- July 9, 2014
- Posted by: Sean Fargo
- Category: Video

If someone told me last year that I would be calm jumping out of an airplane at 18,000 feet, I would have called that person cray cray. But when my friend Phillip invited me for a free skydive on my day off, I knew that I had to try it.
Having a fear of heights throughout my childhood, I wasn’t sure how to go through with the jump. Should I try to overcome my fear of death altogether? Research the safety of skydiving? Repeat some mantras in my head? Pretend like I’m a bird?
Finally, after much trepidation and thought, I realized that my primary meditation practice would be of great benefit: mindfulness of breathing.
Feeling the sensations of breath in my body, primarily in my belly, helped to ground me and get me out of my stories, my fears of something going wrong with the parachute. Gaining elevation in the plane ride up, I also gained perspective with each calm breath, allowing me to be with each sensation of fear in real time.
I wasn’t fanning the flames of worry. I was simply being in each moment, breathing and relaxing the body.
When it was time to fall out of the plane, I was able to do so very calmly, without any resistance.
And then, falling at 100mph, the real fun began. 🙂
(A story of how others found mindfulness through skydiving: http://thecalmmonkey.com/2012/01/24/how-my-friends-and-i-discovered-mindfulness/)
[…] Video of Sean Fargo's skydiving adventure! It turned out that mindfulness of breath was the key to overcoming his fear of height. (What's the most stressful situation in which you effectively used mindfulness of breathing? […]
Really cool and inspiring! 🙂