Fear is holding you back more than finger strength

Hey folks, I had a major breakthrough yesterday and thought I'd share. A little back story, in January, I was out climbing with someone I didn't know very well, fell with a bolt at my waist and ended up 20 ft down on a ledge with a broken talus. I really paused when Hazel talked about trauma and how that can be hard to overcome. I wasn't really sure I had any trauma as I understood that the belay was not good and I should have been totally fine. Fast forward to yesterday, four months to the day and I did my first fall practice and first day climbing outside since the injury. Thanks again!

Through discussions focusing on my mindset and the specific approach I take to tackling projects, Hazel promptly observed certain ways of thinking which influenced my movement on the wall. This challenged habits and thought processes which I thought were important and necessary but upon reflection act as potential limitations. After applying tools and strategies and quickly seeing the positive impacts on my climbing, it is clear Hazel has helped me rapidly realize the potential the mind has to influence both my performance and enjoyment of climbing.

I found it difficult to admit that my mental approach to climbing could be a negative force in my life. Yet, I can talk to Hazel, partly because I know she can relate to my experiences. She understands, at an intimate level, that climbing, or any high-performance task, can be psychologically messy. She's never made me feel judged, always frames sessions based on my goals, and cares about her work.

Friends, I led High Exposure in the Gunks on Tuesday. It's a pretty easy trad climb but famously heady. I set myself the goal last year to lead it this year - I'm so surprised that it's only June and I sent it easily, in Stress Zone 1 most of the time. I think this course helped a lot: it taught me about stress levels, and motivated me to practice falling on gear.

I was super nervous/jittery before my redpoint go on my project on my trip and I did a couple gratitude checks with my partner, closed my eyes and focused on the sound of the trees and the wind, hyper focused on my first foothold and it totally centred me and made me present with the climb. I borrowed Hazel's mantra to be with each move and I sent the thing! Sending is awesome of course but starting to feel like I'm in charge of my thoughts and they're not in charge of me is the best feeling in the world!!

Thank you for an amazing course!! Yesterday I led for the first time outdoors. It was great conditions at my favourite crag. I felt good. I did some practice falls on the route first and had a hard time with two bolts. I worked through it and then led the full route. Focused on my breathing and mindset throughout. I have been trying for years to get over my fear of leading and actually had FUN and felt so free doing it. Thank you!!!

I learned so much more from this course than I could have expected; I was blown away by both the depth and amount of content! I feel truly empowered with knowledge that I can use not only in my future climbing experiences but also in other sports and even career endeavours. Thank you for recognizing the need for educating climbers on mental training, I think it makes all the difference for our experiences!

The course helped me notice where those negative feelings came from in climbing. Now when I go to the gym, I’m excited about being challenged. I couldn’t have anticipated all the ways fear was impacting my climbing and now that I have been able to notice all the ways, I have been able to take these tools to make climbing more enjoyable, and not only that, these tools have been useful in situations outside of climbing too.

This course was simply amazing. I was a little sceptical about doing an online course, but I was wrong. The availability of all the coaches and the quick responses in the Slack and during the Q&A really made it possible to assimilate the material. I already feel all the changes this course has brought to me. Since the beginning of the course, I took my biggest falls and led my most difficult routes ever. I fell on routes and stayed positive because I was happy with the way I was climbing and didn't feel the need to Onsight. I'm way calmer while climbing and I listen to my mind and my body a lot more.

The course helped me accept my fears, accept that progress will happen at the pace that it comes at, get back to actually enjoying the experience of climbing, create the experience that I want, and feel that I am learning and developing, even if I am not progressing through the grades. And be able to enjoy the experience outside with friends in beautiful places.

I know I'll be returning to the content and still finding some new gems in it going forward. I've already seen how engaging different mind tools, habits, and deliberate fall practice has made the parts of climbing that were feeling intimidating or fear-producing fun again.

Thanks for such an amazing and life-changing course! My approach to climbing feels so different now that I am focusing on the journey of climbing with my growth mindset and learning more about myself every day. I appreciated that you have given us a wide variety of tools and methods to become more self-aware climbers that continue to learn how to get the challenge right in all aspects of the sport. A big thumbs up to your idea of growing a community around the course and mental training by adding students once they have completed the course. Thanks for all your work making this a great experience.

I can't overstate how much my climbing experience has improved since being involved with the Strong Mind Community. I am so much better at embracing challenge, which has made climbing more fun and also boosted my grade and technique. The social side of the community means I never feel alone with a problem and the access to expert coaching is incredible. I have never felt more motivated!

The main way [the course] has really changed climbing for me is that it made me really enjoy my sessions more. I find myself being more reflective, more intentional and I feel like I have more fun when I’m out. The community is really incredible, there’s a lot of validation and support, Hazel and Angus are very involved and make everyone feel very comfortable… they have created something really really special.

Thank you for a wonderful course! I'm really impressed by how much content you put into it and how much you go in depth in all the topics! I found all the theories very interesting and as a psychologist I'm impressed by the quality and depth of this theory. I also learned some new breathing techniques that I'm now recommending for my patients (the physiological sigh).

I was a climber who never fell, I was a climber who avoided falling and therefore routes I might fall off! I started the Strong Mind course and by spring was beginning fall practice. Fast forward 8 months and I am falling off much more and importantly, happily and now starting to try routes that I know I will fall off. I have also led my first 7a. I definitely could not have made this progress without this amazing course and incredible coaches.