THE BRAIN AND FEAR
Illustration by Rob Donnelly
Understanding how the brain processes fear can be a key to both improving the participant experience and designing successful facilitated programs.
BY CHRISTOPHER ORTIZ
Many years ago, I had a neurolo- gist as a participant in a challenge course experience I was facilitating. He and I talked at length about the experience, and he shared with me in simple terms how the body and mind process fear. I was fascinated. He described how our brain “hijacks” our body until it decides if we really should be scared. I immediately saw a direct connection between under- standing what happens inside the brain and body of our participants and the way we facilitate aerial ad- venture experiences.
stood its meaning. Simply put, our brain, specifically the part of it called the amygdala, is constantly scanning for danger. When we are faced with a potentially scary or dangerous experi- ence, the amygdala takes over the body, preparing us to either fight or flee. In the aerial adventure world, when participants start to push themselves outside of their comfort zone, the amygdala is on watch. If the situation escalates beyond a challenge into something more emotionally volatile in the participant’s mind, the participant gets hijacked. This does not have to happen all at once but can build over time through little battles of the mind.
If the participant and facilitator ignore the signs, the result could be someone frozen in fear atop a zip platform or pamper pole.
SEQUENCING AND PROGRAM DESIGN
After doing some research, I began to formulate a hypothesis. Nothing earth shattering, but I felt like I was stum- bling upon scientific proof that proper sequencing and program design are essential to the success of our program participants. If we expose participants to an ideal program design and guide them through a process where their team and facilitator support them fully, they can climb to that point of
I had heard the term “fight or flight” before, but I don’t think I fully under-
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