Training for Climbing, 2nd: The Definitive Guide to Improving Your Performance (How To Climb Series)

disassociated and associated. Disassociated visualization provides an “on-TV” perspective, where you see yourself climbing from an observer’s point of view. This mode of visualization is best for reviewing some past poor performance that you hope to improve upon. As a detached observer, you can replay the movie and objectively view the mistakes or falls without reliving the possibly unhappy emotions of the situation.
    Associated visualization provides a “throughyour-own-eyes” perspective and thus triggers small neurological reactions as if you were doing the climb, as well as the feel and emotion of the movie you are playing. This makes associated visualization ideal for preprogramming some future ascent. As discussed above, repeated playing of a highly detailed, positive mental movie helps trick the subconscious mind into thinking you’ve done the climb before. Just make sure you are using the associated, not disassociated, perspective when visualizing some future event.
DISASSOCIATED VISUALIZATION
     
    If you are new to the practice of visualization, I suggest you begin with a simple, nonclimbing example. Go to a quiet location, sit or lie down comfortably, and relax. Using an observer’s point of view (disassociated), play a mental movie of the following scene as it might appear in your apartment or home.
    Visualize yourself sitting on the couch and watching TV. Note the clothes you are wearing in the scene. See yourself get up from the couch, walk over to the refrigerator, and open it. See yourself reaching in and grabbing a can of soda, then watch yourself close the fridge. See yourself opening the can as you begin to walk back toward the couch. Note the way you are walking and observe the exact instant that you see yourself open the can. Now watch yourself sit back down on the couch and take a sip of the soda.
     
    In this disassociated example you watched the scene play out before your eyes but you did not feel or sense, in any way, what it was like to go get the soda and drink it. Reserve this perspective for reviewing negative events from the past, climbing or nonclimbing, and for route finding, imagining possible sequences, and risk management. Gather the basic information you need to improve your performance or do the climb, and then engage in associated visualization to preprogram the actual moves for a successful future event.
ASSOCIATED VISUALIZATION
     
    Now let’s reshoot the mental movie of the at-home scene from the associated point of view. This time you will live the scene through your own eyes. Feel the action play out in your imagination just as if you were acting out the scene for real. Again, sit back, relax, and picture this scene playing out in real-life detail.
    As you sit on the couch, you laugh at the closing joke of a Seinfeld rerun. You decide to go get a soda from the fridge, so you get up and begin walking toward the kitchen. Look around the room at the various pieces of furniture (or pictures on the wall) you pass on your way to the fridge. Enter the kitchen and feel your arm tug the refrigerator door open. Feel the cool air rush out and chill your face. As you reach into the fridge for the soda, notice the colors and design of the can, then sense the cold, damp feel of the can in your hand. Now feel your arm slam the door shut and hear the sound it makes in closing. Conclude the scene by tasting the soda as you gulp it down—what flavors do you taste?
     
    This example reveals the explicit detail you should try to build into your associated visualization. Granted, it will take some practice to develop Steven Spielberg-like detail into your mental movies, but that’s the goal. Commit to making a short “film” for all your project routes, and don’t hesitate to reshoot or edit the mental movie as you gain new information or beta for the route. Quality mind programming will improve the quality of your real-life performances. Guaranteed!

Uses of Visualization
     
    I hope you now recognize that visualization is an immensely powerful tool that can be used to enhance performance in all aspects of your life. I’m sure you use simple visualization every day, maybe without even knowing it. For example, when you think about the best way to drive across town, I’m sure you see the key turns or landmarks along the way in your mind’s eye beforehand. Visualization is also used “effectively” by people who worry a lot—part of their worry ritual is wild visualization of