How to make rock climbing a spiritual practice
If you’ve climbed for a while, you’ve probably had what I would call a spiritual experience on the rock: your mind goes quiet, time seems to slow down or stop, and you’re entirely present in the moment you’re currently living. Maybe you’re intensely aware of the beauty around you or so fully in your body that you experience a deep sense of joy.
Does this sound familiar?
I’ve been lucky enough to experience these moments on the rock several times. Once I was climbing a runout offwidth crack on an obscure route up Middle Cathedral in Yosemite and I felt as though I became one with the rock. Another time I was descending from a long day climbing Ariana (12a) on The Diamond and I teared up witnessing the overwhelming beauty of the rocks and moss in the cirque below me. I’ve also had a type of “no mind” experience several times when sending difficult projects at Rumney or Céüse, when I was so grounded in the experience that it felt as though someone else was moving and I was just receiving the movement.
These experiences stay with us for weeks, sometimes years. They can be the fuel for a joyous, alive way of being that many of us want and the world desperately needs.
But why call this a spiritual experience? And how can we cultivate it through climbing?
Spirituality is aliveness
“Spiritual” is a complicated word, but it’s one way to name what’s happening when we fully show up in the moment. I’ve found many people of my generation (Millennials) avoid the term completely, perhaps because we associate it with rigid religious dogma adhered to by our parents’ generation. But if we look more closely, I think “spiritual” describes the experiences that draw many of us to rock climbing.
I was baptized a Christian and grew up going to mass on Christmas and Easter, but the spiritual side of the church never stuck. Rather, as I entered adolescence I found my meaning in the mountains. For nearly a decade I actively derided any form of spirituality and waffled between atheism and agnosticism. I preferred to go mountain biking or skiing than sit in a spiritual service on Sunday mornings.
But when I started climbing in college I noticed that I was more present on the rock than at other times in life. Tying into a rope and moving up stone seemed to focus my awareness in the present moment. I wasn’t worried about the paper due next week or the stupid thing I said yesterday. I was here. And being here filled me up with a deep sense of joy and gratitude that was hard to shake.
If spirituality is the practice of cultivating aliveness, I believe climbing is a great way to do it.
It took a decade - and training as a yogi and life coach, among other experiences - before I began recognizing this enhanced awareness when climbing as a spiritual experience. Remember that spirit literally means “life breath” in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. Returning to this basic understanding, Brother David Steindl-Rast suggests we think of spirituality as the practice of being more alive.
“What do you mean by ‘more alive’?” you might ask. Of course, we’re not talking about having a pulse. Rather, I’m suggesting there are some people who are more fully present and aware than others.
Don’t you know some people who seem more alive?
We don’t have good language to describe this quality because it isn't a cognitive experience, but you can tell when you meet someone who is especially alive. They are present and radiate a kind of “I am here” feeling. We like being around them because we can tell they really are here, and there’s something grounding and joyous about simply being.
If spirituality is the practice of cultivating aliveness, I believe climbing is a great way to do it.
Photo @_nickandrew
It’s a lot like flow
Climbers and other athletes sometimes talk about this kind of aliveness as a peak experience or flow state. Flow is total engagement in an experience and it tends to occur when our skills are well matched to the challenge at hand. Too little challenge leads to boredom; the mind wanders. Too much challenge and too little skill leads to panic; the mind freaks out.
Athletes often describe spiritual experiences using the term “flow,” a phenomenon described by researchers like Mihaly Csikszentmihaly.
The eminent flow researcher Mihaly Csczisentmihaly was a rock climber in his younger years, so it’s no wonder climbing lends itself particularly well to flow experiences. The flow experience - total engagement - is well documented in research and practices from swimming to musical performance.
But what is it that is “flowing” through us when we experience flow? I would say it is the spirit that is flowing. In those moments we are filled with life breath. We are more fully alive.
I’m sure I just lost many of you. “Spirit flowing through you? What is this woo-woo bullshit?!”
But think about it: when climbing you are challenged near the limit of your skill, which focuses your attention in the present. The mind becomes quieter because you’re not worrying about the future or past (which is what the mind is best at). Rather, you are simply in your body living and moving in the actual world around you. In this moment the “aliveness” dial is turned way up because your attention is on the only real thing there is: your present experience.
Spirituality is aliveness, and aliveness is flow. We could call it “being present” or “being mindful” or “showing up.” The point is that our mind and body are in the present moment, just being. Earlier this year a friend captured it nicely in a comment on one of my Instagram posts: “I love that feeling. Hitting the flow so hard you black out.”
How to make rock climbing a spiritual practice
I’ve heard many climbers talk about this experience of showing up fully when climbing. Some describe it as transcendent but more often it appears as surprise.
I was belaying a friend recently when he unexpectedly sent a two-year 14b project on his first day of the season. His ascent looked nearly effortless and when I lowered him to the ground he explained:
“Wow! I was so calm. It was like I fell asleep and then suddenly I was clipping the chains.”
I propose that this “showing up fully” is available to us always in climbing, including outside of those rare moments when presence seems to arrive on its own. But how can we cultivate this type of presence on ordinary days at the crag or the gym? How can we use climbing to become more alive people, on and off the rock?
This “showing up fully” is available to us always in climbing, including outside of those rare moments when presence seems to arrive on its own. But how can we cultivate this type of presence on ordinary days at the crag or the gym?
Photo @mats.allen
Step 1: Enter the present
My fiancé used to open a college creative writing class she taught by having students journal in response to this prompt:
“My feet are on the floor. Where is my head?”
The first step to making anything a spiritual practice is to enter the present moment. How often do you show up at the gym still talking and worrying about what happened at work? Or see an email notification at the crag that sends your thoughts spinning about events that will happen next week?
Give yourself the gift of being present to climbing. Set aside the phone and do whatever helps your head catch up with your body. Take a breath. Notice what’s around you. Spend a moment sitting and using your senses to tune into the present.
Step 2: Hone your awareness
Showing up fully in the present is the first step, but the real skill is staying there. Of course your attention will wander. But there are lots of ways to bring your mind and body back to the current experience.
At the ClimbWell retreat I co-lead a workshop called “The Art of Attention,” and one of the things we do is practice simple climbing drills that help us stay focused on the body when moving up the rock.
The simplest is breath awareness with heavy feet. Every time you step on a new foot hold, consciously exhale and press down with your feet. This is great technique practice of course, but it also helps train the mind to stay with the current experience. When you notice your mind has wandered or you’ve gone on ‘auto-pilot’, just return to exhaling and pressing down through your feet.
A more advanced practice is to verbalize proprioceptive cues. Proprioception is your ability to understand where your body is in space. While you’re very good at knowing where your body is, it’s likely this knowledge is largely unconscious. Verbalizing cues for hard movements (e.g. “When I suck my shoulder in and rock over my middle toes my weight goes on my feet!”) is a great way to develop your body awareness on the rock. It will accelerate your movement learning but is also a wonderful way to get your mind engaged in what your body is doing.
The specific techniques for honing your awareness are endless. Just remember that our goal here is to use climbing as a spiritual practice - as training for cultivating aliveness. It’s about helping your mind and body show up more fully in the here and now. What are the practices that work for you?
Step 3: Have fun
If you’re laughing about step #3, you’re on the right track. For those of us who care about performance climbing it’s easy to get super serious about our time at the crag or training in the gym. But I’ve found that having fun is a pretty good clue that we’re practicing showing up in the present.
Think about it this way: when was the last time you were anxious or angry (i.e. not having fun) while climbing?
If you reflect carefully, you’ll notice that anxiety and anger rarely exist in this moment. Rather, the mind gets anxious about what might happen or caught up imagining what went poorly: “What if I fall? What if I don’t send my project? Why did I forget how to do that move?”
So many beautiful climbing days have been ruined by the thought “I should be climbing better.” But this thought - which shows up often for all of us! - has nothing to do with the present; it’s all about some imagined expectations (past or future) about my climbing ability. In this moment I am climbing how I’m climbing. There’s nothing to get angry about, it just is.
You don’t need a pep talk to have fun climbing. Just remember to do it. One of the easiest ways is to practice gratitude. When you notice you’re not having fun, take a deep breath and express some thanks. “I get to play outside today!” “I have a great belayer!” “What an inspiring climb!” “Hey, it’s not raining yet!”
. . .
When you approach climbing as a spiritual practice, it’s not just you who benefits. The people around you will benefit from the joy that fills you up. Your family will notice when you’re a little more present. Your coworkers will notice when you’re a little more considerate. Your climbing partner will definitely feel it, and it might just brighten their day.
Written by Remy Franklin | www.remyfranklin.com | @remyfranklin
