The Warriors Way - SoundSage

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Is your life going in the direction you want it to? Is your climbing going toward what you want from it? As I go through the warrior series of lessons, I will share resources from others. This will help you broaden your perspective. Today we’ll look at the power of purpose. We’ll investigate it through Viktor Frankl’s powerful book Man’s Search for Meaning.

This is a short book so go get it and read it, if you haven’t already. Frankl’s book is about his experiences being a prisoner in a Nazi concentration camp. That’s enough for you to frame this topic. Having a purpose for living helps you live longer and healthier. Believe me? Check out this film on the hidden power of purpose.

Trailer

Film: you can check YouTube and other places to watch it for $2.99.

Is there value in suffering? Frankl likes to quote Nietzsche. Here’s an important one related to purpose: “He who has a why to live can bear with almost any how.” (emphasis added) Think about that for a moment. Having a why points to your motivation. Motivation is what moves you through life. If you don’t know why you’re climbing or doing something, then your motivation will wane. If you do know why, then you have direction. Your motivation will move you toward what you want your life and climbing to be.

Frankl asked his patients who were suffering: “Why don’t you commit suicide?” In other words, if things are so stressful, then why not end it? Well, many people do choose suicide. To counter this tendency, you need to have a reason to live. You need to fight to live instead of fighting to die.

I’ve worked with the veteran charity Mission 22. Its mission is to help veterans have a reason to live and not commit suicide. One of the founders, Magnus Johnson, told me this about the value of climbing. I like seeing veterans fighting to climb, struggling to stay on the rock. It’s a demonstration that they are fighting to live instead of giving up and considering suicide. Experiencing the value of fighting, changes how you perceive suffering. What Frankl and Magnus ask of you is to fight to live instead of giving up.

Is life worth living?But you can’t just say you’ll shift your perspective. You need to define a purpose for fighting. Let’s look at some of Frankl’s experiences to dig further. I’ll paraphrase from the book:

As a prisoner, he found himself stripped to a naked existence. His father, mother, brother, and his wife died in camps. How could he–having lost and suffered so much, expecting death at any hour–find life worth living?

You learn what human beings do when they suddenly realize they have nothing left to lose. You must have a larger sense for the suffering. The central theme of existentialism is: to live is to suffer; to survive is to find meaning in the suffering. Finding meaning in suffering can actually make you thrive in life.

If there is a purpose to life at all, there must be a purpose in suffering and in dying. But no one can tell another what this purpose is. Each must find out for themselves.

Freedom by changing your attitudeIn concentration camps, all familiar goals are taken away. What remains is the last of human freedoms: the ability to choose your attitude about your circumstances. Frankl wondered how everyday life in the camp reflected in the mind of the average prisoner? Of course, some of their minds saw their situation as a problem; others as an opportunity. The latter group saw a deeper purpose. A purpose to live to reconnect with their family; a purpose to right a wrong that they were experiencing, etc.

Here’s the shift Frankl suggested: It doesn’t really matter what you expected from life, but rather what life expected from you.

Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems. And to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets before you. These tasks differ for each person. The meaning of life comes from fulfilling those tasks.

No one can relieve you of your suffering. Your opportunity lies in how you bear it. Can life retain its potential meaning in spite of its tragic aspects? Consider that life retains its potential meaning because of its tragic aspects.

A powerful perspective shift

Frankl states: “As to the causation of the feeling of meaninglessness, one may say, albeit in an oversimplifying vein, that people have enough to live by but nothing to live for; they have the means but no meaning.” You don’t want simply the means to live by. That will just bring you to death’s door regretting how you lived your life. To create meaning, you suffer life’s stressors as opportunities to grow.

Frankl’s Logotherapy methodLogotherapy teaches 3 main avenues on which one arrives at meaning in life.

By creating a work or by doing a deed.
- If you focus on the work and not yourself, you’ll be focusing on something larger than yourself. This creates meaning because you understand yourself in a larger context.
By experiencing something or encountering someone with love.
- Engage with the natural world and other people in an attitude of collaboration, kindness, and love. Again, love expands you beyond your separate individual self.
Even the helpless victim in a hopeless situation, facing a fate he can’t change, may rise above himself, may grow beyond himself, and by so doing change himself. He may turn a personal tragedy into a triumph.
- Your attitude actually changes how your brain processes information and how you think. If you can see the opportunity in tragedy, you can triumph. You can thrive instead of just surviving. .

Practice tip: What’s the opportunity in the problem?

We have a cool little tool to help you shift your perspective. It’s called PCO. When faced with suffering, ask these 3 successive questions: 1. What’s the biggest problem in this suffering? 2. What’s the biggest challenge in this suffering? 3. What’s the biggest opportunity in this suffering?

You’ll find:* Your answers become more numerous toward opportunity. * Your answers become less “me” focused and begin having an action orientation. * Your answers become more action oriented where you actually want to engage the suffering.

And if you want to watch a cool video on this subject, check this out:

Trailer

Film: you can check youtube and other places to watch it for $2.99.

Continuing mental training education options:

The Rock Warrior’s Way and Espresso Lessons
Falling & Commitment Online Course
In-person clinics

Man's Search for Meaning The Classic Tribute to Hope from the Holocaust

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I’ve been wanting to write a series of lessons on what it means to live as warriors. That’s what I’m beginning now. I have about 60 lessons to cover on this subject.

The Warrior’s Way® has been more than a mental training program from its outset. It’s also a philosophy of life. Here I will outline that philosophy with as much clarity as possible. This will help guide you toward living as a warrior. Living this way leads you to living a more fulfilling and peaceful life.

The goal and the practice

It’ll be important to define what the goal is here at the outset. Without a goal you won’t know where you’re going. The goal for this series is to live as impeccable warriors. Impeccable, here, describes how you use your attention. Impeccable use of attention means you focus it on the task that needs attention. So that’s the goal.

It’ll also be important to outline the process of living as warriors as you live your life moving toward the goal. This will include a lot about mindset, daily practices, and shifts in perception.

Direction of this training – broad topics and tenets

After defining terms, I’ll begin by giving you a broad understanding of where we’ll be going in this series. We’ll investigate some broad topics:

Like freedom,
Having a free mind, and
Feeling lost.

These broad topics give you context for the specifics of the journey.

Next I’ll go into some core tenets that help you shift perception. These are paradigm shifts. They give you a better foundation for understanding the reality of the world. Having a solid foundation helps you engage struggles better. This investigation will include structures taken from climbing.

I’ll pull helpful aspects from the climbing metaphor. These will include:

The importance of goals,
Motivation, and
The value of work.

I’ll share how you have two minds. One mind is unmoved; another is flexible and agile. Each mind supports you in different ways.

Direction of this training – specific topics and details

Next, I’ll share many specific topics that go into more detail. Topics like the cyclical nature of life, the middle way, and identity. We’ll investigate details within topics such as these:

Trusting how life unfolds,
Finding peace in the messiness of life struggles, and
Moving beyond the idea of perfection.

Framing the training in climbing

I’ll frame the discussion in climbing, but in ways you can apply lessons to life. Climbing is where the material was developed, refined, and tested. Climbing gives us a helpful structure and understanding for the reality of life and how to best act in it.

Each lesson will include a practice tip. After a block of lessons, I’ll also share lessons targeted toward building daily routines. At the end of the series, you’ll have morning and daily routines that will support you as you continue your journey.

The final lessons will zoom out again to apply broad concepts to daily routines. These will include concepts such as intentionality, commitment, and curiosity.

This will be a wonderful journey of becoming more aware. That, of course, is the foundation for mental training. By helping you become more aware and having practical ways to apply it, you’ll begin living as a warrior. Then it’ll be a lifelong journey of daily practice, redirecting attention, and continual self discovery.

In the next lesson, I’ll set the foundation for the series.

Practice tip: Be Curious

You’re embarking on a new journey with this series. Healthy skepticism is helpful. Judging the content of this material before engaging with it isn’t. Curiosity is one of the most important qualities for learning. Curiosity keeps you open to new ideas. It moves you toward investigating them. So here, at the outset of this series, I ask you to practice curiosity.

Practice curiosity by asking a question rather than making a statement. For example, when you read an idea I share in these blogs, ask “I wonder what he means?” rather than stating “That idea doesn’t make sense.” You can feel the difference within your own body and mind after saying each of those phrases. Curiosity moves you toward the stress of dealing with new information. Judgment moves you back toward your comfort zone. If you’re truly interested in learning, then move toward stress.

OK? So, will you practice curiosity?

Continuing mental training education options:

The Rock Warrior’s Way and Espresso Lessons
Falling & Commitment Online Course
In-person clinics

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Dr. Jim Loehr crafted his “16 Second Cure” to heighten performance when he interviewed a bullfighter. How could they remain so calm in the midst of a terrible threat in the form of a huge bull? This is what he wanted to know.

How you act immediately after a failure sets you up for the next challenge. It creates your poise. You can react negatively with frustration and have poor poise or have a positive response that creates a confident poise.

Here we’re looking at Dr. Jim Loehr’s 16 second cure he learned from Bullfighters applied in Tennis. Watch the video. Then see how we can convert that to climbing as outlined below.

Instead of throwing a wobbler after falling, do this 16 second cure to develop confident poise.

Stage 1 (3-5 seconds): Positive physical response* Breathing/Eyes/Body: Focus on calm breathing, lower your eyes (don’t look up at the wall trying to figure out why you fell or being upset about it), maintain expanded body posture.

Stage 2 (6-15 seconds): Relaxation* Rest your eye focus down on a convenient place, such as your hands. This stimulates the relaxation response. Do stages 1 and 2 until breathing and heart rate have stabilized.

Stage 3 (3-5 seconds): Preparation* This stage begins as you move toward taking the next action to climb. Raise the eyes toward the task by looking up to direct attention to prepare for your next effort. In WW language, “do the lookings.” Continue to maintain breathing and expanded body posture. Be clear about your plan for your next effort.

Stage 4 (5-8 seconds): Ritual* This stage begins just before you transition into action, after planning is finished. Rituals deepen concentration, help you stay relaxed, and heighten arousal to the appropriate levels. This ritual could be clapping your hands together, chalking up, or another preferred method. I like blinking my eyes and shaking my head to eliminate tunnel vision. Then, pause just before taking action and do a deliberate exhale. Take action and focus only on the current task.

Attribution for the photo: by Stephane YAICH on Unsplash

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I’ve known of Dr. Jim Loehr’s work for a few decades. Loehr is a world-renowned performance psychologist. He believes the single most important factor in successful achievement, personal fulfillment, and life satisfaction is the strength of one’s character.

Your character strength comes from how you talk to yourself. It has everything to do with how you respond to failure. Check this podcast from The Knowledge Project Ep. #193.

Here are a few highlights from the episode taken from their website. It also has a timeline of the podcast so you can see which parts you might prefer listening to. I must say that I valued each part of the whole pod:

Your inner voice pretty much determines your destiny.
I ask myself, Is this story that I’m telling myself aligned with the best part of me, with who I really want to be in life, my values, my sense of purpose? Does this story take me where I want to go in life?
More important than what you achieve is who you become as a consequence of the chase.
Your public voice with your children becomes their inner voice as adults

Jim emphasizes the power of writing to create the story that’s most supportive to tell yourself. Here are some journaling prompts, again from their website: (modified a bit by me)

ScreenshotYour “to do” list: * Begin with your “to do” list that helps to plan your day, first thing in the morning. Use your list from the previous day, update it, and create your plan for today.

Setup for writing: * Your writing is not a catharsis of negative emotions. You are writing from your best self, coaching yourself with your hand. There is nothing negative in the message you send to yourself. * The message should be positive, constructive, hopeful, and inspirational. It is YOU coaching YOU as if you were advising your best friend. * You are seeking wisdom, perspective, and understanding in your writing that will translate into concrete action and change. * Remember, you are drawing out the best, most responsible YOU in your writing.

Prepare for writing: * Read what you wrote the previous day before starting your new journal entry. * Make a list of things you are struggling with — that are topics to coach yourself on.

Write: * Write for 10-15 minutes. Just let your writing flow.

Reflect on what you wrote: * When you read what you have written, you should feel a sense of pride with your coaching advice. You are training your inner voice to be the best coach you could ever have!

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The main point I’d like to make as we wrap up this series of blogs is to reiterate the importance of understanding your motivation and the mindset it creates. Remember, your mind is motivated by achievement, causing you to easily slip into practicing falling to get it over with. This motivation negatively impacts your falling practice.

The goal is to shift your motivation so it’s learning-based and to tune into your comfort (or stress) level as you practice. This will help create a mindset that engages your attention in the moment and allows you to more easily enjoy the process.

Remember, our new online course is a great resource for falling practice. So check it out here. The landing page will give you a lot of information about what you can expect from it.

Specifically, moving forward, you’ll want to integrate falling into your climbing. Some climbers do this while projecting routes, but for most of us, integrating falling into our warm-up works best. Climb up several bolts, clip one above your head, and take a fall. Then climb to the next one, clip it, and continue climbing until the clipped draw is by your waist and fall. Then climb to the next one, clip it, and climb until it’s by your knee and fall. Slowly increment to longer falls as you get higher on the route.

Doing a little falling practice frequently is better than doing a lot occasionally. This shift speaks to the shift from all-or-nothing thinking to the incremental steps I’ve introduced in this series. Integrating falling into your warm-up changes how you view falling. Instead of seeing falling as something you have to do, you see it as something you willingly engage in. Falling becomes an important part of your climbing—just like any other type of climbing training.

Integrating falling into your climbing maintains and grows your proficiency with this often- misunderstood skill. You approach falling as a skill that needs regular exercise, just like our muscles need regular exercise to grow strong. Enjoy, and be attentive to your practice.

Warnings:

Risk: Nothing, not even instruction from a coach or this online course, can eliminate the risks associated with practicing falling. Accept responsibility for information you utilize for practicing.
Experiential knowledge: It’s important to realize that you know how to fall when you experience falling properly. This can only be gained from proper instruction.
Motivation: Your mind’s achievement motivation can get you into trouble, pushing you to take risks that aren’t appropriate. So, you need to be wary.

Suggestions:

Best option: Get a coach to help guide your practice. We have a network of Warrior’s Way trainers across the USA and abroad who are experts on teaching falling.
Next best option: Falling & Commitment Online Course.
Worst option: Practice yourself without these resources. If you do, then do it in small increments.

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The skills and drills are what make up the core of your falling practice. They outline the depth of your practice. There is too much information to cover comprehensively here. Plus, I’d like you to buy the course so you have the benefit of the full content, including videos, Q&As, interviews, etc.

Check the online course here. The landing page will give you a lot of information about what you can expect from it.

Here’s an overview of what this section covers:* Short toprope falling: You’ll practice impacting the wall, how to position your body, and the belayer’s role. There are many subtleties to each of these parts. The climber will need to pay attention to the breath, eye shift, and body posture. The belayer will need to pay attention to the belay stance, jumping vs. not jumping, how much slack to maintain in the system, etc. Climber and belayer learn the gross elements of the skill. * Longer toprope falls: Here you focus on building more falling skill, but also helping the belayer learn to give a cushioned catch. This can be challenging if the weight difference between climber and belayer is more than 50 pounds. Climbers will refine the falling elements: how to breathe throughout the fall, how to shift the eyes during various parts of the fall, and how to transition from a climbing stance to a falling posture so you move as an integrated unit. * Lead falling: Now you can practice lead falls to build on your toprope experience. Pull the rope and switch ends. The climber leads, clipping bolts, and begins taking falls at the highest clipped bolt. The clipped bolt will be somewhere between your chest and waist. You begin practice here and slowly increment higher. * Advanced falling: This involves falling in more advanced situations like pendulums, slabs, roofs, while clipping, etc. Each situation is unique, but you apply the same incremental process you’ve learned. Finally, you can practice on trad climbs to build trust in your gear, if this is a discipline you engage in.

This practice progression leads you toward applying falling in realistic climbing situations. By following the incremental approach outlined here—that’s a key point of the course—you keep yourself as safe as possible so you can focus on enjoying the process.

In the next lesson, we’ll wrap up and identify how to continue your practice.

Warnings: Risk: Nothing, not even instruction from a coach or this online course, can eliminate the risks associated with practicing falling. Accept responsibility for information you utilize for practicing. * Experiential knowledge: It’s important to realize that you know* how to fall when you experience falling properly. This can only be gained from proper instruction. * Motivation: Your mind’s achievement motivation can get you into trouble, pushing you to take risks that aren’t appropriate. So, you need to be wary.

Suggestions:* Best option: Get a coach to help guide your practice. We have a network of Warrior’s Way trainers across the USA and abroad who are experts on teaching falling. * Next best option: Falling & Commitment Online Course. * Worst option: Practice yourself without these resources. If you do, then do it in small increments.

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Thus far, I’ve given you some history on falling and the evolution of climbing as a sport. Unlike years ago, now you can embrace falling as a part of your climbing experience. We’ve also investigated falling as a skill, your fears, and your motivation. In this lesson, you’ll build on everything you’ve learned by outlining components for building your falling skill incrementally.

Remember, our new online course is a great resource for falling practice. So check it out here. The landing page will give you a lot of information about what you can expect from it.

You need to lay the groundwork or foundation for how you’ll practice. This includes several components:

Introduce a little stress at a time: By now, this should seem reasonable to you. Learning is converting stress into comfort. You can only process a little stress at any given time.
Use comfort as a gauge for progressing: This may seem like a foreign concept to you. Falling is stressful, yet you use comfort as a gauge? Yes, remember point number one: Learning is converting stress to comfort, so tune into how comfortable you are while you practice.
Know what to pay attention to: Your mind may be pushing you to get the fall over with, thus distracting your attention from what’s actually happening during the fall. Don’t let your mind trick you. Rather, decide to pay attention during the fall so you can tweak the subtleties of how you’re practicing, and learn the skill well. Falling means your body is engaged, so you identify specific parts of the body you need to pay attention to: breathing, eye shift, and body position/posture.
Know what you can and can’t control: In a fall, there are very few things you can control and lots of things you can’t. Basically, you can only control yourself, so focus on that to gain control during the fall.

It’s important to practice on realistic terrain. I’ve contacted gyms all over the world as I’ve traveled to teach falling. I need to know if they have appropriate walls for practicing falling before scheduling clinics with them. Sometimes they’re eager to share that they have walls that are “perfect” for falling: very overhanging; you’ll just fall into space. Then I have to correct their misperceptions.

Falling into space, without dealing with the impact, doesn’t represent the angle of most rock climbs. Most climbers operate in the 5.9–5.11 range where the rock tends to be off-vertical: slightly slabby, vertical, or slightly overhanging, about 5–10 degrees from the 90-degree plane.

All these off-vertical scenarios cause you to impact the wall when you fall. So, it’s important to select and use off-vertical walls to practice falling.

Begin your practice with an off-vertical wall that has no physical obstacles like ledges or gym volumes. You want to make the impact as safe as possible when you first begin to practice. Any unknowns—like obstacles—create stress and fear, distract attention, and diminish the quality of your practice.

Next, pick falls that have small obstacles, like a small ledge. You can begin by simply hanging on toprope at the ledge and practice pushing out and impacting it. Then, take a short toprope fall onto the ledge. Gradually, with practice, you’ll begin to perceive the ledge as an obstacle you can actually negotiate, not one to be avoided. Other obstacle-type falls include pendulums and falling in dihedrals, on arêtes, over roofs, over large ledges, and on slabs.

So, change how you view obstacles based on how much experience you have falling in such situations. Something you may have considered a “no-fall” situation in the past may now be OK, and provoke little or no fear in terms of falling consequences.

In the next lesson, we’ll dig into skills and drills.

Warnings:* Risk: Nothing, not even instruction from a coach or this online course, can eliminate the risks associated with practicing falling. Accept responsibility for information you utilize for practicing. * Experiential knowledge: It’s important to realize that you know how to fall when you experience falling properly. This can only be gained from proper instruction. * Motivation: Your mind’s achievement motivation can get you into trouble, pushing you to take risks that aren’t appropriate. So, you need to be wary.

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I recently did a fun podcast with Jake Warinner, a college student interested in sharing new ideas with his audience. I really enjoyed Jake’s questions. They helped reveal my process for developing The Warrior’s Way® material and how it’s changed over time.

Listen at your favorite pod locations. Here are some links and interesting points along the way:

YouTube

Spotify

Apple

ScreenshotInteresting points along the way:

00:00 – Developing The Warrior’s Way® material

08:00 – How do we gain meaning from climbing?

12:00 – My early investigations into mental training

18:00 – A philosophy of life beyond Miyamoto Musashi

27:00 – Motivation: either/or … or … both/and?

33:45 – How to get attention into the present moment

37:00 – Unconscious defensive behaviors

40:00 – Importance of alertness and how to be alert

43:00 – How to measure self-worth

48:00 – How ego impacts self-worth

52:00 – How to shift to a giving mindset

55:45 – Balancing planning and spontaneity

1:00:00 – Love-based and fear-based motivation

1:04:00 – Are there such things as irrational fears?

1:07:00 – The need for making mistakes

1:11:45 – What we focus on expands

1:12:30 – Shifts I’ve made as I’ve learned more about mental training

1:20:30 – Bridging the material to life

1:23:00 – Book recommendations

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I did a podcast with the human performance company O2X recently. They do training for first responders. O2X focuses on three components of performance they call “Eat, Sweat, Thrive.” These represent a holistic approach covering the important training areas of nutrition, physical exercise, and mental training. I’m one of their thrive specialists.

We talked about my background in climbing and how that prepared me for developing and teaching The Warrior’s Way. Part of our discussion was contrasting how climbing and its community was different in the 1970s compared to today. Back then there were few climbers and climbing was viewed as a kind of nonconformist activity. We were rebels, rebelling against societal values. Today climbing is accepted as a legitimate sport and even one that is useful for transforming our understanding of how we deal with challenges.

We brought up the topic of Alex Honnold’s free solo of El Cap. We can perceive Alex as being fearless, taking inappropriate risks, and just going for it with no regard for the consequences. Thus, we talked about how Alex, like anyone who has mastered an activity, put in a lot of effort to achieve this important goal. He was intimately familiar with risk, fear, and commitment, not recklessly going for it.

We went into motivation, unbending intent, and attention training. These are important components of mental training, especially for first responders. What we’ve focused on in developing The Warrior’s Way is being clear about what terms mean and understanding them in the context of other concepts. This is important because terms and concepts must support each other and not be contradictory. For example, we define “intention” as “attention focused in the direction of a choice.” Specifically, the choice happens before action is taken. Thus, we’re very specific about what we’ll focus attention on, which consists of the processes of breathing, eye focus, and how we move the body through the activity. Our motivation derives from the processes of this intention.

Finally, we investigated what we could do to become one-percent better each day in our mental training. I suggested having a morning routine that included a body awareness drill. Such drills address what I believe is the most important mental training practice: getting attention out of the mind and into the external environment. Focusing on feeling the body move, what we can hear, and see helps us experience attention focused somatically. This is critical for distinguishing between the two main ways that we use attention: in thinking with the mind and in doing with the body. Action requires doing, requires attention focused in the body on the doing itself. Noticing when our attention is distracted away from this intention helps us redirect it. That constant redirecting process makes the intention unbending. Such unbending intent helps us take action for its own sake, so we can be effective and enjoy it.

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In April I did an interview with Mordy Levine on It’s Not What You Think podcast (Episode 5).

Youtube link

Spotify link

I first met Mordy about eight years ago when he took our trad clinic at Joshua Tree. Mordy has a lot of background in meditation, Buddhism, and enjoyed the Carlos Castaneda book as I did.

I like the name of Mordy’s podcast because it speaks directly to what we need to be attentive to in mental training. Much of what the mind thinks is not reality. It’s a virtual reality that engagement clarifies. Unfortunately, Bruce Lee and don Juan couldn’t be on the podcast, but we discussed how they impacted my learning of mental training.

ScreenshotHere are some points:

How does the mind perceive reality? How can we let the experience itself determine reality, not the mind?
What does it mean to do attention training? Is there some attention training that is unhelpful? What are the details of attention training?
How much do we need to think? Is thinking detrimental? Is all thinking virtual reality instead of reality?
Is motivation an either/or choice, either achievement or learning? If not, how can we understand motivation as both/and, that achievement and learning can be complementary?
Should we seek comfort in the future or in the present moment? If the latter, is that the “lazy person’s” approach?
How can the climbing metaphor help us understand how to deal with our natural comfort motivation?
Can we ever “get over” a stressor or trauma or do we need to find ways to “live with it?”
What’s the difference between physiological and psychological fears?
Is “exposure therapy” effective, such as taking people who are afraid of heights onto a glass bridge that crosses a deep gorge? What’s the difference between what’s real and what’s true?
What does don Juan say is the basic difference between warriors and ordinary people?
What was so unique about Bruce Lee?

Youtube link

Spotify link

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What is the warrior mindset really? We hear a lot about it these days. And, there are many ways one could understand it. Here’s one of those ways and it comes from the Shambhala Tibetan Buddhist tradition.

A little background first. About a decade ago, I taught a clinic during the Smith Rock Detour event in Oregon. Melissa Mattern was one of my students. Now she works for David Nichtern of Dharma Moon, a company committed to teaching mindfulness and meditation with a Buddhist foundation. She suggested to David to interview me for his Be Here Now Network podcast. Thanks Melissa! That’s what we did recently and what I’m sharing with you today.

David is a disciple of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche who brought the Shambhala Tibetan Buddhist tradition to the West. He also wrote Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior. We examined how The Warrior’s Way® method aligns with the kind of warrior mindset coming from Shambhala. Below are links and some excerpts:

Links, plus you can access it on your favorite podcast app:

On the Dharma Moon website

On their youtube channel

Excerpts: First, a few statement I made that David put on his website:

Screenshot“Mental training, it reveals what’s inside. You start inquiring, ‘What’s in here?’ and sometimes you find out things that you don’t necessarily like. But we can start working with liking it as much as we can, or at least changing how we view it; seeing it as an opportunity that we can learn and draw from what’s being revealed, so that we can expand our awareness and become more authentic human beings.”

“Climbing was like a really tangible metaphor for being able to understand concepts that make up mental training, so that we can then bridge it to becoming better climbers, but also to living our lives more intentionally.”

“Once we step off the ground onto the rock, we value the work that we’re doing for its own sake. In other words, we blend with the rock, looking for the easiest way to climb, going towards something inspiring. So we’re going to be going through stressful situations, but we do it in a self-compassionate way, allowing ourselves to be vulnerable so we can learn, adapt ourselves to the rock, to the external situation, so we can blend with it and work with it.”

Now a few moments he found particularly relevant:

Facing Fear & Becoming a More Authentic Human Being (18:28)

David shares his teacher Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche’s thoughts and feelings on the warrior tradition being a global phenomenon that goes beyond culture and how—much like the idea of the spiritual kingdom of Shambhala—it is accessible to everyone open enough to face their fear with a smile, gentleness, and inquisitive curiosity. This prompts Arno to offer tips on facing fear and overcoming perceived personal weaknesses using his method of mental training involving self-compassion, humility, and vulnerability.

Climbing Metaphor: Focused Goal, Inspired Motivation, & Intrinsic Value (45:00)

Sharing The Warrior’s Way®, Arno relays a three-pointed metaphor for climbing which can be applied to any external situation. Particularly helpful in facing stressful or challenging circumstances, this method can help us blend, adapt, and grow through self-compassion, vulnerability, and flow.

Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior (Shambhala Library)

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Recently I did an interview with Leslie Kim at Dynamite Starfish. Below are some excerpts. Go to their Story Blog to read it in full.

“When I started in 1973, there was only trad climbing and the ethic was ‘the leader doesn’t fall. ‘With the ‘invention’ of sport climbing, we were able to engage climbing more as performance. This meant incorporating falling into what we did. Now, performance is a big part of what it means to climb.

“I feel my biggest contribution to this evolution of climbing is mental training. We address not only ways to incorporate falling, but also to address mental issues comprehensively. Commitment, motivation, self worth, and so much more are integral to performance. They’re also integral to living meaningful lives.

“Recently I’ve been excited to build a team to help bring our training to the wider world. I think now, more than ever before, our world needs mental training. Our team is working with climbers, but also the general public. Viewing mental training as an important part of our training (whether climber or not) grounds our lives in ways to deal with the inevitable struggles, but also to find meaning and purpose. We want our lives to matter and The Warrior’s Way® is one tool to help us do that.”

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I was recently on the Mindful Wealth podcast. The hosts, Terrie Schauer and Jonathan DeYoe, operate a business to bring mindfulness to activities like real estate investing. Mindfulness points us to finding more intrinsic reasons for creating wealth. This is what we explore in this podcast.

Additionally, Terrie brought up an interesting idea of the ethics associated with mental training. We could use our enhanced skills with attention to manipulate others to our benefit. How do we prevent that from happening? I explain that it has a lot to do with the illusion of separateness. Listen to get the full details.

ScreenshotOther topics discussed include:

What does warrior training look like?
Why is training awareness and attention so important?
Why is it important to cycle out of action to regroup and then recommit?
Why is honesty important for seeing reality clearly?
What is true wealth?

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Listen on the Mindful Wealth website

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How do we get real with our mental training? Could it have something to do with self-worth, comparisonitis, and finding our authentic selves? Check out this podcast interview I did with Trisha Lewis in the UK called Make it Real.

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Some dialogue from the podcast is below

Trisha: (explains her climbing experience to me)* I imagined too much during the climb, but also in life. It’s the imagination that’s the problem.

Arno: * It’s not so much physical dangers that are the problem. It’s the psychological part, the fear of failure, wanting to succeed to feel better about ourselves. An important beginning is to do processes that separate our identity from outcomes, so we’re not on a roller coaster with how we feel moment to moment. * You talk about the unsquashed self. We squash ourselves into a tight representation of who we are. We unsquash our sense of self so it can expand into the capacity of our true selves. This moves us beyond the self-worth roller coaster. * The squashed self makes us feel like we’re in an existential crisis. By fighting to save our worth, we avert the crisis. But this is a never ending fight because our worth is continually in flux as external circumstances change. * The solution is making self-worth a non-issue. We don’t try to improve it. We don’t need evidence of success to validate it. Simple existence is enough. We say, “I exist therefore I am.”

Trisha:* Is there something fundamental that happens to us in rock climbing that helps us with these issues?

Arno: * Climbing provides the metaphor for noticing how we do this. * We can succeed either way (tying identity to outcome or not). The distinction is we enjoy our journey more if we separate them. The purpose of being a warrior is to shift away from achievement at the expense of enjoying the journey. * We make a mental shift: instead of striving for a future time we think will be better than today, we use future goals simply to guide us. * This mental shift impacts how we act and how we use our attention. We’re constantly doing mental training, whether we realize it or not. We’re habituating ourselves, the brain neurology, by how we’re using our attention.

Trisha: * Let’s think about motivation; intrinsic and extrinsic. How do we become the powerhouse in how we’re motivated?

Arno: * We tend to think it’s an either/or choice with motivation. * Rather, we take on a both/and reality with it. Extrinsic motivation is helpful for setting goals, while intrinsic motivation helps us enjoy our work. Intrinsic motivation is grounded in what we love about being in struggles. This both/and approach also applies to finding balance between work and play.

ScreenshotTrish: * And also to find balance with fear? I know it’s healthy to push out of our comfort zone.

Arno: * It’s healthy; it’s needed. Stress and change is the reality. And so is our need for comfort. * The beginning of the warrior mindset is accepting life as it is, not thinking life shouldn’t be unfolding as it is.

Trisha: * I know it’s weird, but I have a fear of cows. I get derailed by that fear. And, I become annoyed with myself for not being able to get over it.

Arno:* The mind is constantly creating images of reality to protect us to survive. * We can work on getting attention out of our heads with meditation, body awareness practices, etc. * We know the mind will create illusory reality. And, we know we have tools to deal with it. Focusing on our breathing, eye focus, and bodily sensations helps us interact with reality better than solely relying on the mind to interpret it.

Trish: * Meditation?

Arno: * Yes, we can do formal meditation and also apply meditation throughout the day. * We observe our reactions, feel the tension in the body, and notice our thoughts. We acknowledge, allow, and accept all of these and simply redirect our attention to the task. We do this by engaging our senses, to shift attention out of thinking, into the body, and into actual reality.

Trish: * We constantly compare ourselves to others. I call this comparisonitis. It makes us feel like we’re always fighting for survival. I want to be like them (to measure up); I don’t want to be like them (I want to be different); or I just give up (do nothing).

Arno: * You say, “Make it real.” We tend to try to be someone we’re not. Mental training helps us find our true authentic self. We don’t know who we are when we’re lost in social conditioning. * Balance is an important part. Society is moving forward rapidly. It continually puts more demands on our time. We need to find ways to push back against that. We need to find balance for ourselves, our team, and business, not just be caught up in the rapid movement of society. * Self compassion is helpful for finding this balance. We can have a tendency to be self-critical. Self-compassion is healthier and more effective. It helps us see mistakes as necessary for our learning journey. * Compassion, vulnerability, and humility are misunderstood words. It’s interesting to contemplate how they make us stronger, rather than weaker.

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I talked to Leslie Kim of Dynamite Starfish about fear and risk in rock climbing, and how having a warrior mentality helps not just our climbing performance but in all of life, including partnerships. Below are excerpts from the podcast:

Viewing/listening link: Leslie Kim | Dynamite Starfish Rock Climbing

How do we define warriors in The Warrior’s Way® mental training? Certainly warriors move toward stressors to seek learning opportunities. Additionally we focus on effective use of attention, developing awareness, and trusting how life unfolds. This requires warriors to be fluid and adaptable rather than rigid.

What’s the relationship between performance, knowledge, and fear? Do we avoid challenging ourselves because we fear we lack knowledge? Incremental action can balance being fearful with engagement. This helps us gain knowledge along the way.

“Who am I?” This is a question that’s important to ask because we tend to define ourselves in limiting ways that hinder performance. How we tie our worthiness to success is one example. We lose motivation when we don’t think we’ll succeed because we don’t want to lose our sense of worth.

What are effective partnerships? Who do we build relationships with? A big part of knowing who to partner with is knowing effective ways to coach and support each other. Usually our belayers coach us to avoid stress or rush through it. Rather, they can allow us to struggle within the context of supporting us while we take appropriate risks.

Some mental training points for your journey:

You have to want to begin the journey. All action begins in the mind. Direct that action by wanting to do mental training practice.
Take daily small steps that are ongoing. For example, if you want to be more self-compassionate, then notice self-criticism throughout the day.

Viewing/listening link: Leslie Kim | Dynamite Starfish Rock ClimbingFind Leslie here: https://dynamitestarfish.com

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My colleagues at Rock/Creek Outfitters invited me to participate in their Day Fire Podcast recently. A lot of questions came up about how I was influenced early on by others and early development of The Warrior’s Way®. Below are some questions that were answered on the podcast. Enjoy the listen:

Screenshot How was I inspired to begin climbing? * How did I manage fear early on? * What guided my interest in doing first ascents? * Who inspired me when I started climbing in the 1970s? * How did I educate myself on using protection, belaying, and risk-taking prior to all the training books? * How did I deal with my fear to do those bold routes on Whitesides? * How did I arrive at the decision to begin teaching about mental training? * What is our responsibility for creating a career? Who are we responsible for; who are we responsible to*? * How many students did I have during the first year of teaching? * What are the foundational principles of The Warrior’s Way®? * How do these foundational principles fit into the three-phases of risk-taking? * What is situational awareness and what situations do we need to be aware of? * What is the foundational thing we want students to learn in the Falling & Commitment clinic? * Why do our climbing partners say “You’ve got it?” and what are the possible negative consequences of saying that? * How does honesty impact mental training and appropriate risk-taking? * What kind of structure can you use to guide your partner to support you as you need to be supported? * How do I discipline myself to write regularly? Do I write when my spirit moves me or daily at 9am? * What first ascent am I most proud of? * Day Fire podcast likes to end the podcast with a story. I like pithy Zen stories so I shared one and tied it into what it means to have a warrior mindset.

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Are climbing and kayaking in any way alike? When you consider mental training and what it takes to attain a flow state performance, there’s no difference. Challenge is challenge; stress is stress; performance is performance…regardless of the medium. We need to get our minds into a flow mindset if we want to perform optimally in our chosen medium.

As many of you know, I’m working on a new book that introduces The Warrior’s Way® material to the general public. This means it’s applicable to any sport, discipline, or activity we engage in. I was excited to participate in the recent Flow Conference with other presenters, almost all of which were not climbers. During the conference, I participated in a panel discussion titled The Pillars of Thriving Through a High Performing Lifestyle. Nick Troutman, a professional kayaker and world class athlete, was another panelist. We all had a lively discussion sharing our perspectives on how to thrive while performing.

Nick interviewed me recently. One thing that’s cool about Nick is that he lives only an hour away from me. We’re both Tennesseans, enjoying the adventure sports offered by the miles of rock and river across the eastern part of the state.

Nick interviews many high performers to find “the secret sauce” of performance. Is there such a sauce? Probably. Check out some points from our discussion and see if you can discover it.

Points from our discussion: * A lot has changed in mental training in the last couple decades: + A blending of neuroscience and psychology + A blending of Eastern Buddhism and Western psychology + The value of having an eclectic approach to developing training programs * We went into the core tenets of The Warrior’s Way® and how they can impact flow: + Attention: Our mental training goal is: attention focused in the moment on the current task, which makes us more mentally powerful. + 2 basic ways of focusing attention: in the mind doing cognitive thinking; in the body via somatic experiencing. + Motivation: It is both important to be motivated by achievement (goals) and the process (learning); what’s critical is when we utilize each, which gets us into flow more easily. Before action utilize achievement motivation; during action utilize process motivation. + Process motivation is our primary motivation because it makes up the majority of our lives. We demonstrate we’re process motivated by doing the work for its own sake. + Incremental learning: since process motivation is primary, then we need to engage stressors incrementally so we’re willing to be present for them. It’s essential to have some stress in order to learn; yet, we also don’t learn if we take on too much stress. + Fight, flight, freeze seeks to escape stress that’s in the present moment. “Fighting” seeks to fight to get it over-with; “fleeing” seeks to escape it; “freezing” seeks to stop change from happening. + We want to enjoy our lives so we need to be willing to be in the midst of struggles, not to fight, flee, or try to freeze them into some artificial comfort zone. + Falling and failing help us understand the consequences of our decisions and accept responsibility for them. + You will digress when learning new things because you have to break down your old foundation. This drop in performance can be discouraging so it’s really important to be curious. Once it’s broken down and new skills are learned, then you can take your performance to the next level. + Coaching: we tend to coach others toward end results: “You’ve got it.” Athletes will lose focus so need to coach them in ways that refocus them on the task, not solve the problem for them.

Why is it called The Warrior’s Way®? * Traditional warriors have a job to protect their country. When there’s a stressor or threat, they move toward it. In a mental training context, it’s important to move toward the stressors in life as warriors do. It takes courage to do that. If we see stressors as opportunities, then it’s easier to be courageous. * Is The Warrior’s Way® violent? No, we don’t fight against those stressors, we fight with them. The climber and the rock need to come together to create a performance. The kayaker and the medium of the river need to come together to create a performance. Flow performance means that the whole is more than the sum of its parts.

Fire Round: * My favorite quote: Stoics say “amor fati”, which means a love of fate, or loving what is. This helps me remember to honor stressors as learning opportunities. * My favorite book currently: Peak Mind, by Amishi Jha * If today was my last day on earth, what 3 truths would I leave for the world? + Life is impermanent. It seems like life lasts forever, but it doesn’t. Make sure you invest your minutes on what is important to you. Today is important; pay attention to it. + You need to be grateful for blessings and struggles. + Trust how life unfolds. If you try to control life, you’ll just get frustrated. Have an internal locus of control and an external locus of trust. Be mentally flexible. Know where you’re going by setting goals and then trust how you’re getting there. * What is my definition of awesome? Being able to really appreciate the present moment. Being able to see it, experience it, and appreciate it.

Did you find the secret sauce?

Peak Mind: Find Your Focus, Own Your Attention, Invest 12 Minutes a Day

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Motivation is an extremely important topic for climbing and for life. It’s what drives everything you do, from what you think and decide about risk, as well as the actions that flow from those decisions.

Remember, our new online course is a great resource for falling practice. So check it out here. The landing page will give you a lot of information about what you can expect from it.

In our Falling & Commitment courses, we ask students to share their expectations for the course. Many express how they love climbing; it focuses them in the present moment. This occurs especially during the intense situation of facing a fall—and all their worries about life fall away. I think we’re drawn to risky sports, like climbing, because they can force our attention into the present moment. You feel most alive in the present, a flow state that’s hard to find in your usual day-to-day activities.

Forcing your attention into the present moment sounds great, but it’s a victim’s approach to life and climbing.

You’re using the seriousness of the situation to force you to pay attention. A better approach is being intentional. Intention is defined as: attention focused in the direction of a choice. You choose to focus your attention in the direction of the following qualities:

Valuing stress: Practicing falling will be stressful. By valuing stress, you pay attention to it. That’s critical for skill-building.
Allow yourself to be vulnerable: Vulnerability sounds weak, but it’s actually what’s necessary for learning. You lower your defenses and relax when you’re vulnerable. This state keeps you receptive to new information.
Establish boundaries: Vulnerability is great, but it can also kill you. Thus, establishing boundaries around what’s an appropriate level of risk is important. Gauge your level of experience with falling. This will give you an idea of approximately where your boundaries lie for practicing.
Intuitive decision-making: Knowing what’s an appropriate risk is not a cognitive, analytical task. You need to weigh the myriad aspects of the situation—your experience, the fall characteristics, etc—that can’t be parsed out in a pro/con list. By paying attention to the level of fear and resistance you feel about taking the fall, you tap into your intuitive body. Your body is, after all, that which embodies your practice and level of experience. Thus, you need to tap into it for guidance. A little fear and resistance to engaging the unknown is OK. A lot is not. Tune into your body to guide you.
Incremental engagement: Learning is converting stress into comfort through practice. You can’t make this conversion quickly or in big chunks. Therefore, identify and engage small increments of stress.

You may do everything right and still injure yourself. Climbing and falling are like that. But, you can mitigate this possibility by being skeptical of the information your mind is feeding you. Realize that to truly know something, you have to experience it. Thus, be skeptical when your mind ignores the intuitive information provided by the body. No matter what your mind tells you, redirect your attention to the qualities outlined above.

In the next lesson, we’ll dig into incremental skill-building. Warnings:* Risk: Nothing, not even instruction from a coach or this online course, can eliminate the risks associated with practicing falling. Accept responsibility for information you utilize for practicing. * Experiential knowledge: It’s important to realize that you know how to fall when you experience falling properly. This can only be gained from proper instruction. * Motivation: Your mind’s achievement motivation can get you into trouble, pushing you to take risks that aren’t appropriate. So, you need to be wary.

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You experience fear in many parts of your life. You may fear asking someone for a date when you’re an adolescent, or fear a job interview, or fear speaking in front of others. These are all psychological fears, which don’t injure you physically.

How do you relate to fear?

Falling while climbing is unique in that it combines both physiological and psychological fears. You can be injured physically, so you fear falling. You can also be injured mentally if you equate falling with failure. Or you could take a fall that leaves you psychologically traumatized.

When fear is out of control, your focus can turn to “getting rid” of the fear. Instead, see fear as an important guide for assessing risk in your climbing.

Remember, our new online course is a great resource for falling practice. So check it out here. The landing page will give you a lot of information about what you can expect from it.

Fear helps you surviveWe all experience fear. And why wouldn’t you? You have a comfort zone based on experiences you’ve had. Anything outside your comfort zones—your experiences—is unknown. Fear helps you survive. It holds you back from haphazardly engaging unknown situations outside your experience. So yes, fear is critical for your survival, and therefore you need to honor its guidance. It guides you toward taking appropriate steps into the unknown so you can maximize learning and minimize injury.

Fear holds you back from taking risks so you can survive. But mere survival doesn’t create a meaningful life.

Embrace fear to thriveUnless you find ways to engage fear, you’ll probably regret large portions of your life. You can’t conquer your fear in one large step. You need to take small steps, not only to diminish injury, but also to enjoy the whole process. Ask yourself, “Do I want to enjoy my climbing and life, or do I just want to get it over with?” I would assume you’d choose the former, so approach falling in the same way. Small steps will help you enjoy the process more.

It’s important to also realize that falling isn’t something you can decide not to do. Regardless of whether or not you like falling, it’s the most tangible consequence of your choice to climb. Falling is inevitable so instead of avoiding it, find ways to embrace it responsibly. Come to terms with what you want from climbing. Know the risks you’re willing to take and the ones you aren’t.

We all have different mental and physical makeups. You need to know the capacity you have for stretching yourself. If you stretch too far, then you can break. For example, I’m old now. My 60-plus-year-old bones aren’t as flexible as they were when I was 20. Therefore, they’re likely to break more easily now. I need to consider this fact when I decide what I want climbing to give me now, at this age.

Another consideration for younger climbers, who are less experienced, is their feeling of invincibility. Life hasn’t slapped them around very much yet, so they feel invincible. That mindset can help them achieve a lot, but it’ll eventually catch up with them. They’ll take a reckless fall, and possibly injure or scare themselves, thwarting their learning and enjoyment of climbing. If that’s you, then be wary of feeling invincible, because you’re not.

Choose and accept the consequencesFinally, after responsible engagement of falling practice, you may realize you don’t like the feeling of falling or the fear associated with it. Falling may not be your “cup of tea.” You may decide that what you want from your climbing is not to fall. This doesn’t mean you won’t fall.

However, it means you made a conscious choice to only lead routes well within your ability level. You learn how to retreat if necessary. You push yourself on top rope or follow another climber. There’s nothing wrong with that choice. You need to come to terms with what you want from climbing. And, accept responsibility for the consequences of that choice. The consequence is you won’t be able to lead routes above your current ability.

In the next lesson, we’ll dig into understanding your motivation. Warnings:

Risk: Nothing, not even instruction from a coach or this online course, can eliminate the risks associated with practicing falling. Accept responsibility for information you utilize for practicing.
Experiential knowledge: It’s important to realize that you know how to fall when you experience falling properly. This can only be gained from proper instruction.
Motivation: Your mind’s achievement motivation can get you into trouble, pushing you to take risks that aren’t appropriate. So, you need to be wary.

Suggestions:

Best option: Get a coach to help guide your practice. We have a network of Warrior’s Way trainers across the USA and abroad who are experts on teaching falling.
Next best option: Falling & Commitment Online Course.
Worst option: Practice yourself without these resources. If you do, then do it in small increments.

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Falling is a skill you can learn. Do you agree? If so, why? Or do you disagree, and feel more that when you fall you can’t do anything to influence the situation—and thus there’s nothing to practice? This is an important point to clarify. Your practice will not be effective until you decide that you have agency in the falling process.

Remember, our new online course is a great resource for falling practice. So check it out here. The landing page will give you a lot of information about what you can expect from it.

Falling is a skill to developWhen you practice falling, you’re practicing a physical skill, but you’re also addressing fear and how the mind uses attention, which are mental-training issues.

The mind thinks and then the body acts. Thus, you need to be very wary of how your mind thinks so you can engage your body well and fall skillfully, diminishing the chances of injury. It’s just like any other skill in climbing that needs to be practiced and learned.

For example, it makes sense to you to focus on regimented drills and the quality of effort when doing hang-board or campus-board training. For such physical drills, you approach them systematically, break them down into smaller parts, and pay attention to the quality of your efforts. You practice each part and then slowly build them back together into a unified whole. The focus while training has little to do with actual climbing. Instead, it’s to dig deeper into the skill, to its essential elements, in order to improve them and be ready to put them back together again into something that can then be applied in actual climbing situations.

Breaking down falling practiceThis is what you do with falling. You look for the constituent parts, including what you’re doing with your body, such as your breath, body posture, and eye focus. By knowing the specifics of what you do with each part, you can pay attention to and refine each part in order to unite them later into a streamlined whole—that is, falling skillfully.

Another important aspect of practicing falling is the belayer. Years ago, I was teaching two young girls from Canada at the Red River Gorge in Kentucky. They were both about 15 years old, and did great together, falling and catching each other’s falls. Then they went back home to Toronto, excited to continue their practice. However, one girl partnered with another climber, fell, and broke her ankle. Her belayer was heavier and didn’t give her the necessary amount of cushion to ease her impact into the wall. This accident happened because she focused only on what she was doing to fall well, and had failed to consider just how critical is the belayer’s role.

Practicing falling is a team effortClimbing is a team effort. Especially in falling practice, you practice as a team and learn together. Learning how to train your belayer is critically important for keeping you safe during falling practice and during climbing itself. You’ll be climbing with a number of partners, and it’ll be important to train each one of them before trusting that they know what they’re doing. Don’t feel guilty if you don’t trust them. They hold your life in their hands. Test them and train them, then trust them.

In the next lesson, I’ll dig into understanding your fear.

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Falling is as integral to climbing as climbing itself. At the same time, it creates fear that you must address correctly—and you must learn proper falling technique in order to fall safely. I’ve laid out a series of seven lessons to address falling. So, let’s get engaged and explore this fascinating topic.

7 lessons for falling practice series

Introduction and history
Falling is a skill
Understand your fear
Know your motivation
Incremental skill-building
Skills and drills
Conclusion and ongoing practice

I’ll touch on each topic to help give you an intellectual understanding of the material. However, to really understand it, you’ll need more visual guidance and practice. Practice will need to be guided carefully, as in our new online course, which is flush with videos, text, drill debriefs, typical student questions (and our answers), and more.

This series is intended to help guide you to the realization that addressing falling, and your fears around it, is necessary and to also point you in the direction of the online course to inform your practice. The course is a small investment. A simple sprained ankle from uninformed falling practice can cost much more. So yes, this series is an effort to get you to buy the course. But, it’s also to guide your decision-making toward purchasing it. Let’s get into some falling history.

The Matterhorn DisasterIn 1865, the Taugwalder climbing guides—a father and two sons from Zermatt, Switzerland— along with the English aristocrat Edward Whymper and four others made the first ascent of the Matterhorn. Ropes at the time were made of hemp, stretched very little, and were prone to breaking. It wasn’t wise to fall on them—they were used primarily to short-rope or secure climbers over dangerous terrain, for snow and glacier travel, or to fix lines to help climbers pass difficult sections. There was also little or no lead protection. Occasional steel hooks were driven into the rock and the rope was “laid” into them.

On the descent, after summiting the Matterhorn, the climbers were all tied together on a single rope, spaced out along its length. While passing above the north face, one person in the lead slipped, dragging the others along. The guides and Whymper were in the rear; they grabbed onto the rock and braced themselves, to prevent being pulled off. Then, as the rope came taut, it broke between Whymper/the Taugwalders and the other four members of their party, who slid to their deaths.

Evolution of belayingThe sport of climbing and rope technology have changed a lot since 1865. Now ropes are much stronger and stretch to absorb fall forces, and falling is an accepted necessity for improving.

There were many stages between these two extremes. Perhaps one of the most important inventions was the concept of the body belay, part of a host of rope techniques that the climber Robert Underhill imported from the Alps in the 1920s and 1930s. Underhill also penned “On the Use and Management of the Rope in Rock Work,” for the 1931 edition of the Sierra Club Bulletin, helping spread these concepts to the masses.

In the 1946 Bulletin, Arnold Wexler and Dick Leonard introduced the concept of the dynamic belay—letting extra slack slip through the system to cushion a fall—in their article “Belaying the Leader,” based on their own research and testing on the small outcroppings around Berkeley, California.

Harnesses, too, improved over time. I remember simply tying the rope around my waist when I first started climbing, in 1973. Later, I fashioned my first harness from webbing, tying waist and leg loops. My first commercial harness was a Whillans Harness. It certainly was an improvement over my homemade harness, but was very uncomfortable when falling because the loose leg loops came tight in the crotch area quickly. Harnesses gradually improved until they provided security and comfort when you’re hanging or falling.

Modern ropes can sustain falling practiceMeanwhile, hemp ropes were replaced with nylon, yet were still woven in the same spiral manner. One of my first ropes was a Goldline, and had the spiral weave. Then came the “modern,” kernmantle rope, which has individual woven strands creating a core enclosed in a protective sheath. Kernmantle ropes are much stretchier, making for softer falls.

There was also an evolution in climbing ethics. The old ethic of “the leader never falls” shifted to accommodate viewing falling as an integral part of climbing. Instead of climbing being seen as a serious, no-fall proposition in the mountains, it now included many disciplines—like trad, sport, bouldering, gym, etc.—in which falling was not only expected but even embraced, with slogans like “If you’re not flying, you’re not trying” epitomizing the new mindset.

So there you go. An introduction and a bit of history for falling practice. In the next lesson, we’ll dig into how to view falling as a skill.

Warnings:* Risk: Nothing, not even instruction from a coach or this online course, can eliminate the risks associated with practicing falling. Accept responsibility for any information you utilize for practicing. * Experiential knowledge: It’s important to realize that you know how to fall when you experience falling properly. This can only be gained from proper instruction. * Motivation: Your mind’s achievement motivation can get you into trouble, pushing you to take risks that aren’t appropriate. So, you need to be wary.

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I’ve been talking about pain points our students experience over the last 9 lessons. Here I want to expand our focus. Are these pain points caused by how you’re motivated? The short answer is yes.

Motivation is central to your climbing training program. It impacts how you do mental strength training for climbing. If you don’t understand it, then you won’t be able to maximize both your physical and mental strengths.

Explore motivation in greater depth in our new online course. It’s a great resource for understanding motivation and other topics we cover. Motivation theoriesThere are a lot of motivation theories out there. There are theories about the value of achievement motivation. You’re likely to stay motivated if you’re focused on what you want to achieve. Likewise, there are theories about learning-based motivation. You’re likely to stay motivated if you learn, make progress, and grow.

There are theories about intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation. The former motivates you from within. You have a desire to do something that inspires you. The latter motivates you by things external to you. That big mountain inspires you because you love challenges.

Either/or motivationThese theories of motivation set you up for choosing between them. You either value achievement or learning. You value intrinsic motivation or extrinsic motivation.

Either/or motivation creates a lot of pain. If you choose achievements, then you have to devalue learning to some degree. Likewise if you choose learning, then you have to devalue achieving goals to some degree.

And then there’s confusion even when you choose one of these motivations. You may prefer achievement motivation. Then you realize you need to focus on learning some also. Or vice versa. This confusion distracts your attention. This confusion causes you pain.

Only being achievement motivated distracts you from the present. This causes pain because you’re not focused on the task you’re doing. It impacts your ability to focus on the present moment. Only being learning-based motivated leaves you directionless. This causes pain because you don’t apply your learning toward meaningful goals.

The Warrior’s Way® theory on motivationMy goal from the beginning was to align this training with how the world works. So look around you. What do you notice? Does the world work in an either/or way? Well, yes and no. Consider that it’s either night or day. So you could say that the world works this way.

But, you begin to sense that something is missing. Both night and day exist. They are both part of how the world works. So what’s going on here? You need to include both/and with either/or.

But there’s still something missing. Dusk doesn’t occur precisely at 6PM. Dawn doesn’t happen precisely at 6AM. It’s a gradual transition from light to darkness and vice versa. You need to dig deeper into how the world works.

BreathingBreathing is the most beautiful metaphor for understanding life. The breath cycle tells us a lot about how the world works.

First, it’s a both/and reality. You both inhale and exhale. You can’t have one without the other. So you accept both.

Second, it’s also an either/or reality. You either inhale or exhale. You must completely commit to one or the other to do each well. If you’re split between the two, then you won’t do either one of them well.

Third, breathing is a dynamic process. It’s like light transitioning into darkness and vice versa. Inhaling transitions into exhaling. Exhaling transitions into inhaling. It’s dynamic because the more you inhale the more it becomes inevitable that you must exhale. That’s the dynamics of it.

So we have 3 aspects of reality here. You consider all aspects when looking at motivation.

The 3 aspects of motivationFirst, both/and. You’re both achievement and learning motivated. You value both achieving meaningful goals. And you value the learning that occurs as you work toward those goals.

Second, either/or. You either commit to achievement motivation or learning motivation. These motivations have different effects on your attention. Achievement motivation shifts your attention into the future. It focuses you on inspiring goals that provide you with meaning. Learning motivation shifts your attention to the present moment. It focuses you on the task at hand. It helps you see value in the work you do…for its own sake.

Does this either/or motivation mean you have to choose between them? Well, again, yes and no. Yes, you choose between them so you can commit fully to one or the other. And no, you don’t choose between them at the same time. When you choose to focus on each motivation occurs at different times.

Achievement motivation occurs before action. Learning motivation occurs during action. What’s important here is knowing when to use each motivation. Doing that lets you maximize each one. It helps you stabilize your motivation.

Third, it’s dynamic. You cycle between these two motivations. You will naturally feel more achievement motivated at certain times. Then, you’ll naturally feel more motivated by learning. Life is dynamic and so is your motivation. You don’t fight against this to stay motivated. You pay attention to the level and type of motivation you have. Your motivation will wax and wane naturally. Don’t force yourself to stay motivated. Rather, be receptive. Notice when you need to shift into something different.

Trusting how life unfoldsLife is in a constant state of change. It moves. It’s dynamic. You need to align with it. You need to move with it. You understand these 3 aspects of motivation. You trust how your motivation waxes and wanes.

Do this by trusting how life unfolds. Do it by trusting how your motivation fluctuates. Do this by being curious about what grabs your interest and attention. Curiosity directs your attention forward, toward how life is unfolding. It directs your focus into alignment with life. Life moves and you move with it. Accepting how life naturally flows and unfolds lets you ride the waves of change with more peace.

Pain is mandatory; suffering is optionalExpand your understanding of the pain points we’ve been exploring. Buddhism teaches that pain is mandatory, but suffering is optional. Life will be full of pain. Suffering occurs when you choose to resist pain. You’ll diminish your suffering by understanding your motivation. Then you’ll deal with the natural pain of life and have more peace and joy in it.

Understand your motivation better in our new online course. It’s a great resource for understanding motivation and other topics we cover.

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The most challenging moment for climbing coaches is when their athletes are shut down, unwilling, or unable to engage in an activity the coach thought was appropriate.

The youth athlete that boulders V9 and has only redpointed 5.11c.

The thought going through the coach’s mind is: “How can 5.11 be a problem when they’re so strong?” But it is a problem for the athlete – a mental challenge, not a physical one. So how can coaches solve that problem and re-engage the athlete?

Climbing, both as a sport and industry, is maturing. All aspects of training need to be addressed to develop athletes so they can give their ‘all’ in competitions. The physical and technical aspects of training have been robustly developed.

The lacking ingredient is often mental training. This missing ingredient determines the outcomes of all other training. You can’t apply physical and technique training if you’re afraid or if your mind is telling you that you’re not strong enough. So, there’s the problem: mental training is missing……..

You can read more about Mental Training For Your Climbing Athletes on the Climbing Wall Association’s Website. Also Consider singing up for the Pre-conference clinic.

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Don’t you hate it when you can’t pull your weight as a climbing partner? You want to be an equal team member. But how do you deal with being less skilled than your partner?

This is a recurring theme our students are curious about. It’s a painful issue for them because they want to be an equal contributor to the success of the partnership.

Knowing how to build a supportive partnership is important. It’s part of your climbing mental training program. It’s important to pull your weight. It’s also important not to overextend yourself. You need to find a balance between these two. Let’s dig into this to find a way to navigate it.

Dig into issues like this in more depth in our new Falling & Commitment Online Course.

Belaying climbing partnerA simple example is when there’s a big weight difference between the climber and the belayer. In other words, the belayer ends up being a lot heavier or lighter than the climber.

A heavy belayer struggles giving the proper dynamic belay. A light belayer struggles with being pulled up too much. Solve these two situations with a little skill development.

If the weight difference is too great it can be impossible for a heavy belayer to give a proper dynamic belay. This can create an inappropriate partnership.

You’re not an equal partnerLet’s back up a step. The goal here isn’t to be an equal partner. Your skill sets are different. So what you’re seeking is how to be a better climbing partner.

The first thing to do is accept that your skill sets aren’t equal. Second, outline the skill sets for each person. That knowledge gives you the foundation for creating the partnership.

Accept: you accept that your skill sets are not equal.
Outline: you outline the skill sets of each partner. This includes any skills for the kind of situation you intend to engage in.

Overextending yourselfWhat you don’t want to do is overextend yourself. Sure, this can happen sometimes. You might be halfway up a 1000-foot wall and your partner is injured. This challenges you to step up and do your best to get down successfully.

Beyond this type of situation, accept the boundaries around your own skill set. Your boundaries define what is an appropriate risk for you. Knowing your boundaries helps you exert effort without overextending yourself.

Inappropriate partnerships

Earlier I mentioned that you can find yourself overextended. You need to anticipate this. Think of all the consequences that can happen. Then think of your skills to deal with those consequences.

In other words, you don’t want to rely too much on your partner’s skills. For example, your partner is very skilled at multi-pitch climbing. You don’t have any multi-pitch skill. Getting on a 1000-foot wall wouldn’t be the best first step. You don’t have any skills in case your partner can’t guide the retreat process.

There’s an emphasis in outdoor climbing that you should be able to self-rescue. If you intend to do multi-pitch climbing, then learn self-rescue skills. Apply this logic to all aspects of risks you intend to engage in. Learning these skills is an important part of being a better climbing partner.

Stay focused on applying your own skill setSo far you’ve accepted and outlined your skill sets. Now, the final step is applying your own skill set. Remember, your focus is not to create an equal partnership. It’s to create a better one. In other words, you shouldn’t be an equal partner based on the skill set of the stronger climber. You should be an equal partner by how you exert effort.

Each of you can get out of your comfort zone equally. The point is, both of you are doing your best to apply the skill set you have for the success of the partnership.

As you probably know, it’s important to focus on what you can control. You know your skill set and your boundaries. Focus on that to exert the best effort you can to be a better climbing partner.

ConclusionThe steps to creating a better climbing partnership are:

Accept that your skill sets are not equal.
Outline the skill sets of each partner.
Apply yourself by getting out of your comfort zone and exerting your best effort.

These 3 steps help you build a supportive partnership. It’s an important part of your climbing mental training program. Feel confident in the skill set you have. Contribute to the partnership from that foundation. Applying these 3 steps eliminates the pain of not feeling like an equal partner.

These mental training concepts are so important. They help you perform well and enjoy climbing. Dig into them in more depth in our new Falling & Commitment Online Course. Explore these concepts at your own pace. You’ll find more purpose and meaning by doing so.

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One of the most painful things you can experience is performance anxiety. This can occur when you’re competing, climbing with a friend, or even bouldering by yourself. You’re anxious and aren’t motivated to climb.

Why would you feel this way when you love climbing? It’s because you’re afraid of losing something. As you dig deeper into this feeling, you find that it’s actually an existential crisis in a way. You fear that your identity is at stake. You fear that how you understand yourself will die.

This fear is accurate. Your identity will die. Your identity shifts as you go through experiences. That’s not a bad thing. It’s actually helpful. It’s part of your climbing training program to build mental strength. It helps you understand yourself in more authentic ways. But, you need to know now to navigate it.

You can investigate this further in two ways. First by taking a clinic with our trainers. Second, with our new Falling & Commitment Online Course.

What is performance anxiety? Performance anxiety is defined as: the real or imagined anxiety or fear you experience when you have to perform in front of others. I got this definition off the internet. What strikes me is the “real or imagined” aspects of this. To me, there is no such thing as “imagined anxiety or fear.” These are real emotions you feel.

A better definition would acknowledge that the anxiety or fear you feel is real. And, you need to expand this a bit. You don’t only experience performance anxiety in front of others. You can also experience it by “performing in front of yourself.” For example, you don’t give your best effort on a boulder problem because you don’t like the feeling of failing.

Performance anxiety has an existential element to it. You’re anxious and fearful because you fear you may die if the performance doesn’t go well. It’s not that you will literally die. It’s your identity. Your identity tends to be tied to achievements. It changes when you don’t achieve your goals. How you understood yourself died.

Is performance anxiety common? Yes. Why? Because we all tend to understand ourselves based on our achievements (or lack thereof). We feel good about ourselves when we succeed. We feel bad about ourselves when we fail.

This tendency comes from comparing yourself to others. Two things tend to happen when you do this comparison. First, you feel like a failure because so many other climbers perform better than you. Second, even when you’re the best, you’re afraid of not being the best. You’re anxious about performing poorly. Or, you’re anxious about not performing well.

How long does performance anxiety last? Great question. The short answer is: it lasts a lifetime…if you don’t reframe how you understand it. It lasts as long as you’re afraid about how you’ll perform. More specifically, it lasts until you shift your focus.

Performance anxiety persists if you focus on goals. You can’t control goal achievement. Performance anxiety lasts as long as you focus on what you can’t control.

Performance anxiety symptomsHow do you know if you’re experiencing performance anxiety? Here are some specific things to notice:

Your heart rate is racing
Your breathing is elevated
Your mouth is dry and/or your throat is tight
You’re trembling physically, including your voice
Your hands are sweaty or they’re cold
You feel nauseous
Your vision contracts

What’s so cool about this is your body feeds you information about an upcoming stressor. It’s not comfortable to experience these feelings. But, it’s helpful that you can tune into your body to understand what’s happening. And, you can do specific things with your body to process those feelings. You can “treat” the symptoms by using the body itself.

Performance anxiety treatmentPointing all this out doesn’t do much to alleviate performance anxiety. It increases your awareness, but now you need to treat it. Here are some practices you can do to work through performance anxiety:

Practice: Separate identity (self worth) from outcomes
- You set yourself up as a victim when you tie your identity to outcomes. Why? Because how you feel about yourself depends on those outcomes. In other words, how you feel about yourself is dependent on external events you can’t control.
- You separate your identity from outcomes by being more objective. Do this by asking 2 questions: First, “What did I do well?” Second, “What do I still need to learn?”
Practice: Focus on what you can control
- Focusing on outcomes creates an external locus of control. You can’t control anything external to yourself.
- Instead, create an internal locus of control. Do this by being curious about the situation you’re engaged in. Focus on the effort you’ll exert.
Practice: BEB (breathing/eyes/body) Rule
- Engage your senses. Hear your breathing. Focus your eyes on what’s around you. Feel your body as you straighten your posture.
- The BEB Rule shifts your attention. Instead of thinking about the performance, you’re focusing on the present moment. That shifts your focus from what you imagine will occur to the reality of what is occurring.

Performance anxiety solutionsThese practices are definitely helpful. They can make you feel worthwhile. But what if you could shift your perspective? What if your self-worth was a non-issue? The ultimate solution to performance anxiety is making self-worth a non-issue. Then you’re not afraid of losing anything. You’re not in an existential crisis.

Here is a progression for shifting your perspective to solve performance anxiety:

First, either/or: This is how you begin understanding your identity. It creates performance anxiety. You either feel good or bad–either worthwhile or worthless–based on your performance. Here your attention is stuck.
Second, both/and: This is the first step to break anxiety’s hold on you. You feel both good and bad about yourself. You feel both worthwhile and worthless. But, you feel these states with awareness. Understanding the both/and nature of how you feel helps you accept them. Acceptance is an important starting point for moving beyond these feelings. It’s the beginning of freeing your attention.
Third, neither/nor: Here you break the tie that connects your identity with outcomes. You make self worth a non-issue. You perceive your identity as neither good nor bad. You understand that you’re neither worthwhile nor worthless. This perspective allows you to be an objective observer. You’re not worried about your identity anymore. You’re curious about your effort. This frees your attention to perform your best.

Summary

Going through this process untangles your self-worth from outcomes. It diminishes or eliminates the pain of performance anxiety. Don’t be in an existential crisis. Make self-worth a non-issue.

You’ll be pain free when you compete, climb with your partner, or even when bouldering by yourself. Your motivation will stabilize. You’ll want to climb because you love it again.

To make this stick requires you to dig deeper into this topic. You can do that by connecting with our trainer network to take a clinic. Or dig into it with our new Falling & Commitment Online Course.

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One of the most painful things in life is when you have a problem you aren’t aware of. The problem limits you, but you don’t even know it exists. Does that sound impossible? It’s not. You are too close to your own experience to be aware of much of what limits you. Thus, finding ways of becoming more self aware is important. You can do this in two ways: coaching from an expert and self awareness practices.

You can get coaching from an expert. Coaches can see what’s going on from a dispassionate perspective. They’re more objective and can share their observations with you. Coaches help you develop awareness in this way. (Connect with our global trainer team)

Our topic today is self awareness. We’ll investigate this in two ways. First, through coaching others. Second, through awareness practices. (our new Online Course supports you in this)

Self coaching – part of your climbing training programWe talked about developing a climbing training program in previous lessons. Knowing how to coach is central to such a program. Motivation influences your coaching. I’ve emphasized how end-result motivation distracts you from the current task. Process motivation guides effective coaching. So learn how to coach along processes.

Coaching othersLet’s take an easy example for coaching others: falling practice. Here are 5 things you can do to coach falling:

Coach with questions instead of statements. Rather than saying, “You didn’t look down.” Ask, “What did you see on that last fall?” The latter causes them to recall their own memory about the fall.
Use observations, not judgements. Rather than saying, “Your breathing was bad.” Say, “You held your breath, your body was tense, and then you exhaled when you impacted the wall.” The latter is more descriptive.
Give short, specific, and targeted feedback. Save discussions for when they’re back on the ground. Using language, even a few words, engages their thinking. Keeping the coaching short, specific, and targeted minimizes the distracting nature of thinking. Then, when they’re back on the ground, you can have deeper discussions about it.
Encourage them to engage practice in small increments. This will keep them more attentive to their practice and receptive to your coaching. It’ll also reveal more subtle adjustments you can coach them on.
Get the other person involved so they can begin developing self awareness. Ask them what they need for coaching. They may know that they hold their breath. Together, you can identify a cue that alerts you when to coach. That cue might be when you can’t hear their breath. Or, when you see them stall out and tense up.

To summarize coaching others:

Ask questions
Use descriptive observations
Give short, specific, and targeted feedback
Engage them in small increments
Get them involved in the coaching process

Self coaching – body awarenessSkill development, like falling practice, engages the body. You process the stress that’s introduced through the body. You do this with BEB (breathing, eyes, and body). Becoming more aware of how well you’re doing BEB develops body awareness.

You can begin body awareness practices with ground-based drills. Breathe audibly so you can hear that you’re breathing and not holding your breath. Soften your gaze so you see the whole field-of-view. Expand your body posture and relax unnecessary tensions.

Now walk around slowly using your BEB in this way. Hear your breath, soften your gaze, expand your body while stepping slowly. Feel all aspects of your body as you move. Notice how well you can keep attention on the BEB elements.

Now translate this to climbing. Climb a moderate route with this same body awareness. Move slowly so you can pay attention to the quality of the BEB elements. This is self coaching for how you engage your body with quality.

Self coaching – intentional thinkingBecoming more self aware isn’t only about the body. You need to observe what’s going on in your mind also. You self coach by observing your thinking. Are you lost in thought or thinking intentionally?

Being lost in thought is common. You become habituated to thinking the same thoughts over time. Break your habitual thinking by creating intentional thinking. Give the mind a specific task to think about.

Intentional thinking focuses on three things. You focus on the goal, the consequences of the risk, and your plan to achieve the goal. Doing this directs your attention. It guides your mind toward what you need for climbing.

Self coaching – applicationLet’s put self coaching together now. First you acknowledge that it’s a cycle between intentional thinking and body awareness. This is an important part of the basic stop/move structure we teach. So, commit to intentional thinking when you stop or body awareness as you move.

Clarifying your intention is important. In application, your intention is to focus on body awareness as you climb. You focus on continuous breathing, keeping eye contact on holds, and continuous movement. Keep the appropriate amount of body tension as you climb.

Let’s apply this to a boulder problem. Before beginning, apply intentional thinking. Identify the goal, the top of the problem. Evaluate the fall consequences at various places on the problem. Think about your plan, the beta and sequences. Then, be clear about the intention: to focus on body awareness as you move.

Now focus on body awareness before beginning to climb. Tune in to your breathing. Close your eyes, or keep them open with a soft gaze. Expand your body posture and relax any unnecessary tensions. Breathe for a few moments. Remind yourself of the intention. Then, open your eyes, step on the boulder, and continue your focus on body awareness.

SummaryYou can’t be aware of a problem if you’re not aware of it. Sounds circular, but it’s true. Thus, being able to develop self awareness makes you aware of problems you need to solve. You can get coaching from mental training experts like our trainer team. That’s helpful. Reach out to them as needed.

And, there’s no substitute for self coaching. You can do this throughout your day. That creates pain in a way. It’s painful knowing you have a problem. But having a problem, and not knowing about it, is even more painful. The former gives you awareness and options for improving.

I share this self coaching topic with you because it’s so critical in mental training. That’s also why we included it in our new Falling & Commitment Online Course. You have access to a forum when you buy this course. There you can interact with other students, with me, and our trainers. That combines self coaching with coaching from experts. Join our community so we can all support each other on our learning journeys.

Enroll here: Falling & Commitment Online Course

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We’ve been investigating the pain points in mental training for climbing. You may think you should avoid pain. Pain is inevitable and even necessary for learning. The question is: what tools can you use to process that pain rather than avoid it?

Something that’s particularly painful is lacking confidence. You feel like you’re giving half-hearted efforts, which feels dissatisfying. You want to give 100%. But how?

Is climbing a sport?

There’s a bunch of buzz about whether climbing is a sport. So let’s answer that here. Yes, it is. Knowing that climbing is a sport means something. It means that you need to approach it as athletes approach other sports. So what does that look like?

Being confident in any sport requires a strength training program. Here, we need a strength training program for climbing. Such a program should give us a simple, specific structure for building strength.

Strength training for climbing

We’re talking about mental training here. So we need a mental strength training program. More specifically, we need a climbing training program that emphasizes mental strength. So let’s build such a program. Let’s see how it can help us develop confidence for lead climbing.

Confidence comes from believing in your ability to act with power. Power increases (or decreases) based on how you choose to focus your attention. You can choose to focus on what you want to achieve. Or, you can choose to focus on the present moment. The former will distract you and diminish your power. The latter empowers you and moves you up the rock.

Confidence increases as your belief in your abilities increases. You need to develop your abilities; your beliefs will follow. Build a foundation of stress resilience. Stress isn’t bad. It’s needed to sculpt your mind. But how can you use stress in positive ways toward these ends?

What makes up a climbing training program for mental strength?

Lead climbing confidence comes from building resilience. You can get some insight by examining what distracts attention. Distracted attention occurs in two directions. Down and up.

What’s so cool about climbing is the reality of gravity. You climb against gravity. On lead, risk increases as you climb to the next protection point. Make mistakes or run out of energy and gravity will pull you down. That’s called falling. So, you need to practice falling.

But mental training isn’t just about falling. You also experience fears of exerting effort. Exerting 100% effort can feel painful. It pushes you into stress. The flood of blood into your muscles creates a pump that can actually be painful. Get more pumped and your commitment can diminish.

Diminish fear and strengthen commitment

So the basic mental strength training program for climbing includes falling and commitment. That’s why we use the same terms in our training. The Falling & Commitment training we teach is our strength training program for climbing. It builds mental strength. Fortunately, now, it’s available as an Online Course. That puts this valuable training at your fingertips…exactly when you need it.

As outlined above, power comes from increased attention in the moment. We teach you to focus on 5 processes that occur while climbing. Doing this keeps your attention in the moment where mental power can build.

So…let’s summarize

Is climbing a sport? Yes.
How do you do mental strength training for climbing? You build mental power.
What makes up a climbing training program for mental strength? Developing your abilities in the down and up directions.
How do you diminish fear and strengthen commitment? Learn the 5 processes that keep your attention in the moment. These develop your abilities in the down and up directions. That heightens your belief in your abilities, which builds confidence.

Simple.

And of course, simple doesn’t mean easy. But wouldn’t it be empowering to have a resource that guides you? Of course it would.

But check it out yourself.

Look at the survey results from graduates of this training.
Read about student experiences taking the training.
See the 6 specific things you can expect to learn by taking this course.

Lead climbing confidence won’t be a mystery anymore. You now have a simple concrete plan. You have a resource. That resource won’t remove the pain of climbing on lead. But, it will process you through that pain. You won’t commit half-heartedly anymore. You’ll commit more completely and love the feeling that gives you.

The Falling & Commitment Online Course

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Can you trust yourself when you’re engaged in difficult climbing? Or, do you doubt yourself and try to escape it? Doubt and escaping aren’t conducive to enjoying your climbing or performing well. They’re painful. So let’s explore how you can develop this trust, diminish the pain of doubt, and enjoy your climbing.

Photo by Ben Kitching on UnsplashA foundation you can count onTrust needs to be grounded on a foundation you can count on. For example, you can trust that you can stand up because you know the ground is solid beneath your feet. What’s that foundation look like in climbing?

It has to do with your skill level. Specifically, your skill level for dealing with the difficulties you’ll encounter. We’re discussing this from a mental training perspective. So, you need to look at your skill level for dealing with stress.

It’s not just about having skills for dealing with stress though. That’s a helpful starting point. But we’re more interested here in the mindset for dealing with stress. You need a mindset that trusts the process. Your confidence will wax and wane based on how grounded you are in this mindset.

Trusting how stressful situations unfoldDifficult climbing occurs moment by moment. It’s a process that unfolds, with new stressors revealing themselves in those moments. The mindset trusts how these stressors reveal themselves. You trust how they unfold.

A trusting mindset is one that is adaptable, flexible, and agile. It balances being patient with being persistent. You’re patient by allowing the situation to reveal what you need to learn. You’re persistent by keeping your focus on moving forward as you progress toward your goal.

How do situations reveal themselves? Through unexpected stressors. You need to recognize when the unexpected happens. We all expect difficult climbing to be stressful. We all know that. It’s recognizing this in the moment when it happens that’s important. You recognize the conflict–the stress–between what you expected and reality. You expected the hold to be bigger, but the reality is it’s smaller. You know this the moment it happens.

Your mind creates expectations as you climb to perform your best. That’s natural and needed. But, as we know, things will unfold differently. It’s your ability to be aware of this occurring that’s important. It’s like recognizing the thought that pops up in your mind that says: “Oh, I expected the hold to be bigger, but it’s not.” That’s the awareness you need to be in the moment.

Tools for trusting yourself: intention and curiosityThe best tools for trusting yourself are intentionality and curiosity. You’re intentional by directing your attention to being curious about unexpected events.

What happens when something unexpected happens? You either react or respond. You react by pulling back from the situation. You shift your focus from what reality is to what you expected. You try to change it to what you expected. That won’t work for grabbing that unexpected small hold.

You respond by moving toward the situation. You shift your focus from what you expected to what you’ve discovered. Reacting is reflexive. You’re annoyed by the small hold. Responding is intentional. You’re curious about the small hold. Big difference!

Surviving to thrivingDoubting yourself is painful when you’re engaged in difficult climbing. You still can struggle and survive, but it’s painful. You just want to get it over with. Trusting yourself helps you flow with what’s unfolding as you climb. Applying the tools of intention and curiosity help you thrive. Curiosity helps you trust yourself so you can diminish the pain and find joy again.

Learn how to thrive and trust yourself in our new Falling & Commitment Online Course. Check it out to find:

Video explaining the course
Breakthroughs you can expect
Testimonials from students
Survey results from students to show how you can improve
Course highlights
Frequently asked questions
Money back guarantee

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You’ve gotten some falling practice and trained your belayer to give you a dynamic belay. So why are you still having trouble staying focused? Here we come up against another typical pain point for climbers. What can you do to diminish the pain?

Fear of fallingYes, you still fear falling because you haven’t practiced enough. We recommend integrating falling into your climbing. One easy way to do this is to do some falls on your warm-up climbs.

But this isn’t enough. Mental training isn’t just about doing stuff. At its foundation, it’s about changing your mind. And your motivation. What mindset are you going into your falling practice with? What motivation is driving you in that direction? A mindset and motivation to avoid stress, and get it over with, won’t last. Therefore, fear of falling persists.

Mindset and motivation shiftTrain your mind to think differently. Change the type of motivation that drives you. I’ve shared with you that achievement motivation is important before you take action. That kind of motivation during action is distracting. It creates a mindset that shifts your attention to a future time when the stress is over.

The mindset you need when engaged in stress is learning-based. You want to be in the middle of the stressful falling practice. If you do it as I’ve outlined before–small increments–then you’ll be able to sustain this mindset. So, do the falling practice for its own sake, not because it’s “good” for you.

Achievement motivation will distract you so shift to learning-based motivation. That will shift your focus to learning from the activity. Achievement motivation sees falling as a problem you’re afraid to engage in. Learning-based motivation sees falling as an opportunity to learn.

Risk management skillsFalling practice does you a lot of “good” even though you don’t do it because it’s “good” for you. It gives you experience with the consequences of risks you choose to take. That experience is the first step in understanding risk management.

The next step is knowing how to define risks so you can make sure you’re taking appropriate ones. Here we see a clear distinction between intellectual and experiential assessment of risks. We define yes-fall risks–ones you can say “yes” to–as falls you have experience with.

By defining risks in this way, you engage them in a measured way. Measured, meaning you take on a little bit of unknown at a time. That diminishes distractions once you’re engaged and committed to action.

Internal locus of controlYou’ve gotten falling practice. You’ve shifted your mindset and motivation. You define yes-fall risks based on your falling experience. And still you’re distracted. Are you focusing on what you can’t control?

You need to develop an internal locus of control. What that does is focus your attention on what you actually can control. Doing that calms you and helps you stay focused. But how do you create that?

One really cool aspect of The Warrior’s Way® training is its simplicity. We teach you a simple structure for staying focused. Part of that structure includes processes for focusing your attention. There’s a process for focusing your attention while moving through stressful climbing.

You focus on what you can control. Focus on breathing, staying as relaxed as you can, and maintaining your momentum. These are elements within your control. You can monitor, reinforce, and redirect your focus to the task of climbing.

Staying focusedKeeping your attention on task is what staying focused means. And now I’ve introduced the tools to you. They include falling practice, mindset/motivation shifts, risk clarity, and focusing on process.

Your journey toward staying focused will unfold over time. You might see a significant jump immediately after applying these tools. Generally, though, it’s a longer process. Your focus develops over time. So be patient with yourself and your practice.

Resources can also support and speed your progress. That’s where our Falling & Commitment Online Course comes in. Staying focused has to do with the “commitment” part of this course. You can see now that commitment can’t be separated from the “falling” part. That’s why this course is comprehensive. It addresses all aspects of climbing performance. You see their interrelationships as you practice them all.

Being distracted is painful because it moves you away from your goal. It also kinda sucks to climb in that distracted state. So enjoy your practice of redirecting your attention to staying focused.

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You may think that fear only occurs for climbers when they’re facing lead falls. Not so. Have you ever been afraid of belaying? Many climbers have. I’ve had many students take our clinics because they have fears about belaying. It’s a pain point for them that they want guidance on.

Imagine you’re belaying your partner on lead. He’s runout, close to the next bolt, pumped, and trying to clip it. You’ve seen it all before and fear floods your system. He’s got the Elvis legs going on, left arm is halfway contracted over-gripping the hold. He pulls the rope, but drops it again. He’s doubting himself because he doesn’t think he can clip without falling. This “pull slack, drop slack” happens several times as you feed it out and pull it back in.

Should you pull in all the slack or wait until he pulls it again? You’re trying to keep up with his erratic pull/drop behavior, but finding it hard to do so. You’re afraid because you don’t know exactly how to best respond to this situation. Being fearful makes it harder to do your job as a competent belay partner.

Is belaying dangerous? Yes! And it is a very important job. You literally hold the climber’s life in your hands. I’m sure you want to pay attention to your climber. Don’t become distracted by talking to other people.

Belaying accidents happen all the time. You might give a hard catch to your climber, which creates a severe pendulum swing into the rock. You may miscommunicate about how the climber will get back down to the ground. They think you’ll lower them; you think they’ll rap off. It’s enough to make you paranoid about safety.

Paranoia won’t help you be safe. You need to focus on the task of belaying so your climber can trust you. But how do you do that?

Belaying techniquesYou’ll need to develop your experience as a belayer. You have resources like our new Falling & Commitment Online Course. This course goes into how to fall and how to commit to climbing. But it also goes into belaying. Belaying is also a critical part of that whole process. It’s a team effort when you climb with ropes. Our course addresses this so you can diminish fears associated with belaying.

Learn the basic techniques of belaying first. We don’t teach these in the course. Once you’ve learned them you can take it. Taking the course isn’t restricted to lead climbers though. You can do all the drills on toprope. The Dynamic Belaying module includes these lessons: introduction, equipment selection, setup, techniques, belaying scenarios, and debrief.

That said, climbing becomes so much more fun when you can lead. That requires also knowing how to lead belay. Lead belaying opens up a multitude of scenarios that create many unknowns.

Belaying and lead climbingYou’ll need experience catching climbers that weigh less than you or weigh more than you. You’ll need to know how much slack to keep in the system, how much to jump, and how to keep yourself safe.

When you lead belay, make sure you have experience with the device you’re using. Don’t use one that is unfamiliar to you. Get experience with new devices in more benign situations. Belay on toprope first to get used to how to do that. Then belay someone on lead on terrain well within their comfort zone so the risk of them falling is low. Use a back-up belayer in case you lose control of the brake strand. Now you can begin catching falls with this new device.

Dynamic belaying“Dynamic” is the keyword here. Climbing is about movement. The climber moves upwards and sometimes downwards. The belayer moves with the climber. You may need to move by stepping toward the wall as you feed slack. Then, step back into your belay position once the bolt is clipped. When the climber falls, you move by giving in to the pull of the rope so you rise into the air about six feet (2 meters).

Your attention also moves. Keep awareness of what your climber is doing. Note also your surroundings and the landing zone on the wall in front of you where you’ll land to catch the fall. Notice if you get distracted by other climbers talking. Don’t get drawn into a conversation. Notice this and redirect your attention to move with your climber.

Belay techniques include how to diminish the climber’s impact into the wall. Rising up off the ground absorbs some of the force generated by the fall. In this way, you work together to keep your climber safe.

There are many scenarios for giving proper dynamic belays. Some important scenarios include the weight difference between the climber and the belayer. You’ll need to respond differently if your climber is heavier than you versus being lighter than you.

Climbing coachingAs a belayer, you’re also the coach for your climber. We go into this in the Coaching Module of the course. Combining giving a dynamic belay with coaching makes belaying a very important responsibility.

You can be afraid of belaying or you can take steps to be attentive. What I’ve outlined here, and what’s covered in the course, will give you the ability to respond in the most effective way. You hold the life of your climber in your hands. Accept that responsibility by learning what you need to do to give a proper dynamic belay. Use our Falling & Commitment Online Course as an important resource for doing this.

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In the last lesson you saw how you can experience trauma falling into the air. This can occur even though you don’t injure yourself. That’s painful in a different way. What would that fall experience be like if you had developed your skill with falling? How can you approach falling as a skill to develop?

Anxiety about falling is commonFalling is a big pain point for climbers. You’re not unique in your resistance to falling practice or how you feel about taking falls. Anxiety about falling is common among most climbers the world over. I still experience some fear of falling. Fear, after all, is a natural, protective emotion.

But, just because fear is natural, doesn’t mean you want to succumb to it. Fear need not hold you back. You can work with it if you know how. Knowing how empowers you, which brings you more enjoyment. You feel you have some control over your fear. You can guide the fear toward more enjoyable ends.

Working with fearI’ve been teaching the Falling & Commitment curriculum for 30 years. Note that this training is now available as an online course.

I’ve learned a simple and practical way to teach falling. It’s helped me understand how to teach anything stressful. This way of teaching is critical for making skill development stick.

Important ways to practice falling

Learning-based motivation: You know the feeling. You’re in a stressful situation and you want to get it over with. You seek comfort after the stress has passed. Sound familiar? That’s not a motivation that’s learning-based. Learning-based motivation shifts you into the present moment where the stress exists. The question is: Can you value stress, even honor it, for its own sake?
Your comfort zone edge: Where is the edge of your comfort zone? Consider students who have no falling experience. For some students, it’s too stressful to just let go of the wall and hang on the rope. For others, they can take toprope falls immediately. We start falling practice by hanging on the rope and getting used to impacting the wall. Wherever your edge is, start there.
Small steps: Taking small steps into stress begins to shift your motivation. Instead of wanting to “get it over with,” you want to be “in the middle of it.” The key is making the step small enough to be actionable. If you can’t take action, then find a smaller step. Here are some incremental steps: short toprope falls, longer toprope falls, and finally lead falls.
When to increment: So how do you know when to increment to take longer falls? Is it when you think you’re comfortable? No! It’s when your body has assimilated the stress. Your body gives you feedback about how comfortable you are. So what is that feedback? It’s based on how you practice.
Quality practice: Use a specific method for practicing. We call it BEB: breathing, eyes, body. There are specific things you need to do with your BEB to practice with quality. Doing your BEB with quality helps your body get comfortable with falling. It lets you know that you’re practicing with quality. Add a dynamic belay to the BEB and you know you’re practicing with quality.
Integrating falling: So you took small steps and practiced falling with BEB+dynamic belay. You’ve taken the first steps to learning falling as a skill. But what’s next? Is this where the practice ends? No. You need to find ways to integrate falling into your climbing so you practice it on a regular basis. Learning any skill requires this.
- So how would you do this? Our students sometimes suggest falling without clipping the anchors. Is that a small step? No, it’s not.
- It’s better to integrate the practice into your warmup climbs. For example, clip a bolt above your head and take a toprope fall. Then climb to the next bolt and take a small lead fall. Then climb to the next bolt and take a longer lead fall. Make sure you’re high enough so you don’t collide with your belayer.
- Integrating falling this way builds confidence. It aligns you with a learning-based motivation. It demonstrates that you want to be in the stress of the practice.

Falling into the air can be funSo now imagine you’ve practiced falling as I’ve described above. You have experience with many 20-foot falls. Now, you fall while clipping the next bolt and take a 20-foot fall into the air. How do you feel? Relaxed; no big deal. Right? This is the power of practicing in this way. It’s a methodical way to deal with the pain point of falling.

What I’ve outlined here is falling practice in broad strokes. To get the details, purchase The Rock Warrior’s Way Falling & Commitment Online Course. You’ll have the support you need to practice falling. You’ll also have the other important aspects of mental training. You don’t just need to know how to fall. You also need to know how to commit. Join our community of students who have benefited from this training.

Approaching falling practice, or anything stressful, this way empowers you. You feel in control of your own destiny. That’s a nice feeling to have. You feel less pain. It’s also a nice feeling to experience. Experience it now by using the info above. And, take a small step to purchase our course to support you as you begin your learning journey.

Here are related blog posts that can help you diminish the pain of falling: Slow is always faster

Slow down to speed up

It’s all over when you fall

A moment–Falling

Face your fear

Fear of falling

BERP

Follow-lead progression

Performance vs. recreation

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Is falling 20 feet into the air, on an overhanging wall with no obstacles, a safe fall for you? If you have a lot of experience taking falls like this, then you may say “yes.” If you don’t have any experience with falls like this, then you might still answer “yes.” Let’s continue our discussions about mental training pain points.

Falls can cause injury and/or traumaI taught a clinic in Atlanta last year. I had a student that took a fall at the Red River Gorge in Kentucky that left her uninjured, but still traumatized. She fell while trying to clip the next draw, falling about 20 feet into the air, but not hitting the rock. She couldn’t figure out how to overcome this traumatic experience. She felt like she had no alternative but to quit climbing. She saw that I was teaching a clinic and signed up. She wanted to see if I could help her overcome that traumatic experience.

So what happened? How can a fall into the air traumatize you?

Here you come up against the way you assess risks. A fall risk contains certain objective characteristics. These are the length of the fall, the angle of the rock, and obstacles. The longer the fall, the more varied the angle, and the more obstacles there are, cause the fall risk to increase.

But what about a fall as I described in the opening of this lesson; the type of fall this student took? How does falling into air and not hitting anything still create trauma, when you might think it’s okay to fall?

Definition of a yes-fall zoneYou may tend to define a yes-fall zone as a fall that won’t injure you physically, such as falling into the air. Yet there are also mental components to risk. Defining a yes-fall zone based on your falling experience addresses both.

In other words, the consequences of taking a risk include physical and mental aspects. Consequences include both physical injuries and mental traumas. Why? Because either one can shut you down and make you unable or unwilling to climb again.

Your experience with the consequences is key here. You need a different method for assessing falls. Don’t assess falls with your intellect only. Also assess them based on your falling experience. This can seem like a confusing and complicated process. We help you dissect it in our new Falling & Commitment Online Course. I’ll explore the basics here.

Experiential assessment of fallingHow much experience do you have with falling? To answer this question requires exploring the number of falls you’ve experienced. It also requires knowing the types of terrain and types of climbing you’ve fallen on. Have you fallen 10 times or 1000 times? Have you fallen on vertical terrain or all types of terrain? Have you fallen on sport climbs only, or also trad?

Collect your answers to these questions. Now compare that level of falling experience to the fall you’re currently assessing. If they are similar, then it’s a yes-fall zone for you. If they aren’t, then it could be a no-fall zone for you.

Body-oriented risk assessmentOne of the main limitations of mental training is the mind. That may seem obvious since mental training trains the mind. But many people approach risk assessment only from the perspective of the mind. In simple terms, this means approaching it from thinking. We use the mind and intellectualize about risk assessment. Instead be skeptical about how the mind might skew the risk assessment process.

You know something when you experience it, not before. Intellectual assessment is a great start, but you must get more accurate information. Take an experiential approach, by determining how much falling experience you have.

For example, ask climbers if a short fall equates to a safe fall, as compared to taking a longer fall. Most climbers will answer “yes,” a short fall is safer. It makes sense to your mind. Longer falls seem more dangerous. You fall farther and may hit something along the way.

With falling experience we know that, in general, a short fall is much more dangerous than a longer fall. With a short fall, you create a forceful pendulum into the rock, which makes it harder to absorb the impact. With a longer fall, you swing into the rock with less force and can absorb the impact easier.

Like any skill you learn, you increment into stress a little at a time to develop the skill with quality. You don’t jump on 5.13s when your climbing ability is 5.10. It’s too big of a jump above your climbing experience to allow you to work in 5.13 terrain and learn there.

Likewise with falling. If you’ve never fallen 20 feet into the air, then that’s 5.13 terrain for you, so to speak. You’re falling into “5.13 terrain” with only a “5.10 level of ability.”

Climbing in no-fall zonesStudents sometimes object to defining yes-fall zones this way. They think that with limited falling experience they can’t climb anything. This isn’t true. It means that you climb in no-fall zones with a different intention than in yes-fall zones.

In yes-fall zones your intention is to stay committed and take a fall if you can’t complete the climb. In no-fall zones your intention is to tune into how tired you are–your pump–and not push beyond it and fall. Defining yes- and no-fall zones this way clarifies your intention so you know how to commit once you decide to go. That helps you respond to the doubts when you get stressed and wonder whether you should keep going. It helps you stay committed.

Falling trauma rehabilitationI worked with the student by beginning on toprope. I had her hang on the rope to get used to trusting the system. Once she was comfortable there, I had her take one step up and take a fall. She focused on using her breath, eye shift, and body positioning to take the fall and be present for it. I coached her on improving how she did these elements. She did several falls at that increment. She progressed until she was taking about 10-foot falls on toprope.

A 10-foot toprope fall may not seem like a lot. But for someone who was considering quitting climbing, it was a great start. She decided to continue climbing and practicing what she learned in the clinic.

You don’t want injuries or trauma by taking a fall. It creates a mental training pain point, an obstacle you feel you can’t overcome. Be proactive so you diminish this from happening to you. Our Falling & Commitment Online Course is a great resource. It gives you the insight and support you need. It helps you take charge of the risks you choose to take. With it you can take appropriate risks.

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The Danger of Thinking Stressful Experiences Shouldn’t HappenTemujin was born and raised on the high steppes of Mongolia. His father was killed when Temujin was young. Then his family was excommunicated from the tribe. His family was left to die. The family suffered as it struggled to survive, which they did through the persistent efforts of Temujin’s mother. Temujin grew into a man and warrior, and became the khan of his new tribe. He joined the various tribes together into one large Mongol tribe becoming the Great Khan, or Genghis Khan. Then he used this large Mongol tribe to conquer much of Eurasia.

The World War II generation went through hell. It was the bloodiest war in human history with more than 70 million total deaths. When the war was over and the soldiers returned home, they made a commitment to make sure their children would have a better life than they did. They’d suffered, like Temujin had, and they didn’t want their children to experience the same thing. So, they provided many comforts for their children, in the hopes that this would make their children’s lives better.

We tend to equate “better” with comfort. We want our children to have a better life than we had. Yet, added comfort can actually cause us to complain more. We shrink from challenges and become ungrateful. It’s normal to seek secure, comfortable, and safe situations. What’s not helpful, though, is thinking stressful experiences shouldn’t happen. It’s natural to strive for comfort and resist stress, but if we cling to comfort and move away from stress, then we don’t allow ourselves to learn and grow as human beings.

Needing a GoalProviding comfort for our children needs a goal to guide our actions. The climbing metaphor reminds us of two important things that can help us:

There’s no such thing as stress-based motivation. Comfort-based motivation is natural. We’re not lazy if we seek comfort.
Inspiring goals direct our natural comfort-based motivation in the direction of the stress we’ll inevitably experience as we work toward the goal.

We guide the comforts we give our children by having an inspiring goal: raising confident, responsible, and capable children. An inspiring goal prevents us from coddling children and keeping them in their comfort zones. It prevents us from sheltering them from stressful experiences, doing work, and teaching them skills. It’s easier to just let them do what’s immediately comfortable for them. What’s harder is to set these goals and find balance between enjoying comfort and providing learning opportunities for them.

These goals guide how we give comforts to children. Confidence comes from repeated engagement in stressful experiences; children become confident that they can deal with struggles. Responsibility comes from delegating tasks to children, such as chores, and following through to make sure they do them. Capability comes from teaching children a wide range of skills so they can take effective action when they encounter challenges. All of these qualities put children into stressful situations so they can learn. The confidence, responsibility, and capability that children gain through these experiences give them the comfort we desire for their lives.

The Right Amount of HarshnessTemujin and the Mongols lived in a harsh, cold environment. They believed that a disciplined mind was needed, that action was always more important than complaining. Temujin was disappointed by the attitude his children developed. They’d grown up in privilege with diminished suffering. He thought they were spoiled and didn’t appreciate what they had or understand the responsibility of their positions as leaders. Temujin provided a “better life” for his children, but inadvertently took away too much harshness from their lives. Similarly, the children of American World War II veterans were coddled due to the post-war economic prosperity.

Our understanding of a better life changes when we have a goal that gives us a long-term view. A harsh life trains the mind to be disciplined and to be grateful for the comforts we have. The right amount of harshness can help us learn rather than complain. The right amount of harshness can help us be confident, responsible, and capable. The right amount of harshness can help us do our part and be contributing members of our world.

Practice tip: A Life Fully LivedDevelop a better life by embracing the harshness provided by stress. Set a goal to guide your natural comfort-based motivation. Then, pay attention.

Welcome the harshness that is inevitable as you do the work moving toward the goal. In fact, take it a step further. Relish the harshness. Appreciate that it’s hard. Be present for the harshness so you can dig deeper into it and learn. That will result in a life fully lived.

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The Path of Least ResistanceSetting inspiring goals is an important first step for the future reality we want to create. Clearly defined goals give us a vision for our daily actions. However, just setting goals isn’t enough for living fulfilling lives. In his book, The Path of Least Resistance, Robert Fritz says we also need clarity about our current reality. Fritz states that once we have clarity about the goal and our current reality, a structural tension is created between the two, which seeks resolution. Our natural comfort-based motivation is guided through that structure, along the path of least resistance, until the tension is resolved and the goal is achieved.

Yet, how do we live within that tension as it’s being resolved? How we select our values can inform us of the proper ways to resolve this tension. We select values that keep our attention in the present. Such values help us enjoy the struggles as we live our lives.

Do we value quick progress, comfort, and achievement? If these are our values, then we’ll have difficulty keeping our attention in the present. We’ll become frustrated when we don’t progress toward our goals as quickly as we’d like. Do we value slow progress, stress, and learning? If these are our values, then it’ll be easier to keep our attention in the present. We’ll be patient when we meet struggles so we can learn from them.

Our intention is also important. Intention is defined as attention focused in the direction of a choice. We choose to focus our attention in the direction of processes that occur in the present. This kind of intention is process-oriented. Our values are helpful if they align with this type of intention.

Free Mind ValuesWe have outlined specific values that guide the Free Mind training program we teach to athletes. These values help athletes be intentional in how they practice to develop a free mind:

Awareness: Valuing awareness helps us become aware of self-limiting behaviors that distract our attention.
Acceptance: Valuing acceptance helps us accept situations as they are so we can begin applying our attention effectively.
Intention: Valuing intention helps us be more deliberate in how we direct our attention.
Learning: Valuing learning helps us take small steps so we can flow with changing situations more easily.
Work: Valuing work helps us embrace the inevitable stress we’ll experience in our lives. Instead of resisting stress, we accept it and do the work to resolve it.
Service: Valuing service helps change the flow of our attention. Instead of allowing our attention to dwell in the mind, we direct it outward, so we stay connected with the world.
Balance: Valuing balance helps us flow with life’s natural rhythms.

Selecting Our ValuesInspiring goals give us vision for our lives. How we live our lives, however, is determined by the values we select. By selecting values that focus our attention in the present, we flow with life’s stressors and enjoy the whole process. The tension between the goal and our current reality isn’t seen as a negative. It helps move us along the path of least resistance until the tension is resolved and the goal is achieved.

Practice tip: How to Live and ClimbHow do you want to live your life; what kind of climbing experiences do you want to have? Consider what you value most. Do you value achievement or learning? If you want to enjoy your life and climbing experiences, then seek values that enhance them. Follow these steps:

Goals: Make sure you set inspiring goals to give your life and climbing a vision.
Current reality: Clarify your current reality.
Structural tension: Clarity about the goal and your current reality creates a structural tension between the two. That tension will seek resolution in some way.
Intention: Choose values that focus your attention in the direction of being present. Such values will guide your natural comfort-based motivation along the path of least resistance through that structure until the tension is resolved and the goal is achieved.

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It’s difficult to be decisive—to be able to say “if, then”—unless we’ve prepared well.

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What happens when we put ourselves into structured situations as opposed to messy ones?

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We need awareness of our resistance to taking risks and tendency to be controlling before we can improvise.

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Our attention tends to be biased toward what the mind perceives as good and away from what the mind perceives as bad.

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We want to feel powerful when interacting with the struggles we inevitably have in life. We retain our power by facing reality and working with it.

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We’re more present for the challenges and can appreciate them more through negative visualization.

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How do we balance having fun and being serious about what we’re doing?

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I participated in a film Sophi Rutherford produced on mental health issues for veterans.

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Who are we competing against when we’re in a competition?

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What happens when you start thinking fast?

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How can students know what they need to learn before they learn it?

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Love/Hate RelationshipMost of us have a love-hate relationship with our phones. Our phones are powerful tools. They allow us to communicate with loved ones, make it easy to access the information that we need to train, and allow us to work on-the-go. At the same time, we often feel overwhelmed by our screens and have a hard time looking away when we want to focus on other things.

The other day, I arrived at the gym for an early-morning session. I had put a lot of effort into packing my gym bag the evening before and waking up with enough time to train before work. As I walked in the door, I flipped open the app that I use to log my training. At the same time, an alert popped up to let me know that I was tagged on social media. I didn’t mean to open it, but before I knew it, I had spent ten minutes of my precious climbing time scrolling through posts and stories from friends and other climbers.

I felt ashamed that I hadn’t been able to resist the temptation of my phone’s distractions, but as I looked around the gym, I realized that I was not alone. More than half the climbers in the gym were looking at their screens rather than the wall, missing out on valuable social learning or planning time on their rest periods (or extending their rest periods to accommodate another reel). If screen-shaming worked, we would probably all have better discipline around our devices, but unfortunately, most of us are not consciously aware of our decisions to get sidetracked.

So what do we do about it?Developing awareness around our distractions can create space for us to make choices based on our values. Often, we are looking at our screens without making the choice to do so. So how do we build awareness?

One way is to track the number of times that we get distracted.

Before your training session, decide what is a “distraction.” For some, this might be looking at emails or text messages during a session. For others, those might be necessary due to work or family commitments, but social media might be a distraction. You might even choose a single app to track during the session that is usually the main distraction for you. Then, using a pen and paper (not a list on your phone!), tally the number of times that you click on that distraction, even if it is just for a moment.

Practcing NoticingIt’s possible that making this list will be enough to discourage distractions. If you’re like me, though, it’s more likely that you will habitually click on the distraction without noticing. Each time that this happens, do your best to be understanding as you make the tally mark. Again, this isn’t about screen-shaming, but about creating space for a choice.

Once you’ve practiced noticing, you can start to decide whether you would like to follow through with the distraction or choose another behavior that fits your intentions for the session. You might choose something else to focus on each time, such as mapping the route or watching another person complete a problem. You might choose to write a reflection about how the session is going. The replacement focus works best when it is something that brings your attention back to climbing, which is what you intended to be focusing on during the session.

Over time, notice if it becomes easier to notice. Developing awareness of your phone use can be an easy way to practice the skill of noticing, which will be a resource for mental training in all areas of climbing and life.

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Changing PerspectiveWhen you’re old, your perspective changes, usually for the better. Fritz Wiessner was old in 1973 when he did a double-take while driving along Interstate 40 east of Cookeville, Tennessee. The sign said “Bee Rock” alongside a sign for the town of Monterey. Fritz promptly did a U-turn and sought out the rock. He found it, along with me and my buds who were exploring new routes at the crag. It was a serendipitous meeting that I’ve remembered all these years since.

Bee Rock is a newly protected crag thanks to the efforts of a private landowner, TennGreen Land Conservancy, Access Fund, Southeastern Climbers Coalition (SCC), and the City of Monterey. We’ve been prepping the crag for your next visit. If you’re local, come take a look. If you’re not, like Fritz, then do a U-turn and sample some excellent sandstone sport and trad climbing.

Fritz was known for discovering the Shawangunks (aka The Gunks) in 1935, an old historic climbing crag in New York. He was the first to free climb Devils Tower in 1931. He was on the first American expedition to K2 in the Himalayas in 1939 which almost summited, fifteen years before it was eventually climbed by an Italian party.

We knew about Fritz; he was famous. And, here he was at this insignificant crag in the backwoods of Tennessee. But it’s not hard to figure out why he was there. He loved climbing and when he saw that sign with “Rock” on it, he responded with love by changing his trajectory and seeking it out.

I don’t remember much of what Fritz said that fateful day, but I do remember one thing specifically, almost word-for-word. Like I said, Fritz was old and full of wisdom. Wisdom comes in unexpected expressions that you can’t forget. “I appreciate the grades better as I work my way back down through them,” he said. Fritz climbed some hard stuff in his youth, with his origins in Dresden Germany, the crucible for the most difficult and dangerous rock climbing in the world at the time. Now, as an old man, he still loved climbing, appreciating the grades as his ability diminished.

Early DevelopmentsEarly developments at Bee Rock date back to the early 1970s. Some of the earliest known ascents were done by Frank Sanders and Mike Brown. Frank was a grad student at Tennessee Technological University in nearby Cookeville. He’d been to Yosemite Valley and Devils Tower. Frank was inspired by his heroes, like Galen Rowell and Warren Harding’s experience on the South Face of Half Dome in Yosemite, bat-hooking on blank granite. Frank told me they took turns trying to get themselves killed as they did Mother Wall, a desperately smooth wall on the lower right side of Bee, applying the same bat-hooking strategy.

My crew consisted of Steve Anderson, Kenny Parker, and my twin brother Berny. We all hailed from Manchester. Steve and Kenny introduced Berny and me to climbing. Climbing gave us a purpose, a direction.

We began with an established route called Three Teeth. Kenny climbed up to the three projections of rock (the route’s namesake) and yelled that there were snakes in the crack. He carefully lifted out several baby copperheads and tossed them down toward us.

We added routes of our own, like Belching Bitch led by Kenny in 1974. It climbs the arete up the left edge of Bee’s summit block, beginning at the top of the friction slab. Kenny was belching and bitching all the while because he couldn’t find much protection for his new Chouinard Stoppers and Hexentrics. We started climbing with pitons hammered into the rock. Climbing protection was in transition, though, from pitons to clean climbing. We felt obliged to also transition. No cams had yet been invented. I don’t know how Kenny stayed focused, and stayed on the rock, but he did, and finished the pitch.

Another route that Berny and I did was Water Route. It’s not the sexiest name for a route, but it’s what we pined for while we dried out in the heat trying to finish it. My poor planning got us engaged on new terrain with no water.

Then there was Summit Attempt. Its aim is just what the name suggests. Seeing ourselves as mountaineers, getting to the summit was important. We did that on Belching Bitch, but not from the base of the wall. Here, on the right side of Bee, we sought to start at the bottom and work our way to the summit. I led the first pitch up to the base of the summit block. Bee’s cracks are more like groves so hexes and wedges we placed were almost always suspect. At the top of the pitch, I was desperate as I pulled onto a rounded ledge and promptly fell off, ending up-side-down. Kenny led the summit block pitch, mostly on aid, swinging hexes on slings toward groves he hoped he could snag. Kenny is amazing in his creativity…and luck.

Greener PasturesIn 1976 I left for greener pastures in Colorado while the next generation took over at Bee. New route development continued by the efforts of my brother Mark, Eddie Whittemore, and Mark Cartwright. The crew explored the surrounding area and found two new crags, which they called Hidden Rock and Spider Rock. Better to ask for forgiveness than permission was the tactic at the time. They put up a bunch of new routes.

Upon my return in the mid-1980s, sport climbing had hit the climbing scene with intensity. And so did tight lycra pants. We donned the weirdest patterns we could find…except Mark Cartwright. Mark Ilgner thought this point was significant enough to name a new route in Cartwright’s honor: Mark Cartwright Never Wore Lycra.

Difficulties skyrocketed. The 5.9s and 5.10s of the 70s turned into 5.11 and 5.12 first ascents in the 80s. The difficulties peaked with Eddie’s route Tuff Enuff (5.13). Mark Ilgner did Judy’s World (5.10) in honor of lost love. Eddie and Mark Cartwright did Brothers in Arms (5.12) to cement their strong partnership. Mark Ilgner and I did Death as a Challenger (5.11) in honor of the space shuttle disaster. Then Mark and I worked on Mother Wall (5.12), to see if we could free Frank’s old aid line. We added a few bolts in proper top-down sport climbing fashion. It went free after several days of working the blank face.

Asking for forgiveness after trespassing on private property doesn’t work. The landowners got a salty perspective on climbing and climbers, and promptly closed the areas. It can take a long time and a lot of effort to open crags back up. And this “opening up” happens through the efforts of organizations like Access Fund and Southeastern Climbers Coalition. They worked with the City of Monterey who wanted to bring tourism to the area. The city now owns Bee Rock and is working closely with us to create a great little crag for all types of visitors: climbers, hikers, and folks that just want to see a beautiful view.

Changing StrategiesWe’ve changed our strategy for exploring new crags and putting up new routes with the guidance of the SCC. Putting in the best hardware and cataloging what’s been done is essential for long-term maintenance of our crags. Organizations like the SCC help standardize our maintenance efforts so they’re managed and sustained.

And, we have a new, better strategy: it’s better to ask for permission than forgiveness. Asking for permission honors landowners so we can find solutions that work for all vested parties. The SCC has been re-bolting routes at Bee to create a wonderful crag. I helped re-bolt Mother Wall a few months ago. I tried to do some of the moves as I hung on the rap line, but couldn’t figure it out. How in the world did I climb that back in the day? So I went over to Summit Attempt to give it a go with its newly installed bolts. It was tough and I fell in the same spot, pulling the mantle move, as I did on the first ascent. Wiessner’s words rang in my mind: “I appreciate the grades better as I work my way back down through them.” I can appreciate that. I’m old now and I still love to climb, even if I’m falling off of stuff that was easy for me in the past.

The sport of climbing is growing. There are tons of people being introduced to the sport via climbing gyms. That’s awesome and it has consequences. Some of those folks want to climb outside. Outside crags are a limited resource. Managing their use will minimize accidents and enhance our enjoyment of them. Access Fund and Southeastern Climbers Coalition are doing us all a great service to help secure crags and manage them. Seek opportunities to support those organizations. Bee Rock is small, yes, but you’ll enjoy what it has to offer. Take Fritz’s advice and appreciate the place and the routes for what they offer. It’s a beautiful place to share a rope with someone.

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Climbers know me as the founder of The Warrior’s Way® mental training method. They can have certain expectations when they see me climb and judge me based on those expectations. Perhaps they expect me to climb a certain grade or not fear falling. They may compliment me for climbing well; criticize me for performing poorly; or judge me as a failure. How should I deal with such compliments, criticisms, and judgments?

Dealing with JudgementStoicism is an ancient philosophy that can give us perspective about others judging us. Stoics value tranquility; peace of mind. Being judged can disturb our peace. Therefore, Stoics have identified and developed practices to deal with judgments. One practice is a three-step process for reframing judgments:

Pause: The first step is to do nothing, instead of getting offended or becoming defensive. We delay reacting to give us space for developing awareness. We can respond intelligently if we’re aware.
Learning opportunity: Others may be well informed. We can consider if their comments contain intelligence. If they do, then we can focus on learning from them.
Let it go: If others’ judgments don’t contain intelligence, then we can ignore them. Letting go of others’ comments doesn’t make how we feel about ourselves dependent on them.

What can we actually control?We can build on the Stoic three-step process by understanding what we can control. Let’s say I’m climbing at my local gym. Many gym members, employees, and coaches know I teach The Warrior’s Way®. They may compliment me for climbing well and criticize me for climbing poorly. Or, they may criticize me for climbing well and compliment me for climbing poorly.

For example, let’s say I climb well and succeed on a route. Some people will judge me as a great climber because I succeeded, while others will judge me as a show-off. Let’s say I fall and fail on a route. Some people will judge me as a great climber because I gave my best effort, while others will judge me as unskilled because I fell. I’m judged positively and negatively regardless of the outcomes I created.

Focusing on desiring compliments or avoiding criticisms shifts our attention to what we can’t control. We feel like a success or a failure based on other people’s judgments, not on how we feel about our effort. Instead of this unhealthy mindset, we should shift our focus away from these judgements. Knowing that we’ll be judged regardless of the outcomes we create helps us shift our attention to what we actually can control: ourselves. Then, we can direct our attention to the Stoic three-step process for dealing with judgments. We can pause, look for the learning opportunity, use it, or let it go. Doing this allows us to focus on our effort.

We’re neither successes nor failures based on our achievements or others’ judgments. By pausing and shifting our attention to our effort, we develop peace of mind. Our mind peacefully takes in information, processes it for intelligent value, and utilizes or discards it. The whole process becomes part of the learning journey we’re engaged in. We don’t worry about other people judging us for the grade we climb or if we fall. We focus completely on our climbing and enjoy it.

Practice Tip: Don’t Jump to ConclusionsPerhaps you succeed on a climb and someone says you’re a great climber. Or, perhaps you fail on a climb and someone says you’re unskilled. Are those compliments or criticisms accurate? Follow the Stoic three-step process to find out:

Pause: Reflect on the comments; don’t jump to conclusions, believing you’re great or a failure.
Learning opportunity: Perhaps they’re pointing out a skill you have that you don’t know you have? Or, perhaps they’re pointing out a skill you don’t do well? Is this an accurate assessment or not? If so, acknowledge the skill they say you have or find ways to practice the skill you don’t do well.
Let it go: Compliments may be empty of value, simply making your ego feel important. Or, others may criticize you simply to make them feel better about themselves. If so, let it go. Don’t feel like a success or a failure because of what others say.

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Afraid of Becoming AfraidWhen I ask climbers what fear is holding them back, the answer is unexpected.

Many climbers are not actually afraid of hitting the ground or being injured in a fall.

Instead, they are afraid of becoming afraid. When these climbers imagine themselves on a challenging route, all that they think about is the moment when they will inevitably freeze and feel unable to do anything. Their mind will go blank. Their body will start to tremble. And panic will set in.

But what if we could uncouple fear from freezing?Let’s start by exploring what freezing is.

The freeze response is our body’s natural protective response to stress. It typically happens when the nervous system believes that it is too dangerous to fight or run away. This can easily happen when we believe that we cannot make the next moves on a climb and when we don’t believe that retreat is an option.

When someone is in freeze, their body stops putting out unnecessary energy and loses much of its ability to think cognitively and rationally. It’s an amazing, life-saving process.

It can also be a little bit over-kill on the wall.

But we don’t have to be afraid of freezing.

Normalizing the Freeze ResponseBy normalizing the freeze response, supporting our nervous system during the freeze response, and remembering that freeze is a part of a natural cycle that will end, we can diminish the suffering that accompanies freeze when we are afraid of it.

When I used to freeze on the wall, my inner dialogue went straight to catastrophe. I often had thoughts like “well, now it’s all over” or “here it goes again.” Since I’ve learned more about freeze, though, I’ve started to engage with freeze with curiosity. “Wow, I feel really frozen,” I might say, and I remind myself gently that it must mean I’m in a lot of stress. This recognition actually decreases the stress that I’m in, which might decrease the overall sense of being paralyzed.

Next, I reorient to safety. When I’m frozen, I start to panic. If I can use my five senses to calm down, I’ll be able to weigh my options for getting out of freeze. I take a look around me, not fixating on the ground, but just noticing the rock or the sky. I might press my cheek into the rock to feel its cool surface or listen to a bird chirping. Anything that helps me stay grounded and feel a little safer.

Then, I remind myself that I have options. Maybe I can take a step down. Maybe I can shake out. Maybe I can place a piece. Maybe I need to move forward, but I can rest here and assess. As I weigh these options, I am reminding my body that I am safer than I thought I was, which also decreases stress and therefore decreases the sense of being frozen.

The best part is, we don’t have to wait until you are frozen to practice these skills! As we practice these skills over time, we develop more confidence in our ability to return to baseline, which uncouples fear from freezing. This gives us the freedom to attempt more challenging routes, knowing that we have the skills to return from freeze to have an enjoyable day!

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Feeding the EgoWhen I was younger, I was locally known as someone who was fearless and used my fearlessness to do first ascents on Whitesides Mountain in North Carolina, which is known for its scary routes. I desired to be someone important in the climbing community and these first ascents gave me a sense of importance to feed my ego.

We can all fall into this kind of trap. We want to be someone important to validate our existence. So we apply whatever skills we currently have to do routes that help us be important. This is the have-do-be approach to life. We operate from an unstable foundation of the ego, which seeks ways to validate itself. Self-importance does create stability for the ego, but it’s short-lived. Achievements validate the ego’s sense of existence. Since the ego’s existence is based on achievements, it continually desires more achievements. As a result, it’s never satisfied and we never arrive at a time when we feel stable and worthy of existence.

An Opposite ApproachA focus on awareness takes the opposite approach: be-do-have. We’re aware that “being” is a given. We don’t have to prove our existence to ourselves or others. This approach allows us to begin from a stable base of being. From that base, we do routes, to have new skills. We apply skills we have some proficiency with, but we seek to improve those skills through doing routes that help us learn.

I had a mix of these approaches while doing first ascents on Whitesides. The have-do-be approach motivated me to use my fearless skill to do routes that were scary. It fed my ego’s desire to validate its existence. The be-do-have approach motivated me to be on Whitesides’ scary routes because I was interested in investigating what it meant to be fearless. This latter approach revealed some unexpected fears, which helped me learn more about being fearless.

For example, I learned that striving to be respected for being fearless hid other fears. I began noting types of climbing I avoided, such as difficult sport routes. Routes on Whitesides are scary because of physical risk of falling in runout situations, but their difficulty is limited to 5.12. This grade may seem difficult, but they’re moderate when compared to difficult sport routes that can be 5.15. These routes on Whitesides created a facade that covered up a fear of being judged for not being able to climb routes of higher difficulty grades.

Peeling LayersThere are many layers to our ego identity, layers upon layers of achievements that the ego uses to validate itself. We don’t really know what’s underneath all those layers until we begin peeling them off. Awareness is what helps us do this. Peeling away layers brings us to a place that’s foundational, where being is a given. We realize being as our essence; not ego. Maintaining our focus on this awareness gives us a stable base of being to operate from.

Developing awareness of the layers my ego was creating helped me understand the dichotomy between being fearless in physically scary situations and being fearful in mentally scary situations. This awareness directed me to face my fear of failing mentally and risk losing the respect of the climbing community. Testing myself on difficult sport climbs risked not being good enough to belong in the climbing community. Facing that fear over and over again, by testing myself on difficult sport climbs, helped me shift to a be-do-have approach and peel off layers of the facade my ego had created. Doing this allowed me to become more fearless in both physically and mentally challenging situations.

Practice Tip: Don’t Improve YourselfDon’t improve yourself; improve your skills. Identify a skill you currently have that you want to improve. Then, focus on be-do-have. Your being isn’t dependent on how well you improve your skill.

Skill list: falling, movement, trad gear placement, commitment… Select a skill you want to improve.

Be: Accept being is a given.

Do: Select climbs that will allow you to practice and improve this skill. Identify small incremental steps you can take to practice. Get professional coaching to speed your progress.

Have: With enough practice and guidance, you’ll develop the skill to a new level.

Focusing on the be-do-have approach will keep your attention on skill development. It won’t improve you; it’ll improve your skills.

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Several years ago, I was climbing with a new partner. They had several years of climbing experience and appeared to belay with proper technique, but I couldn’t bring myself to take falls on them throughout the day, even on routes that I had previously felt confident falling on with other belayers. Each time that I decided to take instead of going for a move, I would look down apologetically. “It’s not that I don’t trust you,” I said, “I’m just having a hard time today.”

I wasn’t telling the truth.Trust is built on experience, especially in falling practice. When we’ve practiced a certain type of fall, such as a fall on vertical terrain with few obstacles, we develop trust in our bodies to execute the fall properly, which begins to diminish fear. Over time, as we take more falls in that terrain, our trust grows. The same is true for working with a new belayer. When we haven’t practiced falling with someone, it makes sense that our body feels nervous about falling. There are unknowns, even with a skilled belayer.

How much slack will they be leaving out?

Do they know how to give a cushioned catch to someone my size?

Will they take quickly if I ask for a take or will they try to convince me to ‘go for it’?

Practicing incremental falling with a new belayer allows us to develop trust over time, which makes it easier to commit to challenging sequences when it matters.

Practice Tip:To practice falling with a new belayer, remember to start at the beginning. This isn’t about taking a huge whip on the belayer to test them; rather, it’s about starting in the comfort zone and working one step at a time, the same way that you would practice on new terrain.

To start, you can practice taking and doing impact drills, pushing away from the wall and coming in soft. As this becomes comfortable, you can practice taking one step up into slack for small top-rope falls, giving feedback to the belayer on their catches and monitoring your own comfort level by paying attention to the breathing-eyes-body technique.

Once you’ve developed trust there, you can take steps into the lead.

This method develops the lived experience of being caught well, which deepens your relationship with the partner.

Not comfortable telling your partner that you need to develop trust with them?

You can always simply let them know that falling is a skill that you are working on and ask them for their support to do a few falls during the warmup. Most people will be excited to be able to support your process and may get curious about practicing the process themselves!

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Grasping for an Imagined Future RealityThe title of the 1980s sci-fi movie classic, Back to the Future, got me thinking about how we can focus on a future goal and miss the life we’re currently living. When we set goals, and fixate on them, we tend to grasp for an imagined future reality.

We can also shift our focus “back to the past.” We look back at our youthful years when we had strong bodies and climbed our hardest. Instead of enjoying our later years as a seasoned climbing veteran, we post images on Facebook from our youth, clinging to experiences lost in time.

This future- or past-focus diminishes the quality of our lives. If we’re future-focused, then we react when we don’t achieve goals or progress according to our expectations. We get frustrated because we can’t close the gap quickly enough between our present reality and the future reality we’re fixated on. If we’re past-focused, then we can get depressed because we can’t go back to a nostalgic chapter in our lives. Either way, this has a negative effect on our attention. Whether grasping for the future or clinging to the past, our attention isn’t focused in the present.

Valuing the PresentA more effective approach is finding ways to focus our attention “back to the present.” We set goals to give us a vision to work toward, but then we let go of the goals and focus on the present. A present-focus improves the quality of our lives. We don’t react negatively to outcomes because we’re not rushing to some future or wishing we were still in some distant past. Where we want to be is right here, right now. We value learning so we respond to unexpected outcomes with curiosity. There’s no gap between our present reality and where we want to be. If our attention gets distracted to the future or past, it’s easy to bring it “back to the present” because we’re not grasping or clinging to a different reality.

Valuing the present and living there allows us to discover the unexpected turns on our path that we didn’t know existed when we began our journeys. I set a goal a few years ago to redpoint Born on the Fourth of July, a sport climb at The Obed in Tennessee. I developed my plan of doing hang-board training, max hangs, and bouldering to build the power I’d need to succeed. But, I injured my knee while bouldering. Such events can be frustrating because the achievement of the goal is delayed. Frustration distracts our attention because we’re focused on the future or the past. If I have a future-focus, then my attention is distracted because I’m grasping onto a future achievement that I was making steady progress toward. Likewise, if I have a past-focus, then my attention is distracted because I’m clinging onto a past when I was injury free.

Improve & Enjoy the ProcessBy being more interested in the present than the future or past, I can pay attention to how I’m being directed now. Since Born on the Fourth is a sport climb, bouldering may not be the best training for me. Perhaps it’s too stressful on my old body and I’m being directed to less stressful training? Whatever the reason, I use this injury as an unexpected turn in my journey, as an important indicator that helps me refine my training program, rather than as an interruption of it. I can re-evaluate my strategy, change it, and re-engage my training, and that’s what I did. I let my knee heal while still doing my hang-board training and max hangs. Then, I did ARC (Aerobic, Restoration, Capillarity) training on rope climbs to build endurance. This adjustment to my training strategy allowed me to improve and enjoy the process as I worked toward my goal.

We’ll always have unexpected turns on our journeys. What matters is how we respond to them. By not grasping for the future or clinging to the past, I can be present for my life now. If I get distracted, I can bring my attention “back to the present.” Doing this lets me enjoy my journey no matter what turns it takes.

Practice Tip: What Now?You set a goal with a specific target date to achieve it. Don’t be surprised if you get derailed. Expect it. If you grasp for the future or cling to the past, it’ll take you longer to achieve your goal. Therefore, focus on the present.

When an unexpected turn in your journey derails you, ask yourself: “What now?” Asking this question will inform you about what you need to do to get you back on track.

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Chasing FearI talk with a lot of climbers who practice falling to diminish fear in their climbing. They are doing many of the right things–incorporating falling into their warm-up, working with a trusted belayer, and even taking things one step at a time. Many of these climbers are still struggling, though. After months of practice, they are more scared than ever.

As I talk with these climbers, there is a common thread: are they chasing their fear when they practice falling?

What does this mean?

When they decide to take steps up, they ask themselves “What is the fall that I am afraid of?” and they work towards that fall quickly, taking the fear response that they feel before letting go as proof that they are practicing effectively.

The problem is, this approach to practicing reinforces the fear response. It also opens the climber up to increased risk of injury and it’s no fun!

So how do I know what kinds of falls to take?When we teach falling practice, we teach climbers to start in their comfort zone. This is usually “taking” about a body length or two below the bolt and pushing in and out of the wall to practice impacting the wall. Who doesn’t enjoy swinging around on a rope?

Then, the climber will take one step up, still with the bolt clipped above the head, to create some slack in the system. If they can fall well there without a fear response, then they can consider taking a step up.

And when can I take a step up?

This is the key part of practicing falling with awareness. The goal is to unlearn the ingrained fear response around falling by exhaling while falling, looking down in the direction that our body is moving, and having a relaxed and attentive body position. When we can observe our own response to falling and we have developed the skill to fall effectively at a certain height, we take steps up to increase the challenge. Using our ability to do the breathing, eyes, and body position technique of falling allows us to have a clear guideline for taking steps up without needing to chase fear.

Practice Tip:If you are someone who is taking steps up just because they feel almost-not-terrible, start to pay attention to your falling technique and practice falls that are well within your comfort zone. Do this during your warm-up to prime your system for remembering that falling is a part of climbing.

After each fall, evaluate the quality of your breathing, eye position, and body position for that fall. Repeat falls with the bolt clipped above the head until you are able to exhale through the whole fall, look down at the ground as you are falling, and sit back into the rope with your hands off the rope and in front of you.

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HakomiBody-oriented psychotherapies emphasize the importance of including the body when doing therapeutic processes. Hakomi is one such method. In his book Body-Centered Psychotherapy: The Hakomi Method, Ron Kurtz says: “Just as the first step of a journey is more significant for the direction it announces than the distance it covers, our early patterns are important because they set the course that has shaped everything that followed and finally became the form and style of the self we are today.” In other words, early life experiences shape who we become, just like the first step on a journey determines its trajectory.

Early TraumaEarly traumatic childhood experiences “freeze” in our physiology and psychology. When children experience trauma, they develop coping mechanisms. Those coping mechanisms manifest themselves in the body as one’s physiology and in the mind as one’s psychology. Working through them requires a shift of our attention.

Being criticized for doing something stupid can be a traumatic event for children. “You’re stupid” is different from “You did something stupid.” The former labels children in a fixed way. It teaches children that being stupid is a part of their identity. Focusing on identity sets in motion an avoidance of stress and it shapes children into people who don’t engage well in learning situations. The latter, “You did something stupid,” focuses on behavior. Children feel like they can learn and grow from their mistakes when their behavior, rather than their identity, is criticized. Focusing on behavior sets in motion a desire to engage stress and it shapes children into people who desire to participate in learning situations.

There’s a strong tendency in our society to focus on identity instead of behavior. Focusing on identity tends to be associated with end-goal motivation, while focusing on behavior tends to be associated with learning-based motivation. When our identity is criticized it creates an intention that focuses us on the end goal at the expense of the present moment. This teaches us to strive for future achievements in lieu of learning. We set in motion a life of striving for a future reality we wish existed now. After a life of living this way, we arrive on our death-bed, regretting not being present during our lives.

MotivationA learning-based motivation sets in motion a journey of presence. On this journey, we focus on behavior. When an event happens, we’re curious about how we behaved so we can suss out the learning elements. What did we do well? What do we still need to learn? These are questions that direct our attention differently, away from identity and toward effort. We’re not rushing into the future; we’re paying attention to the present situation we’re engaged in. After a life of living this way, we arrive on our death-bed with no regret. We lived each day paying attention to whatever we were doing.

These same tendencies apply to our climbing. Achievement motivation sets in motion a first step that focuses our attention on end results. Then, each step thereafter follows with the same motivation. An achievement focus insinuates that some future time is more important than today, so we strive for the future goal. We look at the route to think about our climbing plan. We expect cruxes to be difficult and we fear that they’ll shut us down. We start believing that we won’t be able to arrive at the better future we desire. So, we expect to fall or have difficulty at various places to confirm what we believe. We become anxious because our attention is focused on a future reality that never arrives.

A learning-based motivation sets in motion different steps for our climbing. We want to engage learning experiences and we know they exist in the present moment, during the climbing experience itself. We look at the route and think about our climbing plan. We identify where the crux is, just like the achievement-motivated climber, but because we’re learning-based, our attention is focused on our effort. The crux will probably be difficult, but we expect to exert effort to deal with it. Doing this allows the experience to determine what’s possible for us. We may be in the middle of a stressful situation, but we’re at peace being there.

Here and NowWhether parenting children or climbing, focusing on identity and achievement is a losing proposition. We rush toward a future reality we desperately want to arrive at, yet we never get there; we never arrive. Here and now is the only reality. Realizing this helps us relax into and enjoy our struggles. What’s required is awareness of traumatic experiences that have created our identity and shaped who we are. From that awareness we can consciously choose to shift our focus from identity to behavior. Making this choice shifts how we focus our attention, which begins to thaw out our body and mind. It sets in motion the first step that determines the future trajectory of our life’s journey and how we’ll be shaped by it. Then, we can look back on our lives without regret. We gave it our best effort and that’s all that we could have done.

Practice Tip: Expect to Exert EffortGoals are necessary to help guide you, but the outcomes are out of your control. Therefore, don’t create expectations on outcomes; expect to exert effort. Do this by identifying what you’ll focus on during the climbing experience. These are the Warrior’s Way “Intentional Processes” (see Espresso Lessons book).

Then, when you create an outcome, ask:

“What did I do well?”
“What do I still need to learn?”

Approaching your struggles this way will keep your attention focused on what you can control: your behavior. As a result, you’ll be at peace as you live your climbing and life journey.

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Are you flipping your lid?Have you ever felt like you’ve completely lost control of your brain and body on the wall?

When you left the ground, all of the risk involved with climbing the route in front of you felt completely reasonable. You knew the fall was within your ability, that the falling terrain was clear of obstacles, and that you had an experienced belayer. You had decided that you would stay committed to challenging moves even if you weren’t sure that you could make them.

Now, just five minutes later, you are clinging to the wall and sobbing, or maybe lashing out at your belayer, or maybe even feeling too paralyzed to say or do anything. You want to talk yourself out of it- the bolt is clipped at your waist, after all, but it’s as if your body isn’t listening.

You might have flipped your lid.In this video from Dan Siegel, Siegel provides a metaphor for how the brain functions using the “hand model” of the brain. He describes how, when we experience enough stress, communication dramatically decreases between the parts of our brain that control our threat response system and the parts of our brain that control our rational thinking and analysis. Even if we are typically a very “rational” person, when our lid is flipped, we are unlikely to be able to think our way out of a situation.

So what can we do?When our lid is flipped, it’s important to first signal to our body that we are safe. Depending on the situation, this can mean decreasing or removing the stressor or we might be able to signal to the body that it is safe using internal and external awareness drills that orient us back to what is actually happening. Until our threat response isn’t in overdrive, we will continue to struggle to take in coaching from ourselves or others that appeals to our rational brain.

A helpful question can be:What would be a small step that I could take to feel safer or more comfortable right now without completely disengaging from the experience?

Can I take one step down and shake out? Can I ask for a take and then try again? Do I need to swing around on the rope or look around at the landscape, looking for something that I might have missed before when I was having tunnel vision? This curiosity can lead us in the direction of integration, where all parts of the brain are working together and we feel like our favorite version of ourselves.

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Intentions in Competition Route-SettingA few years ago, I attended the USA Climbing Coaches’ Symposium in Salt Lake City, Utah. Chris Danielson, administrator for the USA Climbing Route-Setting Program, gave a presentation on “Intentions in Competition Route-Setting”. He explained that route-setters realized the importance of using volumes about a decade ago for setting competition routes. These volumes were small, augmenting the routes they set with regular holds. Now, a decade later, large volumes are the main component of routes with regular holds augmenting them. Chris’ main point was that there’s constant change when setting routes for competitions and it’ll be challenging for athletes to adapt to that change.

I reflected on his observation and how we could prepare athletes mentally for this. If athletes will face continually changing routes in competition, then an important quality for them to develop would be adaptability and resilience to change. Change creates a lot of uncertainty, which can distract their attention, and create sub-par performances.

Uncertainty is unsettling. I had an unsettling experience last week at our local YMCA, during my weekly hot/cold process. I alternate between the hot steam-room and the cold pool. I like the contrasting feeling of hot and cold. The pool isn’t very cold, so it’s not challenging to get into it. It’s actually a relief. Staying in the hot steam-room, however, is challenging for me. The temperature changes a lot, creating uncertainty, and I get anxious, desiring certainty.

When we look at change in a broad context, though, we see that it’s the only constant. Everything is in constant transformation, changing from one form or position into another form or position. Food transforms into energy as I eat it; energy transforms into my effort that helps me climb. My body is in one position and moves into another position when climbing. Life is constantly changing.

Seeking ComfortSo, if change is the only constant, then why is it so difficult to deal with it? Shouldn’t it be easy to deal with change since we’re also part of the changing world? Change is difficult because there’s another motivation that drives us: seeking comfort. Change is stressful and makes us feel unbalanced; we seek comfort to get back into balance.

There’s nothing wrong or unusual about seeking comfort. However, how we go about seeking comfort does make a difference. If we focus on end results, then we’ll be uncertain; we’ll direct our attention toward a future state when we’re comfortable again, when change seems to have stopped. However, we can seek comfort differently.

First, we prepare for change by knowing stress is a natural part of our experience. This is an important first step because we have a tendency to think stress is an aberration, something that shouldn’t occur, and something that the world imposes on us just to make our lives difficult. Knowing stress is a natural part of our experience helps us welcome it and look for the learning opportunities in it.
Second, we adapt to stressful situations by how we direct the flow of our attention. We do this by being clear about our goals and being clear about the processes we’ll focus on during stress. We identify the tasks that need our attention, such as thinking tasks we do with the mind and action tasks we do with the body. We let our attention flow to whatever task we’re doing.

At the YMCA, I let my attention flow to the mind to do critical thinking. I set a clear goal: I will stay in the steam-room until a minute after the steam shuts off. I also think about the processes I’ll focus on while engaged in the stressful experience, processes that help the body adapt to the heat. Then I take action; I step into the steam-room. Stepping into stress creates a lot of uncertainty: I’m uncertain about when the steam will turn on; I’m uncertain how long the steam will remain on; and I’m uncertain about my ability to remain in the heat until I achieve the goal. Change is constant and all of these uncertainties make it difficult for me to adapt to change.

I notice that my uncertainty diminishes a little when the steam turns on. Now, I’m only uncertain about how long it will stay on and whether or not I’ll be able to achieve the goal. Then, my uncertainty diminishes a little more when the steam turns off. Now, I’m only uncertain about whether or not I’ll be able to stay in the heat for another minute and achieve the goal. Then, my uncertainty disappears after one minute passes and I achieve the goal. Suddenly I feel like I can tolerate the heat better, and choose to stay in the steam-room longer if I want to. I feel like I have the power to choose, now that I’ve achieved the goal.

I can retain my power of choice throughout the experience by shifting what I focus on. Uncertainty doesn’t have to diminish over time; certainty can remain constant throughout the experience. I let the flow of my attention go to processes that remain constant in the midst of change. I direct my attention to the body by focusing on breathing, relaxing, and enjoying it. These processes are certain because they are within my control and occur in the present moment. Focusing this way improves my ability to adapt to change. I retain the power of choice throughout the experience because I’m choosing to focus my attention on certain processes instead of uncertain outcomes.

Chris Danielson is correct; route-setting for competitions is constantly changing. We’ll make athletes more resilient by training them to shift what they focus on. By helping them welcome stress, identify certain processes they can control, and practice focusing on those processes, we’ll create athletes that can adapt to constant change. Instead of becoming anxious about uncertain outcomes, they’ll be resilient in applying themselves to certain processes.

Practice Tip: Certain AdaptationOnce you’ve set the goal, don’t focus on uncertain outcomes; focus on certain processes. These processes occur in the present moment, which is all you can control.

Thinking process: Think about the goal. Be clear about exactly what it is that you want to achieve. Having this clarity will help you know what you need to do while working toward goal achievement.
Doing process: Identify the processes that you’ll focus on while engaging your body in climbing. These will be variations of breathing, relaxation/tension, movement, and eye focus. Vary your breathing, the amount of body tension, how quickly/slowly you move, and your eye focus based on what the climb requires.

You’ll adapt well to constant change because you’re not focusing on uncertain outcomes; you’re focusing on certain processes.

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Have you ever tried to think less?It’s usually an invitation for a flood of thoughts to come rushing in. They might be thoughts about what you ate for breakfast or how behind you are on errands. They could even be thoughts about random things, like a video that you saw on TikTok last week or a funny t-shirt slogan. It’s unlikely, though, that your mind will suddenly go blank.

What about avoiding just a certain thought? Like thinking less about what you are going to do tomorrow or getting rid of self-critical thinking?

I imagine that, even if you weren’t thinking about those things before, your mind just went there.

This points to a common challenge in mental training: we know that thinking can be a distraction when we are trying to perform on the wall, but when we put work into thinking less or changing our thoughts, it actually increases thinking and distracts us more.

So what are our options when we feel overwhelmed by thinking?First, we can just let our thoughts happen. It’s counterintuitive, but sometimes giving our brain radical permission to go anywhere that it wants to go can make our thoughts less powerful. Simply allowing our thoughts to go where they would like to, for as long as they need to, can make them feel less compelling.

Exercises like Leaves on a Stream from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) can teach us about observing thoughts and recognizing when we are feeling overwhelmed by thinking.

Second, we can learn to direct our attention to other ways of experiencing the world, such as body sensations. Having simple cues that direct attention to what is happening in our body while we are climbing, such as breathing, our pace of climbing, our relaxation and tension on the wall, and where our eyes are looking, can give us something compelling to pay attention to on the wall.

Mental training is about so much more than just changing our thoughts. Thinking is one way of experiencing the world, but expanding our attention to include more than just thinking can expand our awareness and improve our mental performance on and off the wall.

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Something for NothingWe’ve all been there: we climb, fall, and get frustrated. The climbing and falling seem natural; they’re both actions that actually occur when we climb. Frustration is different. It’s a reaction to those actions and we have a choice in how we respond to them. Some essential learning is missing when we literally “fall short” of the achievement. Frustration behavior demonstrates that we don’t value learning about why we fell. We want the achievement without doing the necessary work. We want something for nothing.

Understanding what we value helps shed light on frustration behavior. Do we value achievement or learning? If we value learning, then we’d be curious about what to change in our next effort. We’d be interested in knowing what we could do differently so we don’t fall the next time. There’d be no impetus to get frustrated because what we want most is to learn what caused us to fall.

Valuing the achievement puts us at odds with outcomes that fall short of our expectations. We expect to progress and get frustrated when we don’t. In this case we value the achievement more than the learning.

Mind the GapA gap is created between the outcome—the fall—and what we expected to occur. Frustration fills that gap and interrupts the flow of our attention. Our attention is focused on an illusory reality of what we wished would’ve occurred instead of reality. No learning happens until that gap closes and our attention is allowed to flow toward what actually occurred.

Climbers may say they do value learning, and that frustration actually motivates them to learn. This is the “kicking and screaming” approach to motivation. They have to be kicked by their egos, and they scream, resisting learning as long as possible. This is an example of a powerless life; we’re upset because we didn’t get the outcome we wanted. We’re victims wanting sympathy for our failed efforts. I don’t think any of us want to live such lives once we investigate this approach more deeply.

So what’s responsible for frustration behavior? Why would we behave this way? The answer comes from understanding our ego’s need for achievement. The ego has an essential need to feel valid and to have evidence to support its importance. It seeks achievements to gain such evidence. The ego causes frustration behavior because the outcomes we create fall short of its expectations. The ego may not expect to succeed on a climb, but it will expect to make progress to validate its importance.

Making the ShiftValuing learning helps us shift beyond the limitations of the ego. Curiosity keeps our attention in the moment. There’s no gap between the outcomes we create and our desire to learn from those outcomes. Our attention flows seamlessly from outcome to learning with no interruption.

We can find balance between valuing achievement and learning. We simply focus our attention appropriately. We do this by being clear about what the goal is and being flexible with how and when it’s achieved. We value the achievement because we know what we’ve learned is being tested. We allow our attention to flow toward clearly identifying what the goal is. This gives us vision to help direct how we’ll practice and learn. We value the learning by committing full attention to the practices we’ve identified that are required for achieving the goal. We allow our attention to flow toward the stress and we’re flexible in how and when it guides our learning.

Perhaps the most difficult thing to learn is making the shift in our behavior so our attention can flow. It takes time to welcome stressors we experience and curiously dissect them. Having a reminder for frustration behavior helps us stop using it and shifts our attention toward curiosity. We want something for nothing when we get frustrated, but when we stay curious and focused in the moment, the experience will guide us to the learning.

Practice Tip: The Happy OptionFeeling frustrated is an unhappy option we choose in reaction to outcomes we don’t like. Rather, choose the happy option by being curious about why you fell. Curiosity helps your attention flow as needed.

Follow this process on a climb that is challenging and where you’re likely to fall:

Accountability: Before you climb, tell your partner that you’ll have to give him/her specific info about why you fell.
Behavior observation: When you fall, notice any frustration, upset, or disappointment. Then, close the gap; shift your attention to curiosity.
Partner feedback: Reflect on your effort and identify what you did well and what you still need to learn. Be specific, especially reflecting on that moment where you fell. Did you fall because of your body or your mind? What thoughts were in your mind at that moment? Did they cause you to let go?

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What do you hear when you hear the words “self compassion”?When I talk to climbers about self-compassion, they often think that I’m telling them to go easy on themselves- to stop when they are having a hard time rather than putting in the effort to achieve their inspiring goals. They envision self-compassion as something that prompts us to sit on the couch rather than complete training sessions, back off of challenging sections when we start to get nervous, and avoid anything that might bring up stress.

In Fierce Self-Compassion, Kristin Neff shares that self-compassion is not something that makes us weak or less effective; in fact, it is a motivating force. Neff describes the two sides of self-compassion: tender self-compassion, which is offering acceptance and comfort when times are hard, and fierce self-compassion, which prompts us to self-advocate and gives us the energy to take care of our needs.

In the infographic below, the balance of tender and fierce self-compassion is illustrated by two “mama bears” who are caring for their young cubs. As you explore the infographic, consider how it might be a different understanding of self-compassion than what you’ve previously considered.

Infographic Link: KN_SYW_Fierce-map.pdf (self-compassion.org)

How might you find a balance of tender and fierce self-compassion in your climbing? In your life outside of climbing?

To learn more about fierce self-compassion and Neff’s work, visit Fierce Self-Compassion by Kristin Neff

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Crazy IdeasBurt Rutan was an aerospace engineer who had a revolutionary idea in 1994: build a reusable space ship with private funds. This was before SpaceX and all that’s happened in the private arena in the past decade, an era when NASA headed the United States’ space exploration. His idea seemed crazy at the time, but Burt knew something about ideas. He said that “Revolutionary ideas come from nonsense. If an idea is truly a breakthrough, then the day before it was discovered, it must have been considered crazy or nonsense or both—otherwise it wouldn’t be a breakthrough.” Finally, ten years later, in 2004, Burt’s crazy idea created a breakthrough. He built SpaceShipOne with private funds. It flew into space, returned to Earth, and flew back into space within a two-week period, using 80% of its original vehicle hardware.

The book Abundance outlines crazy thinkers to make a case for an abundant future for the world. The authors say that some ideas are crazy and don’t work. But, that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t occur. Rather, they are necessary for coming up with ideas that actually do work. Some crazy ideas will be failures; some will be successes. We never know beforehand which they’ll be.

Type 1 & 2 ThinkersThe authors say that most people aren’t such thinkers. Rather, they are two other types of thinkers. Type 1 thinkers are afraid of mistakes. They see failure as shameful, so they’re risk averse. Type 2 thinkers are afraid of losing out on opportunities. What’s shameful for them is letting others gain the glory of a new idea while they lose out. They fear loss of reputation. The authors suggest that it’s better to be type 2 thinkers because seizing opportunities creates more abundance in the world.

However, both types of thinkers are fear-based, with outcomes tied to their identity and worth. They feel worthwhile when they succeed because they have evidence to prove it. Likewise, when they fail, they have evidence to prove they’re failures.

A New TypeNeither of these types value the struggle. I’d suggest that we can add type 3 thinkers, those who don’t fear failure or don’t fear losing out on opportunities. Type 3 thinkers don’t need evidence to prove their worth. They separate how they feel about themselves from the outcomes they create. They are love-based in their approach to new ideas. Without being concerned about making mistakes or protecting their reputations, they’re able to relax into the stressful moment, and remain curious about what they’ll find there.

Type 1 thinkers rarely push themselves in climbing. They think making mistakes devalues their worth so they protect themselves ruthlessly. Fear keeps them in their comfort zones and they don’t progress. Type 2 thinkers push themselves so they can seize opportunities before others do. Fear drives them to compete with others. The whole process of climbing becomes a means to an end for getting evidence of their worth and protecting their reputations.

Type 3 thinkers aren’t concerned about making mistakes, losing out on opportunities, or protecting their reputations. They think about crazy ideas and then take action, sometimes failing and sometimes creating breakthroughs that push our sport forward.

Photo by Laura Cleffmann on UnsplashClimbers like Lynn Hill who free climbed the Nose of El Capitan in Yosemite Valley, California are examples of type 3 thinkers. It took her several days to achieve her goal. Other routes on El Cap had been free climbed in multi-day efforts, so what Lynn did wasn’t unusual. What was unusual was that she was a woman. Men didn’t expect a woman to be the first to free climb the Nose. Then, Lynn had a crazy idea of climbing the Nose in one day, which she succeeded on a year later. Now, many climbers have climbed routes on El Cap in a day, following Lynn’s lead.

Tony Yaniro is another example of a type 3 thinker. He established Grand Illusion (5.13c), a difficult trad route in California, which was almost a full number grade higher than other routes established at the time. Tony had a crazy idea about training. He built crack machines so he could practice at home and was criticized for “training too much.” Now, climbers see the importance of training and follow his lead.

Another example of a type 3 thinker is Ray Jardine. He invented Camming devices and the hang-dog tactic in the 1970s. Ray was an engineer who had crazy ideas about protecting cracks in new ways. He designed spring-loaded devices (Friends) that would expand in cracks, making them easier to protect. He also had a crazy idea about working on free climbing routes. Climbers would lower to the ground after each fall in the 1970s. Ray developed a tactic, now known as hang-dogging, hanging on the rope after a fall so he could continue to work on the route. Then he took his Friends and hang-dog tactic to the difficult crack climb called Phoenix, free-climbing it in 1977; one of the first 5.13s in Yosemite.

What type of thinker do we want to be? I’d encourage all of us to think of as many crazy ideas as we can and act on them. Some will be failures and some will be breakthroughs. We can’t have breakthroughs without failures. If we can eliminate our fear of failure and fear of diminished reputations, we’re free to love the struggle of turning crazy ideas into breakthroughs. That sounds like a lot more fun.

Practice Tip: Think Divergently; Think ConvergentlyThink divergently to determine the breadth of the problem, then think convergently to bring those ideas into a breakthrough plan.

Divergent thinking: Define the problem. Look at all the interrelated issues, obstacles, and opportunities associated with it. It’s okay to think of crazy ideas. Example: confidence in competitions.
Define it: I lack confidence when I climb at competitions.
Issues: I don’t like climbing in front of others; I feel like others expect me to perform well and I’m afraid I won’t; pressure of competition makes me fear failing; I’m not sure if I’ll be mentally prepared.
Obstacles: Lack of mental strength to stay calm
Opportunities: Learn how expectations, failure, and pressure can make me a better competitor.
Convergent thinking: Find ways to integrate and synthesize the information you’ve discovered above into a clear plan that can create a breakthrough.
Plan: Learn exactly what the tasks are in climbing; learn exactly what I need to focus on to perform those tasks well; practice focusing my attention on those tasks.

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Our ApproachIn my last e-Lesson, I discussed the importance of how we approach our climbing goals. When we consider what we want to learn from a route and pay attention to our process, we are more likely to feel fulfilled in its accomplishment. This fulfillment creates sustainable motivation and allows our climbing to fuel positive change in all areas of our lives. Today, I’d like to share the story of a climber in our community who inspires me to be intentional about the path that I take towards sending.

Value ReconnectionIn the short film Ecopoint, my friend Sofie Paulus talks about the way that she allows her work as an ecologist to inform her climbing, and how this allows her to live by her values as she projects challenging routes.

Sofie realized that there was a disconnect between her values as a climate activist and the travel-intensive nature of climbing. She decided to set a goal that would be more aligned with her values: to complete a hard project that she traveled to by bike and on foot, rather than traveling by car or plane. Accomplishing the goal wasn’t easy- Sofie would arrive at the project with tired legs and still have to execute moves at her limit. When she accomplished the goal, though, Sofie shared that the fulfillment came not just from clipping the chains, but also from the way that she approached the goal in the first place.

Reflection Question:Sofie’s journey can teach us all about the importance of approaching a goal in a meaningful way and taking small steps to live by our values as we climb. As you watch Sofie’s film, notice your reaction. Are you inspired by her approach? Do you notice that you feel rushed to accomplish goals that matter to you or find excuses for why it is challenging for you to live by your values and work towards your climbing goals?

What would it mean for you to take small steps towards approaching your goals in a meaningful way?

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Hueco TanksI remember Hueco Tanks, Texas in the early 1990s, climbing and training at Todd Skinner’s “Training Camp.” He’d modified his house into a training center and enjoyed hosting climbers from around the world. We could train and explore widely; it was before the current restrictions at Hueco were established. We also explored widely in our conversations about training. I’ve forgotten most of those conversations, however I distinctly remember one thing Todd said: “The benefit of being powerful is knowing you’re powerful.”

It’s interesting how we remember specific things people say, but forget almost everything else. We tend to remember things that shock us, surprise us, or that we don’t expect. We hold certain mental conceptions. We awaken when others say things that shock those conceptions, as long as we remain open to learning from them.

Photo by Mike Kotsch on UnsplashKnowing is a Mental QualityI wondered what Todd meant by his statement. It seemed a bit confusing using the word “powerful” twice in the same sentence. It caused me to stop and think, to challenge my conception of what being powerful meant. It’s taken many years of studying mental training to understand such distinctions.

“Knowing” is a mental quality. Physical power is important, but if we don’t believe we’re powerful, then we’ll lack the ability to apply our physical power. Knowing we’re powerful means our mental power has “caught up” with our physical power. We’ve experienced ourselves applying our physical power enough times that the mind now believes that we’re as powerful as the body demonstrates it is.

Born of the 4th of JulyI experienced this recently while working on at route at the Obed in Tennessee: Born on the 4th of July. I’d been doing hang-board training for four months; my physical power was increasing. I was holding onto the small crux crimps of Born on the 4th longer than I had previously. However, I noticed my mind not believing that this was possible and letting go when I might have been able to continue. I needed to know I was powerful in order to apply all the physical power I’d developed.

We need to give ourselves room to believe in ourselves to close the gap between our physical and mental power. How do we do this? We have a tendency to think in chunks that are too big. We see a series of difficult moves and think about all of them. Instead, think in small chunks. Focus only on the next move. Maintain eye contact on the hold. Doing this keeps our attention focused there. I’ve seen climbers, especially in bouldering competitions, look down while their bodies are still moving upward. This demonstrates that they’ve already decided they can’t succeed in making the move. Looking down directs their attention away from upward engagement.

Don’t quit until you quit. Meaning, don’t stop exerting effort until your body fails. When something unexpected occurs, like still being attached to the rock, use it as an opportunity for your mind to learn. You’ve learned that something you didn’t expect was possible. The benefit of remaining open is you allow your attention to remain in the moment. The effectiveness of engaging the body diminishes when your attention isn’t focused there. As a result, you’ll limit the mind’s ability to catch up with the physical body and you’ll have wasted a lot of time doing physical training. And, you may never know you’re powerful.

Practice Tip: What Now?It’s important to have an understanding of the entire route or boulder problem prior to engaging it. However, once you’ve done such thinking, bring your attention to the next small chuck of rock in front of you.

Ask yourself, “What now?” This simple question shifts your mind to the now, the current small chunk of climbing that needs your attention.

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A Little More EffortIn 2018, I went on a climbing trip to Red Rock with my friend Jessie to work on the Great Red Roof. On the fifth and final day of the trip without rest days, I found myself falling lower and lower on the route. I was frustrated. Before the trip, I had been training hard and had made significant progress during my first two days of climbing. I thought that, with a little more effort, I would be able to send on this trip. After another lowpoint, I lowered off the climb and said – out loud “but this approach has ALWAYS worked before!”

Jessie cocked his head and looked at me with curiosity. He knew what approach I meant. He had witnessed my no-rest-days approach to climbing trips, sieging routes until I sent or was forced to stop climbing because of injury or a deep hole of fatigue. “What do you mean by the word ‘worked,’ Lor?”

Making It WorkHis question stopped me in my tracks. What did I mean by the word ‘worked’? Did I mean that I had sent the route? I often had, eventually, sent the route, but not without battling against my body to get to the top. Not without alienating partners and ditching commitments that were important to people that I cared about.

In that moment, sitting at the base of a route that I had chosen because it was fun and inspiring, because I thought that I had something to learn from it, I realized that I had forgotten that the way I approached a goal mattered.

It was too late to go back on that trip to change my mindset and reverse my decisions. I was able to refocus on enjoying the rest of the trip with Jessie and assess how I wanted to approach the route in the future.

The Great Red Roof, Red Rocks NVA New GoalThe next year, when I returned, I set myself a new goal. I wanted to send the route, but I decided that it would only be a success if I sent while taking care of my body. I would need to find a balance between projecting the route and spending time on other things that mattered to me, and being able to enjoy my time out with friends rather than getting frustrated. The result was something that my previous self would never have believed: In five sessions–the same number of sessions as the year before–I was able to send the route. Not only that, but my body felt healthy. I spent the days out laughing with some of my favorite partners, and I was able to spend time investing in new work projects.

Hiking out from the Great Red Roof after my last day on the route, I realized that, had I sent the year before, I would have been too exhausted to enjoy the experience. I also wouldn’t have been able to apply the learning lessons from the route to future projects.

Practice Tip: Markers for SuccessThink of an inspiring, end-result goal that you want to achieve in the next year. Consider what you might want to learn from pursuing this goal.

Do you want to learn a new skill that the goal requires?
Have the motivation to care for your body because the goal requires you to be in top physical shape?
Deepen relationships with others who are working towards that goal?
Use this motivation to answer the question “How do I want to achieve the goal?”

This will help you set markers of success. The key here is that the achievement of the goal is a “success” if you are able to fulfill the intention of how you wanted to achieve the goal. Consider how this helps you decide on the small steps that you will need to take to achieve the goal.

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Translating ConfidenceI worked with a climbing team recently to help them improve their mental game. I assigned them the task of committing completely to stopping or moving; stopping to rest, or committing completely to climbing once they decided to go. Some of them committed more completely than others did. I mentioned this when we debriefed the drill. I asked them what they could do to commit more completely. One person said: “I need to climb more confidently.” Climbing confidently remains a concept that isn’t helpful unless we can translate it into actions. So, I asked the student: “What will you actually do to climb more confidently?”

We shift mental concepts into bodily actions by identifying specific ways we’ll engage the body. We can start by visualizing what climbing confidently looks like. Videos of elite climbers, who demonstrate climbing confidently, are helpful. Take, for instance, Margo Hayes’s success on La Rambla, a 5.15a in Spain in 2017. Take a moment to watch this one-minute video clip of her ascent. What do we see that she does that demonstrates climbing confidently?

Tangible ActionsIf we dissect her effort we begin to see tangible actions that she’s doing, if we know what to look for. Taking action is a body task, which includes four elements for engaging it. We utilize the acronym BERP to remember them: Breathing, Eyes, Relaxation, and Posture, which also includes how we move the body.

B: An energizing breath, that’s deep and intentional, helps us climb confidently. We inhale deeply and force the air out when we exhale.

E: Our eyes help us direct and focus our attention. Maintaining eye contact on holds helps us do this. We can also “glare” at the holds if we need a bit more intention. We achieve this glare by contracting our forehead and eyebrows a bit. Doing this heightens the intensity; it demonstrates confidence about the actions we’re doing and directs our attention more completely to the holds.

R: Using energy efficiently requires relaxing muscles that aren’t needed and engaging ones that are needed. We can experiment with expanding our upper body to feel more engaged. We feel more confident by expanding our chest and shoulders.

P: Many women like doing the “Wonder Woman Power Pose” to feel confident. Elevating the head and rolling the shoulders back helps us maintain proper posture. Next, we engage the body deliberately, making precise movements, even dead-pointing to holds, to demonstrate complete engagement. We climb confidently by pressing our feet into holds and grabbing holds deliberately with our hands.

To climb confidently requires us to change what we do with these BERP elements. Exaggerating them helps us experience full engagement of the body. We see these elements when we look at how elite athletes climb. Watch Margo’s video again and notice what she does with each of these elements. Then, emulate them.

Practice Tip: BERP for ConfidenceDon’t let mental concepts about climbing languish in your mind. Shift them into the body by taking action. Utilize the BERP acronym to do this. Build confidence by doing the BERP elements deliberately, even exaggerating them.

B (Breathing): Inhale deeply and exhale more forcefully.

E (Eyes): Glare at climbing holds by contracting your forehead and eyebrows. Put on a “serious” face while maintaining eye contact on holds.

R (Relaxation): Experiment with expanding your upper body to feel more engaged. Expand your chest and shoulders to gain an expanded sense of relaxed concentration.

P (Posture): Elevate your head and roll your shoulders back and down to maintain proper posture. Then, press your feet into holds and grab holds deliberately with your hands. Use a bit more energy than needed to exaggerate how you engage the holds.

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https://warriorsway.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/eLesson_2022-1219_2017-1009.mp3La semana pasada oí un escalador criticar su rendimiento de escalada después de caer justo por debajo de la parte superior de una vía de 5.12. Hablaba de perder la posición del pie, lo que le hizo dudar y caer. Dijo que si hubiera escalado a la perfección, poniendo el pie preciso en la presa, habría triunfado. Comencé a preguntarme qué significaba “escalar a la perfección”. ¿Existe algo perfecto en el mundo y si es así. ¿qué es?

Los perfeccionistas exigen una actuación perfecta y rechazan cualquier cosa que esté por debajo de tal rendimiento. ¿Cómo es el rendimiento perfecto? Colocamos los pies, empujamos nuestras piernas, agarramos con nuestras manos y hacemos miles de otras cosas al escalar. Consideremos el escalador 5.12. Si lo hace todo “lo suficientemente bien”, entonces tendrá éxito en una vía de 5.12. ¿Qué sucederá en 5.14 a los escaladores de 5.12? Estos los escaladores en el 5.14 no lo hacen todo “lo suficientemente bien”. Tienen más habilidad y pueden colocar mejor los pies, empujar las piernas, etc. más perfectamente. Pero, ¿qué pasa con el rezonamiento de la perfección, cuando el escalador escala una vía de 5.15? Y más aún. Los futuros escaladores de 5.16 podrán hacer un trabajo perfecto como el de escalar vías de 5.12. Esto demuestra que la percepción del resultado final de escalar a la perfección es defectuosa.

Photo by Ben Kitching on UnsplashNos quedamos atascados cuando nos fijamos en los resultados finales que nunca se pueden entender completamente. Los objetos físicos y los esfuerzos no pueden ser perfectos, porque no hay cosas en su estado final como resultado de una cosa individual. ¿Puede un objeto como una silla ser perfecta? No importa cuán bien se fabrique, tendrá defectos. ¿Nuestros esfuerzos pueden ser perfectos? No importa lo bien que nos desempeñemos, siempre podemos refinar cómo escalamos.

El perfeccionismo es una enfermedad del ego, que nunca se satisface. Los resultados que creamos típicamente no alcanzan las expectativas del ego. Así pues con la necesidad del ego de sentirse validado, basado en el logro de metas, tememos emprender medidas. El perfeccionismo y el ego nos impiden emprender una ascensión a menos que estemos seguros de que podemos alcanzar un rendimiento perfecto. Nos hacen dudar a hacer cualquier cosa, porque todo tiene que ser perfecto.

Una de las mejores sugerencias para un perfeccionista es hacerlo todo mal. En este caso, no estamos preocupados para alcanzar un resultado perfecto. Aceptamos una calidad más pobre a cambio de una acción más rápida. La acción es clave. Es necesario aprender y ganar experiencia incremental para llegar a lo que uno podría considerar como un perfecto rendimiento de escalada.

Centrarnos en los procesos puede llevarnos más allá del perfeccionismo que nos demanda el ego. No vivimos en el vacío. Somos parte de un mundo más amplio y los procesos nos ayudan a integrarnos con él. Procesos, como descansar y pensar, nos conectan con una vía. No podemos descansar en el vacío, necesitamos agarrarnos en las presas que forman parte de la vía. Incluso el pensamiento no puede hacerse en el vacío. Recordamos las experiencias que hemos tenido en vías anteriores y pensar en cómo las comparamos con la vía que tenemos por delante.

Nos acercarnos a la perfección en un proceso que nos ayuda a aprender. Pasamos por un proceso de evaluación de nuestras fuerzas y limitaciones actuales, las comparamos con el desafío que representa la vía. La forma en que nos integramos con la vía representa la perfección del proceso, porque la roca refleja perfectamente nuestro nivel actual de habilidad. Así pasamos por un proceso que determina lo que hacemos bien y lo que todavía tenemos que aprender.

El cambio de la perfección del resultado final a la perfección del proceso nos permite estar atentos al proceso de aprendizaje que estamos desarrollando. Nos damos cuenta de lo bien que lo estamos haciendo, como el movimiento. ¿Qué tan bien estamos colocando nuestros pies, nos mantenemos relajados, nuestros movimientos son continuos, etc.? Tales observaciones nos dan información que podemos utilizar de inmediato para escalar en la roca de manera más perfecta, sin necesidad de satisfacer el ego de llegar a un estado final perfecto.

¿Existe la perfección en el mundo?. Es una forma perfecta en que partes aparentemente individuales se integran y se mezclan como un proceso. A veces ese proceso revela que nos faltan habilidades y nos caemos; otras veces el proceso revela que aprendimos más habilidades y lo logramos. De cualquier manera el proceso de mezcla funciona perfectamente, dada nuestra habilidad actual y el desafío de la ruta. Podemos escalar perfectamente ahora si somos conscientes de lo bien que la escalada y el escalador se integran. Esa integración revela un proceso perfecto que nos da oportunidades de aprender.

Consejo de práctica: Adaptarse e integraseCada esfuerzo de escalada revela lo bien que lo estás realizando. La roca es estática; eres tú quien te adaptas. Por lo tanto, no luches contra la roca, adáptate a lo que la escalada requiere en vez de resistirte a ella. A continuación, te centras en el proceso para ayudar a integrarte con ella.

Uno de los principales procesos que puedes hacer para integrarte con la roca es relajarse. La relajación le alinea con la gravedad para que puedas moverse eficientemente. Supervisa el nivel de tensión necesario para los movimientos. Luego, relájate en las presas, baja los talones y relájate de cualquier tensión innecesaria. Crearas un proceso perfecto de adaptación a lo que la escalada requiere y luego te integras con ella.

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https://warriorsway.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/eLesson_2022-1219_2017-1009.mp3La semaine dernière, j’ai entendu un grimpeur critiquer sa performance après avoir chuté juste en dessous du relai d’un 7b. Il a expliqué qu’il avait manqué un placement de pied, ce qui l’a fait hésiter et tomber. Il a dit que s’il avait grimpé parfaitement, en posant son pied précisément sur la prise, alors il aurait réussi. J’ai commencé à me demander ce que signifiait grimper parfaitement. La perfection existe-t-elle dans le monde, et si oui, qu’est-ce que c’est ?

Les perfectionnistes veulent une performance parfaite et rejettent tout ce qui ne correspond pas à cette performance. À quoi ressemble une performance parfaite ? Nous posons nos pieds, poussons avec nos jambes, saisissons avec nos mains, et faisons des milliers d’autres choses pour grimper. Considérons le grimpeur de 7b. S’il fait tout “suffisamment bien”, alors il réussira la voie en 7b. Que se passe-t-il lorsque des grimpeurs de 8b escaladent la voie en 7b ? Les grimpeurs en 8b ne font pas tout “suffisamment bien”. Ils ont plus d’habileté et peuvent placer les pieds, pousser avec les jambes, etc. plus parfaitement. Mais, qu’arrive-t-il à notre compréhension de la perfection quand des grimpeurs de 9a escaladent la voie ? Et, nous ne pouvons pas nous arrêter là non plus. Certains futurs grimpeurs de 10a pourraient faire un meilleur travail en grimpant la voie en 7b. Cela montre que la perception d’un résultat final de l’escalade parfaite est bancale.

Photo by Ben Kitching on UnsplashNous sommes bloqués lorsque nous nous attardons sur des résultats finaux qui ne peuvent jamais être entièrement compris. Les objets physiques ou nos efforts ne peuvent pas être parfaits, parce qu’il n’existe pas d’état final de résultat pour chaque chose individuelle. Un objet comme une chaise peut-il être parfait ? Quelle que soit la qualité de sa fabrication, il aura des défauts. Nos efforts peuvent-ils jamais être parfaits ? Peu importe notre performance, nous pouvons toujours affiner notre manière de grimper.

Le perfectionnisme est une maladie de l’ego, lequel n’est jamais satisfait. Les résultats que nous obtenons ne répondent généralement pas aux attentes de l’ego. Si l’on ajoute à cela le besoin de l’ego de se sentir validé, en fonction de la réalisation de ses objectifs, nous avons peur d’agir. Le perfectionnisme et l’ego nous empêchent de nous engager dans une voie, à moins que nous ne soyons certains de pouvoir créer une performance parfaite. Ils nous font avoir peur de faire quoi que ce soit, car tout doit être parfait.

L’une des meilleures suggestions pour un perfectionniste est de tout faire manière imparfaite. Nous ne nous préoccupons pas de créer un résultat parfait. Nous acceptons une qualité imparfaite en échange d’une action plus rapide. L’action est la clé. Elle est nécessaire pour apprendre et acquérir une expérience progressive qui peut réellement conduire à ce que l’on pourrait considérer comme une performance d’escalade parfaite.

Se concentrer sur les processus peut nous permettre de dépasser le perfectionnisme de l’ego. Nous ne vivons pas dans un vide. Nous faisons partie d’un monde plus vaste et les processus nous aident à nous y intégrer. Les processus, comme se reposer et réfléchir, nous relient à la voie. Nous ne pouvons pas nous reposer dans le vide ; nous devons saisir les prises qui sont des parties d’une voie. Même la réflexion ne peut se faire dans le vide. Nous nous souvenons des expériences que nous avons vécues durant les voies précédentes et nous réfléchissons à la manière de nous appliquer à la voie qui nous attend.

Aborder la perfection comme un processus nous aide à apprendre. Nous passons par un processus d’évaluation de nos forces et de nos limites actuelles, et de leur comparaison avec le défi représenté par la voie. La façon dont nous nous intégrons à la voie représente la perfection du processus, car la roche nous renvoie un miroir parfait de notre niveau de compétence actuel. Ensuite, nous pouvons passer par un processus visant à déterminer ce que nous avons bien fait et ce que nous devons encore apprendre.

Passer de la perfection du résultat final à la perfection du processus nous permet d’être attentifs au déroulement du processus d’apprentissage que nous traversons. Nous remarquons la qualité de nos différents processus, comme le mouvement. Dans quelle mesure plaçons-nous nos pieds, restons-nous détendus, bougeons-nous de manière continue, etc ? De telles observations nous donnent des informations que nous pouvons utiliser immédiatement pour fusionner plus parfaitement avec le rocher, sans le besoin de l’ego d’arriver à un état final parfait.

Il y a une forme de perfection dans le monde. C’est la façon parfaite dont des parties apparemment individuelles s’intègrent et fusionnent ensemble dans un processus. Parfois, ce processus révèle que nous manquons de compétences et nous tombons ; d’autres fois, le processus révèle que nous avons appris de nouvelles compétences et nous réussissons. Dans tous les cas, le processus de fusion s’est déroulé parfaitement, compte tenu de nos compétences actuelles et du défi de la voie. Nous pouvons grimper parfaitement maintenant si nous sommes conscients de la façon dont l’escalade et le grimpeur s’intègrent. Cette intégration révèle un processus parfait qui nous donne des opportunités d’apprendre.

Conseil de pratique : Plier et FusionnerChaque effort en escalade révèle la qualité de votre performance. Le rocher est statique ; c’est vous qui vous pliez. Par conséquent, ne vous battez pas contre le rocher ; pliez-vous à ce que l’escalade exige au lieu d’y résister. Ensuite, concentrez-vous sur les processus qui vous aideront à fusionner avec lui.

L’un des principaux processus que vous pouvez mettre en œuvre pour fusionner avec le rocher est de vous détendre. La détente vous permet de vous aligner sur la gravité et de vous déplacer efficacement. Contrôlez le niveau de tension nécessaire pour les différents mouvements. Ensuite, relâchez votre prise, abaissez vos talons et relâchez toute tension inutile. Vous créerez un processus parfait en vous pliant à ce que l’escalade exige puis en fusionnant avec elle.

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https://warriorsway.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/eLesson_2022-1219_2017-1009.mp3Semana passada eu ouvi um escalador criticar sua escalada após cair logo antes do topo de uma via de 8º grau. Ele falava sobre ter errado uma colocação de pé, que causou sua hesitação e a queda. Ele disse que se ele tivesse escalado perfeitamente, colocando os pés no lugar certo da agarra, então ele teria tido sucesso. Eu comecei a pensar o que significava “escalar perfeitamente”. Existe tal coisa como a perfeição no mundo? Se sim, o que é?

Os perfeccionistas exigem um desempenho perfeito e rejeitam qualquer coisa que seja aquém dessa performance. Qual a aparência de um desempenho perfeito? Colocamos nossos pés, empurramos com as pernas, agarramos com as mãos e fazemos milhares de outras coisas para escalar. Consideremos o escalador de oitavo grau. Se ele fizer tudo “bem o suficiente”, então ele terá sucesso no oitavo grau. O que acontece quando escaladores de décimo grau escalam um oitavo? Eles não fazem tudo “bem o suficiente”. Eles têm mais habilidades e podem colocar os pés, empurrar com pernas, etc., mais perfeitamente. Mas, o que acontece com a nossa compreensão da perfeição quando escaladores de 12º grau escalam a via? E não podemos parar por aí. Alguns futuros escaladores de 13º poderiam fazer um melhor trabalho escalando o oitavo. Isso mostra que uma percepção de resultado final de escalar perfeitamente é defeituosa.

Photo by Ben Kitching on UnsplashFicamos presos quando nos deparamos com resultados finais que nunca podem ser totalmente compreendidos. Objetos físicos ou nossos esforços não podem ser perfeitos, porque não existe um estado final de resultado final para qualquer coisa individual. Um objeto como uma cadeira nunca pode ser perfeito? Não importa o quão bem é fabricado, ele terá falhas. Será que nossos esforços nunca serão perfeitos? Não importa o quão bem nós executemos, sempre podemos refinar como escalamos.

O perfeccionismo é uma doença do ego, que nunca está satisfeito. Os resultados que criamos geralmente ficam aquém das expectativas do ego. Combinando isso com a necessidade do ego de se validar, com base na realização de metas, e ficamos com medo de tomar ações. O perfeccionismo e o ego nos impedem de realizar uma escalada, a menos que tenhamos certeza de que podemos criar uma performance perfeita. Eles nos fazem ter medo de fazer qualquer coisa, porque tudo tem que ser perfeito.

Uma das melhores sugestões para um perfeccionista é fazer tudo mal. Não nos preocupamos com um resultado perfeito. Aceitamos uma qualidade menor em troca de ações mais rápidas. A ação é a chave. É necessária para aprender e ganhar experiência incremental que realmente pode levar ao que se poderia considerar como uma performance de escalada perfeita.

Concentrar-se nos processos pode nos mover além do perfeccionismo do ego. Não vivemos no vácuo. Fazemos parte de um mundo mais amplo e os processos nos ajudam a nos integrar com ele. Processos, como descansar e pensar, nos conectam com uma via. Não podemos descansar no vácuo; precisamos usar as agarras que são parte de uma via. Nem mesmo o pensamento pode ser realizado no vácuo. Recordamos as experiências que tivemos em vias anteriores, e pensamos em como nos aplicamos à via diante de nós.

Abordar a perfeição como um processo nos ajuda a aprender. Passamos por um processo de avaliação de nossas forças e limitações atuais e como elas se comparam ao desafio representado pela via. A forma como nos integramos com a via representa a perfeição do processo, porque a rocha reflete de volta para nós, de forma perfeita, nosso nível atual de habilidade. Então, podemos passar por um processo para determinar o que fizemos bem e o que ainda precisamos aprender.

Mudar nosso foco desde a perfeição por resultado final para a perfeição por processo nos permite estar atentos ao processo de aprendizagem em desenvolvimento pelo qual estamos passando. Observamos o quão bem realizamos vários processos, como a movimentação. Quão bem posicionamos nossos pés, ficando relaxados, movendo-se continuamente, etc.? Tais observações nos dão informações que podemos usar imediatamente para nos misturarmos com a rocha mais perfeitamente, sem a necessidade do ego de chegar a algum estado final perfeito.

Existe tal coisa como a perfeição no mundo. É a maneira perfeita em que as peças individuais se integram e se misturam como um processo. Às vezes, esse processo revela que nos faltam habilidades e caímos; outras vezes, o processo revela que aprendemos mais habilidades e conseguimos. De qualquer forma, o processo de mistura ocorreu perfeitamente, dada nossa habilidade atual e o desafio da via. Podemos escalar perfeitamente agora se percebemos o quão bem escalar e escalar integrar. Essa integração revela um processo perfeito que nos dá oportunidades de aprender.

Dica de prática: dobrar e misturarCada esforço na escalada revela o quão bem você está no desempenho. A rocha é estática; é você que se dobra. Portanto, não lute contra a rocha; dobre-se ao que a escalada exige em vez de resistir. Em seguida, concentre-se em processos para ajudá-lo a se misturar com ela.

Um dos principais processos que você pode fazer para se misturar com a rocha é relaxar. O relaxamento te alinha com a gravidade para que você possa se mover de forma eficiente. Monitorize o nível de tensão necessário para vários movimentos. Então, relaxe sua pegada, abaixe os calcanhares e relaxe qualquer tensão desnecessária. Você criará um processo perfeito, dobrando-se ao que a escalada exige e depois misturando-se com ela.

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https://warriorsway.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/eLesson_2022-1219_2017-1009.mp3Climbing PerfectlyLast week I overheard a climber critique his climbing performance after falling just below the top of a 5.12 route. He talked about missing a foot placement, which caused him to hesitate and fall. He said that if he would have climbed perfectly, by putting his foot precisely on the hold, then he would have succeeded. I began to wonder what it meant to “climb perfectly.” Is there such a thing as perfection in the world, and if so, what is it?

Perfectionists demand a perfect performance and reject anything that falls short of such a performance. What does a perfect performance look like? We place our feet, push with our legs, grab with our hands, and do thousands of other things to climb. Let’s consider the 5.12 climber. If he does everything “well enough,” then he’ll succeed on the 5.12 route. What happens when 5.14 climbers climb the 5.12 route? 5.14 climbers don’t do everything “well enough.” They have more skill and can place feet, push with legs, etc more perfectly. But, what happens to our understanding of perfection when 5.15 climbers climb the route? And, we can’t stop there either. Some future 5.16 climbers could do a better job climbing the 5.12 route. This shows that an end-result perception of climbing perfectly is flawed.

Photo by Ben Kitching on UnsplashEnd ResultsWe get stuck when we dwell on end-results that can never fully be understood. Physical objects or our efforts can’t be perfect, because there’s no such thing as a final end-result state for any individual thing. Can an object like a chair ever be perfect? No matter how well it’s manufactured, it’ll have flaws. Can our efforts ever be perfect? No matter how well we perform, we can always refine how we climb.

Perfectionism is a disease of the ego, which is never satisfied. The outcomes we create typically fall short of the ego’s expectations. Compound this with the ego’s need to feel validated, based on achieving goals, and we fear taking action. Perfectionism and the ego hold us back from engaging a climb, unless we’re certain we can create a perfect performance. They make us afraid to do anything, because everything has to be perfect.

One of the best suggestions for a perfectionist is to do everything poorly. We’re not worried about creating a perfect outcome. We accept poorer quality in exchange for quicker action. Action is key. It’s required for learning and gaining incremental experience that actually can lead to what one might consider as a perfect climbing performance.

Focus on the ProcessFocusing on processes can move us beyond ego perfectionism. We don’t live in a vacuum. We’re part of a wider world and processes help us integrate with it. Processes, like resting and thinking, connect us with a route. We can’t rest in a vacuum; we need to grab the holds that are part of a route. Even thinking can’t be done in a vacuum. We recall experiences we’ve had on previous routes, and think about how to apply ourselves to the route ahead of us.

Approaching perfection as a process helps us learn. We go through a process of evaluating our current strengths and limitations, and how they compare to the challenge represented by the route. How we integrate with the route represents process perfection, because the rock mirrors back to us perfectly our current level of skill. Then we can go through a process to determine what we did well and what we still need to learn.

Shifting from end-result perfection to process perfection allows us to be attentive to the unfolding learning process we’re going through. We notice how well we’re doing various processes, such as moving. How well are we placing our feet, staying relaxed, moving continuously, etc? Such observations give us information we can use immediately to blend with the rock more perfectly, without the ego’s need to arrive at some final perfect end state.

There is such a thing as perfection in the world. It’s the perfect way seemingly individual parts integrate and blend together as a process. Sometimes that process reveals that we lack skills and we fall off; other times the process reveals that we learned more skills and we succeed. Either way the process of blending occurred perfectly, given our current skill and the challenge of the route. We can climb perfectly now if we’re aware of how well climb and climber integrate. That integration reveals a perfect process that gives us opportunities to learn.

Practice Tip: Bend and BlendEach climbing effort reveals how well you’re performing. The rock is static; it’s you that bends. Therefore, don’t fight the rock; bend to what the climb requires instead of resisting it. Then, focus on processes to help you blend with it.

One of the main processes you can do to blend with the rock is to relax. Relaxation aligns you with gravity so you can move efficiently. Monitor the level of tension needed for various moves. Then, relax your grip, lower your heels, and relax any unneeded tension. You’ll create a perfect process by bending to what the climb requires and then blending with it.

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A Question Virginia Woolf asked, “What is the meaning of life?” and then added some insight, saying, “The great revelation had never come…Instead there were little daily miracles, illuminations, matches struck unexpectedly in the dark.”

When I ask that question, no great revelations come to me either, at least nothing definitive. There seems to be a cloudiness around possible answers.

Danny McCrackenOne thing that has been happening in my life lately is that my friends are dying. That seems natural when one is old; one’s friends are also old.

Two friends died within the last weeks. Danny McCracken, of North Carolina, died suddenly on November 22nd of a heart attack. He was 61. I had just visited him in mid-November. He had broken his leg earlier this year and was just getting back on the rock. One evening during our visit, he showed me photos of his family: father, mother, grandparents, uncles, aunts… “They’re all dead,” he told me. Now Danny has joined them.

Danny’s last text to me didn’t seem very profound at the time. Now I’m rereading it to try to add some meaning: “I’m going to be out of the house for a bit. You can let yourself in if you get there before me.” Danny is out of the house, and into another realm, for more than a bit. I let myself into his world and am grateful for it.

Shannon SteggAnother friend, Shannon Stegg, of Georgia, died on December 1st, found dead in his truck. He was 63. We don’t know the cause of death yet. We, along with Ralph Fickle, did the first ascent of Defective Sonar on Laurel Knob in North Carolina. It took us a couple years to finish the route. The predawn arrivals in the dark, the coffee on the Jetboil, the two-mile hike to the base… the walk out in the dark because we all forgot headlamps. We got to know each other well.

Little Daily MiraclesBut did I get closer to answering Virginia Woolf’s question through these and other life experiences? I must admit, I haven’t had any great revelations. It almost seems like the more I live and learn the less sure I am of the answer.

But I have had “little daily miracles.” Discussions with Danny, struggles on the rock with Shannon… These are part of the moments that make up my life. And yes, I guess they are illuminations, moments that brought joy to my path. How unexpected are they? Very. They took me off my planned path and put some curves in it, like walking out of Laurel Knob in the dark. We worked together to get out of there along the two-mile trail. Unexpected but illuminating.

The message isn’t clear, as it shouldn’t be. We try to figure out and add meaning for being alive, which is natural and needed. In the end, though, that meaning is something we need to make sense of life. We create it and use it to navigate. The message seems to be to live your life now, fully. Look around you at the people that make it up. Now, pay attention to them.

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No pelees contra la roca; encuentra la manera de combinarte con ella.

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Não lute contra a rocha; encontre uma maneira de se misturar a ela.

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Ne luttez pas contre le rocher ; trouvez un moyen de vous fondre en lui.

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Don’t fight the rock; find a way to blend with it.

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Are climbing and kayaking in any way alike?

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Investigar o treinamento mental é muito intrigante, pois, quanto mais nos aprofundamos, maneiras sutis de compreender e usar nossa atenção são reveladas.

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Investigating mental training is so intriguing because, as we dig into it, subtle ways of understanding and using our attention are revealed.

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Il est particulièrement fascinant d'étudier l'entraînement mental, car, à mesure que l'on creuse, de subtiles façons de comprendre et d'utiliser notre attention sont révélées.

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Investigar el entrenamiento mental es intrigante porque, a medida que profundizamos en él, se revelan formas sutiles de entender y usar nuestra atención.

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Don’t get rid of stress; get better at working with it.

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Les idées brillantes sont excellentes, mais elles doivent être tempérées par un processus de réflexion approfondi.

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Fazer um processo completo de pensamento/preparação nos ajuda a converter incógnitas em fatos conhecidos e nos ajuda a assumir os riscos apropriados.

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Hacer un proceso de pensamiento / preparación profunda nos ayuda a convertir las incógnitas en respuestas y nos ayuda a tomar riesgos apropiados.

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Doing a thorough thinking/preparation process helps us convert unknowns into knowns, and helps us take appropriate risks.

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How about some practical tools for improving your focus and concentration? How about one podcast episode that contains many of them? Enter Huberman Lab’s episode #88 on the Focus Toolkit.

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El problema no es elegir entre mejorar y el disfrutar. Nos permitimos cambiar entre el estrés y el confort.

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O problema não é escolher entre melhoria e divertimento. É permitir o nosso deslocamento entre o estresse e o conforto.

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Vous voulez plus de joie ? Engagez votre attention dans le corps, qui est toujours dans le moment présent.

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The problem isn’t choosing between improvement and enjoyment. It’s allowing ourselves to shift between stress and comfort.

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Can you do tangible practices that hardwire your brain over time to be happy?

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Uno de nuestros mayores retos en el entrenamiento mental sucede cuando estamos progresando rápidamente.

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One of our biggest challenges in mental training comes when we’re progressing quickly.

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Um dos maiores desafios no treinamento mental aparece quando estamos progredindo rapidamente.

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L'un de nos plus grands défis en matière d'entraînement mental survient lorsque nous progressons rapidement.

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You love what happens in your life, especially the events you tend to resist. Why would you want to love those?

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Se você quer ajudar, não aja como o herói que ajuda. Esteja consciente da quantidade de estresse que o outro está vivenciando, dê sugestões para diminuir o estresse se for necessário, e ajude a redirecionar a atenção à tarefa.

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If you want to provide help, don’t play the helpful hero. Be aware of how much stress the other is experiencing, make suggestions for diminishing stress if needed, and help redirect their attention to the task.

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Si deseas proporcionar ayuda, no juegue al héroe. Sé consciente de cuánto estrés está experimentando el otro, haz sugerencias para disminuir el estrés si es necesario y ayuda a re-dirigir su atención a la tarea.

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Si vous souhaitez apporter votre aide, ne jouez pas le rôle du héros serviable. Soyez conscient du niveau de stress de l'autre, faites des suggestions pour diminuer le stress si nécessaire et aidez à rediriger son attention vers la tâche.

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Do you think there’s a need to push back against the unending pursuit of being productive?

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We tend to think other people shouldn’t behave as they do and take it personally when they criticize us.

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Tendemos a pensar que las otras personas no deben comportarse como lo hacen y lo tomamos personalmente cuando nos critican.

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Nous avons tendance à penser que les autres ne devraient pas se comporter comme ils le font et à nous sentir personnellement visés lorsqu'ils nous critiquent.

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Temos a tendência de pensar que as outras pessoas não deveriam se comportar como elas se comportam e levar as críticas delas muito pessoalmente.

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What happens in the mind, doesn’t stay in the mind. It’s directed to and manifested in the body.

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Grande parte do treinamento mental tem a ver com a expansão da consciência. Ter favoritos e preferências interfere com esse processo.

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Much of mental training has to do with expanding awareness. Having favorites and preferences interferes with this process.

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Une grande partie de l'entraînement mental a trait au développement de la conscience. Avoir des favoris et des préférences interfère avec ce processus.

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Gran parte del entrenamiento mental tiene que ver con la expansión de la conciencia. Tener favoritos y preferencias interfiere en este proceso.

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Do you think that how you perceive the world is reality?

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Une part importante de la libération de l'esprit, pour qu'il puisse circuler (ndt: flow), consiste à trouver un juste milieu dans l'action.

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Uma parte importante de libertar a mente para que ela consiga fluir, é encontrar um caminho intermediário através da ação.

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An important part of freeing the mind, so it can flow, requires finding a middle way through action.

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Una fase importante en el proceso de liberar la mente es encontrar una vía intermedia a través de la acción.

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Test your ability to classify 10 news statements as either factual or opinion.

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Are you practicing or applying?

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Pratiquez-vous ou appliquez-vous ?

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¿Estás practicando (aprendiendo la vía) o intentando (haciendo un intento de encadenamiento)?

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Você está praticando ou aplicando?

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How many times have you felt like you had to choose between achievement and learning-based motivation?

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La capacité d'observer le désir de l'esprit d'obtenir certaines réponses est une partie essentielle de l'entraînement mental.

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La capacidad de observar el deseo de la mente con ciertas respuestas es una parte crítica del entrenamiento mental.

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The ability to observe the mind’s desire for certain answers is a critical part of mental training.

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A habilidade de observar o desejo da mente por respostas específicas é uma parte essencial do treinamento mental.

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Flow, how to understand it and how to live it, is critically important for our global mental health.

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Could it be that the world has always been the way it is today?

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Se pourrait-il que le monde ait toujours été tel qu'il est aujourd'hui ?

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¿Podría ser que el mundo siempre ha sido como es hoy?

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Será possível que o mundo sempre foi da forma que é hoje?

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How can you not put a timestamp on success when engaged in a specific event that’s bounded by a specific time?

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We can be addicted to achievement, justifying any behaviors to achieve an end goal.

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Podemos estar viciados em realizações, justificando quaisquer comportamentos para atingir uma meta final.

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Nous pouvons être addicts à la réussite, justifiant n'importe quel comportement pour atteindre un objectif final.

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Podemos ser adictos a los logros, lo que justifica cualquier comportamiento para lograr un objetivo final.

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Are you afraid of what others think about you? Do you feel like an imposter? Or, do you squash your authentic self by not sharing your talents with others?

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La frustration est un signe que vous voulez quelque chose en échange de rien. Ne vous comportez pas de la sorte. Toutes les réalisations nécessitent du travail.

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Frustration is a sign that you want something for nothing. Don’t behave that way. All achievements require work.

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La frustración es una señal de que quieres algo por nada. No te comportes de esa manera. Todos los logros requieren de un trabajo.

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A frustração é um sinal de que você quer algo em troca de nada. Não se comporte dessa forma. Todas as conquistas requerem esforço e trabalho.

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“Hanging off a rock is an exaggerated experience of facing the unknown.”

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Para ir além da sensação de direito do ego, devemos mudar nossas expectativas.

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Pour dépasser le sentiment d'habilitation de l'ego, nous changeons nos attentes.

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To move beyond the ego’s sense of entitlement, we change our expectations.

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Para ir más allá del sentido de derecho del ego, cambiamos nuestras expectativas.

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Can you become great on your own? Does having a coach help?

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Il est important de progresser par petits pas pour développer ses compétences.

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Es importante para incrementar lentamente el desarrollo de habilidades.

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É importante incrementar lentamente a escalada para desenvolver nossas habilidades.

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It’s important to increment slowly to develop skills.

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“The most painful state of being is remembering the future, particularly the one you’ll never have.”

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La auto importancia y los logros del ego son representaciones externas de lo que somos.

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The ego’s self importance and achievements are external representations of who we are.

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A auto importância do ego e suas conquistas são representações externas de quem nós somos.

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L'importance de soi et les réalisations de l'ego sont des représentations externes de ce que nous sommes.

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Acceptance is not only important for taking risks, it’s absolutely necessary for taking them effectively.

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https://warriorsway.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/eLesson_2022-0411_2016-0523.mp3 Nous avons tendance à penser qu’il est nécessaire de nous couper du monde pour devenir plus spirituel, comme vivre dans une grotte en Himalaya. Nous allons quelque part loin du monde habituel pour découvrir notre spiritualité. La même chose peut se produire avec l’entraînement mental. Nous pensons qu’il est nécessaire de nous couper de l’escalade habituelle et de faire de l’escalade en solo intégral, une forme d’escalade qui exige une concentration mentale extrême.

Le meilleur entraînement pour notre esprit ou notre mental, consiste à nous appliquer dans les situations habituelles que nous vivons. Nous devenons plus spirituels en faisant face aux situations habituelles de la vie ; nous devenons plus aptes mentalement en faisant face aux situations habituelles de l’escalade. Nous ne créons pas d’illusions sur la façon dont les situations devraient être ; nous nous entraînons dans les situations telles qu’elles sont réellement.

Par exemple, je grimpais récemment à El Arrayán, près de Santiago, au Chili, avec David Villegas, notre entraîneur espagnol. Nous grimpions plusieurs voies pour déterminer lesquelles utiliser dans le cadre d’un stage. À côté de nous se trouvait une cordée dans une voie de difficulté moyenne. Le grimpeur a clippé les trois premiers points, puis a grimpé vingt mètres de plus jusqu’au sommet sans clipper d’autres points, tandis que l’assureur donnait consciencieusement la corde comme si le grimpeur était toujours assuré. David et moi étions curieux de savoir pourquoi il faisait cela. David a donc demandé à l’assureur pourquoi le grimpeur n’avait plus clippé de points. Il lui a répondu que le grimpeur était en train de pratiquer son entraînement mental.

Ce grimpeur permettait à son esprit d’utiliser l’astuce d’être attaché à une corde pour diminuer le stress du solo intégral. Il se donnait aussi la possibilité de clipper un point plus haut s’il avait trop peur ou s’il devenait trop fatigué. Son esprit était motivé par la recherche du confort en étant attaché à une corde et en échappant à la situation réelle du free-solo, afin d’atteindre l’objectif final d’être mentalement en forme.

Ce type de motivation est dangereux et va à l’encontre du processus d’apprentissage. Notre motivation nécessite de nous amener à accepter le stress et à le gérer. Nous sommes motivés par le stress ; nous ne sommes pas motivés par le confort ou à fuir le stress.

La pratique et la réalité ont besoin d’être aussi similaires que possible. Quel type d’escalade faisons-nous habituellement ? De l’escalade sportive ou du solo intégral ? Si nous faisons de l’escalade sportive, alors trouvons des moyens de nous entraîner dans des situations d’escalade sportive habituelles. Si nous faisons du solo intégral, alors trouvons des moyens de nous entraîner dans des situations habituelles de solo intégral. Notre motivation nous pousse vers le stress de l’expérience, et non vers des astuces qui nous permettent de rester confortables et d’échapper au stress.

Les grimpeurs d’escalade sportive clippent les points et sont conscients de leur motivation. Au lieu d’utiliser des astuces pour contourner le stress de la chute, comme se précipiter d’un point à l’autre, ils ralentissent délibérément, permettant à l’esprit de faire face à la possibilité de tomber. Ils choisissent intentionnellement de concentrer leur attention. Ils s’entraînent dans des zones de oui-chute réalistes. Ils remarquent que l’esprit détourne leur attention vers la précipitation à travers le stress, puis s’engagent à ralentir. Ils concentrent leur attention sur la respiration et la détente afin d’être présents face au stress, à leurs peurs et au stress lié à la chute. Ils s’entraînent également à chuter, car la chute est une issue réaliste lors de l’escalade dans des zones de oui-chute.

Les grimpeurs en solo intégral grimpent sans corde et sont conscients de leur motivation. Au lieu d’utiliser des astuces pour contourner le stress, comme l’a fait le grimpeur à El Arrayán, ils n’utilisent pas de corde, permettant à l’esprit de gérer le stress d’être loin du sol, face à la possibilité de mourir. Ils choisissent intentionnellement la façon dont ils concentrent leur attention. Ils s’entraînent dans des zones de non-chute réalistes. Ils observent que l’esprit détourne leur attention vers des astuces, comme l’utilisation d’une corde, pour échapper au stress, puis restent engagés en faisant face à la réalité de la mort. Ils concentrent leur attention sur le fait qu’ils se trouvent dans des situations de vie ou de mort et qu’ils doivent affronter leurs peurs et le stress de mourir. Cela les aide à clarifier leur motivation pour l’escalade en solo. Ils s’entraînent également à désescalader, car la retraite est une option réaliste pour l’escalade dans les zones de non-chute.

Dans le livre de James Salter, Solo Faces, deux alpinistes parlent de l’ascension de l’Eiger en Suisse. L’un d’eux dit : “Je suppose que tout le monde veut l’escalader”. L’autre répond : “Ils ne veulent pas l’escalader, ils veulent l’avoir escaladé”. “Vouloir escalader l’Eiger” pointe vers une motivation à s’engager dans l’expérience stressante de l’escalade d’une paroi réelle et dangereuse. “Vouloir avoir escaladé l’Eiger” indique le confort obtenu une fois l’expérience stressante et dangereuse terminée.

Si nous supprimons les conséquences de nos décisions, notre motivation se déplace vers la réalisation d’objectifs et le confort. C’est l’impact total des conséquences, incluant la mort pour les grimpeurs en solo intégral, qui clarifie notre motivation et la réoriente vers un engagement dans le stress et une concentration sur l’apprentissage. Sommes-nous vraiment prêts à mourir pour escalader l’Eiger ou pour le solo intégral ? Si oui, comment pouvons-nous nous engager dans ces expériences stressantes par petites étapes réalistes qui nous font participer au stress de l’expérience réelle ?

Un jour, notre motivation d’accomplissement nous mettra dans une situation où nous devrons faire face à la réalité, alors que nous ne nous y attendons pas. Nous serons ramenés à la réalité par un choc, complétement daubé, haut dans une voie en solo intégral, face à la mort. Cette situation nous donnera l’occasion de réaligner notre motivation, pour passer de la réalisation d’objectifs et du confort à la maîtrise du stress et à la concentration sur l’apprentissage, si nous y survivons.

Nous ne vivons pas dans une grotte dans l’Himalaya pour devenir plus spirituels. Nous nous exerçons dans des situations de la vie courante, par exemple en prêtant attention à la façon dont nous agissons dans des interactions réalistes avec les autres et les facteurs de stress de la vie courante. Si nous sommes des grimpeurs sportifs, nous ne pratiquons pas le solo intégral pour devenir plus performants mentalement. Nous nous entraînons dans des situations d’escalade sportive habituelles. Nous faisons attention à la façon dont l’esprit détourne notre attention en raison de la possibilité de chute. Si nous faisons de l’escalade en solo intégral, nous n’utilisons pas de corde. Nous nous entraînons dans des situations habituelles de solo intégral. Nous prêtons attention à la façon dont l’esprit utilise des astuces pour contourner le stress de la mort.

Cette motivation nous permet d’effectuer un entraînement mental ancré dans la réalité. Notre motivation est orientée vers la vie et l’apprentissage, car nous sommes plus proches de la réalité et des conséquences de la mort. Nous ne créons pas d’illusions sur la façon dont les situations devraient être ; nous nous entraînons sur la façon dont elles sont réellement.

Conseil de pratique : Entraînement mental habituel Quel type d’escalade faites-vous habituellement : sport, trad, bloc, solo ? Quelles sont les distractions typiques de l’attention dans ce type d’escalade ?

Déplacez votre motivation de la recherche de l’accomplissement et du confort, à l’engagement d’un apprentissage stressant. Identifiez les petites actions que vous pouvez entreprendre pour diminuer les distractions typiques de l’attention. Cela vous aidera à vivre les expériences dans lesquelles vous choisissez de vous engager.

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https://warriorsway.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/eLesson_2022-0411_2016-0523.mp3 Temos a tendência de pensar que devemos nos separar do mundo para nos tornar mais espirituais, como morar em uma caverna no Himalaya. Vamos para algum lugar longe do mundo comum para encontrar nosso espírito. O mesmo pode ocorrer com o treinamento mental. Achamos que devemos nos separar da escalada normal que fazemos e começar a escalar em free-solo, um tipo de escalada que requer uma quantidade extrema de foco mental.

O melhor treinamento para nosso espírito, ou nossa mente, é aplicar-nos às situações recorrentes que experimentamos. Nos tornamos mais espirituais lidando com as situações do dia a dia; nos tornamos mais fortes mentalmente lidando com as situações recorrentes na escalada. Não criamos ilusões de como as situações deveriam ser; praticamos na forma como elas são.

Por exemplo, eu estava escalando recentemente em El Arrayán, perto de Santiago, no Chile com nosso treinador espanhol David Villegas. Estávamos escalando várias vias para definir quais usar para lecionar os workshops. Perto de nós estava uma equipe de escalada em uma via esportiva de dificuldade moderada. O guia clipou as três primeiras chapas e depois escalou por 20 metros até o topo sem clipar nenhuma outra, enquanto o assegurador lhe dava corda como se o escalador ainda estivesse na seg. David e eu ficamos curiosos para saber o motivo do escalador ter feito aquilo. Então David perguntou ao assegurador porquê o escalador não havia se protegido mais. “Ele está fazendo treinamento mental”.

Esse escalador estava permitindo que sua mente usasse um truque de estar preso a uma corda para diminuir o estresse de escalar em free-solo. Ele também se deu a opção de clipar em uma chapa mais alta se ele tivesse muito assustado ou cansado. Sua mente estava motivada na direção de buscar o conforto de estar amarrado a uma corda e escapar à situação realista do free-solo para ele conseguir atingir a meta de estar mentalmente em forma.

Este tipo de motivação é perigosa e vai contra o processo de aprendizagem. A motivação precisa nos mover na direção de nos comprometer com o estresse e processar-nos através dele. Somos motivados a estar no estresse; não estamos motivados pelo conforto, ou fugir do estresse.

A prática e a realidade precisam ser o mais semelhante possível. Que tipo de escalada fazemos normalmente? Escalamos esportivas ou free-solo? Se for esportiva, então achamos formas de praticar nas situações regulares dessa modalidade. Se escalamos free-solo, então encontramos formas de praticar nas situações desta modalidade. Nossa motivação nos move dentro do estresse da experiência, e não em truques que nos mantêm confortáveis e escapando dele.

Os escaladores esportivos se protegem nas chapas e estão conscientes de sua motivação. Em vez de usar truques para contornar o estresse da queda, como apressar-se de chapa em chapa, eles diminuem a velocidade, permitindo que a mente lide com a possibilidade da queda. Eles são intencionais com a forma como escolhem focar sua atenção. Eles praticam em zonas realistas de sim-queda. Eles percebem que a mente distrai sua atenção para apressar-se no estresse e continuam comprometidos com diminuir a velocidade. Eles focam a atenção na respiração e em relaxar para estarem presentes no estresse, encarando seus medos e no estresse da queda. Eles também praticam a queda porque ela é um fato realista que pode ocorrer na escalada em zonas de sim-queda.

Os escaladores de free-solo escalam sem corda e estão conscientes de sua motivação. Em vez de usar truques para contornar o estresse, tal como o escalador em El Arrayán estava fazendo, eles não usam uma corda, permitindo que a mente lide com o estresse de estar muito acima do chão, encarando a possibilidade de morte. Eles são intencionais na forma como escolhem focar sua atenção. Eles praticam em zonas realistas de não-queda. Eles percebem quando a mente distrai a atenção na direção de truques, como usar uma corda para escapar o estresse e se comprometem em encarar a realidade da morte. Eles focam sua atenção em estar em situações de vida ou morte encarando seus medos e no estresse de morrer. Fazer isto ajuda a esclarecer sua motivação para escalar em free-solo. Eles também praticam a desescalada, pois descer é uma opção realista para a escalada em zonas de não-queda.

No livro Solo Faces, de James Salter, dois escaladores estão conversando sobre escalar o Eiger na Suíça. Um escalador fala: “Eu achava que todos queriam escalá-lo”. O outro responde “Eles não querem escalá-lo, eles querem tê-lo escalado”. ‘Querer escalar o Eiger’ aponta na direção de uma motivação de se engajar na experiência estressante de escalar uma face realista e perigosa. ‘Querer ter escalado o Eiger’ aponta na direção do conforto atingido uma vez que a situação estressante, a experiência perigosa tiver acabado.

Se removermos as consequências de nossas decisões, nossa motivação muda para atingir metas e estar no conforto. É o impacto total da consequência, que inclui a morte para os escaladores em free-solo, que esclarece nossa motivação e a realinha para a direção de engajar-nos no estresse e focar na aprendizagem. Será que estamos dispostos a morrer escalando o Eiger ou fazer free-solo? Se sim, como podemos processar estas experiências estressantes em passos pequenos e realistas que nos engajam no estresse da experiência real?

Um dia, quando menos esperarmos, nossa motivação por realizar metas nos levarão a uma situação onde teremos que encarar a realidade. Levaremos um choque de volta à realidade, estaremos bombados no alto de uma escalada em solo, encarando a morte. Essa situação vai prover a oportunidade de realinhar nossa motivação, de atingir metas e estar confortável para engajar o estresse e focar na aprendizagem, se sobrevivermos.

Dessa forma, não precisamos morar numa caverna no Himalaya para nos tornar mais espirituais. Devemos praticar nossa espiritualidade em situações do nosso cotidiano, como prestar atenção à forma como agimos em interações realistas com os outros e com os ‘estressadores’ da vida comum. Se somos escaladores esportivos, não fazemos free-solo para melhorar nosso poder mental. Praticamos em situações comuns da escalada esportiva. Prestamos atenção na forma como nossa mente distrai a atenção por causa da possibilidade de queda. Se somos escaladores de free-solo, não usamos uma corda. Praticamos em situações comuns da modalidade. Prestamos atenção na forma como a mente usa truques para contornar o estresse de morrer.

Estar motivado dessa forma nos permite fazer um treinamento mental que está firmado na realidade. Nossa motivação está alinhada na direção de viver e aprender, porque estamos mais perto da realidade e da consequência de morrer. Não criamos ilusões de como as situações deveriam ser; praticamos na forma como elas são de fato.

Dica prática: Treinamento mental comum Que tipo de escalada você faz normalmente: esportiva, tradicional, boulder ou free-solo? Quais são as distrações típicas de atenção da modalidade?

Mude sua motivação de buscar atingir metas e estar confortável, para engajar numa aprendizagem estressante. Identifique pequenos passos e ações que você pode dar para diminuir as distrações típicas de atenção. Fazer isto te ajudará a viver as experiências que você escolheu viver.

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https://warriorsway.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/eLesson_2022-0411_2016-0523.mp3 Tenemos una tendencia a pensar que tenemos que separarnos del mundo para ser más espirituales, tal como vivir en una cueva en el Himalaya. Vamos a un lugar lejos del mundo habitual para encontrarnos a nosotros mismos. Lo mismo puede ocurrir con el entrenamiento mental. Creemos que necesitamos alejarnos de la escalada habitual y escalar en en solitario sin cuerda, un tipo de escalada que requiere una cantidad extrema de la concentración mental.

El mejor entrenamiento para nuestra mente, es aplicarnos en situaciones habituales que experimentamos. Llegamos a ser más espirituales en las situaciones de la vida habituales; nos volvemos más reflexivos al hacer frente a las situaciones de escalada habituales. No creamos ilusiones de cómo deberían ser las situaciones; ponemos en práctica en la forma en que realmente son.

Por ejemplo, yo estaba escalando recientemente en El Arrayán, cerca de Santiago, Chile con nuestro entrenador español, David Villegas. Estábamos escalando varias rutas para determinar cuáles utilizaríamos durante las practicas de enseñanza. A nuestro lado había una cordada que escalaba una vía deportiva de dificultad media. El primero chapo los tres primeros seguros, y luego escalo otros veinte metros hasta la cima sin chapar ningún otro seguro, mientras que el asegurador daba cuerda como si el escalador todavía estuviera protegido por los seguros. David y yo tuvimos curiosidad por qué lo hacia. Así que David le preguntó al asegurador por qué el escalador no chapo los seguros. Él le dijo que el escalador estaba practicando un entrenamiento mental.

Este escalador estaba permitiendo que su mente utilizara el truco de estar atado a la cuerda para disminuir el estrés de la escalada en solitario sin cuerda. También mantenía la opción de chapar un seguro si él tenia demasiado miedo o se sentía demasiado cansado. Su mente estaba motivada hacia la búsqueda del confort de estar atado a una cuerda y así escapar de la situación real de la escalada en solitario sin cuerda, por lo que podría lograr el objetivo final al estar mentalmente en forma.

Este tipo de motivación es peligrosa y va en contra del proceso de aprendizaje. La motivación tiene que ser hacia la participación en el estrés y el procesamiento que hacemos a través de él. Nos motivados para estar en tensión, no nos motivados para sentirnos confortables, o escapar del estrés.

La práctica de entrenamiento y la realidad tienen que ser lo más similares posible. ¿Qué tipo de escalada es la que suelo hacer? ¿Escalada deportiva o en solitario sin cuerda? Si escalamos deportiva, encontraremos maneras de practicar situaciones habituales de la escalada deportiva. Si escalamos en solitario sin cuerda, encontramos maneras de practicar en situaciones habituales de la escalada en solitario sin cuerda. Nuestra motivación nos lleva al estrés de la experiencia, no hacia trucos que nos mantengan confortables y evitemos el estrés.

Los escaladores de deportiva chapan los seguros y son conscientes de su motivación. En lugar de utilizar trucos para sortear la tensión de la caída, como corriendo hacia el siguiente seguro en lugar de deliberadamente escalar más lento, permitiendo que la mente haga frente a la posibilidad de la caída. Son intencionales en la forma con la que eligen centrar la atención. Ellos practican en las zonas de caída viable. Se dan cuenta que la mente distrae su atención acelerando la escalada debido el estrés y luego se comprometen a disminuir la velocidad. Centran la atención en la respiración y en la relajación para estar presentes en el estrés, frente a sus miedos y el estrés de la caída. También practican la caída ya que es un resultado realista de la escalada en zonas de caída viable.

Los escaladores en solitario sin cuerda son conscientes de su motivación. En lugar de utilizar trucos para sortear el estrés, tales como el que hizo el escalador en El Arrayán, no utilizan cuerda. Lo cual les permite que su mente procese el estrés de estar en altura con posibilidad de muerte. Son intencionales con la forma en que elijen centrar su atención. Ellos practican en zonas de caída no viable. Se dan cuenta que la mente distrae su atención hacia trucos, como el uso de cuerda, para escapar del estrés y luego seguir comprometidos frente a la realidad de la muerte. Centran su atención en situaciones de vida / muerte que enfrentan sus miedos y el estrés de morir. Hacer esto ayuda a clarificar su motivación de la escalada en solitario sin cuerda. También practican el destrepe en zonas de caída no viable, ya que en retirada es una opción realista.

En el libro de James Salter, “Paredes en Solitario”, dos escaladores hablan de escalar la pared Norte del Eiger en Suiza. Un escalador dice al otro: “Supongo que todo el mundo quiere escalarla.” El otro responde: “No quieren escalarla, quieren haberla escalado.” “Deseo escalar el Eiger” focaliza la motivación a participar en experiencia estresante de escalar una pared realista, peligrosa. “Deseo haber escalado el Eiger” focaliza hacia el confort de haber conseguido y finalizado de una vez la experiencia estresante y peligrosa.

Si eliminamos las consecuencia de nuestras decisiones, nuestra motivación se desplaza hacia el logro de metas y estar confortables. Es el impacto de la consecuencia, incluyendo la muerte para los escaladores en solitario sin cuerda, lo que aclara su motivación y les vuelve alinear en la participación del estrés y centrarse en el aprendizaje. ¿Estamos realmente dispuestos a morir para escalar el Eiger en solitario sin cuerda? Si es así, ¿cómo podemos involucrarnos en esta experiencia estresante con pequeños pasos realistas, que nos involucren en el estrés de la experiencia real?

Un día nuestra motivación hacia el logro nos va a llevar a una situación en la que tengamos que enfrentarnos con la realidad, aún que no lo esperemos. La realidad nos pondrá en nuestro sitio, la de la escalada en solitario sin cuerda, la que nos enfrenta con la muerte. Si vivimos esta situación, nos proporcionará la oportunidad de retroalimentar nuestra motivación. Contra el logro de metas y sentirnos a gusto, tenemos la participación en el estrés y centrarnos en el aprendizaje.

No vivimos en una cueva en el Himalaya para ser más espirituales. Practicamos en situaciones de la vida habitual, como prestar atención a nuestra forma de actuar en las interacciones con los demás y los factores estresantes de la vida habitual. Si somos escaladores de deportiva, no escalaremos en solitario sin cuerda para estar mentalmente más en forma. Practicaremos en situaciones habituales de escalada deportiva. Se presta atención en la forma en que la mente distrae nuestra atención debido a la posibilidad de caída. Si somos escaladores en solitario sin cuerda, no utilizaremos la cuerda. Practicaremos en situaciones habituales en solitario sin cuerda. Prestamos atención en la forma en que la mente utiliza trucos para sortear la tensión de morir.

Estar motivado de esta manera nos permite hacer el entrenamiento mental basado en la realidad. Nuestra motivación está focalizada en la vida y el aprendizaje, porque estamos cerca de la realidad así como la consecuencia de la muerte. No creamos ilusiones de cómo deberían ser las situaciones; ponemos en práctica la forma en que realmente son.

Consejo práctico: Entrenamiento mental habitual ¿Qué tipo de escalada sueles hacer deportiva, clásica, bloque, solitario sin cuerda? ¿Cuáles son las distracciones típicas de atención en este tipo de escalada?

Cambia tu focalización hacia el logro y la búsqueda de estar cómodo, por la focalización al aprendizaje en el estrés. Identifica pequeños pasos que pueden ayudarte a disminuir las distracciones típicas de atención. Hacer esto te ayudará a vivir las experiencias que decides realizar.

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https://warriorsway.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/eLesson_2022-0411_2016-0523.mp3 We have a tendency to think we need to separate from the world to become more spiritual, like living in a cave in the Himalayas. We go somewhere away from the usual world to find our spirit. The same can happen with mental training. We think we need to separate from the usual climbing we do and do free-solo climbing, a form of climbing that requires an extreme amount of mental focus.

The best training for our spirit, or the mind, is applying ourselves in the usual situations we experience. We become more spiritual dealing with usual life situations; we become more mentally fit by dealing with usual climbing situations. We don’t create illusions of how situations should be; we practice in how they actually are.

For example, I was climbing recently at El Arrayán, near Santiago, Chile with our Spanish trainer, David Villegas. We were climbing several routes to determine which ones to use for teaching a clinic. Next to us was a climbing team on a moderately difficult sport route. The leader clipped the first three bolts, and then climbed another twenty meters to the top without clipping any more bolts, while the belayer dutifully fed out the rope as if the climber was still on belay. David and I were curious why he did this. So David asked the belayer why the climber didn’t clip anymore bolts. He told David that the climber was practicing his mental training.

This climber was allowing his mind to use a trick of being tied into a rope to diminish the stress of free-soloing. He also gave himself the option to clip into a higher bolt if he was too scared or too tired. His mind was motivated toward seeking the comfort of being tied into a rope and escaping the realistic free-solo situation, so he could achieve the end goal of being mentally fit.

Motivation This type of motivation is dangerous and goes counter to the learning process. Motivation needs to move us toward engaging stress and processing ourselves through it. We’re motivated to be in stress; we’re not motivated to be comfortable, or escape stress.

Practice and reality need to be as similar as possible. What kind of climbing do we usually do? Do we do sport climbing or free-soloing? If we sport climb, then we find ways to practice in usual sport climbing situations. If we free-solo, then we find ways to practice in usual free-solo situations. Our motivation moves us into the stress of the experience, not toward tricks that keep us comfortable and escape stress.

Sport Climbing Sport climbers clip bolts and are aware of their motivation. Instead of using tricks to circumvent the stress of falling, such as rushing from bolt to bolt, they deliberately slow down, allowing the mind to deal with the possibility of falling. They’re intentional with how they choose to focus their attention. They practice in realistic yes-fall zones. They notice the mind distracts their attention toward rushing through stress and then stays committed to slowing down. They focus their attention on breathing and relaxing so they’re present for stress, facing their fears and the stress of falling. They also practice falling because falling is a realistic outcome for climbing in yes-fall zones.

Free-Soloing Free-solo climbers climb without ropes and are aware of their motivation. Instead of using tricks to circumvent stress, such as the climber did at El Arrayán, they don’t use a rope, allowing the mind to deal with the stress of being high above the ground, facing the possibility of death. They’re intentional with how they choose to focus their attention. They practice in realistic no-fall zones. They notice the mind distracts their attention toward tricks, such as using a rope, to escape stress and then stay committed to facing the reality of death. They focus their attention on being in life/death situations facing their fears and the stress of dying. Doing this helps clarify their motivation for free-solo climbing. They also practice down-climbing because retreating is a realistic option for climbing in no-fall zones.

In James Salter’s book, Solo Faces, two climbers are talking about climbing the Eiger in Switzerland. One climber says, “I suppose everyone wants to climb it.” The other responds, “They don’t want to climb it, they want to have climbed it.” “Wanting to climb the Eiger” points toward a motivation to engage the stressful experience of climbing a realistic, dangerous face. “Wanting to have climbed the Eiger” points toward the comfort achieved once the stressful, dangerous experience is finished.

Consequences If we remove the consequence of our decisions, our motivation shifts toward achieving goals and being comfortable. It’s the full impact of the consequence, which includes death for free-solo climbers, that clarifies our motivation and realigns it toward engaging stress and focusing on learning. Are we really willing to die to climb the Eiger or free-solo? If so, how can we engage these stressful experiences in realistic, small steps that engage us in the stress of the actual experience?

One day our achievement motivation will get us into a situation where we have to face reality, when we don’t expect it. We’ll be shocked back to reality, being pumped, high on a free-solo climb, facing death. That situation will provide the opportunity to realign our motivation, from achieving goals and being comfortable, toward engaging stress and focusing on learning, if we live through it.

We don’t live in a cave in the Himalayas to become more spiritual. We practice in usual life situations, like paying attention to how we act in realistic interactions with others and the stressors of usual life. If we’re sport climbers, we don’t free-solo to become more mentally fit. We practice in usual sport climbing situations. We pay attention to how the mind distracts our attention due to the possibility of falling. If we’re free-solo climbers, we don’t use a rope. We practice in usual free-solo situations. We pay attention to how the mind uses tricks to circumvent the stress of dying.

Being motivated this way allows us to do mental training that is grounded in reality. Our motivation is aligned toward living and learning, because we’re closer to reality and the consequence of dying. We don’t create illusions of how situations should be; we practice in how they actually are.

Practice Tip: Usual Mental Training What kind of climbing do you usually do: sport, trad, bouldering, free-solo? What are the typical distractions of attention in this type of climbing?

Shift your motivation from seeking achievement and being comfortable, to engaging stressful learning. Identify small action steps you can take to diminish the typical distractions of attention. Doing this will help you live through the experiences you choose to engage in.

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https://warriorsway.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/eLesson_2022-0328_2016-0509.mp3 Achievement I did a teaching tour to Uruguay March 2016 with our Spanish trainer, David Villegas. We had a free day to do some climbing so our host, Santiago, took us to Canteras, a small crag within the city of Montevideo. He showed us a climb called Baño es El Nombre, one of their harder routes. I worked on it and finally figured out the sequence, which included a dynamic move from a painful finger jam. Then David worked on it, figured out the sequence, and quickly did a redpoint ascent. I thought, if David can do it, then I should be able to do it also. It took me three efforts, but I finally achieved the redpoint.

Working a route gives us the opportunity to learn. We experiment with different ways of using holds, applying our skills, and searching out new solutions. We fall and modify our sequence until we find one that works for us. It’s easy to see how we learn from stressful climbing and improve. We fall and there’s a reason for it: we did something or didn’t do something that caused the fall. This is what I did. I experimented to find a sequence so I could do the dynamic move from a painful finger jam.

However, we can also learn from situations that create comfort for us. Achievement gives us a feeling of comfort. Our egos tend to equate achievement with our importance. If we achieve, our egos feel important; if we don’t, our egos make excuses to maintain its importance.

For example, I was there with David, a young, strong climber, one of my trainers. I’m supposed to be the master, continuing his training with The Warrior’s Way®. Yet, he succeeded on the route quicker than I did. Taking longer to succeed on the route can make my ego feel less important than David.

The Ego The ego can be devious. It can make excuses for taking longer to achieve the redpoint. “I’m older and don’t climb or train as frequently as I did when I was as young as David.” The ego can also wallow in the comfort of achievement. “It took me longer, but at least I was able to achieve the redpoint.” Either way, the ego seeks reasons for maintaining its importance.

The facts the ego uses are true. I am older than David; it did take me longer; I did achieve the redpoint. The point isn’t whether these facts are true or not. The point is that they are not relevant for improving performance and learning. Our attention is focused on the needs of the ego instead of learning and enjoying the climbing experience.

We need to be vigilant with the ego. The comfort of achieving goals creates associations that strengthen the ego and mask important learning. Equating our importance with our ability to achieve goals is a losing proposition. If we succeed in achieving a goal, then we’ll need another achievement to continue feeling important. If we fail to achieve a goal, then our attention is distracted toward frustration and justifications to maintain our importance. Either way, our ego’s attachment toward achievement makes us feel dependent on continually achieving, distracting our attention from learning and enjoying climbing.

Attention To be effective with how we use our attention requires awareness. First, we realize that our egos are never satisfied, no matter how often we succeed. It always needs to achieve another goal to feel important. This need to constantly achieve creates a feeling of anxiety. Second, from a pragmatic basis, we realize that the ego distracts our attention from learning. If we do want to achieve goals, then it’s important to have our attention focused on learning. This will help us learn more quickly so we can achieve our goals.

The outcomes we create may be stressful or comfortable. We act with awareness to stressful outcomes by focusing our attention on learning. Each outcome gives us important information. Therefore, we stay curious about what we can learn from outcomes that fall short of our expectations.

We also act with awareness of comfortable outcomes, such as when we achieve our goals. Each achievement gives us opportunities to notice the ego’s need to feel important and become attached to continual achievement.

Should I be able to do a route just because David did? Maybe or maybe not. What’s important for becoming mentally fit is noticing that the question originates from the ego. It’s a distraction of attention from learning and enjoying climbing. We notice such ego thoughts and bring our attention back to what we need to learn from the outcomes we create. Doing that will help us learn more quickly. And we’ll enjoy our climbing more.

Practice Tip: Vigilant Observation How aware are you of your ego? The ego will look for reasons to justify its importance.

Notice thoughts your mind creates after an effort. Did you achieve your goal or not?

If you achieved your goal, does your ego use that evidence to validate its importance?
If you didn’t achieve your goal, does your ego make excuses to maintain its importance?

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https://warriorsway.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/eLesson_2022-0328_2016-0509.mp3 J’ai fait une tournée d’enseignement en Uruguay mars 2016 avec notre formateur espagnol, David Villegas. Nous avions une journée libre pour grimper, alors notre hôte, Santiago, nous a emmenés à Canteras, une petite falaise dans la ville de Montevideo. Il nous a montré une voie appelée Baño es El Nombre, une de leurs voies les plus difficiles. J’ai travaillé dessus et j’ai finalement trouvé la séquence, composée d’un mouvement dynamique à partir d’un douloureux coincement de doigts. Puis David a travaillé dessus, a trouvé la séquence et a rapidement fait une ascension en redpoint. Je me suis dit que si David pouvait le faire, je devais pouvoir le faire aussi. Il m’a fallu trois tentatives, mais j’ai finalement réussi le redpoint.

Travailler une voie nous donne l’occasion d’apprendre. Nous expérimentons différentes façons d’utiliser les prises, d’appliquer nos compétences et de chercher de nouvelles solutions. Nous tombons et modifions notre séquence jusqu’à ce que nous en trouvions une qui fonctionne pour nous. Il est facile de voir comment nous apprenons de situation stressante en escalade et comment nous nous améliorons. Nous tombons et il y a une raison à cela : nous avons fait quelque chose ou n’avons pas fait quelque chose qui a causé la chute. C’est ce que j’ai fait. J’ai expérimenté pour trouver une séquence qui me permettrait d’effectuer le mouvement dynamique à partir d’un douloureux coincement de doigt.

Cependant, nous pouvons aussi apprendre de situations qui nous procurent du confort. La réussite nous donne un sentiment de confort. Notre ego a tendance à assimiler la réussite à notre importance. Si nous réussissons, notre ego se sent important ; si nous ne réussissons pas, notre ego trouve des excuses pour maintenir son importance.

Par exemple, j’étais là avec David, un jeune et fort grimpeur, un de mes entraîneurs. Je suis censé être le maître, poursuivant sa formation avec The Warrior’s Way®. Pourtant, il a réussi la voie plus rapidement que moi. Prendre plus de temps pour réussir la voie peut donner à mon ego le sentiment d’être moins important que David.

L’ego peut être sournois. Il peut trouver des excuses pour prendre plus de temps pour réussir l’enchaînement. “Je suis plus âgé et je ne grimpe pas ou ne m’entraîne pas aussi souvent que lorsque j’étais aussi jeune que David”. L’ego peut aussi se complaire dans le confort de la réussite. “Ça m’a pris plus de temps, mais au moins j’ai pu réussir l’enchaînement.” Dans les deux cas, l’ego cherche des raisons pour maintenir son importance.

Les faits que l’ego utilise sont vrais. Je suis plus âgé que David ; il m’a fallu plus de temps ; j’ai réussi à enchaîner. La question n’est pas de savoir si ces faits sont vrais ou non. Le problème est qu’ils ne sont pas pertinents pour améliorer les performances et l’apprentissage. Notre attention est concentrée sur les besoins de l’ego au lieu d’apprendre et de profiter de l’expérience de l’escalade.

Nous avons besoin d’être vigilants avec l’ego. Le confort d’atteindre des objectifs crée des associations qui renforcent l’ego et masquent les apprentissages importants. Associer notre importance à notre capacité à atteindre des objectifs est une proposition perdante. Si nous parvenons à atteindre un objectif, nous aurons besoin d’une autre réalisation pour continuer à nous sentir importants. Si nous ne parvenons pas à atteindre un objectif, alors notre attention est détournée vers la frustration et les justifications pour maintenir notre importance. D’une manière ou d’une autre, l’association de notre ego à la réussite nous rend dépendant d’une réussite permanente, ce qui détourne notre attention de l’apprentissage et du plaisir de grimper.

Pour être efficace dans la façon dont nous utilisons notre attention, il faut être conscient. Tout d’abord, nous réalisons que notre ego n’est jamais satisfait, quelle que soit la fréquence de nos succès. Il a toujours besoin d’atteindre un autre objectif pour se sentir important. Ce besoin de réussite constante crée un sentiment d’anxiété. Deuxièmement, d’un point de vue pragmatique, nous réalisons que l’ego détourne notre attention de l’apprentissage. Si nous voulons atteindre des objectifs, il est important de concentrer notre attention sur l’apprentissage. Cela nous aidera à apprendre plus rapidement afin d’atteindre nos objectifs.

Les résultats que nous créons peuvent être stressants ou confortables. Nous agissons avec conscience face aux résultats stressants en concentrant notre attention sur l’apprentissage. Chaque résultat nous donne des informations importantes. Par conséquent, nous restons curieux de savoir ce que nous pouvons apprendre des résultats qui ne répondent pas à nos attentes.

Nous agissons également avec conscience lors de résultats confortables, comme lorsque nous atteignons notre objectif. Chaque réussite nous donne l’occasion de remarquer le besoin qu’a l’ego de se sentir important et de s’attacher à une réussite continuelle.

Devrais-je être capable de faire un parcours juste parce que David l’a fait ? Peut-être ou peut-être pas. Ce qui est important pour devenir mentalement en forme, c’est de remarquer que la question provient de l’ego. C’est une distraction qui détourne l’attention de l’apprentissage et du plaisir de grimper. Lorsque nous remarquons ces pensées émanant de l’ego, nous ramenons notre attention sur ce que nous avons besoin d’apprendre à partir des résultats que nous créons. En faisant cela, nous apprendrons plus rapidement. Et nous apprécierons davantage l’escalade.

Conseil d’entraînement : Observation Vigilante Dans quelle mesure êtes-vous conscient de votre ego ? L’ego cherchera des raisons pour justifier son importance.

Remarquez les pensées que votre esprit crée après un effort. Avez-vous atteint votre objectif ou non ?

Si vous avez atteint votre objectif, votre ego utilise-t-il cette preuve pour valider son importance ?
Si vous n’avez pas atteint votre objectif, votre ego trouve-t-il des excuses pour maintenir son importance ?

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https://warriorsway.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/eLesson_2022-0328_2016-0509.mp3 Eu fiz uma turnê no Uruguai lecionando clínicas em Março de 2016 com nosso treinador espanhol David Villegas. Tivemos um dia livre para escalar e nosso anfitrião, Santiago, nos levou para Canteras, um pequeno local para escalar dentro da cidade de Montevidéu. Ele nos mostrou uma via chamada Baño es El Nombre, uma das mais difíceis. Eu a malhei e finalmente consegui desvendar a sequência de movimentos, que incluía um movimento dinâmico a partir de uma entalada de dedos dolorosa. Depois David trabalhou na via, desvendou a sequência e conseguiu encadeá-la rapidamente. Eu pensei: se o David conseguiu, então eu deveria conseguir também. Levei três tentativas, mas eu finalmente consegui a cadena.

Malhar uma via nos dá a oportunidade de aprender. Experimentamos diferentes formas de usar agarras, aplicar nossas habilidades e buscar novas soluções. Nós caímos e modificamos nossa movimentação até encontrar uma que funcione para nós. É fácil ver como aprendemos com escaladas estressantes e como melhoramos. Caímos, e há uma razão para isso: fizemos, ou deixamos de fazer algo que causou a queda. Eu fiz o seguinte: Eu tentei achar uma sequência para poder fazer o movimento dinâmico a partir de um entalamento de dedo doloroso.

No entanto, também podemos aprender com as situações que criam conforto para nós. As realizações nos dão uma sensação de conforto. Nossos egos tentam igualar nossos logros com nossa importância. Se conseguimos, nossos egos se sentem importantes; se não, eles criam desculpas para manter sua importância.

Por exemplo, eu estava lá com David, um escalador forte e jovem, um dos treinadores do meu material. Eu deveria ser o mestre, continuando seu treinamento com o Caminho do Guerreiro. No entanto, ele obteve sucesso na via mais rapidamente que eu. Demorar mais para encadear a via fez meu ego se sentir menos importante do que David.

O ego pode ser traiçoeiro. Ele pode criar desculpas para demorar mais em conseguir a cadena. “Eu sou mais velho e não escalo ou treino com tanta frequência como eu fazia quando era tão jovem quanto David”. O ego também pode se perder no conforto do logro. “Eu demorei mais, mas pelo menos eu consegui encadear a via”. De qualquer forma, o ego busca motivos para manter sua importância.

Os fatos que o ego usa são verdadeiros. Eu sou mais velho que David; eu levei mais tempo para encadear; eu consegui encadear. O ponto não é se os fatos são ou não verdadeiros. E sim que eles não são relevantes para melhorar meu desempenho e aprendizagem. Nossa atenção está focada nas necessidades do ego em vez de aprender e aproveitar a experiência da escalada.

Precisamos estar atentos com o ego. O conforto de atingir metas cria associações que o fortalecem e camuflam uma aprendizagem importante. Igualar nossa importância com nossa habilidade de atingir metas é uma proposta de derrota. Se temos sucesso com uma meta, então precisaremos de outra meta atingida para poder nos sentir importantes. Se falharmos, então nossa atenção será distraída com a frustração e justificativas para manter nossa importância. De qualquer forma, o apego de nosso ego com o sucesso nos faz sentir dependentes de continuar obtendo sucesso, distraindo nossa atenção da aprendizagem e de aproveitar a escalada.

Para sermos eficientes com a forma como usamos nossa atenção, precisamos de consciência. Primeiro, devemos perceber que nosso ego nunca está satisfeito, não importa quantas vezes obtivermos sucesso. Ele sempre precisa atingir outra meta para se sentir importante. Esta necessidade de obter êxito constantemente cria um sentimento de ansiedade. Em segundo lugar, a partir de uma base pragmática, percebemos que o ego distrai nossa atenção da aprendizagem. Se queremos atingir metas, então é importante focar nossa atenção na aprendizagem. Isto nos ajudará a aprender mais rapidamente para poder atingir nossas metas.

O resultado que criarmos pode ser estressante ou confortável. Agimos com consciência nos resultados estressantes, focando nossa atenção na aprendizagem. Cada resultado nos dá uma informação importante. Portanto, permanecemos curiosos sobre o que podemos aprender dos resultados que não estão de acordo com nossas expectativas.

Também agimos com consciência nos resultados favoráveis, como quando conseguimos atingir nossos objetivos. Cada logro nos dá oportunidades de perceber a necessidade do ego de sentir-se importante e apegar-se à logros contínuos.

Eu deveria ser capaz de encadear uma via só porque o David o conseguiu? Talvez, ou talvez não. O que é importante para sermos saudáveis mentalmente é perceber que a questão se origina do ego. É uma distração de atenção da aprendizagem e de aproveitar a escalada. Percebemos tais pensamentos do ego e trazemos nossa atenção de volta para o que precisamos aprender com os resultados que criamos. Fazer isso nos ajudará a aprender mais rapidamente. E teremos mais prazer com nossa escalada.

Dica prática: Observação vigilante. Quão consciente sobre seu ego você está? Ele irá buscar razões para justificar sua importância?

Perceba os pensamentos que sua mente cria após um esforço. Você atingiu seu objetivo ou não?

Se atingiu seu objetivo, o seu ego usa essa evidência para validar sua importância?
Se não atingiu seu objetivo, o seu ego cria desculpas para manter sua importância?

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https://warriorsway.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/eLesson_2022-0328_2016-0509.mp3 Hicimos un viaje de formación en Uruguay en marzo de 2016, con nuestro entrenador español, David Villegas. Tuvimos un día libre para escalar por lo que nuestro anfitrión, Santiago, nos llevó a Canteras, un pequeño risco dentro de la ciudad de Montevideo. Nos mostró una vía llamada Baño Es El Nombre, una de sus rutas más duras de la zona. Trabajé en ella y finalmente descubrí la secuencia, está incluía un movimiento dinámico con un mono dedo. A continuación, David trabajó en ella, descubrió la secuencia, y rápidamente hizo el ascenso y lo encadeno (redpoint). Pensé, si David puede hacerlo, yo debería ser capaz de hacerlo también. Lo intenté tres veces, finalmente logre el redpoint.

Trabajar una ruta nos da la oportunidad de aprender. Experimentamos diferentes formas de utilizar los agarres, aplicando nuestros conocimientos, y buscando nuevas soluciones. Caíamos y modificamos la secuencia hasta que encontramos una que funciono. Es fácil ver cómo podemos aprender de la escalada estresante y mejorar. Caemos, hay razón para ello: hemos hecho algo o no hicimos algo que ocasiono la caída. Esto es lo que hice. Hice la prueba para encontrar una secuencia que pudiera hacer el movimiento dinámico con el mono dedo.

Sin embargo, también podemos aprender en las situaciones que generan confort. Lograr algo nos da una sensación de confort. Nuestros egos tienden a equiparar el rendimiento con lo importante que somos. Si lo logramos, nuestro ego se siente importante; si no lo hacemos, nuestro ego se excusa para mantener la importancia.

Por ejemplo, yo estaba allí con David, un chico joven, escalador fuerte, uno de mi equipo. Se supone que debo ser el maestro en formación del camino del guerrero. Sin embargo, él tuvo éxito en la vía más rápido que yo. Utilizando más tiempo para conseguir el éxito en la vía puede hacer que mi ego se sienta menos importante que David.

El ego puede ser desviado. Puede generar excusas para utilizar más tiempo para lograr el redpoint. “Soy más viejo y no escalo con tanta frecuencia como lo hacía cuando era joven como David.” El ego también puede regocijarse en el confort de los logros. “Dediqué más tiempo, pero por lo menos fui capaz de lograr el redpoint.” De cualquier manera, el ego busca razones para mantener su importancia.

La presencia del ego es un hecho. Busca una referencia con David; dedique más tiempo para lograr el redpoint. La cuestión no es si estos hechos son ciertos o no. El tema es que no son relevantes para mejorar el desempeño y el aprendizaje. Nuestra atención se centra en las necesidades del ego en lugar de aprender y disfrutar de la experiencia de la escalada.

Tenemos que estar atentos con el ego. El confort de la consecución de objetivos crea asociaciones que fortalecen el ego y enmascara el aprendizaje. La equiparación de nuestra importancia con nuestra capacidad para lograr los objetivos es un caso perdido. Si tenemos éxito en la consecución de un objetivo, a continuación, vamos a necesitar otro logro para continuar sintiéndonos importantes. Si no somos capaces de alcanzar una meta, a continuación, nuestra atención se distrae hacia la frustración y justificaciones para mantener nuestra importancia. De cualquier manera, el apego de nuestro ego hacia el logro nos hace sentir continuamente dependientes de la consecución, distrayendo nuestra atención del aprender y del disfrutar de la escalada.

Para ser eficaces con la forma en que utilizamos nuestra atención, se requiere conciencia. En primer lugar, nos damos cuenta de que nuestro ego nunca está satisfecho, no importa con qué frecuencia tengamos éxito. Siempre necesita lograr un objetivo más para sentirse importante. Esta necesidad de lograr constantemente crea una sensación de ansiedad. En segundo lugar, a partir de una base pragmática, nos damos cuenta de que el yo distrae nuestra atención del aprendizaje. Si nosotros queremos lograr metas, es importante tener nuestra atención centrada en el aprendizaje. Esto nos ayudará a aprender más rápidamente como podemos lograr nuestros objetivos.

El resultado puede crear una sensación estresante o confortable. Actuamos según el estrés, centrando la atención en el aprendizaje. Cada resultado nos da información importante. Por lo tanto, nos quedamos con la curiosidad de lo que podemos aprender de los resultados que están a la altura de nuestras expectativas.

También actuamos de forma consciente con los resultados confortables, como cuando logramos nuestros objetivos. Cada logro nos da la oportunidad de notar la necesidad del ego de sentirse importante y de aferrarse a la consecución continuada.

¿Debería ser capaz de hacer la vía sólo porque la hizo David? Tal vez sí o tal vez no. Lo que es importante para ponernos en buena condición mental es darnos cuenta que la cuestión se origina en el ego. Es una distracción de la atención de aprender y de disfrutar de la escalada. Nos damos cuenta de este tipo de pensamientos originado en el ego y luego prestamos atención en lo que tenemos que aprender para conseguir los resultados esperados. Hacer eso nos ayudará a aprender más rápidamente. Y vamos a disfrutar más de la escalada.

Consejo práctico: Atenta observación. ¿Cómo puedo ser consciente del ego? El ego buscará razones para justificar tu importancia.

Observa el pensamientos que genera tu mente después de un esfuerzo. Logres o no tu objetivo.

Si has alcanzado el objetivo, ¿haces uso de tu ego como prueba para validar tu importancia?
Si no logras el objetivo, ¿ Tu ego genera excusas para mantener tu importancia?

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I’m heartened to see more and more emphasis on mental training. More coaches see its importance and find ways to give their clients access to it. Admitting you need to do some mental training is no longer something to be ashamed of. Rather, it’s a courageous acknowledgement that leads to healing.

A friend recommended a TED Talk to me given by researcher Amishi Jha. In How to tame your wandering mind, Amishi says: “Wherever attention goes the rest of the brain follows.” I like that. Another way of saying it is “what you focus on expands.” If you focus on how you hate life, then that’s what will expand. Conversely, if you focus on being grateful for your life, then that’s what will expand. What kind of life do you want to have? Focus!

Check out these questions and points from Amishi.

Attention is your brain’s boss.
Does attention guide the brain effectively?
To answer this question, we need to know:
1. How does attention control our perception?
2. Why does attention fail us, leaving us feeling distracted?
3. Can we do anything about this distraction; can we train the brain to pay attention better?
Attention amplifies what you attend to.
Stress and mind-wandering distracts attention.
Why does the mind wander? Because the mind has the ability to think about the past and future. Mind-wandering is about attention going to the past and future without our awareness.
Mindfulness practices improve awareness.

I’ve heard Jon Kabat-Zinn, the founder of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, define mindfulness as: “Paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgmentally, as if your life depended on it…because it does.” I like that last part because having quality lives really does depend on paying attention to them.

Practice Tip: Amishi’s calls to action Pay attention to your attention!

So, if attention is the brain’s boss, then who is this that is “paying attention to your attention?” It’s the “I”, the observer or witness to all your experiences. Mindfulness begins with this observer. Find it.

Incorporate mindfulness training into your daily routine.

If you don’t have a daily routine of mindfulness practice, then I highly recommend you begin one. Commit to only 10 minutes in the morning. Over time, you’ll train your attention to work for you. Remember, attention is your brain’s boss and the observer is your attention’s boss.

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https://warriorsway.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/eLesson_2022-0314_2016-0425.mp3 A few years ago, David Villegas, our Spanish trainer, and I were teaching clinics at Chacabuco in Chile. During our last clinic we heard a girl asking her belayer a question: “Is it okay to fall here?” She was traversing away from her last bolt, pumped, and facing a pendulum fall. David turned to me and said, “I guess you have another topic for your email lessons. How do we want to know if it’s okay to fall, by someone else determining it or by you determining it?”

Appropriate Risk Asking a question infers a decision needs to be made; we’re deciding whether or not to commit to action. Decisions separate preparation and action. We prepare by thinking about the risk, collecting information. We act by doing it, by climbing through the risk. The purpose of decisions is to weigh what we discover in preparation against our experience and take an appropriate risk.

What does it mean to take an appropriate risk? “Appropriate” points toward us, risks that push us out of our comfort zones, but also diminish possibility of injury. Pushing too far out of our comfort zones can cause injury, increase fear, or death.

So how do we determine what’s an appropriate risk for us? First, we evaluate if we’re in a yes-fall or no-fall zone. Yes-fall zones mean we’re likely not to get injured if we fall. No-fall zones mean we’re likely to get injured or worse if we fall.

Knowing Now, this is where it gets tricky. How do you know if you’re likely to get injured? The key word here is know. The Warrior’s Way® emphasizes that intellectual knowing is only the beginning. To truly know something we have to experience it. Therefore, to know what is an appropriate yes-fall zone means we have experience with the kinds of falls we’re facing.

Also, decision-making about what is an appropriate risk isn’t an analytical process, it’s intuitive. The decision includes more than an analytical assessment of all the past falls weighed against the current fall’s statistics. It also includes how often we’ve been practicing falling recently, what types of falls we’ve practiced, and where we practiced them. That’s too much information to weigh analytically.

Intuitively, however, we can weigh it accurately. We do this by paying attention to how much resistance we feel about taking the risk. If there’s too much resistance, it means the risk is too far outside our comfort zones. “Appropriate,” then, means risks that push us a little outside our comfort zones where we feel a moderate level of resistance.

Falling Falling is the consequence of decisions we make in climbing. If we rely on others to make those decisions for us, then we’re likely to get injured because what is appropriate for others isn’t appropriate for us. We’ll blame others if we get injured because we relied on them to do our risk assessment instead of taking responsibility for doing it ourselves. It’s better to accept responsibility for our decisions and rely on ourselves to determine what is appropriate. Doing that retains our power and gives us direct information about the consequences of our choices. There’s no one to blame. We’re able to focus more directly on what we can learn from the outcomes we create.

If we have to ask someone else “Is it okay to fall here?” then we need to become aware. We’re giving our power to others and need to reclaim it. We do this by doing falling practice to gain experiential knowledge about falling, practice weighing risks against our falling experience, and paying attention to the level of resistance we feel about taking the risk. Doing this focuses our attention on us, on a process that will help us take an appropriate risk. It brings our attention back to us so we can build our mental power and know what is appropriate.

Practice Tip: Feel for Resistance Decision-making isn’t an analytical process; it’s an intuitive process. Tune into your intuition so you can make appropriate risk decisions. Do this by paying attention to the level of resistance you feel (not think).

High level of resistance: the risk is not appropriate.
Medium level of resistance: the risk may or may not be appropriate.
Low level of resistance: the risk is probably appropriate.

When you feel a medium level of resistance, find “little ways to engage” to help push the feeling closer to “high” or “low.”

The Espresso Lessons book goes into more depth for making intuitive decisions.

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https://warriorsway.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/eLesson_2022-0314_2016-0425.mp3 El mes pasado David Villegas, nuestro entrenador español y yo enseñábamos unas practicas en Chacabuco en Chile. Durante nuestra última practica oímos una chica preguntando a su asegurador: “? ¿Puedo caer aquí”? Ella estaba lejos del último seguro, extra-plomaba, y con una caída de péndulo. David se volvió hacia mí y dijo, “supongo que habrá otro tema para sus lecciones on-line. ¿Cómo podemos saber si es posible la caída, para otra persona y como determinarlo? “

Hacer la pregunta induce a tomar una decisión; vamos a decidir el si o no a comprometerse con la acción. Las decisiones separan la preparación de la acción. Nos preparamos al pensar en el riesgo, recopilando información. Actuamos al hacerlo, escalando a través del riesgo. El propósito de las decisiones es sopesar lo que descubrimos durante la preparación basándonos en nuestra experiencia y asumir el riesgo apropiado.

¿Qué significa asumir el riesgo adecuado? … “apropiado” es para nosotros, el riesgo que nos empujan fuera de la zonas de confort, pero también disminuye la posibilidad de lesiones en caso de caída. Ir demasiado lejos de la zona de confort puede causar lesiones, aumento de miedo, o incluso la muerte.

Entonces, ¿cómo podemos determinar cual es el riesgo adecuado para nosotros? En primer lugar, evalúanos si estamos en un zona de caída (viable). Zona de caída (viable) significa que es probable no hacerse daño si se cae. O si por el contrario estamos en una zona de caída (no viable), significa que en caso de caída es probable que en el mejor de los casos se sufra lesiones.

Ahora bien, aquí es donde se pone difícil. ¿Cómo sabemos si estamos en una zona de probables lesiones en caso de caída? La palabra clave aquí es “saber”. El Camino del Guerrero hace hincapié en que el conocimiento intelectual es sólo el principio. Para conocer verdaderamente algo tenemos que experimentarlo. Por lo tanto, para saber si es adecuada una zona de caída (viable), significa que debemos tener suficiente experiencia con el tipo de caídas a las que nos estamos enfrentando.

Además, la toma de decisiones sobre lo que es un riesgo apropiado no es un proceso analítico, es intuitivo. La decisión incluye más de una evaluación analítica, como sopesar las estadísticas de todas las últimas caídas. También incluye la frecuencia con la que hemos estado practicando la caída recientemente, qué tipos de caídas hemos practicado y donde las practicamos. Todo ello es demasiada información para sopesar analíticamente.

De manera intuitiva, sin embargo, podemos calcular con precisión. Hacemos esto para prestar atención en la cantidad de resistencia que sentimos al asumir el riesgo. Si hay demasiada resistencia, significa que el riesgo esta demasiado lejos de nuestra zona de confort. “Adecuado”, entonces, significa riesgos que nos empujan un poco fuera de nuestras zonas de confort y donde sentimos un nivel moderado de resistencia.

La caída es consecuencia de decisiones que tomamos en la escalada. Si nos basamos en los demás para que las tomen por nosotros, entonces somos más propensos a sufrir una lesión, dado que, lo que es apropiado para otros no tiene porque ser apropiado para nosotros. Vamos a culpar a otros si nos lesionamos porque nos basamos en ellos para hacer nuestra evaluación del riesgo en lugar de asumir la responsabilidad de hacerlo nosotros mismos. Es mejor aceptar la responsabilidad de nuestras decisiones y confiar en nosotros mismos para determinar lo que es apropiado o no. Haciendo esto mantenemos nuestro poder y nos da información directa de las consecuencias de nuestras elecciones. Si no hay nadie a quien culpar, somos capaces de centrarnos más directamente en lo que aprendemos de los resultados obtenidos.

Si tenemos que pedir a otra persona “, ¿Puedo caer aquí?”, Entonces tenemos que tomar conciencia que estamos relegando nuestro poder a los demás y la necesidad de recuperarlo seguidamente. Haciendo esto perdemos la oportunidad de mejorar el conocimiento experimental de la caída, la práctica de sopesando riesgos en base a nuestra experiencia de caídas, y a prestar atención al nivel de resistencia que sentimos al comprometernos con el riesgo. Recuperar el poder, centra nuestra atención en nosotros, es un proceso que nos ayuda a comprometernos con el riesgo apropiado. Centrar la atención de nuevo en nosotros para construir nuestro poder mental y saber lo que es apropiado.

Consejo práctico: La sensación de la resistencia La toma de decisiones no es un proceso analítico, mas bien es un proceso intuitivo. Sintoniza tu intuición para tomar decisiones de riesgo apropiado. Para ello, presta atención al nivel de resistencia que sientes (no que lo piensas).

– Alto nivel de resistencia: el riesgo no es el adecuado.

– Medio nivel de resistencia: el riesgo puede o no puede ser apropiado.

– Bajo nivel de resistencia: el riesgo es probablemente adecuado.

Cuando se siente un nivel medio de resistencia, busca “pequeñas maneras de implicarte” para ayudar a empujar la sensación hacia el más cerca de “alto” o “bajo”.

El libro Lecciones Exprés trata en más profundidad la toma de decisiones intuitivas.

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https://warriorsway.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/eLesson_2022-0314_2016-0425.mp3 Il y a quelques années, David Villegas, notre entraîneur espagnol, et moi donnions des cours à Chacabuco, au Chili. Lors de notre dernier stage, nous avons entendu une fille poser une question à son assureur : “Est-ce que c’est ok de chuter ici ?” Elle était en train de faire une traversée en s’éloignant de son dernier ancrage, elle était complétement fatiguée et risquait une chute en pendule. David s’est tourné vers moi et m’a dit : ” Je suppose que tu as un autre sujet pour tes leçons par courriel. Comment voulons-nous savoir si c’est ok de chuter, par quelqu’un d’autre ou par nous ?”.

Poser une question implique qu’une décision a besoin d’être prise ; nous décidons de nous engager ou non dans l’action. Les décisions séparent la préparation de l’action. Nous nous préparons en réfléchissant au risque, en collectant des informations. Nous agissons en le faisant, en grimpant au travers du risque. Le but de la prise de décision est de confronter ce que nous découvrons lors de la préparation à notre expérience afin de prendre un risque approprié.

Qu’est-ce que cela signifie de prendre un risque approprié ? “Approprié” signifie pour nous, des risques qui nous poussent hors de notre zone de confort, mais qui diminuent aussi les risques de blessure. Si nous sortons trop de notre zone de confort, nous risquons de nous blesser, de renforcer notre peur ou de mourir.

Alors comment déterminer ce qui est un risque approprié pour nous ? Tout d’abord, nous évaluons si nous nous trouvons dans une zone de oui chute ou de non chute. Une zone de oui chute signifie qu’il est probable que nous ne serons pas blessés si nous chutons. Une zone de non chute signifie que nous risquons de nous blesser ou pire si nous tombons.

C’est là que ça se complique. Comment savoir si l’on risque de se blesser ? Le mot clé ici est “savoir”. La Voie du guerrier insiste sur le fait que la connaissance intellectuelle n’est qu’un début. Pour vraiment connaître quelque chose, nous devons en faire l’expérience. Par conséquent, pour savoir ce qui est une zone de oui chute appropriée, nous devons avoir l’expérience des types de chutes auxquelles nous sommes confrontés.

Aussi, la prise de décision sur ce qui constitue un risque approprié n’est pas un processus analytique, mais intuitif. La décision ne se limite pas à une évaluation analytique de toutes les chutes passées par rapport aux statistiques de la chute actuelle. Elle comprend également la fréquence à laquelle nous avons pratiqué des chutes récemment, les types de chutes que nous avons pratiquées et l’endroit où nous les avons pratiquées. Ces informations sont trop nombreuses pour être évaluées de manière analytique.

Intuitivement, cependant, nous pouvons les évaluer avec précision. Pour ce faire, nous devons prêter attention à la résistance que nous éprouvons à l’idée de prendre le risque. S’il y a trop de résistance, cela signifie que le risque est trop éloigné de notre zone de confort. Un risque “approprié” est donc un risque qui nous pousse un peu en dehors de notre zone de confort et pour lequel nous ressentons une résistance modérée.

La chute est la conséquence des décisions que nous prenons en escalade. Si nous comptons sur les autres pour prendre ces décisions à notre place, nous risquons de nous blesser car ce qui est approprié pour les autres ne l’est pas pour nous. Nous blâmerons les autres si nous nous blessons parce que nous nous sommes fiés à eux pour évaluer les risques au lieu de prendre la responsabilité de le faire nous-mêmes. Il est préférable d’accepter la responsabilité de nos décisions et de nous fier à nous-mêmes pour déterminer ce qui est approprié. En agissant ainsi, nous conservons notre pouvoir et nous sommes directement informés des conséquences de nos choix. Il n’y a personne à blâmer. Nous sommes en mesure de nous concentrer plus directement sur ce que nous pouvons apprendre des résultats que nous créons.

Si nous avons besoin de demander à quelqu’un d’autre : “Est-ce que c’est ok de chuter ici ?”, alors nous devons en prendre conscience. Nous donnons notre pouvoir aux autres et avons besoin de le récupérer. Pour ce faire, nous nous entraînons à tomber afin d’acquérir des connaissances expérientielles sur la chute, nous nous entraînons à évaluer les risques par rapport à notre expérience de la chute et nous prêtons attention au niveau de résistance que nous ressentons à l’idée de prendre le risque. Ce faisant, nous concentrons notre attention sur nous, sur un processus qui nous aidera à prendre un risque approprié. Cela ramène notre attention sur nous afin que nous puissions développer notre puissance mentale et savoir ce qui est approprié.

Conseil pratique : Ressentir la résistance La prise de décision n’est pas un processus analytique ; c’est un processus intuitif. Faites appel à votre intuition pour pouvoir prendre des décisions appropriées en matière de risques. Pour ce faire, prêtez attention au niveau de résistance que vous ressentez (et non que vous pensez).

Haut niveau de résistance : le risque n’est pas approprié.
Moyen niveau de résistance : le risque peut être approprié ou non.
Bas niveau de résistance : le risque est probablement approprié.

Lorsque vous ressentez un niveau moyen de résistance, trouvez de “petites façons de s’engager” pour aider à rapprocher le sentiment de “haut” ou “bas”.

Le livre Espresso Lessons (ndt: pour l’instant seulement en anglais) explique plus en détail comment prendre des décisions intuitives.

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https://warriorsway.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/eLesson_2022-0314_2016-0425.mp3 No mês passado David Villegas, nosso treinador espanhol, e eu estávamos lecionando clinicas em Chacabuco, no Chile. Durante nossa última clínica, ouvimos uma garota perguntando ao seu assegurador: “Eu posso cair aqui”? Ela estava fazendo uma travessia desde a última chapa, bombada, e encarando uma queda em pendulo. David virou para mim e disse: “Acho que você tem outro assunto para suas lições por e-mail. Como queremos saber se podemos cair? Por meio de outra pessoa ou por nossos próprios critérios? ”.

Fazer uma pergunta infere que uma decisão deve ser tomada; estamos decidindo se vamos nos comprometer ou não com a ação. As decisões separam a preparação e a ação. Nos preparamos ao pensar sobre o risco, coletando informação. Agimos fazendo-o, escalando através do risco. O propósito das decisões é medir o que descobrimos na preparação com nossa experiência e tomar um risco apropriado.

O que significa tomar um risco apropriado? “Apropriado” aponta em nossa direção, riscos que nos levam para fora de nossas zonas de conforto, mas também diminuem a possibilidade de lesão. Ir muito além de nossa zona de conforto pode causar lesões, medo aumentado ou até mesmo a morte.

Portanto, como decidimos o que é um risco apropriado para nós? Primeiro, avaliamos se estamos em uma zona de queda-sim ou de não-queda. Zonas de queda-sim são as que não corremos um grande risco de nos lesionar se cairmos. Nas zonas de não-queda, é provável que nos lesionemos ou pior se cairmos.

É agora que fica complicado. Como sabemos se podemos nos lesionar? A palavra chave aqui é saber. O caminho do guerreiro enfatiza que o conhecimento intelectual é apenas o começo. Para saber algo verdadeiramente devemos ter a experiência. Portanto, para saber o que é uma zona apropriada de queda-sim devemos ter experiência com o tipo de quedas que estamos encarando.

Também, a tomada de decisão sobre o que é um risco adequado não é um processo analítico, e sim intuitivo. A decisão inclui mais do que uma avaliação analítica de todas as quedas passadas comparadas com as estatísticas da queda atual. Ela também inclui a nossa frequência de treinamento de quedas, quais tipos de quedas e aonde as estivemos praticando. É muita informação para medir analiticamente.

Intuitivamente, no entanto, podemos medir com precisão. Fazemos isto prestando atenção à quantidade de resistência que sentimos sobre o risco. Se há muita resistência, significa que o risco está muito fora de nossa zona de conforto. “Apropriado”, portanto, significa riscos que nos empurram um pouco além de nossas zonas de conforto, onde sentimos um nível moderado de resistência.

A queda é a consequência das decisões que tomamos na escalada. Se dependermos de outros para realizar estas decisões por nós, então é provável que nos lesionemos, pois o que é apropriado para os outros não é apropriado para nós. Vamos acabar culpando os outros se nos lesionarmos porque dependemos deles para fazer a análise dos riscos em vez de aceitar a responsabilidade de fazê-la nós mesmos. É melhor aceitar a responsabilidade por nossas decisões e depender de nós mesmos para determinar o que é apropriado. Fazer isso retêm nosso poder e nos dá informação direta sobre as consequências de nossas escolhas. Não há ninguém para culpar. Somos capazes de focar mais diretamente no que podemos aprender da situação que nós criamos.

Se temos que perguntar para outra pessoa se “podemos cair aqui”, então devemos criar uma consciência. Estamos dando nosso poder aos outros e devemos retomá-lo. Fazemos isto realizando treino de quedas para obter conhecimento experimental sobre elas, treinamos medindo os riscos com nossa experiência de quedas, e prestando atenção ao nível de resistência que sentimos sobre tomar o risco. Fazer isto foca nossa atenção em nós mesmos, em um processo que nos ajudará a tomar um risco apropriado. Faz nossa atenção voltar a nos mesmos para que possamos aumentar nosso poder mental e saber o que é apropriado.

Dica Prática: Sinta a resistência A tomada de decisão não é um processo analítico; é um processo intuitivo. Entre em sintonia com sua intuição para poder realizar decisões apropriadas de risco. Faça isto prestando atenção ao nível de resistência que você está sentindo (não o que está pensando).

– Nível alto de resistência: O risco não é apropriado

– Nível médio de resistência: O risco pode ou não ser apropriado.

– Nível baixo de resistência: o risco provavelmente é apropriado.

Quando você sentir um nível médio de resistência, descubra “pequenas formas de se comprometer” para ajudar a empurrar a sensação para o “alto” ou “baixo”.

O livro Expresso Lessons Treinamento Expresso se aprofunda mais no tema de tomar decisões intuitivas.

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Proof One of my biggest challenges is making assumptions instead of remaining curious. Case in point from my personal life. Someone sent me an official document that “proved” they were right in an issue we’re working through. I didn’t read it carefully, missed important details, and accepted their “proof.” Their rights are now being legitably challenged as more important details are being revealed. Sorry I can’t share more about the specifics. Basically, though, I think we all have this tendency. We’re too quick to make assumptions instead of curiously investigating issues. Developing the habit of curiosity seems particularly important to counteract this tendency.

Learning requires us to move toward stressful situations, engage them, and remain present. Curiosity helps us move toward stress. Habits are cyclical, contain three parts, and are driven to repeat themselves. The three parts are the cue, the routine, and the reward. Stress is the cue; it moves us to do something. That doing takes us through a routine to process stress. Gaining more comfort is the reward for our efforts. The cycle is driven by our comfort-based motivation. What can we change with all this?

The cue can’t be changed; stress is inevitable. The reward, too, can’t be changed; we need relief from stress at some point in the future. Our comfort motivation that drives the cycle, too, is natural and can’t be changed. What we can change is the routine. Developing the habit of curiosity creates routines that keep us engaged in the learning process. It gives our natural comfort motivation a direction toward engagement.

Curiosity can be developed and habituated. It starts by being more interested in learning than the comfort we experience dwelling on what we think we know. In her book, The Intuitive Body, Wendy Palmer gives us some perspective on curiosity. She says,

“For me, the spiritual worth lies not in the answer but in the fantastic sense of readiness, the intense here and now of expectancy, the instant before we know, when we are still in a state of openness.”

Wendy’s phrases reveal our mindset for curiosity. Expectations, though, could derail our attention. Windy talks about an “intense here and now of expectancy.” How can we relate to expectations better so they don’t derail our curiosity?

The expectancy Wendy relates is about end-results and processes. We expect to know, but we don’t put a time-stamp on that expectancy. By not putting a time-stamp on it, we achieve both end and process expectations. We expect that at some point in the future we’ll know and we expect to continue to apply our tools in the moment as we learn and move in that direction.

She outlines the habit of curiosity in five steps:

The first step is awareness. Become aware and acknowledge that the mind, driven by its natural comfort motivation, tries to resolve stress quickly, to get to certainty and some future comfortable state.
The second step is to wait, to pause. Don’t do anything. Develop the ability to pause and wait, to relax into the current stressful situation.
The third step is to shift the flow of your attention. Instead of allowing it to dwell in the mind validating what you think you know, you shift attention into the body and senses toward the issue you’re investigating.
The fourth step is blending with the situation. Instead of thinking that you either have the answer or you don’t, shift to a both/and perspective. Acceptance is important for this. You both accept the situation as is, and investigate it in the present moment.
The fifth step is making a small step of action. This step must be small enough to move you, now. Take the small step of action with expectancy that you’ll discover something.

Awareness First I think the most difficult step is the first one. Like I mentioned before, we make assumptions due to lack of awareness. In a sense, we’re reacting to the mind’s desire for certainty and comfort and aren’t aware of what’s going on. Once we’re aware, we can pause, shift our attention to the issue, accept it and begin working with it by taking a small action.

Remember, the “routine” is the only part of the habit cycle you can change. You can’t change the cue–the stress. You can’t change the reward–you want relief from the stress. It’s the routine you create to process the stress that’s within your control. Take control by reminding yourself moment by moment, all day long, to be curious. Your awareness will pique the mind’s tendency to derail your attention.

Practice Tip: 5 Steps to Remain Curious 1. Be aware throughout the day. Set reminders on your phone, computer, etc. It can be helpful to get a friend to do this also so you can remind and encourage each other. 2. Instead of reacting… pause. Allow awareness to expand. 3. Don’t let attention dwell in your mind on what you think you know. Rather, redirect it to the issue itself. 4. Acceptance is important before action. Take a both/and perspective by both accepting the situation as it is and being willing to take action to improve it. 5. Take a small action step to investigate the issue…repeat.

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https://warriorsway.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/eLesson_2022-0228_2016-0411.mp3 Qual é a maior diferença entre a escalada e o esqui? A forma como cada esporta usa a gravidade. O movimento é criado de maneira diferente nos dois esportes. Quando os esquiadores se comprometem com descer uma grande inclinação, o movimento é criado pela própria gravidade. Sua intenção é equilibrar seus corpos nos esquis e usar a gravidade para criar o movimento. A escalada vai contra a gravidade. Quando os escaladores se comprometem com a escalada, a gravidade os puxa para baixo e para o movimento. Os escaladores devem escalar de uma forma que crie movimento. Eles fazem isto sendo intencional na forma como eles escolhem se mover.

Temos um bloco de exercícios de movimentação que ajuda os alunos a se moverem intencionalmente. Eles aprendem a criar um movimento que lhes permite confiar em seus corpos e diminuir a interferência mental. Para atingir isto, eles precisam trabalhar com a gravidade de forma distinta dos esquiadores.

O movimento não se trata empilhar um monte de movimentações individuais juntas. O movimento é criado quando permitimos que nossos corpos fluam pelas movimentações individuais, conectando-as. Devemos atingir dois objetivos para criar movimento: confiar no corpo e diminuir a interferência mental.

Confiar no corpo significa que entramos e exploramos seu conhecimento inato de movimentação. O corpo sabe como manter o equilíbrio. Mesmo quando estamos em posições estranhas durante a escalada, o corpo nos direcionará a agarras de mãos-e pés para podermos estar equilibrados. Já discutimos isto na lição passada, onde seguimos a forma como os olhos nos direcionavam. Usamos a primeira agarra que nossos olhos avistavam.

O segundo objetivo é diminuir a interferência mental. A mente precisa de tempo para pensar. Se fizermos movimentações individuais, a mente terá muito tempo para pensar sobre cada uma. Fazemos um movimento, paramos e pensando sobre o próximo, e depois o realizamos. Isto faz com que paremos e andemos com frequência, interrompendo o movimento. Para diminuir o pensamento devemos escalar continuamente. Fazer isto muda a situação mais rapidamente, e assim a mente tem mais dificuldade de tardar em cada passo, criar dúvida e interferir com o movimento.

“Continuamente”, no entanto, não significa rapidamente. O objetivo é mudar a situação com maior velocidade. Portanto, dar pequenos passos funciona melhor para criar uma escalada mais contínua do que escalar mais rápido. O objetivo é mover o corpo para que ele se mantenha no processo. Dando pequenos passos e escalando um pouco mais rápido do que o normal é o bastante para manter o corpo no processo. A mente precisa de tempo para analisar a situação, e é o que ela faz se ficarmos em posições estáticas. Ao mudar a situação com mais velocidade, não damos à mente uma oportunidade de ficar presa em qualquer posição estática.

Recentemente eu apliquei este exercício em Sand Rock, no Alabama, em alunos de uma Universidade local. Eles eram iniciantes, sem muita confiança. A parte de cima da rocha era negativa. Os alunos duvidavam de suas habilidades de escalar através dela. Ao fazer com que eles criassem um compromisso de escalar continuamente, quase todos os alunos conseguiram passar a parte negativa da rocha. A técnica de alguns era terrível, gastando mais energia do que era necessário, ou pisando alto demais. Mas não estávamos interessados na técnica perfeita. O que eu queria era que eles tivessem a experiência da sensação de comprometer-se com a escalada quando a mente lhes dizia o contrário. Eles poderão aprender uma técnica melhor outro dia.

A escalada contínua é um exercício poderoso para o treinamento mental, pois ele leva os alunos além das dúvidas que os deixam presos em suas zonas de conforto. Somente encontrando formas de seguir agindo, quando a mente quer desistir, é que percebemos o que é possível para nós.

Um objeto em repouso tem a tendência de manter-se em repouso; um objeto em movimento tem a tendência de permanecer em movimento. Quando escalamos, precisamos permanecer em movimento para criar um ritmo. Criamos um ritmo quando escalamos continuamente. Ao fazer algo tão simples quanto escalar continuamente, confiamos no corpo para escalar e diminuímos a interferência mental. O movimento não é criado ao alinhar o corpo com a força da gravidade, como no esqui. Ele é criado quando temos a intenção de escalar um pouco mais rápido e de dar pequenos passos.

Dica prática: Escalada contínua A maioria dos escaladores escala muito lentamente. O objetivo de escalar continuamente é criar movimento. O movimento é mais do que movimentações individuais colocadas juntas. Estes passos individuais devem fluir entre eles.

Mova-se continuamente entre as paradas e descansos. Escale um pouco mais rápido do que o normal, mas mantenha a ênfase no movimento contínuo em vez da velocidade.

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https://warriorsway.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/eLesson_2022-0228_2016-0411.mp3 ¿Cuál es la principal diferencia entre la escalada y el esquí? Cada uno de estos deportes utiliza la gravedad. Pero el movimiento se genera de manera diferente en los dos deportes. Cuando los esquiadores se comprometen a esquiar por una pendiente, el movimiento se genera gracias a la fuerza de la gravedad. Su intención es equilibrar su cuerpos en el aire y usar la fuerza de la gravedad para generar el movimiento. La escalada va contra la gravedad. Cuando los escaladores se comprometen en la escalada, la gravedad tira de ellos hacia abajo y detiene el movimiento. Los escaladores tienen que escalar para generar el movimiento. Lo hacen de forma intencional cuando eligen moverse.

Tenemos un bloque de ejercicios de movimiento que ayudan a que los participantes se muevan intencionalmente. Aprenden a generar el movimiento que les permite confiar en sus cuerpos y disminuir la interferencia mental. El logro es trabajar con la gravedad de manera diferente a como lo hacen los esquiadores.

No se trata de apilar un montón de movimientos individuales para conseguir el movimiento. Más bien el movimiento se genera al permitir que el cuerpo fluya a través de los movimientos individuales. Tenemos que lograr dos objetivos para generar el movimiento: confiar en el cuerpo y disminuir la interferencia mental.

Confiar en el cuerpo significa explotar el conocimiento innato del movimiento. El cuerpo sabe cómo estar en equilibrio. Incluso cuando estamos en posiciones extrañas de escalada, el cuerpo nos dirige la mano a los puntos de apoyo para estar en equilibrio. Hemos hablado de esto en la lección anterior, donde seguíamos la dirección de los ojos. Utilizábamos la primera presa que veían los ojos.

El segundo objetivo es minimizar la interferencia mental. La mente necesita tiempo para pensar. Si paramos el movimiento, la mente tiene un montón de tiempo para pensar. Hacemos un movimiento, paramos y pensamos el siguiente movimiento y luego hacemos el siguiente movimiento. Esto nos lleva a una frecuencia de interrupción del movimiento. Para disminuir el pensar escalamos de forma continua. Así cambia la situación con mayor rapidez, por lo que es más difícil que la mente se aferre a un movimiento, crear dudas, e interferir con el movimiento.

Sin embargo, “Continuo” no significa velocidad. El objetivo es cambiar la situación con mayor rapidez. Por lo tanto, para crear la escalada continua, haciendo pequeños pasos funciona mejor lo que no es ser más rápido. El objetivo es mover el cuerpo y que permanezca en el proceso. Hacer pequeños pasos y escalar un poco más rápido de lo normal es suficiente para mantener el cuerpo en el proceso. La mente necesita tiempo para analizar la situación, cosa que lo hace si nos quedamos en posiciones estáticas. Al cambiar la situación con mayor rapidez, no damos a la mente la oportunidad para aferrarse a una posición estática.

Recientemente he enseñado este ejercicio en Sand Rock, Alabama, a participantes de una universidad local. Eran principiantes con falta de confianza. La parte superior de la roca era extra plomada. Los estudiantes pusieron en duda su capacidad para escalarla. Al tener que acometer la escalada de forma continua, casi todos los estudiantes fueron capaces de escalarla. Algunos con una técnica terrible, usando más energía de la necesaria en cada paso. Pero no nos focalizamos en la técnica perfecta. Lo que queríamos era que aprendieran a experimentar lo que se siente al acometer una escalar cuando la mente les decía lo contrario. La técnica ya la aprenderían otro día.

La escalada continua es un poderoso ejercicio para el entrenamiento mental porque empuja las dudas de los participantes que los mantienen dentro de sus zonas de confort. Sólo mediante la búsqueda de formas de seguir tomando decisiones. Cuando nos alejamos de la mente, nos damos cuenta de lo que somos capaces.

Un objeto en reposo tiende a permanecer en reposo; un objeto en movimiento tiende a permanecer en movimiento. Cuando escalamos, tenemos que permanecer en movimiento para crear impulso. Creamos un impulso escalando continuamente. Al hacer algo tan simple como escalar continuamente confiamos el cuerpo en la escalada y disminuimos la interferencia mental. El movimiento no se crea mediante la adaptación a la fuerza de gravedad, como en el esquí. El movimiento se genera por la intención de escalar un poco más rápido y hacer pequeños pasos.

Consejo práctico: La escalada continua La mayoría de los escaladores escalan demasiado lentamente. El propósito de escalar continuamente es crear movimiento. El movimiento es la suma de movimientos individuales. Los movimientos individuales deben fluir de uno al otro.

Moverse continuamente entre posiciones. Moverse un poco más rápido de lo normal, pero mantener el énfasis en el movimiento continuo en lugar de la velocidad.

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https://warriorsway.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/eLesson_2022-0228_2016-0411.mp3 Quelle est la principale différence entre l’escalade et le ski ? La façon dont ces deux sports utilisent la gravité. Le mouvement est créé différemment pour chacun. Quand les skieurs s’engagent à dévaler une pente, le mouvement est créé par la force de gravité. Leur intention est d’équilibrer leur corps sur leurs skis et d’utiliser la force de gravité pour créer du mouvement. L’escalade va à l’encontre de la gravité. Lorsque les grimpeurs s’engagent à grimper, la gravité les tire vers le bas et entrave le mouvement. Les grimpeurs ont besoin de grimper de manière à créer du mouvement. Ils y parviennent en choisissant intentionnellement la manière dont ils se déplacent.

Nous avons un bloc d’exercices de mouvement qui aide les apprenants à bouger intentionnellement. Ils apprennent à créer des mouvements qui leur permettent de faire confiance à leur corps et de diminuer les interférences mentales. Pour y parvenir, ils sont amenés à travailler avec la gravité différemment de ce que font les skieurs.

Le mouvement ne consiste pas à faire une succession de mouvements individuels. Le mouvement est créé en permettant à notre corps de circuler à travers les mouvements individuels, en les reliant. Nous avons besoin d’atteindre deux objectifs pour créer du mouvement : faire confiance au corps et diminuer les interférences mentales.

Faire confiance au corps Faire confiance au corps signifie que nous puisons dans sa connaissance innée du mouvement. Le corps sait comment être en équilibre. Même lorsque nous sommes dans des positions d’escalade bizarres, le corps nous dirigera vers des prises de main et de pied pour que nous puissions être en équilibre. Nous en avons discuté dans la dernière leçon où nous avons suivi la direction que nos yeux nous ont donnée. Nous avons utilisé la première prise que nos yeux ont vue.

Le deuxième objectif est de diminuer les interférences mentales. L’esprit a besoin de temps pour réfléchir. Si nous faisons des mouvements individuels, alors l’esprit a beaucoup de temps pour penser à chacun d’eux. Nous faisons un mouvement, nous nous arrêtons et réfléchissons au mouvement suivant, puis nous faisons le mouvement suivant. Cela nous amène à nous arrêter et à repartir fréquemment, interrompant le mouvement. Pour diminuer nos pensées, nous grimpons de manière continue. Cela change la situation plus rapidement, ce qui rend difficile pour l’esprit de s’accrocher à un mouvement, de créer des doutes et d’interférer avec le mouvement.

“Continu” n’est cependant pas synonyme de vitesse. L’objectif est de changer la situation plus rapidement. Ainsi, il est plus efficace de faire de petits pas pour créer une escalade continue que de grimper plus rapidement. L’objectif est de faire bouger le corps afin qu’il reste dans le processus. Faire de petits pas et grimper un peu plus vite que d’habitude est suffisant pour que le corps reste dans le processus. L’esprit a besoin de temps pour analyser la situation, ce qu’il fait si nous restons dans des positions statiques. En changeant la situation plus rapidement, nous ne donnons pas à l’esprit la possibilité de s’accrocher à une position statique.

Récemment, j’ai enseigné cet exercice à Sand Rock, en Alabama, à des étudiants d’une université locale. Ils étaient débutants et manquaient de confiance. La partie supérieure du rocher était en surplomb. Les étudiants doutaient de leur capacité à y grimper. En leur demandant de s’engager à grimper continuellement, presque tous les étudiants ont réussi à franchir le surplomb. Certaines de leurs techniques étaient terribles, utilisant plus d’énergie que nécessaire ou faisant des pas de géant. Mais nous n’étions pas intéressés par une technique parfaite. Ce que je voulais qu’ils apprennent, c’est expérimenter la sensation de s’engager à grimper quand l’esprit leur dit le contraire. Ils pouvaient apprendre de meilleures techniques un autre jour.

L’escalade continue est un exercice puissant pour la préparation mentale, car elle pousse les apprenants à surmonter les doutes qui les retiennent dans leur zone de confort. Ce n’est qu’en trouvant des moyens de continuer à agir, alors que l’esprit veut abandonner, que nous réalisons davantage ce qui est possible pour nous.

Un objet au repos a tendance à rester au repos ; un objet en mouvement a tendance à rester en mouvement. Lorsque nous grimpons, il est nécessaire de rester en mouvement pour créer de l’élan. Nous créons cet élan en grimpant de manière continue. En faisant quelque chose d’aussi simple que de grimper de manière continue, nous faisons confiance au corps pour grimper et diminuons les interférences mentales. Le mouvement n’est pas créé en s’alignant sur la force de gravité, comme en ski. Le mouvement est créé par l’intention de grimper un petit peu plus vite et de faire de petits pas.

Conseil Pratique : Grimpe Continue La plupart des grimpeurs grimpent trop lentement. L’objectif de la grimpe continue est de créer du mouvement. Le mouvement est plus que l’addition de mouvements individuels. Les mouvements individuels doivent être fluides les uns par rapport aux autres.

Soyez continuellement en mouvement entre les positions d’arrêt. Bougez un peu plus vite que d’habitude, mais mettez l’accent sur le mouvement continu plutôt que sur la vitesse.

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https://warriorsway.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/eLesson_2022-0228_2016-0411.mp3 What’s the main difference between climbing and skiing? How each sport uses gravity. Movement is created differently in the two sports. When skiers commit to skiing down a slope, movement is created by the pull of gravity. Their intention is to balance their bodies over their skies and use the pull of gravity to create movement. Climbing goes against gravity. When climbers commit to climbing, gravity pulls them down and stops movement. Climbers need to climb in a way that creates movement. They do this by being intentional about how they choose to move.

We have a block of movement exercises that help students move intentionally. They learn how to create movement that allows them to trust their bodies and diminish mental interference. Achieving this requires them to work with gravity differently than skiers do.

Movement is not about stacking a bunch of individual moves together. Movement is created by allowing our bodies to flow through the individual moves, connecting them. We need to achieve two objectives to create movement: trust the body and diminish mental interference.

Trusting the body Trusting the body means we tap into its innate knowledge of movement. The body knows how to be in balance. Even when we’re in strange climbing positions, the body will direct us toward hand- and footholds so we can be in balance. We discussed this in the last lesson where we followed how the eyes directed us. We used the first hold our eyes saw.

The second objective is diminishing mental interference. The mind needs time to think. If we make individual moves, then the mind has a lot of time to think about each one. We make a move, stop and think about the next move, and then make the next move. This causes us to stop and go frequently, interrupting movement. To diminish thinking we climb continuously. Doing this changes the situation more rapidly, making it difficult for the mind to latch onto any one move, create doubt, and interfere with movement.

“Continuous” however doesn’t mean speed. The goal is to change the situation more rapidly. So, making small steps works better to create continuous climbing than climbing faster. The goal is to move the body so it remains in process. Making small steps and climbing a little faster than usual is enough to keep the body in process. The mind needs time to analyze the situation, which it does if we stay in static positions. By changing the situation more rapidly, we don’t give the mind an opportunity to latch onto any one static position.

Commitment and momentum Recently I taught this exercise at Sand Rock, Alabama, to students from a local university. They were beginners, lacking confidence. The upper part of the rock was overhanging. The students doubted their ability to climb through it. By having them commit to climbing continuously, almost all of the students were able to climb through the overhang. Some of their techniques were terrible, using more energy than necessary or high-stepping. But we weren’t interested in perfect technique. What I wanted them to learn was experiencing what it feels like to commit to climbing when the mind told them otherwise. They could learn better techniques on another day.

Continuous climbing is a powerful exercise for mental training because it pushes students through doubts that hold them within their comfort zones. Only by finding ways to continue taking action, when the mind wants to quit, do we realize more of what’s possible for us.

An object at rest has a tendency to stay at rest; an object in motion has a tendency to stay in motion. When we climb, we need to stay in motion to create momentum. We create momentum by climbing continuously. By doing something as simple as climbing continuously we trust the body to climb and diminish mental interference. Movement isn’t created by aligning with the pull of gravity, like in skiing. Movement is created by intending to climb a little faster and making small steps.

Practice Tip: Continuous Climbing Most climbers climb too slowly. The purpose of climbing continuously is to create movement. Movement is more than individual moves added together. The individual moves should flow one into the next.

Move continuously between stances. Move a little faster than usual, but keep the emphasis on continuous movement rather than speed.

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How was I inspired to begin climbing?
How did I manage fear early on?
What guided my interest in doing first ascents?
Who inspired me when I started climbing in the 1970s?
How did I educate myself on using protection, belaying, and risk-taking prior to all the training books?
How did I deal with my fear to do those bold routes on Whitesides?
How did I arrive at the decision to begin teaching about mental training?
What is our responsibility for creating a career? Who are we responsible for; who are we responsible to?
How many students did I have during the first year of teaching?
What are the foundational principles of The Warrior’s Way®?
How do these foundational principles fit into the three-phases of risk-taking?
What is situational awareness and what situations do we need to be aware of?
What is the foundational thing we want students to learn in the Falling & Commitment clinic?
Why do our climbing partners say “You’ve got it?” and what are the possible negative consequences of saying that?
How does honesty impact mental training and appropriate risk-taking?
What kind of structure can you use to guide your partner to support you as you need to be supported?
How do I discipline myself to write regularly? Do I write when my spirit moves me or daily at 9am?
What first ascent am I most proud of?
Day Fire podcast likes to end the podcast with a story. I like pithy Zen stories so I shared one and tied it into what it means to have a warrior mindset.

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Helpful Perspective I’m rereading Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind by Shunryu Suzuki. I’m finding it refreshing in many ways. Suzuki has a helpful perspective on practice that I think aligns with The Warrior’s Way® method. He says:

“After you have practiced for a while, you will realize that it is not possible to make rapid, extraordinary progress. Even though you try very hard, the progress you make is always little by little. It is not like going out in a shower in which you know when you get wet. In a fog, you do not know you are getting wet, but as you keep walking you get wet little by little. When you get wet in a fog it is very difficult to dry yourself. So there is no need to worry about progress. Just to be sincere and make our full effort in each moment is enough.” (page 46)

I draw out many important points from this.

First, progress truly is in small steps, so it’s helpful to embrace that. I like the metaphor of getting wet. Go out into a rainstorm and you know you’re wet. But, go out into a fog, and keep walking, and you will eventually get wet. You’ll need to stay in the fog for quite a long time to get wet though. It’s similar with regards to practice. It’ll take quite a long time to master climbing, to get wet through and through with it, so that you embody the practice.

Second, since it does take a long time to master something, you should enjoy the little steps you take. The best mindset for this is to do the practice for its own sake. This mindset will help maintain your motivation, to take those small steps, to continue walking.

Third, Suzuki points out in the first sentence that you won’t make rapid, extraordinary progress. There’s a concept in Zen that puts this into a helpful perspective: seek the extraordinary in the ordinary. We can find something extraordinary in the ordinary small steps we take as we walk through the fog getting saturated over time. Seeking the extraordinary in the ordinary helps us value the practice and the small steps for their own sake. It also helps us find joy today as we walk, taking those small steps.

Mastering Skills Practice truly is a long journey. There’s no need to rush it. Actually, there’s no way to rush it. Mastering any skill will unfold over time, as we put in the effort. Thus, Suzuki says “…there is no need to worry about progress. Just to be sincere and make our full effort in each moment is enough.” Well said Suzuki!

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Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind: 50th Anniversary Edition

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https://warriorsway.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/eLesson_2022-0131_2016-0314.mp3 Je suis un bourreau de travail. J’étais connu pour me lever à 3 heures du matin, faire une heure de trajet pour me rendre à mon travail et travailler jusqu’à 21 heures, jour après jour. Ce n’est pas sain. Je ne travaille plus comme ça aujourd’hui, mais je le faisais quand je travaillais dans l’entreprise d’outils industriels de mon père. Pourquoi travaillais-je de la sorte ? La nécessité était en partie la raison. Nous étions des entrepreneurs, donc la responsabilité de mener à bien le travail reposait sur nos épaules. Mais travailler selon un tel horaire, année après année, indique que les motivations ne sont pas alignées sur la nécessité. Peut-être me suis-je perdu dans l’agitation (NDT : busyness dans le texte original en anglais) au lieu de faire un travail intentionnel ?

Blaise Pascal, philosophe français du 17e siècle, a dit : “Tout le malheur des hommes vient d’une seule chose qui est de ne savoir pas demeurer en repos dans une chambre.” Les motivations de l’esprit peuvent créer des malheurs dans nos vies. Ceci peut amener à confondre agitation et travail. En apprenant à s’asseoir tranquillement et à être silencieux, nous pouvons observer l’esprit. À partir de ces observations, nous pouvons aller au-delà du malheur et profiter davantage de notre vie.

Nous avons tendance à être motivés par l’agitation. Cela nous donne le sentiment d’être en vie. Nous sommes actifs et en mouvement. L’agitation externe peut indiquer un état d’esprit interne occupé. Notre attention se déplace vers l’esprit, où elle se perd dans les pensées et dans le désir de parler et d’exprimer ce que nous pensons. Le fait de penser et de parler crée un environnement mental bruyant.

Deux motivations composent notre environnement mental : le désir d’être mis au défi (travailler) et le désir d’être confortable (se reposer). Ces deux motivations sont importantes. Par conséquent, nos motivations ont besoin de se compléter plutôt que de se concurrencer. L’agitation tend à susciter une compétition anxieuse entre le stress et le confort ; l’intentionnalité tend à les équilibrer de manière complémentaire.

Être occupé peut nous donner les moyens de réaliser des objectifs. Ces réalisations peuvent nous donner un sentiment d’estime de soi. Mais, comme nos motivations sont en compétition, notre attention est distraite. Notre attention a tendance à se déplacer vers un désir de confort lorsque nous sommes occupés. Puis, lorsque nous sommes confortables, nous désirons être occupés afin de pouvoir réaliser à nouveau d’autres objectifs. Nous sommes pris dans un cycle d’anxiété qui s’autoperpétue, perdus dans la prison de l’environnement bruyant et compétitif de l’esprit.

Alors, comment pouvons-nous changer cette tendance à l’agitation orientée vers la réussite ? Nous changeons notre orientation. L’orientation vers l’agitation a tendance à être une façon carte-vers-terrain d’interagir avec la vie. Nous vivons dans les cartes de la vie créées par notre esprit, dans un environnement mental bruyant, et nous projetons ces cartes sur le terrain du monde extérieur.

Pour sortir de cette prison mentale, il est nécessaire de changer notre orientation. Nous commençons par le terrain, puis nous passons à nos cartes mentales. Pour ce faire, il faut appliquer le silence. Nous décidons de “demeurer en repos dans une chambre”, comme le suggère Pascal. Nous faisons cela en concentrant notre attention sur le terrain. Notre attention est engagée dans nos sens plutôt que dans notre esprit pensant. Nous pouvons mieux remarquer les intrusions de l’esprit à partir de cette perspective.

Avec une orientation de type “terrain-vers-carte”, notre attention est mieux engagée dans la tâche que nous accomplissons. Lorsque nous travaillons, nous nous engageons à travailler et cessons de désirer un moment futur où nous serons confortables. Au contraire, nous recherchons le confort au milieu du stress en nous détendant, et nous consacrons 100 % de notre attention au travail. Ensuite, quand il est temps de se reposer et d’être dans notre zone de confort, nous cessons de désirer travailler. Au contraire, nous ne vérifions pas nos e-mails et nous ne travaillons pas ; nous nous détendons dans notre confort, en consacrant 100 % de notre attention au repos.

Il est plus facile de comprendre ces concepts intellectuellement que de les vivre. Mais c’est ce que nous avons besoin de faire. Nous avons tous de longues listes de choses à faire. Intellectuellement, nous savons que nous n’arriverons jamais à tout faire, que nous aurons tendance à être anxieux lorsque nous serons stressés, et que nous associerons valeur et réalisation. Nous vivons ces concepts pour passer de la connaissance intellectuelle à la connaissance par l’expérience.

Comment faire ? Je vous ai donné des pistes plus haut. Nous changeons notre orientation vers le silence. Nous observons l’esprit, nous concentrons notre attention sur la pensée et la parole, et nous la redirigeons vers le terrain. Le fait de déplacer notre attention sur le terrain calme l’esprit, ce qui nous permet d’être plus conscients. À partir de cet espace de conscience, nous décidons de la tâche à accomplir et nous y consacrons toute notre attention. Si notre attention se porte sur le confort alors que nous travaillons ou vice versa, nous la réorientons vers la tâche. En alternant de manière opportune travail et repos, nous apportons un équilibre à notre vie et réduisons l’anxiété.

Le silence nous aide à vivre notre vie sur le terrain du monde au lieu de nous perdre dans notre esprit. Le dialogue intérieur bruyant diminue, ce qui nous permet d’observer l’esprit à des niveaux plus subtils. Nous ne sommes pas perdus dans un esprit bruyant qui pense et parle sans cesse. Nous concentrons notre attention sur le terrain du monde et observons en silence. Cela nous aide à trouver notre chemin hors de notre misérable prison mentale qu’est l’agitation, créant ainsi plus d’intentionnalité dans nos vies.

Conseil Pratique : Pourquoi faites-vous ce que vous faites ? Évaluez la motivation qui se cache derrière votre agitation :

Désirez-vous le confort lorsque vous travaillez ? Exemple : pensez-vous à un week-end confortable alors que vous êtes en plein travail ?
Désirez-vous travailler lorsque vous vous reposez ? Exemple : travaillez-vous le week-end tandis que vous devriez vous reposer ?

Ces questions peuvent vous donner un aperçu de votre motivation. Maintenant, appliquez le silence pour les expérimenter. Arrêtez de penser et de parler. Choisissez de travailler ou de vous reposer et engagez-vous à le faire. Puis passez en temps opportun à son opposé.

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https://warriorsway.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/eLesson_2022-0131_2016-0314.mp3 Eu sou um workaholic (‘viciado’ em trabalhar). Eu já fui conhecido por levantar às 3 da manhã, dirigir por uma hora até meu trabalho e trabalhar até às 21h, um dia após o outro. Isso não é saudável. Eu não trabalho mais assim, mas eu o fiz quando trabalhei no negócio de ferramentas industriais do meu pai. Por que eu trabalhava assim? A necessidade era parte do motivo. Éramos empresários, portanto a responsabilidade de completar o trabalho estava em nossas mãos. Mas, trabalhar em jornadas dessa forma, ano após ano, demonstra motivações desalinhadas além da necessidade. Quem sabe eu não estava perdido na ocupação em vez de fazer um trabalho intencional?

O filósofo francês do século XVII, Blaise Pascal, disse: “Todas as misérias dos homens derivam deles não serem capazes de sentar em uma sala silenciosa sozinhos.” As motivações da mente podem criar miséria em nossas vidas. Ela pode igualar a ocupação com trabalho. Ao aprender como sentar em silêncio, e estar em silêncio, podemos observar a mente. De tais observações, podemos ir além da miséria e aproveitar mais nossas vidas.

Podemos ter a tendência de estar motivados pela ocupação. Ela nos dá uma sensação de estarmos vivos. Estamos ativos e nos movendo. A ocupação externa pode indicar um estado mental interno ocupado. Nossa atenção é desviada para dentro da mente, aonde ela se perde no pensamento, e em um desejo de falar e expressar o que estamos pensando. O pensamento e o ato de falar criam um ambiente mental barulhento.

Duas motivações compõem nosso ambiente mental: um desejo de ser desafiado (trabalhar) e um desejo de estar confortável (descansar). Ambas motivações são importantes. Portanto, nossas motivações precisam se complementar, em vez de competirem uma com a outra. A ocupação tende a motivar uma competição entre o estresse e o conforto; a intencionalidade tende a equilibra-los de uma forma complementar.

Estar ocupados pode nos dar os meios de atingir metas. Tais logros podem nos dar uma sensação de auto valor. Mas, já que nossas motivações estão na competição, nossa atenção se distrai. Ela tende a ser desviada na direção de um desejo por conforto quando estamos ocupados. Depois, quando estamos confortáveis, desejamos nos ocupar para poder atingir metas novamente. Ficamos presos em um ciclo de ansiedade que se perpetua, perdidos na prisão barulhenta e competitiva da mente.

Então, como mudamos essa tendência ocupacional orientada pelos logros? Mudamos nossa orientação. A orientação por ocupação tende a ser uma forma de interagir com a vida no estilo mapa-para-território. Vivemos nos mapas mentais da vida, dentro de um ambiente mental barulhento, e projetamos esses mapas no território do mundo externo.

Para sair dessa prisão mental, precisamos mudar nossa orientação. Começamos com o território e depois mudamos para nossos mapas mentais. Para fazer isso precisamos aplicar o silêncio. Nós “sentamos em um quarto silencioso, sozinhos” como sugere Pascal. Fazemos isto focando nossa atenção no território. Nossa atenção está comprometida com nossos sentidos em vez da mente pensante. Podemos perceber as intrusões da mente melhor desta perspectiva.

Com uma orientação de território-para-mapa, nossa atenção está mais comprometida com qualquer tarefa que estivermos fazendo. Quando estamos trabalhando, nos comprometemos com o trabalho e paramos de desejar um tempo futuro onde estaremos confortáveis. Em vez disso, buscamos o conforto enquanto estamos no meio do estresse, relaxando nele, e comprometemos 100% de nossa atenção no trabalho. Depois, quando for hora de descansar e estar em nossas zonas de conforto, paramos de desejar o trabalho, colocando 100% de nossa atenção no descanso.

É mais fácil entender intelectualmente do que viver tais conceitos. Mas, é isso que precisamos fazer. Todos nós temos longas listas de “afazeres”. Intelectualmente, nós sabemos que nunca terminaremos tudo, que tenderemos a estar ansiosos no estresse, e que iremos associar o trabalho com logros. Vivemos esses conceitos para transformar a sabedoria intelectual em sabedoria experiencial.

E como fazemos isso? Eu já dei algumas dicas mais cedo. Mudamos nossa orientação para o silêncio. Observamos a mente focando nossa atenção no pensamento e em falar, e a redirecionamos para o território. Mudar nossa atenção para o território silencia a mente, o que nos deixa mais atentos. Desde esse espaço de atenção, decidimos quais tarefas estamos fazendo e comprometemos toda nossa atenção a elas. Se flagrarmos nossa atenção desviando para o conforto quando estivermos trabalhando, ou vice versa, então a redirecionamos para a tarefa. Ao fazer um ciclo equilibrado entre trabalho e descanso, nós equilibramos nossas vidas e reduzimos a ansiedade.

O silêncio nos ajuda a viver nossas vidas no território do mundo em vez de estarmos perdidos na mente. O diálogo interno barulhento diminui, o que nos permite observar a mente em níveis mais sutis. Não estamos perdidos em uma mente barulhenta que está pensando e falando incessantemente. Focamos nossa atenção no território do mundo e observamos com o silêncio. Fazer isto nos ajuda a encontrar uma saída da nossa miserável prisão mental de ocupação, criando mais intencionalidade em nossas vidas.

Dica prática: Por que você faz o que faz? Avalie a motivação por trás de sua ocupação:

Você deseja conforto quando está trabalhando? Por exemplo: você pensa em um final de semana confortável quando está no meio do trabalho?
Você deseja trabalhar quando está descansando? Por exemplo: você trabalha nos finais de semana quando deveria estar descansando?

Estas perguntas podem te dar uma visão interna de sua motivação. Agora, aplique o silêncio para ter essa experiência. Pare de pensar e de falar. Escolha trabalhar ou descansar e comprometa-se com sua escolha. Depois faça um ciclo de forma equilibrada entre ela e o seu oposto (trabalho ou descanso).

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https://warriorsway.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/eLesson_2022-0131_2016-0314.mp3 Workaholic I’m a workaholic. I’ve been known for getting up at 3am, commuting an hour to my job, and working until 9pm, day after day. That’s not healthy. I don’t work like that anymore, but I did when I worked in my father’s industrial tool business. Why would I work like that? Necessity was part of the reason. We were entrepreneurs, so the responsibility for completing the work rested on our shoulders. But, working a schedule like that, year after year, points toward misaligned motivations beyond necessity. Perhaps I was lost in busyness instead of doing intentional work?

The seventeen-century French philosopher Blaise Pascal said: “All men’s miseries derive from not being able to sit in a quiet room alone.” The mind’s motivations can create miseries in our lives. It can equate busyness with work. By learning how to sit quietly, and be silent, we can observe the mind. From such observations, we can move beyond misery and enjoy our lives more.

Motivation We can tend to be motivated by busyness. It gives us a sense of being alive. We’re active and moving. External busyness can indicate an internal busy state of mind. Our attention shifts into the mind, where it gets lost in thought, and a desire to talk and express what we’re thinking. Both thinking and talking create a loud mental environment.

Two motivations make up our mental environment: a desire to be challenged (to work) and a desire to be comfortable (to rest). Both motivations are important. Therefore, our motivations need to complement each other rather than compete against each other. Busyness tends to motivate anxious competition between stress and comfort; intentionality tends to balance them in a complementary manner.

Achievement-oriented Being busy can give us the means to achieve goals. Such achievements can give us a sense of self worth. But, since our motivations are in competition, our attention gets distracted. Our attention tends to shift toward a desire for comfort when we’re busy. Then, when we’re comfortable, we desire busyness so we can achieve again. We get caught in a self-perpetuating cycle of anxiety, lost in the prison of the mind’s loud, competitive environment.

So, how do we change this achievement-oriented busyness tendency? We change our orientation. The busyness orientation tends to be a map-to-territory way to interact with life. We live in the mind’s maps of life, inside a loud mental environment, and project those maps onto the territory of the external world.

Shifting Attention To break out of this mental prison requires a shift in our orientation. We begin with the territory and then shift to our mental maps. Doing this requires the application of silence. We “sit in a quiet room alone” as Pascal suggests. We do this by focusing our attention on the territory. Our attention is engaged in our senses instead of the thinking mind. We can notice the mind’s intrusions better from this perspective.

With a territory-to-map orientation our attention is committed better to whatever task we’re doing. When we’re working, we commit to work and stop desiring a future time when we’re comfortable. Rather, we seek comfort while in the midst of stress by relaxing into it, and commit 100% of our attention to working. Then, when it’s time to rest and be in our comfort zones, we stop desiring work. Rather, we don’t check email or do work; we relax into comfort, committing 100% of our attention to rest.

It’s easier to understand such concepts intellectually, than it is to live them. But, this is what we need to do. We all have long “to do” lists. Intellectually we know we’ll never get it all done, that we’ll tend to be anxious while in stress, and that we’ll associate worth with achievement. We live these concepts to shift intellectual knowing to experiential knowing.

So how do we do that? I’ve included hints earlier. We change our orientation to silence. We observe the mind, focus our attention in the mind on thinking and talking, and redirect it to the territory. Shifting our attention into the territory quiets the mind, allowing us to be more aware. From that space of awareness, we decide which task we’re doing and commit full attention to it. If we catch our attention shifting to comfort when we’re working, or vice versa, then we redirect it to the task. By cycling in a timely manner between work and rest we bring balance to our lives and reduce anxiety.

Silence helps us live our lives in the territory of the world instead of being lost in the mind. The loud, inner dialogue diminishes, which allows us to observe the mind at more subtle levels. We’re not lost in a loud mind that’s incessantly thinking and talking. We focus our attention on the territory of the world and observe with silence. Doing this helps us find our way out of our miserable mental prison of busyness, creating more intentionality in our lives.

Practice Tip: Why do you do what you do? Assess the motivation behind your busyness:

Do you desire comfort when you’re working? Example: are you thinking of a comfortable weekend when you’re in the midst of work?
Do you desire work when you’re resting? Example: do you work on the weekends when you should be resting?

These questions can give you insight into your motivation. Now, apply silence to experience them. Stop thinking and talking. Choose to work or rest and commit to it. Then cycle in a timely manner to its opposite.

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https://warriorsway.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/eLesson_2022-0131_2016-0314.mp3 Soy un adicto al trabajo. Se que es levantarse a las tres de la mañana, con desplazamientos de una hora para ir al trabajo, y trabajar hasta las nueve de la noche, cada día. Eso no es saludable. Ahora ya no trabajo más así, pero lo hice cuando trabajé en el negocio industrial de herramientas de mi padre. ¿Por qué trabajaba tanto? La necesidad era parte de la respuesta. Éramos empresarios, por lo que la responsabilidad de completar el trabajo recaía sobre nosotros. Sin embargo, el horario de trabajo, año tras año, apuntaba hacia motivaciones más allá de la necesidad. ¿Estaba tal vez perdido en ocupaciones en lugar de hacer un trabajo intencional?

El filósofo francés del siglo diecisiete Blaise Pascal dijo: “Todos los sufrimientos de los hombres derivan de no ser capaces de sentarse en una habitación a solas.” Las motivaciones de la mente pueden generar miserias en nuestra vida. Se puede equiparar como el ajetreo en el trabajo. Al aprender a sentarse en silencio y permanecer en silencio, podemos observar la mente. A partir de estas observaciones, podemos ir más allá de las miserias y disfrutar más de nuestra vida.

Podemos tender a estar motivados en el que hacer. Esto nos da una sensación de estar vivos. Estamos activos y en movimiento. El ajetreo puede indicar un estado lleno de la mente. En los momentos de atención hacia la mente, es cuando nos perdemos en pensamientos y surge el deseo de hablar y expresar lo que estamos pensando. Tanto pensar y hablar para crear un ambiente mental en voz alta.

Dos motivaciones forman nuestro entorno mental: el deseo del reto (el trabajo) y un deseo de estar relajado (el descanso). Ambas motivaciones son importantes. Por lo tanto, estas motivaciones tienen que complementarse entre sí en lugar de competir entre ellas. Estar ocupado tiende a minimizar la confrontación entre el estrés y la comodidad; la intencionalidad tiende a equilibrarlos de una manera complementaria.

Estar ocupado, puede darnos los medios para lograr los objetivos. Estos logros pueden darnos un sentido de autoestima. Pero, puesto que nuestras motivaciones están en competencia, nuestra atención se distrae. Nuestra atención tiende a desplazarse hacia un deseo de confort cuando estamos ocupados. Luego, cuando estamos relajados, deseamos el ajetreo de nuevo. Estamos atrapados en el ciclo perpetuo de la ansiedad, perdidos en la prisión del ambiente ruidoso y competitivo de la mente.

Así que, ¿cómo podemos cambiar esta tendencia al ajetreo y orientarla al logro? Cambiemos nuestra orientación. La orientación al ajetreo tiende a tener una forma de ruta a la realidad. Vivimos con los mapas de la de la vida en la mente, dentro de un ambiente mental en voz alta y proyectamos esos mapas en la realidad del mundo exterior.

Para salir de esta prisión mental se requiere un cambio en nuestra orientación. Comencemos con la realidad y luego cambiemos los mapas mentales. Hacer esto requiere del silencio. Nosotros “sentados en una habitación a solas”, como sugiere Pascal. Hacemos esto al enfocar nuestra atención en la realidad. Nuestra atención se aplica a nuestros sentidos en lugar de la mente. Se puede notar que las intrusiones de la mente mejoran desde esta perspectiva.

Con una orientación a la realidad, nuestra atención se ha comprometido mejor con cualquier tarea que estamos haciendo. Cuando estamos trabajando, nos comprometemos a trabajar y dejar de desear que en un tiempo futuro estaremos confortables. Más bien, buscamos la comodidad en la tensión por relajación en el trabajo, y comprometemos al 100% nuestra atención él. Luego, cuando llega el momento de descansar y estar en nuestras zonas de confort, detenemos el trabajo deseado. Así, no comprobamos el correo electrónico o hacemos tareas del trabajo, nos relajamos en el confort, y comprometemos al 100% nuestra atención a descansar.

Es más fácil entender estos conceptos intelectualmente, que experimentarlos. Sin embargo, esto es lo que hacemos. Todos hacemos listas de cosas pendientes. Intelectualmente sabemos que nunca vamos a hacerlo todo, es la tendencia a la ansiedad, domina el estrés y lo asociaremos como objetivo. Vivimos estos conceptos desde el conocimiento intelectual y lo trasladamos al conocimiento experimental.

¿Entonces qué podemos hacer? He mencionado algún consejo antes. Cambiando nuestra orientación al silencio. Observamos la mente para centrar nuestra atención en pensar y hablar, y redirigirnos a la realidad. Cambiando nuestra atención a la realidad se calma la mente y nos permite ser más conscientes. A partir de ese espacio de conciencia, decidimos qué tarea estamos haciendo y comprometemos plenamente la atención a ella. Si prestamos nuestra atención desplazándola al confort cuando estamos trabajando, o viceversa, debemos redirigirla. De manera cíclica entre el trabajo y el descanso encontramos el balance de nuestras vidas y reducimos la ansiedad.

El silencio nos ayuda a vivir la realidad en lugar de perdernos en la mente. El diálogo interno en voz alta disminuye, lo que nos permite observar la mente a niveles más sutiles. Sino nos perderemos en una mente fuerte que está pensando y hablando sin cesar. Centramos nuestra atención en la realidad y observamos en el silencio. Hacer esto nos ayuda a encontrar el camino de salida a nuestra prisión mental y ayuda a la creación de más intencionalidad en nuestras vidas.

Consejo práctico: ¿Por qué haces lo que haces? Evalúa que motivación se esconde detrás de tu ajetreo:

¿Tienes deseo de confort cuando trabajas? Ejemplo: ¿estás pensando en el fin de semana cómodo cuando estás en el trabajo?
¿Deseas trabajar cuando estás en reposo? Ejemplo: ¿trabajas los fines de semana cuando debería estar descansando?

Estas preguntas te pueden dar una idea de tu motivación. Ahora, experimenta el silencio. Deja de pensar y hablar. Opta por trabajar o descansar y comprométete con ello. Y luego de manera cíclica a lo opuesto.

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Heroes on Pedastals Why is it that we put elite athletes on pedestals and worship them as heroes? This can create perceptions that they are perfect people without flaws when, in reality, they have flaws like the rest of us.

I’ve done this with some of the background of the Free Mind program we teach. Case in point:

The earliest sources for the concept of having a free mind, which means a mind that lets us use our attention effectively, came from the seventeenth century. The samurai tradition and Zen Buddhism in Japan was nearing its height.

Zen is Cool, Right? Here are two examples. The first is the Zen master Takuan Sōhō and his book The Unfettered Mind. The second is the sword master and teacher Yagyū Munenori and his book The Life-Giving Sword. Don’t get me wrong; these are great books. I learned a lot about having a mind that was free from grasping for comfort or rejecting stress, one that could stay present for the current challenge. But, the subtle (or maybe not so subtle) connection I made between Takuan and Munenori was Zen. Everybody thinks Zen is cool, right? I assumed it was Zen teachings that helped Munenori be a better sword master. In reality, Takuan was simply Munenori’s Zen master who taught him how to use his mind more effectively.

Enter Barbara O’Brien and her book The Circle of the Way. Her book is a concise history of Zen. Seeking historical facts clears the air. In it, she tells the story of Zen and how messy its evolution has been. This includes, you guessed it, the association between Takuan and Munenori. What Takuan was doing was helping Munenori get better at killing people. Now I know that’s a broad stroke. Munenori, to his credit, did teach about the “life-giving” sword. Meaning, he wanted to use violence as a last resort.

Still, how I thought of their association misrepresented Zen teachings. Sure, zazen meditation can make us focus and concentrate on tasks better, even tasks like killing people in war. Barbara asks “…what does Buddhism teach about war? The first precept tells us to avoid taking life, period; it doesn’t list conditions.” And that’s a bit of a broad stroke too. Zen Buddhism is much more nuanced than that. But the point is made and I’m guilty of it.

The mind can take us on a journey that makes false associations, creating a fictitious reality to live in… one that can also influence others adversely. Barbara points out that Zen was militarized by some Japanese Zen masters in World War II. “Zen teachers used the teaching of emptiness to justify slaughter, saying that no one would be killed…this perversion of the teachings goes back at least to the seventeenth century, where we saw it in Takuan’s treatise for the shogun’s sword master (Munenori).” Ouch, got me. So, I was doing a bit of hero worship with Takuan and Munenori. Barbara helped me get them off the pedestals I put them on.

So what’s the lesson? It’s great to respect others and their expertise. But don’t worship them or put them on a pedestal. Bring them down to earth and find out the facts of who they are or were. What you’ll find, as I did, is that they are human like the rest of us, rife with flaws just like us. And why wouldn’t it be that way? We all have flaws because we’re on our own learning journey. The flaws give us the opportunity to learn and grow. Hero worship can cloud taking ownership of our own flaws. Seeing heroes as humans with flaws helps us get into our own muddy trenches and do the hard work of self-learning.

When we can do this kind of work, our attention isn’t dwelling on false realities or heroes on pedestals. We see the facts more clearly. And from that, we can act more decisively with our attention. Then we’re on the road toward a mind that is more free.

The post The Downside of Hero Worship appeared first on The Warriors Way.

The Circle of the Way: A Concise History of Zen from the Buddha to the Modern World

The Unfettered Mind: Writings from a Zen Master to a Master Swordsman

The Life-Giving Sword: Secret Teachings from the House of the Shogun

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https://warriorsway.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/eLesson_2022-0117_2016-0229.mp3 La aptitud mental requiere el uso de la mente para que nuestra atención fluya libremente en los momentos presentes, tal como lo requiera la situación. Si la mente permanece sobre sus expectativas y deseos, entonces interfiere con nuestra capacidad de percibir la situación real y combatirla con eficacia. Por lo tanto, no dejemos que la mente permanezca en ellos. Un estado mental de no permanecer en formas limitantes se conoce como tener la mente libre. Es sin el estorbo del “apego” mental a las expectativas o resultados deseados que interfieren con la eficacia de prestar nuestra atención.

Experimenté una mente “apegada” el mes pasado al escalar el Wish I Was Trad (5.11) en Castle Rock, Tennessee. Es una ruta deportiva de un solo largo. Había escalado la parte inferior difícil y estaba colocado en una posición de reposo dos metros por debajo del último seguro. Mis brazos estaban bloqueados y tuve dificultades para recuperar mi fuerza. Mi mente pensaba en lo difícil de la escalada, estaba en un estado tan cansado físicamente y que no iba a encontrar una postura fácil de reposo hasta el próxima seguro. Escalé tres movimientos hacia el seguro utilizando una pequeña presas, me agarrote de nuevo, y baje. Mi mente no estaba libre, en ella moraba la expectativa de la dificultad.

Podemos entender cómo desarrollar la mente libre si vemos por ejemplo, de la relación entre los mapas y los terrenos. Los mapas constituyen conceptos mentales de la situación de los terrenos, estos constituyen la realidad, la situación real. Los mapas son concepciones mentales de los terrenos reales.

Si nos proponemos el desafío de una orientación de una ruta en el terreno, primero, comenzamos con nuestro mapa mental y lo proyectamos sobre el terreno real. Buscamos elementos del terreno para validar en nuestro mapa mental. Ten en cuenta cómo limita esto en el contexto de una escalada en roca. Estamos cansados, pensando que la escalada será difícil o imposible para nosotros, y después pasamos del estado mental al proyecto sobre la roca, comprobamos que podría ser bastante factible. La mente se apega en las expectativas mentales de dificultad, en la disminución de nuestra capacidad para centrar nuestra atención de manera positiva.

Revertimos este proceso para mejorarlo. Nos acercamos a los desafíos de orientación como el del mapa al terreno. Nos fijamos en el terreno en primer lugar, creamos nuestros mapas mentales en base a lo que percibimos, y modificamos nuestros mapas mientras nos ocupamos del terreno. En una escalada en roca, en primer lugar, identificamos las características, las características crean un camino de mínima resistencia entre nosotros y la próxima posición de reposo. A continuación, creamos mapas mentales en base a lo que percibimos, mezclamos nuestras experiencias pasadas con lo que percibimos en el terreno. Finalmente, escalamos y modificamos nuestros mapas en base a lo que descubrimos mientras nos ocupamos en el terreno. La mente no se apega a ninguna expectativa mental de dificultad. Nuestra atención fluye libremente entre las tareas necesarias que se producen en el momento.

Una situación de escalada a la vista es un ejemplo útil de cómo funciona este proceso. El Camino del Guerrero secciona el proceso de escalada en dos partes: Se detiene a pensar con la mente, y el movimiento al pasar a la acción con el cuerpo. Así, en primer lugar, utilizamos el proceso específico para el pensamiento, mirando en el terreno, para reunir información objetiva. A continuación, creamos nuestros mapas mentales sobre la base de información objetiva. Por último, utilizamos el proceso específico de la acción y para que podamos permanecer receptivos a modificar nuestros mapas según el terreno que descubrimos.

Al reflexionar sobre la escalada en el Wish I Was Trad, me di cuenta que había permitido que mi mente predeterminase lo difícil que sería la escalada. Había adoptado una orientación de seguir la ruta en el terreno, a partir de los mapas mentales, de lo difícil de la escalada al percibir mi estado cansado. Y decidí revertir el concepto.

En primer lugar, miré en el terreno, la ruta. Concentré mi atención en el pensamiento, para identificar la ruta-de-menos resistencia al próxima seguro. Vi la pequeña presa que había utilizado anteriormente, además de algunos nuevos puntos de apoyo a la izquierda. Estos puntos de apoyo crearon un camino diferente para la escalada. También reconocí que esto era una situación de escalada a la vista, por lo que tendría que modificar mi mapa mental cuando me metiera en el terreno.

A continuación, establecí una intención para enfocar mi atención mientras escalaba. Si mantenía mi atención en la mente, me apegaba en lo que percibía como difícil. Más bien, centré mi atención en el cuerpo, en la respiración, en permanecer relajado, y modificar mi plan basado en lo que descubría. Utilicé el pequeño agarre inicial, entré usando los puntos de apoyo recién descubiertos y escale hasta el seguro. Descubrí una grieta vertical oculta al lado del seguro. Era un mono-dedo sólido, por lo que es fácil chapar. Al mantener mi atención en el cuerpo, era capaz de dejar que mi atención fluyera libremente, a través del terreno de la escalada, utilizando nuevos asideros que descubrí.

Hacemos algo específico para mantener un proceso del terreno al mapa. Primero, cuando pensamos, centramos nuestra atención en la recopilación de información objetiva mirando en el terreno. A continuación, permitimos que nuestra atención se desplace, para combinar nuestras experiencias pasadas con lo que percibimos en el terreno. Por último, dirigimos nuestra atención hacia el cuerpo cuando este escala. Hacer esto libera la mente del apego a sus expectativas y deseos, así permite que nuestra atención fluya libremente de una tarea a otra en función de la situación.

Consejo práctico: No hay otra. Tu mente percibe erróneamente la dificultad e interfiere con tu esfuerzo durante la escalada. En primer lugar, centra tu atención en el pensamiento y crea un mapa mental de dificultad que no representa con precisión el terreno de la escalada.

En contra puedes revertir el proceso, cuando estás en un descanso:

Busca en el terreno e identifica el siguiente seguro y las características del camino que te llevan a él.
A continuación, desarrollar un mapa, un plan para la escalada, basado en tu experiencia pasada y lo que percibes mirando en el terreno.
Por último, pasa a la acción, escala en el terreno, modificando tu mapa tanto como sea necesario según lo que descubras en el terreno de la escalada.

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https://warriorsway.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/eLesson_2022-0117_2016-0229.mp3 Uma boa forma mental requer o uso da mente de forma que nossa atenção possa fluir livremente de momento presente em momento presente, como ditar a situação. Se a mente habitar em suas expectativas e desejos, ela irá interferir em nossa habilidade de perceber a situação atual e lidar com ela efetivamente. Portanto, não deixamos a mente habitar em tais lugares. Um estado mental que não habita em formas limitantes é conhecido como ter uma mente livre. Ele está livre do apego mental às expectativas ou resultados desejados que interferem com o uso efetivo de nossa atenção.

Eu tive a experiência de uma mente ‘habitante’ alguns anos atrás escalando a via Wish I Was Trad (Queria ser tradicional -VII br) em Castle Rock, no Tennessee. É uma via esportiva de uma cordada. Eu havia escalado a parte mais baixa e estava em um descanso dois metros abaixo da última chapa da via. Meus braços estavam bombados e eu estava com dificuldade de recuperar minha força. Minha mente pensou sobre quão difícil a escalada seria em um estado físico tão cansado, e que eu não iria encontrar uma posição para costurar a próxima chapa. Eu fiz três movimentos na direção dela usando algumas agarras pequenas, fiquei bombado e desescalei de volta ao descanso. Minha mente não estava livre; ela estava habitando em uma expectativa de dificuldade.

Podemos entender como desenvolver uma mente livre investigando a relação entre mapas e territórios. Os mapas constituem nossas concepções mentais de situações; os territórios constituem a realidade, a situação de fato. Os mapas são concepções mentais de territórios reais.

Se abordarmos os desafios com uma orientação de mapa-para-território, então começamos com nosso mapa mental e o projetamos no território real. Buscamos validar o território ao nosso mapa mental dele. Pense em como isto é limitante no contexto da escalada em rocha. Estamos cansados, pensando que a escalada será difícil ou impossível para nós, e depois projetamos esse estado mental na rocha, no que poderia ser bem factível. A mente se prende às expectativas mentais de dificuldade, diminuindo nossa habilidade de focar nossa atenção efetivamente.

Podemos reverter este processo para melhorar nossa força mental. Nós abordamos os desafios com uma orientação de território-para-mapa. Olhamos primeiro para o território, criamos nossos mapas mentais com base no que percebemos, e modificamos nossos mapas enquanto adentramos o território. Em uma escalada, nós identificamos as características primeiro: as saliências e entradas na rocha que criam um caminho de menor resistência entre nós e o próximo descanso. A seguir, criamos mapas mentais com base no que percebemos: combinamos isso com nossas experiências passadas. Finalmente, escalamos e modificamos nossos mapas com base no que descobrimos ao adentrar o território. A mente não habita em nenhuma expectativa mental de dificuldade. Nossa atenção flui livremente entre as tarefas necessárias que ocorrem no momento.

Uma situação de escalada à vista é um exemplo útil para como funciona este processo. O Caminho do guerreiro quebra o processo de escalada em duas partes: parar para pensar com a mente, ou se mover para agir com o corpo. Usamos um processo específico para pensar, olhando primeiro para o território para coletar informação objetiva. A seguir, criamos nossos mapas mentais com base nessa informação objetiva. Finalmente, usamos um processo específico para agir, de modo que possamos estar receptivos para modificar nossos mapas nos territórios que formos descobrindo.

Refletindo sobre meu esforço na I Wish I was Trad, eu percebi que eu havia permitido que minha mente predeterminasse quão difícil a escalada seria. Eu havia adotado uma orientação de mapa-para-território, começando com os mapas mentais de minha mente de quão difícil a escalada seria com base no meu cansaço físico. Eu decidi reverter isso.

Eu olhei no território, a via, primeiro. Foquei minha atenção em pensar, para identificar o caminho de menor resistência para a próxima chapa. Eu vi as pequenas agarras que eu havia usado anteriormente, e mais algumas agarras de pé novas à esquerda. Estas agarras de pé criaram um caminho diferente para a escalada. Eu também reconheci que esta era uma situação de escalada à vista, então eu teria que modificar meu mapa mental para qualquer coisa que descobrisse ao escalar no território novo.

A seguir, eu estabeleci uma intenção de como focar minha atenção ao escalar. Se eu mantivesse a atenção na mente, então ela iria se apegar a qualquer coisa que ela percebesse como difícil. Em vez disso, eu foquei minha atenção no corpo, em relaxar, ficar relaxado e modificar meu plano de acordo com o que eu encontrasse. Eu usei as pequenas agarras iniciais, pisei à esquerda para usar as novas agarras de pé e escalei até a chapa. Eu encontrei uma fenda vertical escondida ao lado da chapa. Era um entalamento de dedo sólido, tornando fácil a costurada. Ao manter a atenção no meu corpo, eu fui capaz de deixa-la fluir livremente, pelo território da escalada, para usar as novas agarras de pés e mãos que havia descoberto.

Fazemos algo específico para manter uma orientação de território-para-mapa. Quando pensamos, focamos nossa atenção em coletar informação objetiva ao olhar no território primeiro. A seguir, permitimos que nossa atenção se desloque para a mente, para combinar nossas experiências passadas com o que percebemos no território. Finalmente, voltamos a atenção para o corpo quando escalamos. Fazer isto libera a mente do apego às suas expectativas e desejos, e permite que nossa atenção flua livremente de tarefa em tarefa de acordo com o que a situação ditar.

Dica Prática: Não há colher Sua mente irá julgar a dificuldade erroneamente e interferir com seu esforço na escalada. Ela focará sua atenção primeiro na mente, criando um mapa mental de dificuldade que não representa o território da escalada precisamente.

Em vez disso, quando estiver em um descanso:

Olhe para cima no território, para identificar a próxima chapa e as características da rocha que levam até ela.

A seguir, elabore um mapa, um plano para a escalada, com base em sua experiência passada e no que você percebeu ao olhar no território.

Finalmente, entre em ação, escale no território, modificando seu mapa quando for necessário de acordo com o que for descobrindo no território da escalada.

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https://warriorsway.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/eLesson_2022-0117_2016-0229.mp3 La forme mentale suppose d’utiliser l’esprit de manière que notre attention circule librement d’un moment présent à l’autre, en fonction de la situation. Si l’esprit se conforme à ses attentes et à ses désirs, il interfère avec notre capacité à percevoir la situation réelle et à la gérer efficacement. Par conséquent, nous choisissons de ne pas laisser l’esprit se conformer à ces éléments. Un état d’esprit qui ne se conforme pas aux limitations est connu comme ayant un esprit libre. Il n’est pas encombré par un attachement mental à des attentes ou à des résultats souhaités qui interfèrent avec l’utilisation efficace de notre attention.

J’ai fait l’expérience d’un esprit “conformé” le mois dernier en escaladant Wish I Was Trad (5.11) à Castle Rock, dans le Tennessee. C’est une voie sportive d’une longueur. J’avais grimpé la partie inférieure difficile et je me trouvais dans une position de repos deux mètres en dessous du prochain ancrage. Mes bras étaient pompés et j’avais du mal à récupérer mes forces. Mon esprit pensait à combien l’escalade serait difficile dans un tel état de fatigue physique et que je ne trouverais pas de position de clipper facilement au prochain ancrage. J’ai fait trois mouvements en direction du prochain ancrage en utilisant des petites prises, je suis devenu complétement daubé et je suis redescendu jusqu’à la position. Mon esprit n’était pas libre ; il se conformait à une attente de difficulté.

Nous pouvons comprendre comment développer un esprit libre en étudiant la relation entre carte et terrain. Les cartes constituent nos conceptions mentales des situations ; le terrain constitue la réalité, la situation réelle. Les cartes sont des conceptions mentales de terrains réels.

Si nous abordons les défis avec une approche carte-vers-terrain, alors nous partons de notre carte mentale et la projetons sur le terrain réel. Nous cherchons à faire correspondre le terrain à la carte que nous en avons dressée. Considérez à quel point cette approche est limitante dans le contexte de l’escalade. Nous sommes fatigués et pensons que l’escalade sera difficile, voire impossible pour nous, puis nous projetons cet état mental sur la voie, qui pourrait être tout à fait réalisable. L’esprit se conforme aux attentes mentales de difficulté, ce qui diminue notre capacité à concentrer efficacement notre attention.

Il est nécessaire d’inverser ce processus pour améliorer notre forme mentale. Nous abordons alors les défis avec une approche terrain-vers-carte. Nous examinons d’abord le terrain, créons nos cartes mentales sur la base de ce que nous percevons, et modifions nos cartes au fur et à mesure que nous nous engageons sur le terrain. En grimpant, nous identifions d’abord les éléments qui créent un chemin de moindre résistance entre nous et la prochaine position de repos. Ensuite, nous créons une carte mentale basée sur ce que nous percevons : nous mélangeons nos expériences passées avec ce que nous avons perçu sur le terrain. Enfin, nous escaladons et modifions notre carte en fonction de ce que nous découvrons en nous engageant sur le terrain. L’esprit ne se conforme à aucune attente mentale en matière de difficulté. Notre attention circule librement entre les tâches nécessaires qui se présentent dans l’instant présent.

L’escalade à vue est un exemple pertinent de la façon dont ce processus fonctionne. La Voie du Guerrier décompose le processus d’escalade en deux parties : 1. S’arrêter pour réfléchir avec l’esprit, 2. Bouger pour agir avec le corps. Nous utilisons un processus spécifique pour réfléchir, en examinant d’abord le terrain, afin de recueillir des informations objectives. Ensuite, nous créons notre carte mentale sur la base de ces informations objectives. Enfin, nous utilisons un processus spécifique pour agir, afin de rester réceptifs et de modifier notre carte en fonction du terrain que nous découvrons.

En réfléchissant à mon effort sur Wish I Was Trad, j’ai réalisé que j’avais laissé mon esprit prédéterminer la difficulté de la voie. J’avais adopté une approche carte-vers-terrain, en commençant par les cartes mentales de mon esprit sur la difficulté de l’escalade en fonction de mon état de fatigue. J’ai décidé d’inverser cette approche.

Je me suis d’abord penché sur le terrain : la voie. J’ai concentré mon attention sur la réflexion, pour identifier le chemin de moindre résistance vers le prochain ancrage. J’ai vu les petites prises que j’avais utilisées précédemment, ainsi que d’autres sur la gauche. Ces prises créaient un chemin différent pour l’escalade. J’ai également reconnu qu’il s’agissait d’une situation à vue, et que j’aurais besoin de modifier ma carte mentale en fonction de ce que je découvrirais en grimpant sur le terrain.

Ensuite, j’ai fixé une intention sur la façon de concentrer mon attention pendant l’escalade. Si je gardais mon attention dans mon esprit, il se concentrerait sur ce qu’il percevrait comme difficile. J’ai plutôt concentré mon attention sur mon corps, sur la respiration, en restant détendu, et en modifiant mon plan en fonction de ce que je découvrais. J’ai utilisé les petites prises initiales, j’ai fait un pas à gauche pour utiliser les prises de pied nouvellement découvertes et j’ai grimpé jusqu’au prochain ancrage. J’ai découvert une fissure verticale cachée à côté de l’ancrage. C’était un solide coincement de doigt, ce qui permettait de s’arrêter facilement et de clipper. En gardant mon attention dans le corps, j’ai pu laisser mon attention circuler librement, à travers le terrain de l’escalade, pour utiliser les nouvelles prises de pieds et de mains que j’avais découvertes.

Nous faisons quelque chose de spécifique pour maintenir une approche de type terrain-vers-carte. Lorsque nous réfléchissons, nous concentrons notre attention sur la collecte d’informations objectives en regardant d’abord le terrain. Ensuite, nous permettons à notre attention de se déplacer dans l’esprit, pour mélanger nos expériences passées avec ce que nous avons perçu sur le terrain. Enfin, nous déplaçons notre attention dans le corps lorsque nous grimpons. Cela libère l’esprit de ses attentes et de ses désirs, et permet à notre attention de passer librement d’une tâche à l’autre en fonction de la situation.

Conseil pratique : La Cuillère n’existe pas Votre esprit va percevoir de manière erronée la difficulté et interférer avec votre effort d’escalade. Il concentrera votre attention d’abord dans votre esprit, créant une carte mentale de la difficulté qui ne représente pas précisement le terrain de l’escalade.

Au contraire, lorsque vous êtes en position d’arrêt :

Regardez vers le haut le terrain pour identifier le prochain ancrage et les éléments qui y mènent.

Ensuite, établissez une carte, un plan d’escalade, en fonction de votre expérience passée et de ce que vous avez perçu en regardant le terrain.

Enfin, passez à l’action, grimpez dans le terrain, en modifiant votre carte si nécessaire en fonction de ce que vous découvrez dans le terrain d’escalade.

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https://warriorsway.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/eLesson_2022-0117_2016-0229.mp3 Flowing Freely Mental fitness requires using the mind so our attention flows freely from present moment to present moment, as the situation dictates. If the mind abides on its expectations and desires, then it interferes with our ability to perceive the actual situation and deal with it effectively. Therefore, we don’t let the mind abide on these. A mind-state that doesn’t abide in limiting ways is known as having a free mind. It’s unencumbered by mental attachment to expectations or desired outcomes that interfere with effective use of our attention.

I experienced an abiding mind last month while climbing Wish I Was Trad (5.11) at Castle Rock, Tennessee. It’s a one-pitch sport route. I’d climbed through the lower difficult part and was positioned at a rest stance two meters below the last bolt. My arms were pumped and I had difficulty recovering my strength. My mind thought about how difficult the climbing would be in such a physically tired state and that I wouldn’t find an easy clipping stance at the next bolt. I climbed three moves toward the bolt using some small holds, became pumped, and down-climbed back to the stance. My mind wasn’t free; it was abiding on an expectation of difficulty.

Maps & Territories We can understand how to develop a free mind by investigating the relationship between maps and territories. Maps constitute our mental conceptions of situations; territories constitute reality, the actual situation. Maps are mental conceptions of real territories.

If we approach challenges with a map-to-territory orientation, then we begin with our mental map and project it onto the real territory. We seek to validate the territory to our mental map of it. Consider how limiting this is in the context of a rock climb. We’re tired, thinking the climbing will be difficult or impossible for us, and then project that mental state onto the rock, which could be quite doable. The mind abides on mental expectations of difficulty, diminishing our ability to focus our attention effectively.

We reverse this process to improve our mental fitness. We approach challenges with a territory-to-map orientation. We look into the territory first, create our mental maps based on what we perceive, and modify our maps as we engage the territory. On a rock climb, we identify features first: features that create a path-of-least-resistance between us and the next rest stance. Next, we create mental maps based on what we perceive: we blend our past experiences with what we perceived in the territory. Finally, we climb and modify our maps based on what we discover as we engage the territory. The mind doesn’t abide on any mental expectations of difficulty. Our attention flows freely between the necessary tasks that occur in the moment.

Intentional Process An on-sight climbing situation is a helpful example of how this process works. The Warrior’s Way® breaks the climbing process into two parts: stop to think with the mind, or move to take action with the body. We use a specific process for thinking, looking into the territory first, to gather objective information. Next, we create our mental maps based on that objective information. Finally, we use a specific process for taking action, so we can stay receptive to modify our maps to the territories we discover.

Reflecting on my effort on Wish I Was Trad, I realized I had allowed my mind to predetermine how difficult the climbing would be. I had adopted a map-to-territory orientation, starting with my mind’s mental maps of how difficult the climbing would be based on my tired state. I decided to reverse this.

I looked into the territory, the route, first. I focused my attention on thinking, to identify the path-of-least-resistance to the next bolt. I saw the small holds I had used previously, plus some new footholds to the left. These footholds created a different path for climbing. I also acknowledged this was an on-sight situation, so I would need to modify my mental map to whatever I discovered when I climbed into the territory.

Next, I set an intention for how to focus my attention while climbing. If I kept my attention in the mind, then it would abide on whatever it perceived as difficult. Rather, I focused my attention in the body, on breathing, staying relaxed, and modifying my plan based on what I discovered. I used the initial small holds, stepped left to use the newly discovered footholds and climbed up to the bolt. I discovered a hidden vertical crack next to the bolt. It was a solid finger jam, making it easy to stop and clip the bolt. By keeping my attention in the body, I was able to let my attention flow freely, through the territory of the climb, to utilize new foot- and handholds that I discovered.

We do something specific to maintain a territory-to-map orientation. When we think, we focus our attention on gathering objective information by looking into the territory first. Next, we allow our attention to shift into the mind, to blend our past experiences with what we perceived in the territory. Finally, we shift our attention into the body when we climb. Doing this frees the mind from attachment to its expectations and desires, and allows our attention to flow freely from task to task as the situation dictates.

Practice Tip: There is no Spoon Your mind will misperceive difficulty and interfere with your climbing effort. It will focus your attention in your mind first, creating a mental map of difficulty that doesn’t accurately represent the territory of the climb.

Rather, when you’re at a stance:

Look up into the territory to identify the next bolt and the features that lead all the way to it.
Next, develop a map, a plan for climbing, based on your past experience and what you perceived by looking into the territory.
Finally, take action, climb into the territory, modifying your map as needed by what you discover in the territory of the climb.

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