Can gratitude help you get in the zone for climbing?
You’ve probably noticed that standout climbing performances happen when you’re in the right mindset. Athletes call it the “flow state” or “being in the zone” and describe letting go of their performance worries and being fully present with the experience.
This mindset of being “in the zone” is easy enough to describe, but how do you create it? One surprising solution is to be grateful.
How to get in the zone for climbing
At the ClimbWell retreat, we have a clinic called The Art of Attention, in which we lead participants through a series of activities to notice what their brain does while they climb and observe what results they get from focusing on different things.
The upshot is that we climb most skillfully when we focus on the embodied experience of moving on the rock. You can do this by noticing your breath or doing simple climbing drills like pressing through your feet with each move.
These techniques help engage our sense of self-movement, force, and body position (called “proprioception” in physiology). The result, of course, is that we climb more skillfully.
But focusing on movement is only half the work of getting in the zone because we have a human brain that likes to worry. In The Art of Attention clinic, climbers notice that it’s easy to get distracted from climbing - we get carried away thinking about what our belayer is doing, whether we’ll send the route, or problems at work. After journaling about their thoughts while climbing, one person noticed they spent some time on the rock thinking about the stock market!
To focus entirely on climbing, we first need a way to quiet the insistent monologue of anxious thoughts about everything else.
You can’t be grateful and worried at the same time
The other day, I was climbing in Siurana, Spain, and had a simple but profound insight: the climbers I love climbing with the most are very grateful people.
I had just met Edu, a friend of a friend I was climbing with, but his grateful attitude stood out immediately. “I haven’t gotten outside in two weeks,” he said, “I’m so lucky to be here!”
Edu grew up near Siurana, but I could tell the magic hadn’t worn off. “I’ve been here hundreds of times,” he exclaimed, unprompted, “but it never gets old! Just look at these amazing rocks and the sunshine. It’s perfect!”
I don’t think it’s coincidental that Edu surprise-sent his 14a mini-project a few minutes later. Grateful climbers aren’t just fun to be around. They’re also more inclined to focus on the present, which is conducive to performance climbing.
Being grateful helps us be present because you can’t be worried and grateful simultaneously. Worries are all about the future and past: we’re anxious about whether we’ll send the route, or we dwell on how we messed up last time. Thinking about what we’re grateful for quiets the worried brain and helps us settle into what’s actually going on around us.
Try this: use gratitude to get in the zone
Try this simple process before the next time you climb, and see if it helps you get in the zone.
Take a moment to yourself and take a deep breath (exhale it out!).
Look around at your environment. What’s going on? Do you notice anything beautiful?
Feel your feet on the ground (or gym floor) and acknowledge where you are. You could have been in many places at this moment, but you chose to be here.
Think of two or three things you’re grateful for at this moment. Make these specific and small (e.g., “the clouds are amazing today!”) rather than generic (e.g., “I’m grateful for my friends.”)
You might even say something you’re grateful for (to your climbing partner or friends) if that’s your vibe.
Tie in or step up to your boulder problem and climb!
Getting in the zone isn’t just about sending hard routes or boulder problems. The zone is a present-focused psychological state that also happens to improve climbing performance because your focus is on moving on the rock (rather than worrying about a million other things).
When you bring gratitude, you’ll have a great climbing day - send or no send.
Written by Remy Franklin | www.remyfranklin.com | @remyfranklin