THE BRAIN AND FEAR
ticipants reach their potential by being an external voice that encouraged them to push past their fear. As I reflected on this practice later in my career, I realized I had not been facilitat- ing for the participant’s needs and goals at all. I was only paying attention to my own perception of what the participant needed—or worse, what I expected from them.
recognize when participants step out of their comfort zone and begin to slide down that slippery slope from challenge to panic? Signs of fear. The signs that someone is scared at height can be more obvious than the subtle signals a participant gives us before they leave the ground. As a participant approaches a climb, you may start to notice a quivering
through the fear—the very areas the amygdala is suppressing in its fight or flight response. To refocus the participant, have the person stop what they are doing and direct their attention away from the task at hand. Then have the participant practice intentional breathing. Now, you can begin to ask questions such as “what are you feeling or think- ing?” This helps the individual to label the fear and acknowledge it. You may have heard the phrase, “name it to tame it.” You must identify fear to work through it. Another trick at this point is to help the participant appreciate the situation—or anything at all. This works because the brain is not capable of fear and appreci- ation simultaneously. Once the participant is refocused, you can activate the other regions of their brain by asking goal-setting questions such as, “What do you want to do next?” This may be when the participant says, “I want to come down.” Great—but you have a plan and you’ve engaged other regions of the brain in decision-making. Their brain should be accessing explicit memory and facts at this stage, so you can now help them evaluate what they are doing and how it is working or not working toward their goal of coming down off the course, or whatever else it may be.
Fear is contagious. Therefore, the experience your first participant has on any given element will influence the experience of subsequent participants.
Adventure foundations. The challenge course can offer participants an oppor - tunity to push outside of their comfort zone, into that next zone of challenge or growth. That growth has more value if we can create an environment that par- ticipants come to on their own terms. We don’t know what an appropriate challenge is for everyone, so we need to create a program that provides a supportive, trustworthy community. We need to allow everyone to feel they have choice and control. We must also give participants time to reflect and learn so that they can commit their experience to memory for use in future situations. These are the very founda- tions of adventure education.
voice or distracted look. They may repeat questions or ask questions to which they already know the answer. The participant might appear scatter- brained, forgetting to do something they have done numerous times before. As the participant climbs, more physical body reactions become noticeable. The participant’s body position may be much lower than normal, or they may attempt to maintain contact with something solid. The participant may ask to crawl on an incline log or catwalk or have an oddly stooped stance on a high cable. They may stand relatively steady but keep a finger on the tree for security. These are signs you need to watch out for. Refocusing the brain . If you can rec- ognize these signs and notice when a participant is about to experience an amygdala hijack, you can help the participant refocus their brain, allowing them to access the portions of the brain with the information needed to work
IMPACT IN ACTION
I would not be as confident in the above techniques had I not witnessed them several times firsthand. This next story occurred before I had read about most of these techniques. During a training I was leading, a partic- ipant froze halfway across the catwalk. Thinking back, there were many signs of fear I did not notice: she was not moving, crouched low, and clinging to her rope. She was also not speaking, just shaking her head “yes” or “no” in response to questions.
TAMING THE AMYGDALA
No matter how well we sequence our program to create a supportive environ- ment, participants may still get scared. It is part of the experience and part of the growth potential. But how do we
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