Restoring Resourcefulness Program Module 4: Fear Melters®

Fear is pervasive currently and can stop us from living a full and abundant life. When we get scared, we disconnect from others and ourselves. Our fight or flight response keeps us in our reptilian brain. Fear Melters® is a technique developed by Kathlyn Hendricks to shift our state and get unstuck. Fear Melters® restore presence and allow choice.

There are four types of fear:

• • Fight
  • Flee
  • Freeze
  • Faint

Steps:

1. Try on the Four Types of Fear
   • FIGHT:  Chin comes up and out; weight is forward; a person’s arms get tight, hands may form into fists; action speeds up, talking is faster, louder, shriller. This type of fear can be confused with anger.
   • FLEE: Part or all of you leave the vicinity; the first movement may be one shoulder coming back, or a person’s weight moving backward; this can be accompanied by feet beginning to move and a nervous laugh. A person may flee the situation mentally without even moving–like when eyes glaze over. People may use the consumption of drugs, alcohol, technology or food to flee.
   • FREEZE:  a person’s body becomes tight and stiff, may be accompanied by a nervous smile. A startle response is a freeze move. Thoughts begin to recycle like a hamster wheel. The person may be replaying the last thing that they heard and trying on different responses in their mind, but are not usually talking.
   • FAINT: thinking becomes foggy, confused, the person feels drained, sleepy; may even faint or fall asleep. Your jaw may hang open. Often people feel or act “stupid”. Imagine energy is draining out of the soles of the feet, that there’s no anchor, “feeling adrift”.
2. Try on the Fear Melters®
   • OOZE: Begin to move slowly as if you are warm chocolate oozing off a spoon. Ooze your arms, shoulders, and hips and even your jaw; slow your words down and change your tone of voice.
   • ROOT: Widen your stance and bend your knees a little or a lot. Let your toes spread out as you imagine beautiful roots extending from your feet into the nourishment of the earth. Imagine the earth’s energy infusing you with aliveness here and now.
   • WIGGLE: Begin to wiggle your fingers and toes, eventually wiggle your hips and shoulders; to unfreeze fully you will eventually need to wiggle your core
   • LOVE SCOOPS: Reach your arms out around you as if you are gathering energy and love towards you. Bring your hands towards you, touching your head, chest,  belly or wherever love is needed. Focus on accessing your resources.
3. Notice the shifts in your body. Science has shown that doing two minutes of Fear Melters® achieves the best results.

Note:  We are integrating a change to Fear Melters®. We have shifted the icon and instructions for melting the flee response to Root, which we think will be more aligned with the other melters and available to more people.

Resources

Click here to reach the full Restoring Resourcefulness Program Guide.

Click here for Dr. Vandana Verma’s article and video on the Four Types of Fear.

Click here for the Fear Melters® poster in color.

Click here for the Fear Melters® poster in black and white.

Click here for the Fear Melters® color poster in German.

Download the Introduction to Fear Melters® Guide

Download the Fast-Aid for 4 Kinds of Fear PDF

Download the Fast-Aid for 4 Kinds of Fear PDF in German