Sunday, February 14, 2010

Between the Trees

Finally! My climbing life has blossomed. My brother, Jason (or John if you prefer), sent me Keith Bradbury's (unclesomebody.com) video of him and Ty Landman crushing in the magical forest of Fontainebleau. My climbing received a Ronnie Coleman-sized shot in the arm after I watched the film 8 times in two days and back to back the first time. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWubJ5OrmjE

This is going to sound stupid of me, but I will try to explain. The film is not state-of-the-art, but it does feature a place which I would love to visit. This is the first and only extended piece of footage that I've seen of the "Forest," as it's called. I am fascinated by how people imagine or perceive things and how this changes upon the initial interaction and subsequent ones. Absolutely fascinating! Anyway, that's another post. The point is, this movie allowed my mind the freedom to inform my body. I believe the mind is the strongest/weakest muscle in climbing; depending on who you are. If the mind and the body operate seemlessly, then the possibilites are endless. I have already experienced this new connection and my eyes are wide with eyebrows raised. Michael Jordan, Ted Williams, Usain Bolt, and Michael Phelps have all performed under a state of hyper awareness. When the mind and body can understand quickly enough to slow down reality, reaction times plummet and the realm of possible becomes a suggestion. Most people would call it " the zone." Jordan would say the basket felt as big as the ocean and Williams would confess that it looked like a beach ball en route to home plate. However, to put it universally, hyper awareness during performance feels effortless and is the epitome of beauty.

By the time I write again, I'll have probably watched it twice as much and may have learned to levitate.

4 comments:

mancub said...

good luck with the levitation. also, unclesomebody did another film, L'Etanger (the Outsider) about his 85 days in Font. And its free on his site. And its in HD. And its awesome.

Unknown said...

I find that going to yoga pre-climbing helps even more with the hyper-awareness sensation. Something about moving meditation helps sync body and mind while clearing the day's chatter from your thoughts so you are extremely present and focused. I would highly recommend giving it a try.

Kelly said...

I achieved "the Zone" only twice while running. It was amazing though. Couldn't feel a thing and the body just went. Everyone said they had never seen me run that way before. The mind is indeed a trainable "muscle" of the body!

And that's my two cents :) Peace.

Unknown said...
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