Fear Of Needles?

People get freaked out by needles. (Good thing people ain’t pine trees.) An elderly yoga teacher once taught me the perfect, no-fail way to get a vaccination, shot, blood test, or whatever.

  1. Take in a deep, relaxing breath. Take that air all the way in to your lungs, and even enough to puff out your belly if you can.

  2. Hold that breath, comfortably. When the pointy thing is about to go in...

  3. Let the air out firmly through your mouth, concentrating on it as you do so, and keep exhaling until the pokey thing is in. Really concentrate on feeling your breath exhale. (Alternately, you could exhale through your nose.)


That’s it! So simple, easy and magical. It works for other stuff too, like when a doctor sets (re-breaks) a broken bone. I can vouch for that. Boy can I.

Fear can make us feel powerless. But your own body and breath are there to help you. Just this one simple breathing exercise will greatly reduce your physical and mental pains—and have you breathing a sigh of relief.

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