianne Williamson’s statement below best describes the process to achieving Maslov’s hierarchy of needs by letting go of the fears that we have learned in our human body. Alan Cohen stated in his book The Tao Made Easy that from the time we are born we are taught that we need others to survive and at the beginning we do. Part of growing up and evolving is learning that we can stand on our own and we are safe on our own. This doesn’t mean that we don’t ask for help. It means that we are safe on our own.
We do not have to live in fear or the characteristics of fear. How is anger a sign of fear? I am angry because that person is making my job miserable is an example of I am afraid that I will lose my job because of that person or that my stress level is rising and I will get sick because that person is making me miserable. I hate that person because my friend’s like her more is a sign of fear because you are afraid that either you are not good enough or that you will lose your friend. Getting sick all of the time is a sign of a weakened immune system which means you are stressed which means you are living in fear of the unknown. Anytime you find yourself on the offense or defense there is fear behind this fight, flight, or freeze response and in this, you are giving your power of health and peace away to an outside source.
I have lived with so much fear in my life that I was so unaware that it wasn’t normal. During my very first myofascial release class, I became so incredibly aware of my body. I believe I actually learned what it meant to be out of your body which I was because of the fear that I had. I have always hated the dark and being alone especially at night. During that first 9 days of MFR, my husband went away on a trip and I was alone at home. Around 11 o’clock at night, my dogs began to bark at the front door. To my surprise, I got out of bed, walked to the front door and turned on the porch light to see what was outside. I had shifted. I had let go of fear. Earlier that week before realizing I had all that fear in me, I would have pulled the covers over my head and wished whatever may have been out there would just go away. My reaction is often run or freeze, not fight. I had released the fear of being alone. I released the fear that I was defenseless. How do you do this? You shift your perspective.
Chapter 2 of the Voyage to HEAL is titled I am Safe. To help you shift, I am sharing with you one of the meditations from the Voyage to HEAL that coincides with this chapter. You are safe. Become aware of the areas in your life that you feel threatened and shift your perspective or get out so that you are in a safe environment. No deserves to live in fear. There is always another way. Love
This week’s Voyage to HEAL focus
Stretch: The sacrum is the focal point for safety in our body. One of my favorite sacral stretches is using the sacrowedgy, but in it’s place you can use a folded washcloth on your sacrum while laying on your back. Begin with your knees bent, then let them fall one at a time to the side in butterfly pose, and then straighten your legs.Â
Exercise:Â Laying on your back with your knees bent, engage the pelvic floor and core muscles, now slowly roll the sacrum clockwise and counterclockwise. This is a very small, but powerful movement to strengthen the pelvic floor muscles and increase the movement of the sacrum. Picture the top of your sacrum a 12 o’clock and the bottom as 6 o’clock. You should not feel your legs or pelvis move with this. It is a sacral movement. The sacrum is the last part of the spine before your tailbone. Do each direction 5x in the morning and at bedtime.
Habitual change:Â Stand with pride and confidence. Wherever you are. Think of how you can exhibit pride and confidence with your demeanor.
Perspective Enlightenment: “I have faith in God that I am safe over the fear in my head”. “I can do this”.