What Are You Afraid Of? and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle. Learn more

Buy Used
Used - Good See details
$3.94 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
   
Kindle Edition
 
   
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
What Are You Afraid Of? A Body/Mind Guide to Courageous Living
 
 
Start reading What Are You Afraid Of? on your Kindle in under a minute.

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

What Are You Afraid Of? A Body/Mind Guide to Courageous Living [Hardcover]

Lavinia Plonka (Author)
4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)


Available from these sellers.


Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
Kindle Edition --  
Hardcover --  
Paperback --  
Mass Market Paperback $14.95  

Book Description

April 12, 2004
Fear is not just in our heads-it's also in our bodies. What Are You Afraid Of? shows how our bodily postures and habits trigger the anxieties that crimp our daily lives, and provides simple, eye-opening exercises to free us from fear's grip.

W e often think of fear as something based in our minds. But equally true-and rarely understood-is that fear is based in our bodies.

The ordinary manner in which we carry ourselves physically, our automatic gestures, and the accustomed comforts of our bodily habits often perpetuate the grip that fear has on our lives. This is true whether we're thinking of asking our boss for a raise, frightened of diving into a swimming pool, or experiencing sleepless anxiety. The good news is that our fears arise from physical/mental triggers that have been learned over the course of our early lives-and can be unlearned.

In What Are You Afraid Of?, Lavinia Plonka provides step-by-step exercises and informative, engaging lessons to help readers identify the sources of their fears and work with their bodies to move beyond them. Plonka reveals a simple, new paradigm for understanding our fears: They are not intractable psychological demons. Instead, as she demonstrates, they often revolve around repetitive body/mind cues. By teaching the body new habits, the habit of fear can be broken.

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought


Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

According to the author, a seasoned workshop leader in movement therapies, "fear is often the process of taking a past negative experience and posing it as a potential future negative experience." Children who are raised by overprotective parents, for example, can turn into adults who are so frightened that they will not even drive a car. Their fearful disposition, Plonka says, may be expressed by rigid posture or shallow breathing. She offers a series of physical and mental exercises designed to uncover the layers of anxiety that mask the cause of current fears, such as fear of starvation, illness or death. For example, she recommends dealing with fear of injury by doing breathing exercises, "discovering your options" through body movement and writing down new ways to handle fearful emotions. Many of Plonka’s strategies for living bravely are drawn from the work of Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais, a pioneer in the field of how the nervous system is impacted by "movement, repetition and rest in a safe environment." While the author doesn’t delve deeply into the psychology of fear, her sensible and clearly explained program should help provide relief for many beset by debilitating anxiety.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author

As a former artist-in-residence at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City, Lavinia Plonka created several landmark projects teaching literacy and self-esteem to at-risk children. Plonka maintains a successful practice teaching the Feldenkrais Method, and conducts workshops around the country that explore issues such as fear, creativity, mythology, and body language.

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 192 pages
  • Publisher: Tarcher (April 12, 2004)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1585422851
  • ISBN-13: 978-1585422852
  • Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 10.1 ounces
  • Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,818,377 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

 

Customer Reviews

5 Reviews
5 star:
 (3)
4 star:
 (2)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.6 out of 5 stars (5 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Insightful introduction to a profound topic, May 1, 2004
By A Customer
This review is from: What Are You Afraid Of? A Body/Mind Guide to Courageous Living (Hardcover)
Once one has explored a bodywork-oriented fitness discipline -- Pilates, Yoga, Feldenkrais, Tai Chi, etc. -- in detail, you will begin to notice something interesting: there are certain exercises/postures/positions that are difficult where the difficulty has nothing to do with the mechanics of doing the exercise. You've got the strength, the flexibility, and the balance, but you still can't do it. Maybe the difficulties have to do with something that we are -- or were -- afraid of, and the fear is still embodied in our posture or our movement.

In our culture, we usually pay little to no attention to such issues. In other words, we have a fear of revealing our fears -- especially to ourselves. This book is about the courage to see those fears and, through awareness, to begin to have some mastery over them.

For me, understanding how I hold my fear in body is profound. It is the "juice" which keeps me practicing Pilates. While I most certainly appreciate the increased strength and flexibility I've achieved, this connection is what touches my heart. Courage is exactly what it takes to keep exploring this connection.

I suspect a desire to avoid the mind-body connection is also why many people stop pursuing such disciplines. Many instructors are afraid (!) to discuss such things in their classes; they may or may not have a powerful relationship with these concepts themselves. Ultimately, I think ignoring this topic is counterproductive; students will eventually stumble onto it themselves. I also suspect that this is why more women persue these disciplines -- they tend to intutitvely grasp both the existence and the value in exploring this particular mind/body connection.

To this end, this book is a great introduction to these concepts. I highly recommend it to anyone who regularly practices any of these disciplines. I also recommend it to anyone interested in gaining mastery of their fears -- this avenue is quite likely to produce profound results.

Lavinia writes with great clarity and illustrates her points with many stories from her Feldenkrais practice. Highly recommended.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Great intro to Feldenkrais, October 2, 2005
This review is from: What Are You Afraid Of? A Body/Mind Guide to Courageous Living (Hardcover)
I've only experienced a couple of the exercises in this book and am so glad I got it. This book is great. I was afraid to excersise after a car accident because simple movements hurt. I was deathly afraid of physical therapists and thier torture machines. Thankfully someone recommended Feldenkrais and someone else reccommended this book in particular. I was afraid my life was over but not anymore. One of the excerises in this book is from Anat Baniels joint pain series so I bought Anat Baniels neck pain exercises. Even though I never thought about what I was afraid, I had a lot of fears and still do. I have a lot less now. Lavinia Plonka thank you! Great book! Let your life begin! reviews over!!!!! but on side note, why not get an extra copy and carry it with you, it's compact enough, when you see someone with a no fear t-shirt or big sticker on thier vehicle, give them a copy. They may not look like they need it, but it could be best book they ever owned.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A Book For Our Times, August 25, 2004
By 
JoAnne McFarland (Brooklyn, NY United States) - See all my reviews
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: What Are You Afraid Of? A Body/Mind Guide to Courageous Living (Hardcover)
Lavinia Plonka's book What Are You Afraid of? is certainly a book for our times. It seems that fear is everywhere, in our political, social, and private lives. I found this book enormously insightful. The author is direct and honest in her approach to acknowledging fear and gaining mastery over it. What I particularly found helpful was the focus on ACTION - do this and help is on the way. Ms. Plonka's extensive background in the Feldenkrais Method and her years as a performer lend credence to the exercises she offers here. The illustrations were a delightful bonus.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews



Only search this product's reviews



Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
Fear lurks in the snapping retort made to a well-meaning colleague, in the unconscious bunching of your shoulders as you slam on your brakes, in the shallow breaths you take as you listen to your child's teacher talk about his acting out. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Bell Hand, Dances of Universal Peace, Holy Grail, Moshe Feldenkrais
New!
Concordance | Text Stats
Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Search Inside This Book:


What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?


Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
 
(1)

Your tags: Add your first tag
 

Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   
Related forums



So You'd Like to...


Create a guide


Look for Similar Items by Category


Look for Similar Items by Subject