The Rock Warrior's Way: Mental Training For Climbers

Yaqui Indian sorcerer don Juan Matus. Castaneda, an anthropology student, soon becomes don Juan’s apprentice and undergoes many experiences in his quest for power that challenge his view of reality. Together, Castaneda and don Juan explore the warrior philosophy, which manifests itself not as a component of martial art, but in the context of adventure in nature and the mind. Castaneda’s accounts of the pair’s outlandish escapades in the wild, rocky highlands of northern Mexico have resonated with climbers since the books were released in the late 1960s.
    The Rock Warrior’s Way seeks to develop an adventurous, vigorous, deliberate approach to climbing. Initially, it breaks down the habitual and self-limiting mental framework we bring into climbing and into life in general. For most of us, when it comes to meeting challenges, our own worst enemy is ourselves. Our self-image and our self-worth are far too wrapped up in achievements. Ego controls much of our behavior. We constantly act out of fear and avoidance, rather than out of the love of challenge or of climbing itself. Our mental habits raise unnecessary barriers and often, unconsciously, drain the vitality from our performances. A major tenet of the Rock Warrior’s Way is the resolution to become increasingly aware.
    Therefore, much of this program involves developing awareness. We must become aware of mental processes that are subtle, taken for granted, hidden, or overlooked. We cling to what is comfortable, known, and secure—often without knowing it. Consciousness of our mental processes is the first step in understanding how they affect our performance.
    I kept the text simple and free of jargon, but some warrior terminology is definitely helpful. In warrior-speak, the active form of awareness is called attention . Attention is awareness heightened and focused, the intentional directing of awareness. Almost everything you will learn in the Rock Warrior’s Way boils down to attention and what you do with it.
    Proper use of attention, in warrior-speak, is impeccability . Impeccability, according to the dictionary, means flawlessness. It is a word with a highly moral component. Although, in the warrior tradition, this morality is completely individual and could be described as personal integrity. In the Rock Warrior’s Way, we answer only to ourselves. We take ultimate responsibility for our choices concerning what we should or should not do and what life means to us. We do this through an introspective, intuitive process that is sometimes called finding “a path with heart.” Venturing out of our habitual comfort zones is essential.
    When acting impeccably, a warrior directs all of his attention toward his ultimate quest: to gain self-knowledge and personal power. Power is another word used very specifically in the warrior tradition. It does not refer to monetary wealth or dominion over others, but rather our ability to act effectively, to venture into unknown facets of the world, to explore, and to hunt for meaning. Power manifests itself as clarity of thought and decisiveness in action. It is the totality of the resources you bring to a given situation with special emphasis on the mental aspect. Power is your level of experiential knowledge, and you increase it by expanding your comfort zone.
    Essentially, a warrior is an impeccable hunter of personal power . He gains power by taking forays into the unknown where he focuses his attention, grapples with chaos, and learns from the experience.
    The following are basic tenets of the Rock Warrior’s Way mental training approach:
    1. Our performance is greatly affected by the subconscious, hidden parts of our minds.
    2. Improved performance occurs through a process that is fundamentally one of growth, which, in the mental sphere, we also call learning. You learn best by focusing your attention on the situation, in an attitude of problem solving.
    3. Motivation is a key ingredient in performance, and the quality of that motivation, not just its quantity , matters. Performance is improved by moving away from fear-based motivation and toward love-based motivation.
    4. There are two types of fear: survival and illusory. The former is healthy and helpful while the latter is not. It is important to be able to distinguish between the two fears.
    5. Death is our “advisor.” In other words, awareness of our mortality is a helpful reality check. It reminds us that every action matters, and thus directs our