Can you remember a time when you felt truly fearless? When you knew, without a doubt, that the world was safe? Can you ever remember feeling completely liberated from the undercurrent of discontent, anxiety, or suffering that’s so prevalent in modern life? For the average person, consistently experiencing that kind of freedom sounds like wishful thinking. Life’s hardships can create a sense of foreboding that’s hard to shake. But the truth is that most fears and anxieties are really just paper tigers.

Paper tigers are the thoughts and experiences that conjure up dread, but that don’t present any real danger. Missed deadlines, traffic jams, conflict with a loved one, and arguments with the boss create the same physiological responses in the human body that our ancestors experienced when they were stalked by predators on the plains. In the modern world, however, those responses are unwarranted. They’re neurological “misfires” that wreak havoc on our mental, emotional, and physical well-being, all in an effort to keep us “safe”.

The Paper Tiger Syndrome is a guidebook on the journey of healing and self-repair, which demonstrates that the most direct way to overcome fear, stress, and trauma in your life is to regulate your physical body. Here, the author—a trauma survivor herself—shares her own inspirational story to show you what’s possible and helps you understand how to regain control, so you can freely live again. Based largely on the principles of somatic therapy, The Paper Tiger Syndrome provides specific exercises and tools to help you walk the bridge from fear to safety to unconditional love. In that space of love—the space that exists beyond fear, trauma, or suffering—lies the purest form of the human expression of your soul. It’s what author Rebecca Ward calls your "original blueprint". Learn to reclaim it.