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Andrew practicing catch/release during falling practice at Climb Nashville, TN. Doing catch/release helps work through the fear of letting go and committing to a fall. He also improved his quality of breath, exhaling throughout the fall.

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Blake practicing  falling at Climb Nashville, TN during a Warrior’s Way Falling and Commitment clinic. Here he notices his mind’s tendency to pick a landing spot. Doing this creates expectations that interfere with responding to where the fall actually end. The mind wants to know the “end” even if doing this interferes with responding to the fall as it occurs.

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Paige and Ed practicing  falling at Climb Nashville, TN during a Warrior’s Way Falling and Commitment clinic. Paige’s form is OK (limbs shoulder-width apart and bent) and she continues to work on exhaling throughout the fall. Ed is looking down to project his attention into the fall zone but realizes his attention is still in his head thinking about it instead of seeing the wall. He needs to look down more and project his attention out.

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Gary practicing  falling at Climb Nashville, TN during a Warrior’s Way Falling and Commitment clinic. His form is OK, he’s looking down, and he exhales throughout the fall, but he needs to project his attention out of his thinking mind and into the fall zone. The second time he does this and feels more present for the fall.

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Paige practicing  falling at Climb Nashville, TN during a Warrior’s Way Falling and Commitment clinic. She isn’t aware of her process as she falls. We need to become aware of our breath, body position/posture, and eye shift into the fall. Without this awareness we don’t develop comfort and proficiency with falling. To begin developing awareness…begin with the breath. Paige improves her breath awareness on the second and third falls.

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Blake practicing “Deliberate Commitment” exercises at Climb Nashville, TN during a Warrior’s Way Falling and Commitment clinic. The intention of the exercise is to commit his attention to stopping to rest and think, OR committing his attention to moving and taking action with his body. He needs to work more on making this separation. Another intention for the exercise is to commit through doubts, which he does well near the top. Nice application Blake.

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Potencia = Energía (Trabajo) / Tiempo

Vamos a usar este concepto para investigar cómo el uso de la atención afecta a la potencia que tenemos.

La capacidad de utilizar tu energía de manera eficaz en una determinada cantidad de tiempo depende de lo bien que prestes atención. Por lo tanto en el Camino del Guerrero definimos la potencia como la cantidad de atención que se puede prestar en el momento en una tarea actual. Podríamos decir que los guerreros utilizan la atención de una forma impecable, porque tienen esta habilidad. La atención se centra en la ejecución de una tarea, utilizando la cantidad precisa de energía en la cantidad óptima de tiempo. Sabiendo que una tarea (trabajo) requiere atención, al enfocar el 100% de la atención en esa tarea, permite aplicar la máxima cantidad de energía en este periodo de tiempo.

Tenemos potencia intelectual cuando utilizamos nuestra mente y potencia experimental al utilizar nuestro cuerpo. El pensamiento pasivo, habitualmente distrae la atención. El pensamiento activo, es crítico y demuestra que tenemos nuestra atención centrada en lo que tenemos que pensar. El pensamiento activo permite usar nuestro poder intelectual de forma eficaz para reunir información sobre un riesgo. A continuación, veamos como actua la potencia experimental, cuando tomamos una decisión.

La potencia experiencial se manifiesta con el grado de eficacia y con el grado que comprometemos nuestro cuerpo en la escalada. ¿Gastamos sólo la cantidad de energía necesaria en el momento preciso para ejecutar una tarea? O, ¿La derrochamos por el estrés o salir de un apuro?

En las próximas lecciones vamos a investigar las áreas en las que la potencia tiene relevancia. Vamos a investigar:

• La importancia de la resistencia.
• Cómo aumentar la potencia
• El uso eficiente de la energía
• Mantener la potencia
• El control de la potencia, y mucho más.

Los guerreros son potentes debido a que utilizan la atención de forma impecable.

Listen to this eLesson here: eLesson_2012-0514a

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I want to feel powerful, don’t you? Don’t you want to feel like you can deal with whatever occurs while climbing? There can be many definitions or formulas for power. One formula describes power as a function of energy applied during a given amount of time. Let’s use this as we investigate how using attention effects how powerful we are.
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Power = energy / time
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Your ability to use your energy effectively in a given amount of time is dependent on how well you use your attention. Therefore the Warrior’s Way defines power as the amount of attention one can focus in the present moment on the current task. We could say that warriors use attention impeccably because of this ability. Attention is focused on executing a task, using the precise amount of energy in the most optimal amount of time. Knowing which task needs attention, and then focusing 100% of your attention on that task, allows you to exert the maximum amount of power.
We have intellectual power when we use our minds and experiential power when we use our bodies. Passive, habitual thinking distracts attention. Active, critical thinking demonstrates we have our attention focused on what we need to think about. Doing this allows us to use our intellectual power effectively to gather information about a risk. Then we release our experiential power when we make a decision.
Experiential power is demonstrated by how effectively and completely we commit our bodies to climbing. Do we apply just the amount of energy at the precise time to execute a task? Or, are we rushing through the stress or stalling out?
In the next several lessons we’ll investigate areas that impact power. We’ll investigate:
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• The importance of resistance
• How to grow power
• Efficient use of power
• Maintaining power
• Controlling power, and more.

Warriors are powerful because they use attention impeccably.

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[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]

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Jonathan testing his trad gear during a Trad/Mental camp at New River Gorge, WV. Falling on our gear helps build experiential knowledge that we can trust it. It’s important to have back up like extra pieces or a backup toprope when practicing initially.

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Jonathan testing his trad gear during a Trad/Mental camp at New River Gorge.

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Chad testing his trad gear during Trad/Mental camp at New River Gorge, WV. His belayer, Keeghan, out-weighs him by 50 pounds and has difficulty giving Chad proper cushion when catching the fall. It’s important for the belayer to move up about 5 feet to cushion the climber’s fall.

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Jonathan testing his trad gear during Trad/Mental camp at New River Gorge, WV. His form is fine with bent limbs and looking down. He gets some cushion from Virginia but could use a little more.

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Virginia practicing falling and testing her gear while committing to a climbing move during a Trad/Mental camp at New River Gorge, WV.

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Kelly apply all he learned in the trad/mental camp at New River Gorge: committing his attention to stopping to rest, place gear and think, or committing his attention to moving. Here he is on-sighting so there are many unknowns. As he climbs into the crux his mind doubts he can continue due to his forearms being pumped. That’s the excuse he uses. I emphasize that the mind always thinks you are too pumped. And, to make the next move regardless. This allows you to expand your mental fitness of what is possible.

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Virginia demonstrating effective commitment of her attention to stopping to think, OR moving to take action, during Trad/Mental Camp at New River Gorge, WV.

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Virginia demonstrating effective commitment of her attention to stopping to think, OR moving to take action, during Trad/Mental Camp at New River Gorge, WV. Here she has some difficulty finding a rest stance, but once she finds it she relaxes into it quite well. It’s important to feel grounded on your feet in rest stances. Then you notice a deliberate shift to climbing once she is finished resting. Nice Virginia.

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Virginia describing her effort. I point out the importance of climbing continuously but at a rate we can process so our climbing isn’t haphazard. I also emphasize the importance of “not waiting for perfection” and use holds our minds don’t initially like. Doing this helps build comfort with a wider variety of holds and allows us to climb continuously.
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Podemos experimentar el miedo al fracaso o el éxito, o “no” delante de los demás. Estos temores se originan en nuestro ego. Nuestro ego se siente disminuido cuando fallamos y no se realizan a las expectativas a la vista de los otros. Tenemos miedo de tener éxito porque sentimos que los demás esperan de nosotros que sigamos la linea de éxito en ese nuevo nivel. Estas situaciones son incómodas para nuestros egos. Los temores basados en el ego amenazan nuestra psicología.

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Puede que tengamos miedo a las alturas, a la caída, o a superar un esfuerzo. Estos temores se originan en la situación. Los temores situacionales aumentan las preocupaciones sobre nuestra seguridad física. Tenemos miedo a las alturas, porque nos sentimos expuestos. Tenemos miedo de caer debido a que podríamos lesionarnos. Luego está el miedo de superar un esfuerzo. Una ruta desafiante nos llevará fuera de nuestras zonas de confort. Puesto que deseamos el confort que se opone al temor de tal esfuerzo. Los temores situacionales amenazan nuestra fisiología.

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El origen de todos estos miedos es el miedo de la muerte y del malestar. Se producen debido a que nuestra atención se ha distraído del momento presente. Por el miedo ilusorio nuestras mentes están pensando en qué va a pasar en el futuro en lugar de lo que está sucediendo en el presente. Con la atención en el momento, nos centramos en la tarea actual así, todos los temores disminuirán o se eliminan.

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We may experience fear of failure or success, or “failing” in front of others. These fears originate from our egos. Our egos feels diminished when we fail and don’t perform to others expectations. We fear succeeding because we feel others will expect us to continue to perform at that new level. These situations are all uncomfortable for our egos. Ego-based fears threaten our psychology.

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We may fear heights, falling, or exerting effort. These fears originate from the situation. Situational fears heighten concerns about our physical safety. We fear heights because we feel exposed. We fear falling because we could become injured. Then there’s fear of exerting effort. A challenging route will push us outside our comfort zones. Since we desire comfort we tend to fear such exertion. Situational fears threaten our physiology.

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The origin of all these fears is fear of death and discomfort. They occur because our attention has been distracted from the present moment. Regardless of the illusory fear, our minds are thinking of what will happen in the future instead of what is happening in the present. With our attention in the moment, focused on the current task, all these fears will diminish or be eliminated.

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The Great American Manhunt: Rock Climber?

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Click here to listen: eLesson_2012-0416

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There are many types of fears, which we’ll dig into in the next lesson. In this lesson we’ll look at how to clarify fears. Fears come in two varieties: survival and illusory. Survival fears move us to take action, either fighting through a challenge or fleeing from it. Survival fears are helpful because they move us to take action. They are unhelpful because fighting through a challenge uses our energy inefficiently and our motivation is on just getting through the stress instead of enjoying it. Illusory fears are the ones that freeze us at stances, not knowing what to do. These are the ones we need to clarify.
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First, it’s helpful to understand illusory fears as a lack of attention in the moment. By redirecting our attention to the moment, focused on the current task, we eliminate or diminish these fears. Redirecting our attention, to the moment and the current task, is always the first step in dealing with fears.
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Next, illusory fears tend to create ambiguity. This is largely due to not being engaged enough in the situation. Questions can arise that need to be answered. If we dwell on the question we’ll stay frozen at our stance, not knowing what to do. Does the fear come from the possible fall? Am I afraid because it will be uncomfortable exerting all the required effort? Am I afraid of failing in front of my friends?
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To clarify fears, and answer such questions, requires engagement. Taking action moves us out of our comfort zones. Once engaged, our attention becomes focused on the actual situation rather than our mind’s interpretation of it. We’ll soon know if we need to continue or retreat based on the increased stress and heightened awareness of the consequence. To clarify illusory fears, then, requires engagement.

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