My Flying Phobia Cure

A Feeling of Panic

For years, I've had an intense flying phobia. Merely thinking about going near an airplane for travel would give me panic attacks. I would get short of breath and begin to cry; I would begin imagining the worst things one could imagine, that surely all those terrible things would happen to me if I got on a plane.

So I decided I didn’t like to fly, and I shouldn’t have to ever fly if I didn’t want to, and that was that.

A Necessary Trip

But then a few things took place regarding family members who live on the other side of the country. Basically, I came to a point where I really needed to visit my daughter and my dad who both live across the country. I actually tried to figure out doing a driving trip instead of flying. I also looked into taking a train. But finally I realized that flying was really the best way to get there. And frankly, my fears notwithstanding, it was the safest.

I put it off as long as possible, but finally bought my plane tickets since waiting too long would mean price increases. So now I was committed! I knew intellectually that I really wanted to take this trip—I had a compelling need to see my family—but I continued to cry, panic, and generally freak out the closer it got to my departure date. I decided to come to my own website and take my own advice.

The Two Things That Cured My
Fear of Flying

1.  Tapping
This is the preliminary step I took to ease my feeling of panic about the upcoming trip.  Tapping, or Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) is based on the same principle as acupuncture, but no needle is involved. I found a tapping video that really did it for me during one afternoon when I was having a particularly intense panic attack about the trip. It’s a video of my favorite tapping “guru” Brad Yates called “You’ll Be Okay — Fear that things are out of your control.”  Doing this along with him one time gave me a wave of comfort about the trip.

I followed it up with another of his videos called "Love to Fly (and Allowing Greatness)".  At first I winced a little at the idea of actually LOVING to fly.  (Amazingly, that’s exactly what happened when I finally went on the trip!)  But I went through the video, and it had a great effect on me.  If you want to give it a try just do what Brad does, tapping and repeating his words (or use your own words if they come to you). Here's the video, below:

2.  Self-hypnosis

The tapping calmed my panic down, which was necessary for me to even allow a flying phobia "cure" in to my consciousness. But self-hypnosis is the thing I credit with actually freeing me of the phobia. Self-hypnosis had worked for me on other less tangible things, so I thought it was worth trying on this.  Although I was kind of skeptical that it could really rid me of the fear of flying, I thought even if it helps a little bit it would be better than nothing.  It just so happens that I was able to find the perfect audio for my phobia called “Overcome Fear of Flying.” 

Why did this work so well for me?  Well for one thing, despite the tiny but nagging skeptical voice in my head, I very badly wanted it to work for me. Also, I do believe that using earbuds or headphones for the session is more effective than speakers, and I did that.

But the tone of the hypnotist's voice and choice of words in this audio is just so masterful. It took me into total relaxation and opened my subconscious so completely and comfortably that by the time the hypnotist talks about the actual phobia, my mind is totally receptive to the new perspective being suggested; a perspective in which the phobia doesn't occur. I can't explain it any other way than that!

How long did it take?  I will tell you that I really only did the audio for about a week and a half before my trip. That's one reason why I was even more skeptical about it working originally, because I was afraid I had procrastinated for too long to get the hypnosis audio, and that maybe there wasn't enough time to do any good.  But in that short of a time—about seven total times within about a week and a half of doing the audio—I had turned from a panicky, bordering on hysterical would-be flyer into a perky, easy-going traveler calmly enjoying myself on my flight to see my daughter.  I was amazed. 

This has liberated my life in such an important way.  The self-hypnosis session really gave me a strong foundation of confidence and self-reassurance that allowed me to take multiple flights with absolute pleasure. I couldn’t believe I had not merely conquered my fear of flying—I had also allowed myself to actually enjoy the experience.  I’m even looking forward to future trips!  I still might do a "touch-up" session right before I'm going on a flight somewhere to refresh and reinforce the effect, but that's all it takes.

I really hope this helps you too if you suffer from this terrible phobia.  Treating phobias seems to be something that hypnosis is particularly effective at, and I've experienced it first-hand now.  I feel like my life opened up after going through this, and I feel like a more confident person overall.  And I've had numerous occasions now to fully enjoy visiting my daughter in her home across the country, which is really something that has impacted my life and for which I'm so incredibly grateful.