Cracking Open the Door

And there you are again, facing that same problem or crux that’s been bugging you for the last few climbing sessions. And you hang. And you hold.

Crap. There. No, Here. Maybe. Ok, wait. Ahhh, burning. I got this. AHHHHH. No I don’t.

And you let go, falling just short. Again.

Standing feet flat, you look up at that last hold, pondering. Analyzing. You know it’s do-able, Johnny (or insert any of your chosen nemesis’s name) did it last week.

So what gives? You are not perfect, that’s what.

Duh. But who needs perfection? You do, it’s what you are after. That effortless ascent, or the brutally vicious one you overcome with distilled tenacity, both hold the elements of perfection in them.

Ok, I’ll bite, where does that “perfection” come from?  A combination of things; but always from within you.

Well then, how do I achieve it, Mr. Miyagi? Easy, embody yourself. Know your body. Know how to enter the zone.

Zone? Yeah, THE ZONE. That place all athletes and artists find personal success within. That super-state of mind, of body, of presence, of perfection.

Yeah, yeah, the Zone. But how do I “know how to enter THE ZONE?” We’re all capable of this, sometimes it just happens naturally, usually when we are completely wrapped up in our passion for what we’re doing.  But there are methods to place your-self there as well, such as the movement arts of Taiji and Yoga. These methods are made up of part breathing practice and part precise movement or posture.  Drawing from these two core elements, Taiji and Yoga clear the mind of unnecessary thought- debris that can muddy our waters of focus and movement. Their techniques can establish a foundation of presence, where we can create a heightened state of awareness, both spatial and physical, also known as The ZONE <cue eerie music>. A place where time slows and efficiency increases, and we become a consolidated connection, physical body married with mind. We fire a cascade of intellect and imagination past the limiting threshold, where thought, intention and movement are in harmony. Radical.

Amongst other things, movement arts like Taiji and Yoga are methods of understanding and tempering the body and mind to be ready for those moments of perfection, and to help create them.  Those moments are a synthesis of mental and spirited unity where your physical body has no choice but perform near its apex of ability.  Both Taiji and Yoga put you better in touch with your body, your limbs, joints, and core, and their functional range. They can improve your proprioception (your inner vision of limb and body orientation), teaching how to re-align one body part to affect another.  Their practice will give you the knowledge to understand how to fulcrum the joints for greater power with less effort, lengthening your base endurance.  Each also offers an approach to taming the breath to serve movement, such that the breath becomes a true driver of effort.  And a sustained practice of these movement arts can bring you closer to more consistently experiencing that state of knowing, The Zone.  One may summit from the north, the other the south, but both can help get you to that mountain top…again and again.

Sure, you can simply climb your butt off and you’ll have inevitable top-outs and epiphanies (perhaps after bailing over and over), and you hopefully will even experience moments in The Zone.   Incorporate movement arts like Taiji or Yoga into your training regime, and learn how to make those moments happen.  Learn methods to enhance your performance and allow the doorway of perfection to open, if even just a crack.

– Matthew Coe