Zen yoga climbing mama

Life is full of those moments when everything just clicks.   When the veil between physical and non-physical world is lifted slightly, and we know for a moment a deeper truth we can’t see or touch~ just for an instant.  It can happen when you deeply connect with another person, when you meet your new son or daughter for the first time, or when you are present when someone special in your life passes.  It can also happen with a less significant occurrences like when you are hiking in a frozen forest or practicing yoga in the privacy of your home, or sweating profusely while on an indoor rock wall in a noisy climbing gym…?

It is true, an ah-ha moment recently came to me while climbing and I know I am not alone.  The art of climbing suddenly clicked for me in that send-a-shiver-down-your-spine-kind of way.  I had been gym climbing for less than a year; with my schedule I could climb maybe twice a month which never gave me the chance to improve on my technique.  To me it was fun hobby, but that was the extent of it.

However, with the combination of an exceptionally humid summer and my children being on vacation with their dad for two whole weeks, I found an excess amount of time to be climbing indoors instead outside on my bike or home with my kids.  It was during this time I really got it.

I was on a route I hadn’t done before and I was almost to the top.  I had three moves left to do, but I was stuck.  I couldn’t figure out how to negotiate them.  I kept grasping and falling short.  I tried two or three times.  I almost just called it a day but then I stopped.  I hung suspended on the rope for a moment and thought to myself, “Wait a minute.  You can do this!  You are going about this the wrong way, it is not about just muscling your way up there you just need to change the way you are thinking about.”  I took a deep breath, my inner dialogue stopped, and I stopped thinking; I can’t even explain what happened next because I don’t remember how it happened.  All I do know is suddenly I was at the top of the route and I owned it!

Suddenly everything was very familiar to me, it all made sense.  It felt like how I feel when practicing yoga or Buddhist style meditation.  It was the Mindfulness that was now present that allowed me to complete the climb.  My awareness of how my thoughts were holding me back.  Before I was telling myself I’d never reach the hold, it was too far, I didn’t have the strength, etc.  But as soon a as I shut off that kind of thinking and and recognized that I was holding myself back, I had it.

Needless to say, after that I was hooked!  I now rearrange my life so I can climb as much as possible and have two outdoor climbing trips planned.  I am also having a friend install a mini-rock wall in my son’s room with holds I bought from Metolius and footchips from the DRCC.  I have definitely become a climbing junkie.  All I can say is thankfully my kids like it too because we will be spending a lot of time at the climbing gym because mommy is hooked!

Artwork by Caroline Carr