We have all experienced this emotion at some point. Instinctively, it pushes us to react to a danger or a perceived threat, fearing that something painful or unpleasant might happen and affect us. In such a state, our behavior adapts accordingly, responding to our natural survival instinct… just as a prey would if a predator were rushing to devour it.
From this primal perspective, it is naturally a vital reflex, a healthy reaction. But what would happen if this state of alert were constantly with us, if this feeling overwhelmed us irrationally, to the point of no longer being able to think clearly, of being literally paralyzed by fear?
Today, fear seems omnipresent. In our daily interactions with strangers, loved ones, and colleagues, as well as on a global scale between world superpowers... the same observation holds: we reject what is foreign to us. In an era where information is ever more abundant and life's pace is frantic, our ability to understand and accept is increasingly weak. We simply no longer have the time to make the effort to integrate new data that could challenge a system (cultural, religious, educational, social, ...) that we have psychologically accepted and adopted throughout our lives. Anything that could potentially challenge it logically appears to us as a threat to this balance, this illusion of control over a well-being that must be preserved at all costs…
Skillfully conveyed and then instrumentalized, fear can even become an incredible tool for manipulation, which, in its extreme, can lead entire crowds to senseless acts. Geopolitical conflicts and other religious wars are the most flagrant examples.
The TCM Perspective
In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), Fear is the emotion of the Water element. It negatively affects the source organs of our original energy: the Kidneys. This is why a sudden fear, too strong to be properly managed by the Kidneys, causes their dysfunction and even a possible release from the Bladder, which is closely linked to the Kidneys (physiologically and energetically) – the person literally "pees their pants".
The season of Fear is winter, its climate, the cold. Like water freezing in winter, fear freezes, paralyzes, and prevents movement and evolution (the step forward). The presence of fears (even latent ones) can be detected by a withdrawn, inactive attitude, with insomnia (fear of death) or difficulty getting out of bed (fear of life). Moreover, people affected by fear naturally adopt a "kyphotic posture": head bowed, shoulders and upper back curved forward, as if to protect themselves, unconsciously reproducing a fetal position. In theory, the front of the body houses the body's nourishing energy that needs protection, while the back is the seat of the protective, "strong" energy.
From a physiological point of view, and due to the location of the Kidneys, pain in the quadratus lumborum (lower back muscles, on either side of the spine) will often signal the presence of fears in the affected person. This pain starts below the last thoracic vertebra (T12), and descends to the buttocks and the back of the thighs, sometimes to the back of the knees, or even to the toes (in which case, it's referred to as sciatica or cruralgia).
The forms of fear are multiple:
- Shyness, introversion
- Insecurity (physical violence, infidelity, betrayal, …)
- Anxieties (fear of death, of the meaning of life, …)
- Phobias (claustrophobia, xenophobia, …)
- etc.
Their sources are diverse:
- Familial (often parents), educational
- Cultural, religious
- Related to specific significant events (accidents, violence, deaths, …)
Finally, fear is considered the basis of all the negative feelings we are likely to experience. A deep-seated and untreated fear will manifest over time as: obsessive ruminations, aggressiveness, sadness, etc… all destructive attitudes for ourselves and those around us. Thus, simple fears – generally unfounded and irrational! – can lead to the failure of a negotiation, the tearing apart of a family, the individualism of a society, the outbreak of a conflict, the suffering of a people…
On an individual level, the work of a TCM practitioner provides an effective solution to the pathologies encountered. However, this work will only be effective and lasting over time if it is complemented by an essential awareness needed to identify and understand the source of the energetic imbalance. In this case, the origin of our fears.
