The Rock Warrior's Way: Mental Training For Climbers

block the intuitive flow, you block out very important information.
    Intuition is not logical. We can’t analyze how or why we intuitively know something, yet most of us have had experiences that convince us intuition is real. Don’t confuse true intuition with inner dialogue. Intuition comes from your subconscious and tends to manifest as very clear and specific feelings about doing something. Inner dialogue manifests itself as more ambiguous and thought-intensive messages, typically related to the concerns of the Ego.
    Recently I returned home from a Sunday climbing outing and had an encounter with intuition. I was putting my climbing gear in the garage and had the apparently random thought to put the child seat in the truck. I keep the child seat for my son, Ian, in the garage with my climbing gear. Immediately, my left-brain logic dismissed the thought. I shouldn’t need the child seat until Tuesday, when I take Ian to daycare. I didn’t put the seat in the truck, but I noticed this mental transaction between my intuition and logic and told myself I would pay attention and see if there was a need for the seat. As soon as I walked into the house, my wife, Jane, asked me if I’d pick up Mexican takeout. Ian immediately asked if he could come along. I put the child seat in the truck and went with Ian for the Mexican takeout.
    Somehow I received non-logical, intuitive information about the unfolding situation at my house after climbing. There are various ways to attempt to explain this rather mysterious phenomenon. Developing situations, such as my wife’s desire for Mexican food, may manifest some sort of energy that is silently communicated to the subconscious mind. It is not important or possible for us to completely explain intuition. It is important to realize that it works when given the chance. Intuition, being outside our logical framework of ideas, is free from the agendas and preconceived definitions that limit us. Intuition is a precious point of access to the unknown, which is the ultimate source of all new knowledge and power.
    Develop your receptivity to intuition. When you receive an apparently random thought, don’t simply discard it. Stay curious and follow it. See where it leads. Intuition whispers to you between your conscious thoughts. Listen to those subtle thoughts and feelings just below the level of your consciousness.
    The following methods will help you improve receptivity to intuition while climbing:
    • Observe yourself. By separating and observing yourself from the Witness position you will recognize intuitive messages more readily.
    • Breathe continuously. Breathing continuously helps dissipate anxiety and also keeps you in the moment. When you’re in the moment, intuitive information can flow more easily.
    • Be open and curious. If you’re closed and clinging to fixed beliefs, you don’t allow information to flow into your awareness. In The Gift of Fear , Gavin de Becker tells us that “curiosity is the way you answer when intuition whispers.”
    • Find your center of gravity and keep it in balance. The average person’s center of gravity is about one inch below the navel. Keep that center in line with the arm you’re hanging from, the foot you’re standing on, or poised equally between your various points of contact. When you are out of balance, your attention is distracted by the need to deal with that unbalanced state. When your center of gravity is balanced, attention is available to notice subtle intuitive messages.
    • Be nonjudgmental. A judgmental attitude ignores or discredits intuitive information, making it difficult to recognize. Gavin de Becker suggests that a dog’s keen sense of intuition is partly due to its inability to judge. You can produce a nonjudgmental state by focusing on options and possibilities instead of opinions and evaluations.
    • If you speak to yourself, speak in questions. When you ask a question, in a sense, you send a demand to your subconscious to supply an answer. It answers through your intuition.
    • Finally, follow your eyes. Intuition operates through your eyes to direct your movements. In The Power of Silence , don Juan states that intent is summoned with the eyes, and in The Fire from Within , he relates that your eyes are the keys to entering into the unknown. Your body naturally wants to be in balance. Your intuition, through your eyes, will direct your movements to find a balanced position. Your body has knowledge.