Phobia of spiders

[Gabith]

I've found a beautiful cemetery very large and full of greenery.
The atmosphere is very calm, peaceful, I love it.

I've found some spots to meditate, the problem is that it is always on the ground with greenery or trees and there are spiders. So if I sit down, I don't know how to meditate properly without thinking that surely, within time, a spider will climb on me and that makes me afraid.

Is there a way to eliminate this fear, this phobia that I have had since I was a child? I thought of taking a spider in my hands, but it's too extreme, I don't have the courage.

Would simply meditating with the fear be enough to make it disappear?

Edited August 15, 2021 by Gabith

[mememe]

the fear, not the spiders.

you could sit down and watch them, first. i‘m sometimes not sure what kind of konfrontation might be the better one, simply meditating with eyes closed might make the fear grow. phantasy is a trickster sometimes.

so if you are afraid of spiders it might be interesting to go to a zoo or other place where you can see the bigger ones behind glas and start confronting yourself with your fears and then afterwards meditate on the experience. after a while it might be possible to take one of the smaller ones in one of your hands. 

this would be more of a project then, to get over with the fear for good. if you don’t want to go out of your way, you could also try to watch one of the spiders in the cemetery from a safe distance for a while and then meditate on that. you could set yourself a goal in time frames distances of watching and expanding time frames of meditation for every time you are meditating. 

places with more sun exposure are often less visited by spiders, so maybe you do sun meditation in the beginning.

Edited August 15, 2021 by mememe

[Goldzilla]

I got bitten by a black widow, then all my fears about spiders dissapeared hahaha

[hamedsf]

?

[Gabith]

@cypres I don't know

[Matt23]

I dunno if it's fully worth spending lots of time trying to fight that fear.  There may be better and easier ways of getting what you want without doing that.  Like moving spots or something. 

Also, I mean, ya, just be with the fear.  Use it as an object of meditation.  Try to simply watch the fear.  Let it arise without reacting to it.  Do this by being super focused on the feeling of fear.

Think of a dam with lots of water behind it.  The water is the fear.  The dam is your awareness. If the water breaks through the dam, that means you will behaviorally react to the fear.  So, as long as you keep your attention on the fear, you won't react (ideally I suppose... that's how it's been in my experience with physical pain at least).  The water will stay behind the damn.  

[Flowerfaeiry]

@Gabith there are actual classes you can take to desensitize you from phobias. The way it works is they gradually expose you to the trigger so you are no longer bothered by it. 

[Danioover9000]

   I understand what you mean. I also have fear of spiders, and insects in general, especially if I'm jumped out of the blue, like a bee whizzing past my face lol. The bigger it is, the bigger the fear. However, if I have a glass and cup holder, no problem with removing spiders if they happen to be in the house, also young spiders and jumping spiders I have no problems with. It might be more related to how the fast crawling on my skin, plus a potential sting or bit might be were the fear is.

   Well, fear not, because in a strange loopy way, those creatures are far more fearful of us or anything bigger than them. I don't think while meditating you would pose a threat to them.

   Try learning some NLP, hypnotherapy and phobia management class. They really have good techniques for most common phobias, and when you get to do self hypnosis and NLP techniques it's ridiculous how you can diminish that fear down to manageable levels.

Edited August 16, 2021 by Danioover9000

[Eren Eeager]

I used to be afraid of insects but I just grew over the idea that insects are nasty. Now I can handle worms, spiders cookroaches and basically any insect. It is a fear like all fears, it takes time and awareness to overcome.

Edited August 16, 2021 by Eren Eeager

[Esilda]

9 hours ago, Gabith said:

I've found a beautiful cemetery very large and full of greenery.
The atmosphere is very calm, peaceful, I love it.

I've found some spots to meditate, the problem is that it is always on the ground with greenery or trees and there are spiders. So if I sit down, I don't know how to meditate properly without thinking that surely, within time, a spider will climb on me and that makes me afraid.

Is there a way to eliminate this fear, this phobia that I have had since I was a child? I thought of taking a spider in my hands, but it's too extreme, I don't have the courage.

Would simply meditating with the fear be enough to make it disappear?

I am petrified of spiders just in general so I'm not at all going to try and pretend like I'm queen bee here  . 

(reading comments to discover insight for my own bug life dilemma)

[LastThursday]

NLP has it covered:

https://www.hgi.org.uk/resources/delve-our-extensive-library/anxiety-ptsd-and-trauma/fast-cure-phobia-and-trauma-evidence

And for the visual types: