Keep Breathing

-Post 3-

You're just below the crux on that 5.whatever climb you've been working.  You have perfect gear placed.  It's a beautiful, crisp, blue-bird fall day with low humidity.  You see the moves and know you can pull them, though this is at your difficulty limit.  You move up, committed to getting through.  You start into the sequence and the strain comes on.  You're trying to move your feet up, trying to keep your hands on that thin rail.  You shift your weight and move your hands up a bit to another hold.  You can see the next hold and know you can get there but you need your feet higher up.  You can't find a place for them.  You start to panic as you can feel the exhaustion hitting you.  You scramble to find your feet, but you're not even looking down.  You're still focused on the next handhold.  You're holding on....holding on...holding on..."falling!"

What happened?  Why did you fall on a sequence you've accomplished on top-rope a half-dozen times?  Why couldn't you pull it off on lead?  The gear was great.  Conditions were perfect.  Your mindset was really positive.  But what happened?  You tensed up and panicked.  Why?  What did you forget to do?  Breathe.

Such a simple thing really.  Normally we don't even have to think about it as our body takes care of breathing naturally.  It's in those stressful situations where we have to control our emotions and control our breathing.  Learning to consciously breathe while climbing took time and effort for me to do almost automatically now.  I say almost because it is still something that I must remember how to do.  And I know that when I start to get frustrated and am feeling my muscles fatigue (i.e. getting pumped) I know I am probably not breathing properly.  As soon as think "breathe" I start to relax.  The heart rate comes down and the mind focuses again.  Without breathing, the mind can much more easily go into a fight-or-flight mode...in which case if you're climbing it's probably a "flight"...downward.

Quick story:

I was climbing at Moore's Wall in North Carolina with my buddy Alan.  I was on a climb called Shit Hook.  The lower portion is the crux and I was in it.  I had been practicing focusing my breathing during all my climbs on this trip.  This was the hardest climb so far.  Before pushing through the crux I placed some really good gear, focused on the moves I could see ahead, and slowed my breathing.  I closed my eyes with a deep inhalation through the my nose.  When I opened them, I exhaled two quick breaths and took off, totally focus on what lay ahead.  When I reached the next move I was breathing heavily.  And then Alan chimed in with some words of wisdom that belie his 12 years my junior.

"Keep breathing.  Listen for the wind in the trees again.  Listen for the birds again.  Get it all back."

I'll never forget that moment.  It was like another tumbler in the lock clicked open in my mind.  The next time you work through a crux, do this exercise.  You will be amazed at how much your body focuses so much of your entire being and energy when working through moves; you shut out everything else.  And when you stop and pull yourself out of that focused, tensed state at the proper moment, the rest that you get will be so much better because you're physically and emotionally relaxed.  The trick is learning to disengage and then quickly re-engage your mind.  It is not easy to do. It will take practice.  So hit the gym and practice.  After every crux, stop, relax and breathe.  Scout the route ahead.  Relax and breathe.

A lot of climbers follow the mantra: relax, breathe, commit and go!  That's a great thing to do to get yourself into the crux of a route.  But as you work through it, you have to remember to keep breathing!  The more regular and relaxed your breathing is when you're climbing hard the more relaxed your muscles will be. This will allow your mind to focus on the next moves and the sequence you're working instead of how pumped your muscles feel.

So breathe.  In through your nose and out through your mouth.  Focus on breathing the entire time as you work through a series of easier boulder problems or climbs.  Time your inhalations and exhalations with your movements, exhaling just as you make your next move.

It really helps if your climbing partners help you out with breathing.  I'm fortunate enough to have a few that will shout out, "keep breathing!" when they know I'm in a tight spot.  It's not always enough, but it sure helps a lot more than saying "you've got this!"

And of course, this practice has application in a lot of aspects of life.  Anytime we're stressed or in a tense situation we can start to calm down by controlling our breathing.  Take deep inhalations that fill your entire chest and push out long exhalations that squeeze out every bit of air.  The rational mind will come back instead of one prone to tense, reactionary instincts.

Keep breathing, keep climbing, keep living.