Written by Diana
I am going to tell you a story where you are the main character who is troubled by one single scary thought and how to cope with this thought by using pretty words and pretty music.
This story is about how to get rid of the fear of needles that keeps going because someone keeps telling you throughout your life that the bad experience you had with needles is going to repeat and she needs to get you ready for when it happens and get you used to the idea by making you relive bad memories over and over.
Now this story is about how that scary scene and those scary words are not true and how you can use pretty words to teach you how to relax and pretty music to calm you. This is a dream story. However, when you finish this story you will do one of two things: if you sleep you will continue dreaming and thinking about the relaxing words of the story, and if you are awake you will begin to practice the relaxing words from the dream story.
Before you begin this panic attacks about needles script, start by finding a place to sit or lie down and making yourself as comfortable as possible. If you cannot find a place to be still, pause this audio, and resume when you can sit down or lie down. This is to make sure that you are safe. Relaxation occupies your attention, and it can be unsafe to listen to relaxation audio when you are trying to walk. Do not listen to this audio while driving or during any other activity that requires your attention.
Now that you have found a place to sit or lie down, let’s begin to decrease fear of needles through dreams and imagination.
Encounter With Pieces Full
You are the main character. You are blind, and so everything that is important in this story is through listening and hearing. You walk with someone who calls your name and tells you hers, but she is different than the lovely person with the echoey voices. This person is someone who does not know the way to the mystical beautiful water where you can breathe under the water and fly. This new person does not remember what she dreams and does not know how to do creative writing nor does she keep her own diary. She leads you by the hand to a path called Obstacle Course. She says:
My name is Pieces Full.
But the path is echoey and distorts the sound and your ears are not trained enough to hear the difference between this voice and the voice of the lovely being who helped you through the water meditation whose voice is always echoey.
You hear, “My name is Piece Full.”
Yes your ears are good enough to hear what she says to you. Her name is actually a sound alike. Then you hear in one place in the path where her voice does not echo and she says, “My name is piece full, puzzle piece full.” She shows you how she got her name and tells you about Obstacle Course by saying:
“Feel on the wall how there is a puzzle. I am Pieces Full. I have all the pieces on how to get rid of the fear of needles. How you do it is you tell the story of your fear of the needles by telling it in the past and then in the present and then in the future. On this wall that is next to some cleanser water that we go into, here is the story about a little girl. You were the little girl and now you are a woman, and this story is about how three times you heard that the bad story you had the first time is going to be the story you will always be in.
I am the person telling you this for the third time and I know that it is true because I watched it happen to other little girls. It was a story about how there was a needle and no pain killer cream and how no one listens to the little girl. That’s right. So how you get rid of the fear of you doing the same things you did in the scary story which was to curse and to space out then you go through it again and you have to space out again until you are not scared of spacing out because you have done it so many times.
Now the cleanser water is water you are to drink. We get into the obstacle course by running around in circles through a revolving door. That was what I did when I told you my name and sometimes my voice echoed and sometimes it didn’t. The cleansers in the water are to help you by getting rid of all the protests you have in your mind about going to the needles.”
You are very confused. Her voice echoes enough that you can’t tell the difference between her and the real Peace Full. This new person is telling you about drinking water. She is telling you about going directly to a scary place because she thinks this will make you feel better.
She continues by leading you through the revolving door and into the second place of the obstacle course, the cleanser water. She jumps in and tells you to jump in after her so you do because you have heard her say to you she’s going to help you get rid of your fear of needles.
And she is saying: “I am Pieces Full, who is a nurse like Peace Full. The reason why going to a scary place and staying in it for a long time makes you feel calm is that your scary thoughts and feelings get less. You learn to believe that the scary place is not so bad and that your mind has made the story scarier than it actually is to be in the scary place itself. After the Clorox water which we are in now, it is like the chlorine of the swimming pools, there is a classroom and in that classroom you listen to a tape.
On the tape is what was recorded when I saw the scary scenes from doctor’s office and hospital. I saw them in the past and in the present and in the future. After the classroom where you listen to the tape, the next part of the obstacle course is where it is the scary scene like the emergency room. These two places are like the science class lecture hall and then the science lab.
When you get through all five parts of this obstacle course with me you have no more fears about needles. Now to get to the third part of the obstacle course you have to get out of the cleanser water and step on the transporter that takes you to the class room.” But first while in this cleanser water you must try to breathe or even drink this water, even try to breathe under the water.”
You cannot breathe because of the Clorox water nor can you drink nor breathe under this water. This is still a pool like a swimming pool, but there are no waves, and there is something in this water that does not let you fly nor breathe under the water. On land you can’t breathe because of the smell of Clorox in the air. You begin to complain of having trouble breathing, and Pieces Full says, “Stay here, and then you will go with me and step on the transporter to where you listen to tapes.”
Echoey Peaceful and Her Rescue
You hear the echoey voice call out to her helper, “Ball of Wings, Ball of Wings, Our young friend is in trouble. We must find her and take her to Music in the Water with Words in the Air.”
She finds you having trouble breathing, and she says, “You have a relaxing exercise to learn and a concert to hear. You need to fly and to breathe under water so you go to the mystical beautiful water of the wavy lake and you go to the castle made of clouds. There are five parts to the comfort course like there are five parts to the obstacle course. Pieces Full is like Cinderella’s step sister, and Peace Full is like Cinderella. Pieces Full keeps no diaries. All her answers are what she learns in school books.”
You hear the real person, Peaceful, who has this echoey voice, and you hear the voice of the peaceful spiritual being who sent her. Pieces Full says, “You can’t get better from your fear by relaxation which Peace Full teaches because relaxation is a crutch that lets you avoid your fearful thoughts. You have to go to the scary scene and stay there for a long time. That’s how you get rid of the fear by knowing that what happens there is never as bad as what you worry about happening from stories you had in your mind from before.
All the scary thoughts go away by reliving them in their worst form because if you know the worst and you have lived through that there is no more worst thing to live through.”
Peace Full says, “Try to fly, Pieces Full. Try to make your voice echo in a place that is not echoey. Stand by the story wall and try to make your voice echoey where scary story wall is not echoey like cleanser water is.”
She complies, but you still hear an echo in her voice because she is near the cleanser clorox pool where it does echo. You are too young to know the difference. Your ears can’t pick it up because you would have had to be flying for a very long time to know the difference. You would have had to memorize relaxation to make your voice echoey all the time. Peace Full says, “There are too many scary scenes and if she’s in one of them she’s just going to get more and more scared of being in another one.
What you do is be in small scenes, never the scariest one, and you relax instead of having the scary thoughts repeat themselves over and over. Your experience that has made your fears real, Mrs. Words, cannot keep on repeating, and it is not true that it will repeat. You must turn away from these words.
Pieces Full is unable to see the whole picture. Mrs. Words, how many right hands do you have?” You say, “Two right hands. One is my shadow’s and one is mine.” Peace Full says, “You would be aware of your right hand and not two right hands if you had not followed Pieces Full into the obstacle course.” Pieces Full says, “I cannot fly.”
What To Do About Scary Thoughts
Peace Full carries you and puts you into the beautiful water where you breathe under the water and can fly. She talks in a regular voice because you have heard too many confusing echoes, but those who have been able to fly for a long time know that her voice echoes even when she’s talking to the very young pilgrims. She says:
I see that this water is bubbly and wavy and makes you and I feel the heaviness and warmth of relaxation. Be aware of the water, and I will show you by words how to be aware of the same thing when you are not in the water. You can become relaxed whenever you need to, just by noticing your body and allowing the relaxation to occur naturally.
Now that you are feeling more relaxed, I would like to talk to you about panic attacks about needles. As I talk, you may find that you become even more relaxed…that the feeling of relaxation deepens…as you become more and more deeply relaxed….
You are safe right now…You are going to be okay. Worrying is not going to help you be any safer than you already are…in fact, worrying will serve no purpose besides to make you feel anxious. Worrying leads to panic attacks about needles.
When the anxiety comes up, just notice how it feels, and allow it to pass. Don’t try to fight the anxiety or make it go away…it will go away all on it’s own. Fear of needles will go away without any input from you.
The thing you can control the most right now is your thinking. When people feel anxious or experience panic attacks when thinking about needles or panic attacks when going to places where there are needle procedures, they often have upsetting images or thoughts go through their minds.
If you are feeling anxious right now, you probably have many scary thoughts. It’s okay to acknowledge those thoughts. Let’s do that right now. Thoughts that lead to fear of needles include thoughts like these:
Maybe you think the needle will hurt so bad you have to space out and see shadows of yourself.
Perhaps you believe Pieces Full’s story because you have heard it over and over in real life.
Maybe you think people are not going to notice how scared you are.
Perhaps you think people are thinking bad things about you.
You might have other scary thoughts, too.
It’s normal to have some negative thoughts like these go through your mind once in a while, but these things are not going to happen. Don’t try to fight the way you feel when these thoughts come up. It is normal to feel anxious when thinking about scary things. Panic attacks over needles can be caused by these scary thoughts.
You can control what you choose to focus on. You don’t need to worry about controlling what thoughts come up, but you do need to choose what to focus your attention on.
When a negative thought comes up, such as “the doctors are going to repeat the scary story that I was in because that’s what they’ve learned how to do in school,” simply allow it to pass, and focus your mind on something else. Let’s practice that now.
Focus on these words, concentrating as much as you can on what I am saying.
You are safe. You are going to be okay.
Focus on your muscles…noticing which ones have become tense. Focus on one tense area…and feel the tension decreasing…little by little…until that spot is relaxed.
Now sit in the mystical bubbly water on a little seat in this water and I am going to talk about what to do about that scariest thought you keep having. Whenever you have that thought, you will say, “I will think about my muscles instead.”
You can relax your muscles any time you need to. Notice your muscles now. Find that when you concentrate on an area, it automatically becomes more relaxed. I’ll name some areas to concentrate on. Focus completely on each one.
Notice your shoulders. Focus completely on your shoulders.
Your hands.
Your jaw.
Your legs.
Your shoulders.
Your chest.
Your face.
Your stomach.
Your shoulders.
Your jaw.
Your hands.
Your face.
Your chest.
Your back.
Your neck.
Your shoulders.
Your feet.
Your arms.
Your legs.
Your head.
Your upper body.
Your lower body.
Your whole body.
Now just let your mind drift. You don’t need to focus on anything at all.
You are safe and protected. Pieces Full has not spoken true words to you.
You are able to hear words about needles without panic attacks…experiencing no more panic attacks about needles…no more fear of scary stories about needles… just calm…feeling confident…no more panic attacks over needles…no more spacing out because of needles…no more being afraid of seeing your shadow because of needles because I will show you how not to be afraid…no more panic attacks about needles…no more panic attacks when faced with needles because you will remember me and will remember to ask for pain reliever creams…no more panic attacks about needles…finished with panic attacks about needles…overcoming panic attacks about needles…
You can go to the doctor and get a physical and feel calm throughout the process…you can get through it with ease…you are so much stronger than the panic you have experienced in the past…
The panic attacks have no control over you. Panic attacks cannot hurt you. You are free from panic attacks about needles…free because you know that even if you experience panic, you will get through it. The panic will go away. It will not last long. It is no big deal. It is no big deal because you learn to relax and know from this story what to do about scary thoughts. Since you know that anxiety is no big deal, you have no fear of becoming anxious…you are not even worried about facing your former fears because you know you can do it.
She completes her pretty word lecture and you meet the Ball of Wings who lives at the Castle Made of Clouds. You begin to tell him what happened to you at the first scary scene and at the obstacle course. You, however, declare to Ball Of Wings, when he wants to lead you by the hand, that he has to hold your two right hands. He tells you, “There is a relaxation exercise you need to learn and a concert that you need to hear. Lie down and rest in the fluffy bed surrounded by pillows. Just listen and let the words come into your awareness and enjoy how they make you feel.”
Music dream practice: On Johann Pachelbel’s Canon in D Major
In your distress you begin to see a picture of yourself that is stuck in the same scary situation that your physical body is. This is different than a dream where you can do different things than what your body is doing.
Now a peaceful spiritual being addresses the picture saying, “Picture, o shadow, I hold your hand, but I take you to places where you can hear pretty music.” the picture says, “I do not want to go where physical me is because that place is very bad and scary. In the air I touch music notes, the shapes, and they are on strings like Christmas ornaments, and the lines on a paper. There don’t have to be instruments here in the air. I reach out my right hand and feel the shapes of the notes that are made out of soft pillows. I‘m staying in the air because below there are bad words to hear. I‘m angry that physical me can‘t leave the scary place. I‘m not floating on clouds as in lovely relaxation stories, but I am floating in the air, no clouds, and if you put water in this air I can walk on it, Spiritual Being, because when you are in distress and a picture you can do wonders that your matching physical being can’t; walking on water is one of them. If you follow your matching physical person you are stuck doing what they do and can do no more than they do, and you and they are limited in what you can think because someone put them in so much danger they don‘t want to see anything and have been stopped by pain from talking anymore. I‘m as stressed out as the physical being that I match, and I‘m not going back.”
The spiritual being says, “Come closer to the physical person, come down from floating, come closer than standing. This time is different than when you heard bad words the first time. New people are there and are saying good words. You and the physical person are one. You cannot hear the music until you are in physical form with her.”
The shadow form of yourself descends from the ceiling to the floor, and she says to the spiritual being, “We have two right hands, two left hands, two right legs, 2 left legs, two heads, two bodies, two hearts, and four lungs.” The spiritual being says to the picture, “Become a dream body and not the shadow in distress. You have one right hand., one left hand, one right leg, one left leg, one heart, two lungs, one body, and one head.
This is what the autogenic story teaches you.” Now with your physical voice you say, “Oh God, hear me in my distress. Please take this pain away and give me pretty music and good words.” You feel a peaceful feeling in your physical body and the words from the spiritual being come and say, “Ask the strangers to put on a CD with your favourite song and ask for the echoey water meditation also which was recorded by your friend. Did you remember your Ipod? Should you have a long wait ask that the recordings of your water meditations be played so you can hear them.”
An orchestra is playing the famous Canon in D major, and you want to listen, and in your dreams you go and listen while your physical body is relaxed after having completed the previous imagery, but you go to the musical scene with the calmness that you gain from doing the relaxation exercise and have prayed, and you are physically and mentally connected. Then the music comes to your body, and you hear the music with your ears. You say similar affirmations like those of the relaxation exercise so you can remember what you hear and why you want to hear it:
Affirmations about hearing Canon in D Major:
(During the affirmations a recording of the Canon in D should be played.)
I hear the beginning of Canon in D.
I will let the music distract me from fear and pain.
I will remember the water meditation with music that I wrote and believe my childhood nightmares are not confirmed.
I will remember the echoey voice of the water meditation I wrote and wonder if the friendly strangers are like the main character, Peace Full.
I am successfully distracted by the music.
I listen to how the melody keeps echoing.
I will myself to be at the orchestra concert in my dreams and to listen to the recording in this unfamiliar place far from home.
I hear the instruments.
I hear the violins, cellos, and harp.
I hear the melodies.
I hear the harmony.
In my imagination I can listen to the canon in a concert hall.
In my body I can hear the canon with my ears.
While I am resting I listen to a rendition that the orchestra has recorded.
When I have a scary thought I will myself to listen to the canon.
If in the future I am in an unknown place and I am frightened I will ask that classical music be played for me.
If I hear words that scare me I say to my shadow and me, “We will listen to this song with all the violins in it.”
If I am in that place I ask that relaxation exercises be recited to me.
I ask my friends to hold my hand.
I ask the spiritual being to hold my shadow’s hand.
I will listen for my friends calling my name or telling me that they love me.
I will listen for friendly strangers calling my name or prompting me to go to a safe place in my mind.
When I’m in a fix I listen for the silent words of the spiritual being’s message for me to pray in Latin.
The spiritual being gives my picture and me English words for calling out to my friends.
My friends squeeze my physical hands, and my picture comes near me.
If I am presented objects that scare me, I say to myself and my shadow, We remember this canon since hearing this one helped us before.”
With my ears I listen to the canon and how pretty it is.
For now I dream about and listen to music within this relaxation exercise with imaginary ears and real ears.
When in my dream I feel my shadow, both me and my shadow listen to Canon in D.
I can pray in my dreams.
I do a breathing exercise in my dreams that I learned by heart when I was awake.
I can remember the canon in my dreams.
I know that Pachelbel’s canon in D is on classical music discs and I have a disc.
I can hum the canon if I am asked how it goes.
My shadow can hum higher than my physical voice because my
shadow has a high flexible voice and is changed into a dream body.
I know I am dreaming because I am calm and in the peaceful place of my dream, the concert hall.
I decide whether to dream or to wake up.
If I dream I will listen to another song.
If I wake up, I will myself to wake up sleepy muscles.
If my name is called, I will wake up.
I have practiced accepting that I see an invisible picture of me when I
am stressed and have come back to my physical self successfully.
It does not take me 4 days to come back as it did the first time.
I have the freedom to dream or to feel my shadow.
I am not afraid of feeling my shadow because I know what to do.
If I am told about a needle and if I do not want to remember it I can ask to be given a cream so I do not feel it and I do not have to automatically break off and feel my shadow.
I can hear the word “needle” with confidence that no matter what I will be okay.
When I wake up I will listen to the Canon in D because it is my favourite orchestra song.
When I am home again I will study about what canons are because I want to know.
Musical dream practice: Autogenic affirmations
During these relaxing phrases you will decide if you wake up or continue dreaming.
Take a deep breath in, drawing the air deep into your stomach. Slowly release the breath.
Concentrate on your breathing, which is smooth and rhythmic. Imagine that your breaths are like waves lapping at the shore. Keep this image in your mind as you repeat to yourself, “My breathing is rhythmic and smooth… my breathing is rhythmic and smooth.”
With each breath, feel relaxation wash over you like the waves. The waves wash over your feet and legs, your stomach and chest. Feel them cover your arms, your neck, your head. Your arms and legs feel warm and heavy. Feel the waves of relaxation sweep over you. Feel your limbs growing heavier, warmer. Your breathing is calm, rhythmic, and smooth.
Now move your focus to your heart. Imagine the waves of relaxation washing over you, calming your breathing and your heart. Say to yourself, “My heartbeat is gentle and even… my heartbeat is gentle and even.” “I feel quiet, calm, relaxed… my heart- beat is gentle and even.”
Repeat the following relaxing statements in your mind, imagining each one:
My breathing is calm and regular.
My breathing is smooth and rhythmic.
It breathes me.
I breathe.
It breathes me.
My right arm is warm
My left arm is warm
My right arm is heavy
My left arm is heavy
My right arm is warm and heavy
My left arm is warm and heavy
Both arms are warm and heavy
My right leg is warm
My right leg is heavy
My left leg is warm
My left leg is heavy
Both legs are warm and heavy
My arms and legs are warm
My arms and legs are heavy
My arms and legs are very warm and very heavy
My heart rate is slow and regular
My heart beat is slowing comfortably
My forehead is cool
My arms and legs are warm and heavy
My heart beat is slow and steady
My forehead is cool
My arms and legs are very warm… relaxed…my arms and legs are so heavy and relaxed
My heartbeat is steady…slow…relaxed…my forehead is smooth and cool
My breathing is deep, slow, and relaxed.
My mind is quiet.
My mind is calm, relaxed, and quiet.
I feel a quietness inside.
I feel calm and peaceful.
I remember other meditations such as progressive muscle.
I remember my cue words “Breathe and Relax.”
I am relaxed.
Waking Up
You wake up and you hear:
“I am the Ball of Wings. You have the calmness word, Relax, and you have the calm feeling in your body that Relax gives you. Now we are going to practice how it goes while you are in the castle made of clouds. We will walk this story so you remember how the good story goes.
This is the Ball of Wings. I am he. I sent Peace Full. She puts the words in the water I’m about to show you. I made the water and wrote the words, and this is the water of the wavy lake. In your imagination pick up a soap bubble bottle, the kind the children play with when they blow bubbles outside.
Now imagine that you take the wand and blow bubbles. Imagine that the scary story that you were in, that someone who tried to be like a teacher told you that you would always be in, is like a bottle of soap bubbles. It is a liquid and you have been taught to drink any liquid, especially this one, but this one is not water. Someone who tried to be spiritual told youit was water. it is soap like dish soap.
Imagine that you have a bubble wand and you blow the scenes away. Each time in waking life you hear words that describe scary scenes you imagine blowing them away from you because they are like soap bubbles.
Now imagine a jacuzzi, a very big jacuzzi. You step in the big jacuzzi with its bubbly water. You find a small bottle like the kind that are sold in the store when you go to big Niagara Falls and they sell you, “water from the falls.”
It is the first of many bottles the Ball Of Wings provides you. he has filled the bottle with relaxation words that are like water and protect you like light. Imagine that you drink the water because you are very thirsty and you are scared because of the other scenes that you have been in before.
This water is pure water and there are words that live in the water too so you drink water and you breathe in words at the same time. Imagine that you go under the water and hear words. The water in this jacuzzi is full of voices that tell you how to do relaxation exercises.
You can even stand up in the water and hear the voices in the air. There are speakers that are waterproof and carry instructions to you in words. Now you walk with the spiritual being that had shown you the music from before and rest in a castle made of clouds and there you practice the progressive muscle and the cue words while on land.
These words surround you like a comfy robe does when it is cold, but the words are like bubbles that wrap around your body to keep you protected from scary scenes that you had once heard would repeat.
You imagine that you are in a class to learn how to take the progressive muscle relaxation words into your body and your mind, and then you hear a good teacher give you the homework that you listen to the relaxation exercises and the relaxation stories in a CD player or an Ipod and that you carry them with you but you practice following these words so you can memorize the relaxation and instruct your body totally with words. By this way you know that your traumas, be they with needles, or anything else, are not going to repeat over and over again.
Any time you need to, you can go to the big jacuzzi and do review sessions on how to let the words protect you. Now this is the training that repeats over and over, how to teach your body to relax using words.”
Now you have heard the whole relaxation story. If you want to dream, continue imagining being in the story and enjoying all the good words and the pretty music. If you wish to wake up, become aware of your present surroundings, the quiet place where you sit or lie, and of the calmness word that you have gained from the story, and you wake up returning to your day with the thought that you will remember to practice the progressive muscle relaxation exercise whenever you need to..
The Calmness Word
You may wonder where the phrase, “It breathes me” comes from. It is translated 4 ways. This is the calmness word put into a little saying as a memory aid for relaxing.
Peace Full’s phrase that she learned at Mystical Water when she heard it declared to her in German by students there.
“It breathes me, not I breathe, it breathes me.”
Pieces Full learned it in English at Clorox Water, not ever hearing the German phrase, and it went,
“My breathing is calm and regular.”
The writer has a friend who suggested there be a big story, and the writers best friend, who is even younger than the writer, had attended class at Clorox Water, and she learned in English the saying about focusing on the present which is taught to the very young as the half phrase that it is, and it goes:
“My breathing is.”
The writer of this big story, hearing the phrase both in German and in English, preferring the German version because she went to Mystical Water, was so young that she learned half.
“It breathes me.”
