The Rock Warrior's Way: Mental Training For Climbers

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    Instead of allowing your face to grimace, deliberately keep the face relaxed with a “soft-eyes” focus. Eyes should be comfortably open, held softly, not squinting or staring. Your attention should be on the whole field of view rather than on specific points in that field. Don’t focus on your hands, your feet, or one portion of the rock. Rather, spread out attention and look at color, depth, shadows, and the interrelationships between objects.
    A discussion of soft-eyes focus appears in Castaneda’s book Tales of Power . Don Juan states that, when used properly, the eyes can detect an enormous number of features including details that are too fleeting for normal vision. The eyes pick out subtle details that would be missed if they were focused too narrowly on one feature at a time. Also, says don Juan, by not focusing on specific things in your field of view and by paying attention to everything, you encourage a quiet, receptive mind, rather than one preoccupied with the distracting internal chatter about the particular things being perceived.

    Your face not only expresses your state of mind – it can create it. Even during this extremely difficult move, the climber does not grimace, but instead keeps a focused, determined, and optimistic expression. His face says he plans to complete the move, and his body will tend to obey. Photos: Matt Burbach
    In the preparation phase, soft-eyes focus gives you relaxed facial poise and helps you gather as much information as possible. Just as our habitual thought patterns can get in the way of our seeing a situation in a receptive way, so too, our habitual ways of physically looking can make us blind to many features of the world. In the action phase, soft-eyes focus will help minimize the involvement of the conscious mind, thereby diminishing the internal dialogue that tends to take over when you’re under stress.
    Integration of the Bodymind—Breathing
    Breathing connects the body and mind. It is the only bodily function that can be totally voluntary or totally involuntary—totally conscious or totally unconscious. As a result, breathing works in two directions. Your unconscious breathing expresses the state of your bodymind. Conscious breathing influences that state. Breathing, therefore, is a powerful tool that you can use to gain control in stressful situations.
    When you are stressed, your breathing has an automatic tendency to become shallow and erratic. You may even hold your breath, which further stresses the bodymind system. Stress tends to produce poor breathing, and poor breathing increases stress. It’s a feedback loop that can ruin your composure and hinder your performance. Deep, regular breathing, on the other hand, can reduce stress.
    Pay attention to your breathing as you prepare yourself to enter a climbing risk. Is it shallow, rapid, noisy, or irregular? If so, make a conscious effort to breathe more deeply, slowly, quietly, and continuously.
    Proper breathing may take some practice. Take a minute to notice the subtleties of how you breathe. Simply relax and breathe normally. Put one hand on your chest and one on your belly. Does the chest or the belly expand as you breathe? Where is the breath? The next time you are on a climb, see if you hold your breath. Holding the breath is a common problem among climbers.
    As you become more aware of your breathing, you can begin to influence it. Typically stressful breathing takes place high in the chest. When you’re relaxed, the diaphragm should move down when you inhale, pushing the belly out slightly. This is called belly breathing. Belly breathing automatically slows down the breathing cycle because the inhale/exhale process takes longer. Belly breathe continuously and give equal attention to the inhale and the exhale. Proper breathing immediately sends the message to the subconscious that all is well, and that you are in control.
    Proper breathing:
    • Dissipates fear, stress, and anxiety.
    • Brings your attention back into your body and the situation facing you.
    • Oxygenates the blood, reducing lactic acid and carbon dioxide.
    • Keeps primary blood flow going to the muscles, rather than shunting it to the internal organs.
    • Integrates you—connects the body, the conscious mind, and the subconscious mind.
    Two exercises will help you gain better awareness of your breathing:
    • Complete Exhalation. People generally breathe too shallowly. The purpose of this exercise is to