07.29.08
Feel The Fear Of Flying...And Do It Anyway: Part II
Last week, I admitted my major fear of flying. Turns out, misery loves company - 40% of people deal with the same fear I do. Yes, my rational brain knows that flying the friendly skies is safe, but my emotional self still struggles with serious panic attacks when I hop onboard a 747. Sound familiar? Then heed these few steps from Captain Tom Bunn, retired United Airlines pilot and founder of SOAR, one of the country’s most effective programs for eliminating your fear of flying.
Pre-Flight: You know you have them: Thoughts of disaster or of losing control when you're getting ready to fly. Instead of trying to ignore them, capture these scenes in your mind by putting them inside an imaginary TV set. You’re in control – which means you can simply take the remote control and turn these scenes off.
Onboard: When you're settled in your seat, become as aware as possible of your feelings. Are you scared? Lonely? Anxious? Don’t ignore these thoughts. Instead, write them all down in detail. This simple act will help you maintain a sense of control.
Occupy Your Visual Channel: What fuels fear is imagination. What you imagine can even be strong enough to cause physical tension. To stop this process, keep the visual part of your mind busy. Buy your favorite health or fashion magazines and flip through the pictures to keep the “visual” part of your mind so busy, it can’t create imaginary disasters.
Lindsay's Take: My latest thing to get me through turbulence is yoga breathing: in for 6, out for 6. Hey, it got me through being buried in a simulated avalanche for Outside Magazine for almost an hour.
Lauren's Take: My fear of flying reached an all-time high when my flight from Nepal to China got cancelled because the Captain went and died on me. (In a plane crash en route to Nepal, I might add.)
For more of Captain Tom’s tips, check out this online video. You can even register for a weekly group phone counseling session if your plane paranoia is out of control.
Pre-Flight: You know you have them: Thoughts of disaster or of losing control when you're getting ready to fly. Instead of trying to ignore them, capture these scenes in your mind by putting them inside an imaginary TV set. You’re in control – which means you can simply take the remote control and turn these scenes off.
Onboard: When you're settled in your seat, become as aware as possible of your feelings. Are you scared? Lonely? Anxious? Don’t ignore these thoughts. Instead, write them all down in detail. This simple act will help you maintain a sense of control.
Occupy Your Visual Channel: What fuels fear is imagination. What you imagine can even be strong enough to cause physical tension. To stop this process, keep the visual part of your mind busy. Buy your favorite health or fashion magazines and flip through the pictures to keep the “visual” part of your mind so busy, it can’t create imaginary disasters.
Lindsay's Take: My latest thing to get me through turbulence is yoga breathing: in for 6, out for 6. Hey, it got me through being buried in a simulated avalanche for Outside Magazine for almost an hour.
Lauren's Take: My fear of flying reached an all-time high when my flight from Nepal to China got cancelled because the Captain went and died on me. (In a plane crash en route to Nepal, I might add.)
For more of Captain Tom’s tips, check out this online video. You can even register for a weekly group phone counseling session if your plane paranoia is out of control.
Don’t be shy!
Thank you so much for posting these tips. We have developed a way to help everyone fly comfortably and confidently. That was the first challenge. Now the challenge is letting everyone know about it. We have lots of free help, the message board, the chat, free counseling, the library, and also paid services when the free help isn't enough.
– CaptTomBunn | 07.30.08 | 7:22 AM
The online video was a good touch. By the way, I love Lauren's take, that does not sound to comforting knowing your pilot died!
– smurff | 07.29.08 | 11:41 AM
