Meditation and Rock Climbing

Has anyone used meditation as a means of improving their mental game? I'm not a meditation guru by any means, but I have committed to a simple mindfulness practice over the past year. For me, I have experienced several benefits. I am more comfortable with run outs, and I am more aware of my body positioning. I think that it is a good way to improve your head game, allowing me to focus more on the act of climbing by better managing my fears and emotions.

My personal practice is pretty basic. I usually just sit on a pillow for 10 minutes a day, and try to focus on my breathing. I may try out other methods in the future. For now, this has worked for me.

Have any other meditators seen similar results? I am curious about other experiences, and also some tips and techniques that I can incorporate into my own practice.

Climbing is my meditation. Climbing is my zen. When I climb all my problems fall away just me and what's in front of me. 

Dean potter

I just had a discussion about yoga meditation and climbing.
I determined that they all are super beneficial in seeing the path ahead of you. in yoga you often get daily thoughts about life appear, and you have to put them aside as you have to practice yoga, but this is the thought process about meditation. taking a thaught registering that it exists and simply putting it aside to make room for new beliefs and other thoughts. Not necessarily trying to end up somewhere, but more acknowledging what exists already. Climbing is like yoga because we are focused to be fully enveloped in whatever climb we are climbing, rather than whatever pose we are practicing.
Journey, not the destination.
Achieve van life, quit the job, climb, obtain enlightenment. (patent pending)

Jake Thomson wrote: Dean potter

A guy that I would have probably enjoyed hanging out with, and would certainly have liked to have met.

An admirably bold climber, but not an old climber, and not a dude I’d want to pick as my guru.

When I'm stuck, visualization practices have been extremely helpful.  I'm also a regular sitting mediator, and it has proven immeasurably helpful for me (and many top performers, not that I'm one of them) in every area.  The more I meditate, the better I am at whatever I want to do

I think there's a chapter in "Training for the New Alpinism" on this, no?

Happy sitting!

As with all supposed benefits of mindfulness/meditation, I would say the effects are too difficult to measure objectively enough to form a valid conclusion.  YMMV will always apply.

That said, I meditate regularly and find it useful for managing overall stress levels, so I can see it being helpful for this.  I definitely find that my head game correlates strongly with my overall stress levels; when I’m feeling stressed out at work, my lead head sucks.  By that token, if meditation doesn’t work for you, maybe try death metal?

i find meditation to be helpful, for me, as well as yoga - for my lead head and climbing.  i have been meditating on and off for much longer than i have been climbing.  i also agree with the above sentiment that climbing IS meditation.  it certainly is a form of it, or can be.  i very much enjoyed and could relate to, and found useful practical information in arno ilgner's rock warrior's way book(s).

i agree with the OP and have found similar benefits.  But as said above, YMMV - it's not for everyone necessarily.  For me, it all ties together.  Yoga, meditation, martial arts, climbing, guitar, spirituality, staying sober, family relationships...I find they are all intertwined and one supports and informs the other.  As I said, YMMV - none of that may be true for you.

Briggs Lazalde wrote:

He's just putting on his shoes

I think it's that other thing, which is a form of meditation I guess.

Ted Pinson wrote: As with all supposed benefits of mindfulness/meditation, I would say the effects are too difficult to measure objectively enough to form a valid conclusion.  YMMV will always apply.

There is scientific research by nueroscientists that indicate that meditation thickens the pre-frontal cortex and shrinks the amygdala by measurable amounts after just 2 months of mindfulness meditation.  This , in theory would decrease fear reactions and increase logical analysis.  Take it for what worth.

From a practical perspective, chilling out for 10 minutes without distractions will probably help with many things in life.  I've found I'm at my best when I zen out and just pull the rock, though that's hard to do when I'm at my limit or messing with pro.

Hmm, maybe that's why bouldering is so popular - fewer distractions from the climbing part of climbing.

Briggs Lazalde wrote:

He's just putting on his shoes

Its not. Its him meditating after sending the rostrum.

Jake Thomson wrote:

Its not. Its him meditating after sending the rostrum.

Usually when people meditate they put their hands on their knees. Here, this isn't happening.

meditation has helped me remember to breathe on difficult sustained sections since there is a big emphasis on breath control in meditation. i have not personally experienced other improvements in my climbing. I do find that a satisfying climbing session can bring some of the same benefits as meditation - a quieting of the mind, better ability to focus. Physical exercise is good for the brain.

Scott and Sara wrote: There is scientific research by nueroscientists that indicate that meditation thickens the pre-frontal cortex and shrinks the amygdala by measurable amounts after just 2 months of mindfulness meditation.  This , in theory would decrease fear reactions and increase logical analysis.  Take it for what worth.

There’s research, but I wouldn’t call it scientific.

link please to that?  My wife is super into meditation and I'm sure she'd love to read it. 

Ted Pinson wrote:

There’s research, but I wouldn’t call it scientific.

As Frederic Bastiat once said: “We must admit that our opponents in this argument have a marked advantage over us.  They need only a few words to set forth a half-truth; whereas, in order to show that it is a half-truth, we have to resort to long and arid dissertations.”

Pubmed Central has a wealth of open access research on this.  To your point, Ted Pinson, here's a review of studies that focuses on evaluating the methodology, with some research studies being bogus and others being gold-standard. I think this is the study to which Scott and Sarah are referring. Unfortunately for this argument, it appears that all the studies I was able to review deal with chronic states of stress.

Happy reading!

Ted Pinson wrote:

There’s research, but I wouldn’t call it scientific.

Go to Pubmed,  a database of peer-reviewed scientific papers, search "meditation brain" then enjoy wading through the 800+ scientific papers on the subject. Notice I said "indicates", not that there is anything conclusive. But the data does seem to indicate meditation is not just some supernatural bs claims.

Rob D. wrote: link please to that?  My wife is super into meditation and I'm sure she'd love to read it. 

If she is into it I'd suggest the book "Waking Up " by Sam Harris, a nueroscientist, skeptic and lifelong meditator.

Meditation, at its heart, is learning how to clear your mind and breathe. Those two skills have proved themselves mighty handy for me when climbing.

Scott and Sara wrote:

Go to Pubmed,  a database of peer-reviewed scientific papers, search "meditation brain" then enjoy wading through the 800+ scientific papers on the subject. Notice I said "indicates", not that there is anything conclusive. But the data does seem to indicate meditation is not just some supernatural bs claims.

I have, and I never said it was supernatural bs.  I just have a pet peeve for throwing “science” around and some vaguely scientific terms as a way of artificially adding validity to a claim.  The fact that people are actively seeking evidence for the benefits of meditation & mindfulness is inherently unscientific.