Meditation and fear

I may sound crazy (and may get mocked for this) but have any of you had experience using meditation to conquer fears? I have a great fear of water, and have been trying to overcome it and teach myself to swim for awhile now, but every time I run out of air I panic. Before a lap I know perfectly what to do and all that, know all the mechanics, but I still panic. I though maybe just do it for awhile, get used to it, get rid of the fear that way, but no luck so far, I still panic.
So back to the original premise of the post, is it possible to use meditation in conjunction with facing it and practice to conquer this (irrational) fear? Or is it time to look for a good shrink?
Would appreciate any replies or advice, thanks a lot.

please first meditate on no thing then begin meditation as before however as you get where ever "there"(wellbeingpeace) is for you, visualise water simply,.,., water various form,.,., various form various cercumstance.,.,. you various forms, approaching various circumstances, rinse repeat until you can visualize immersion. rinse repeat until immersion=wellbeingpeace
play with this stimulation try in the tub somewhere along the way

yes, by meditation you can become emotionally detatched, it can most certainly work
nothing wrong with a good shrink either, probably faster too
good luck!

Thanks for the replies, appreciate the advice.

If i may ask, what's the problem with water?

Here's my suggestion:

Go to a swimming pool with a friend who is an adept swimmer. Sit by the edge of the pool and have him/her submerge themselves under water and hold their breath for 30-45 seconds. If they are a good swimmer, they will be completely relaxed underwater, calm, and have no trouble with doing this. Then i guess you can medidate on the calmness you feel from them, and the relaxation that is possible to acheive under water. then jump into the pool with them, and try it for yourself. dont worry if you cant hold your breath as long, but focus on the relaxation aspect. Push yourself about five seconds beyond past your comfort zone when running out of air. Look inside and observe your body and simply count those seconds. 1 2 3 4 5. and then come up. pushing yourself beyond your self-imposed limit will conquer that fear i think.


If necessary, take comfort in the fact a friend is their to pull you out should something go wrong. now this won't teach you how to swim, but it should conquer your fear of water.....

just my thoughts,
Ed

Don't meditate on conquering a fear. Meditation is used to empty your mind, to do a backwash of excess thoughts, then to let your inner self connect with truth.

To conquer your fears using holistic methods, meditation is not what you need, but rather "autosuggestion" and "visualisation", then do simple personnal growth.

Second, defeat your fear with courage. Courage does not mean you have no fear, but means you will act according to your decided will even in the presence of fear.

Third, fear of the elements is linked to human and animal natural fears. Each have a signification. Seek out "Elemental fears and self mastery" on the Dragons of Justice website. www.dragonsofjustice.org

[QUOTE]Originally posted by telecino:
Don't meditate on conquering a fear. Meditation is used to empty your mind, to do a backwash of excess thoughts, then to let your inner self connect with truth.

To conquer your fears using holistic methods, meditation is not what you need, but rather "autosuggestion" and "visualisation", then do simple personnal growth.

[/QUOTE]

First off, there are many goals of meditation and emptying the mind is only one of them. Many forms of meditation actually require the mind not be empty. Meditating on something can actually be better than emptying the mind.

Second, I agree that meditation may not be the best approach to conquering a fear, per se. Visualization and systematic desensitization will serve you better in the long run. That said, visualization can be considered a form of meditation. :-)

You don't need a shrink, but if you want help, find a psychologist with experience in phobias.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by 406in41:
I may sound crazy (and may get mocked for this) but have any of you had experience using meditation to conquer fears? I have a great fear of water, and have been trying to overcome it and teach myself to swim for awhile now, but every time I run out of air I panic. Before a lap I know perfectly what to do and all that, know all the mechanics, but I still panic. I though maybe just do it for awhile, get used to it, get rid of the fear that way, but no luck so far, I still panic.
So back to the original premise of the post, is it possible to use meditation in conjunction with facing it and practice to conquer this (irrational) fear? Or is it time to look for a good shrink?
Would appreciate any replies or advice, thanks a lot.[/QUOTE]

i would just stay under water till u dont have any air left...then push off the bottom of the pool with your feet and swim up for air. do this till you think you wont run out of air as fast.worked for me like a charm