I'm venturing out beyond some of my old faithful sources of inspiration lately. On our trip to Kauai I read the cheezyiest named book I've ever heard of. But, it was pretty good. I had picked it up at Mission Cliffs while on a break when my arms were pumped and I couldn't climb. Ready? The Rock Warrior's Way: Mental Training for Climbers. I'll pause while you go puke.
So, with reluctance, I'll say that I think there's something to this. It's about actively taking ahold of our 'personal power' and using specific methods to learn mental focus, to untangle mental roadblocks to improved performance, and generally examing ego theory to discover poor decision making processes. At least, that's what I got out of it on my first reading. I'm planning on looking it over again and trying to use it as I'm working out. Most of my climbing trips lately haven't allowed reviewing mental training techniques before the beginning of a climb. But, I have started using a few ideas like a pre-climb routine of motions and short prayers. And, I'm more conscious of the go/no-go process that I use when evaluating a risk. Also, I am much more engaged in the mental messages that I say, "I'm gonna give this a shot." For me, that's code for, "I'm gonna give up but give my belayer the impression that I'm really making an effort by slapping the next hold." Either do it or dont.
A lot of this stuff is drawn from the spurious writings of Carlos Casteneda and various Japanese Samari teachings. I've been grateful for my friend, Joseph Farley. He has much experience in Tibetan Buddism and some of the American New Age offshoots. All of this is new to me, but he's got the perspective from having been far down that road already. I still need to buy those Rumi books he reccommended....
