Are you ready to tell your fear of flying ‘sayonara?’ Tired of seeming like the only person in the world who is afraid to fly? Hang with me for a bit and I’ll share with you some priceless advice that will get you soaring the skies in no time! Let’s get started!

Three pieces of advice is all that you need to begin your new life as a confident flier. YES there are only three!!!

Advice #1: Breathing to reach your Zen-like state! Breathing exercises are not only for expectant mothers! I cannot emphasize how important breathing techniques are for nervous fliers. The idea of breathing is to re-route your focus from the environment of the plane to another area that is pleasant to you as well as provide adequate oxygen to your brain and body. Obviously, when you’re nervous you tend to breathe faster and more shallow, depleting oxygen from your brain and causing panic attacks.

Breathing exercises not only keep you calm but it totally relaxes you. Try this: close your eyes and think of a place that you’ve visited, that brought nothing but good memories to you. Now, take a very deep breath and hold it for 3-5 seconds. As you breathe in, focus on the positive energy that your “happy place” brings to your mind and body. Exhale slowly. I used to practice this exact technique when I had a fear of flying. Every time you feel anxious, practice this technique you’ll feel calm in no time.

Advice #2: Hiding your fear only makes it more noticeable! “How is that possible?” you may ask. Actually, this is a sure-fire way of having a horrible flying experience. It may seem that by masking your fear of flying that you can “fit in” with everyone else on the flight, but by doing so, you actually create more tension and uneasiness internally. Every unfamiliar bump, dip, jump and noise that the plane make will be absolutely terrifying because you have placed your body in “fight or flight” mode and worse, it’s on cruise control!

So what are you supposed to do if you can’t hide it? Simple: Let the crew and your neighboring passengers know. “Get outta’ here!” you say. I’m absolutely for real! When you board the plane, inform the crew (flight attendants and pilot) that you have a fear of flying. You CAN do this, trust me, I used to do it all of the time. Not only does this release internal stress and tension, but it also allows for you to build a great relationship of trust with the crew on your flight. They will be very attentive to you and take great care to ensure you have a good experience! If you let your surrounding passengers know that you have a fear of flying as well (discreetly of course), you will find that people are surprising pretty supportive and do whatever they can to help you during your flight if you start to feel scared.

Advice #3 Knowledge (about turbulence) is power! Statistics show that nearly 1 out of 2 people, who have a fear of flying, connect that anxiety to turbulence. Because people simply don’t understand the dynamics of turbulence they shape an entire fear of flying altogether. What exactly is turbulence anyway? Simply put, turbulence is an air bubble. We’ve all driven over a bumpy road before or have ran over a pothole. Turbulence is just like that, only the bump is in the air and you can’t see it. Realize that aircraft are designed to deal with not only turbulence but even lighting strikes and safely make it through with excellent resiliency.

Before flights, airports survey the chances of turbulence during a scheduled flight and will relay that information to your pilots who will then prepare you for it by telling you over your plane’s PA. Understand that turbulence is absolutely normal, inevitable and common during air travel. The idea of it may frighten you, but it is nothing to be scared of and it’s only for a brief moment during your flight anyway. Just make sure that you have that seat belt on when that light blinks on!:)

That’s it! It really is! That’s all of the fear of flying advice you need to start conquering your fear of flying! I’ve been traveling for nearly a decade and had a paralyzing fear of flying for most of that time. Since following the advice that I’ve just shared with you, my flying experiences have been easy, breezy and fun!