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Long-form adventurous conversations with experts in mindset, resilience, sport psychology, fear management, presence, attention, distraction, flow-state, performance psychology, well-being and more with professional climber and coach Hazel Findlay.

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Podcast Episodes

Episode 22: From Childhood to Motherhood - Emily Harrington

In this episode, Hazel speaks with Emily Harrington about her life as a professional climber from when she was a kid competing to now as a mother herself.

Episode 21: Social Risk and Self Trust with Africa Brooke

In this episode, Hazel speaks with Africa Brooke. Africa is a consultant, coach, strategist, and speaker with a unique focus: tackling self-sabotage and self-censorship.

Episode 20: Mind Games - Allison Vest

In this episode, Hazel speaks with Allison Vest about her struggles and progress with mental training in climbing.

Episode 19: Performance Hacks Bonus Episode

In this bonus episode, Angus Kille interviews Hazel about how to leverage mental training for performance and their upcoming course Performance Hacks.

Episode 18: Breathing - Science and Tradition

In this episode, we talk a lot about breath! We look at the physical and mental benefits from 2 different perspectives with 2 experts in the field.

Episode 17: Working With The Mind - Lor Sabourin

Lor Sabourin is a professional climber, mental training coach, and Training Leader for the Warrior’s Way, an organization that uses climbing-based mental training to optimize performance and improve mental health. Lor’s work is trauma-informed and they have just finished a Masters's degree in mental health counselling with an emphasis on somatic therapy and adventure-based counselling.

Episode 16: Mastery and Flow in High Level Bouldering Part 2 - Aidan Roberts

This is the second part of a conversation Hazel had with Aiden Roberts about mastery, flow and motivation in high-level bouldering.

Episode 15: Spontaneity - Jeff Charno

In this episode, Hazel speaks with Jeff Charno, the founder and host of "Being & Doing" online conferences.

Episode 14: Flow Philosophy - Cameron Norsworthy

In this episode, Hazel speaks with Cameron Norsworthy (PhD in Flow and director of the Flow Centre) about flow.

Episode 13: Understanding Intuition - Lauri Jarvilehto

Hazel speaks with musician, researcher and lecturer in philosophy of mind Lauri Jarvilehto. They talk about what intuition is, creativity and intuition, flow and intuition, the difference between skill and conceptualising that skill, how system 2 can distract us (choking in sport), flow and good performances in system 1, the differences and similarities between flow and intuition, pattern recognition, the difference between instinct and intuition, how to better access intuition and flow with this knowledge.

Episode 12: Big Wave Mindset - Sarah Hauser

In this episode, Hazel talks to windsurfer Sarah Hauser. Sarah is one of the world's best windsurfers and has the record for the biggest wave ever windsurfed by a woman. In this conversation, Sarah talks about maximising intrinsic motivation, managing fear, mental management tools, hypnotherapy, and flow state among other interesting areas of psychology.

Episode 11: Adam Ondra – It's all about the psyche

Hazel talks to Adam about what makes a good climber, flow state, his childhood, motivation, mastery, processes, competitions, outcomes, the problem of under-eating in climbing, big goals and much more.

Episode 10: Mike Weeks – Exploring the embodied mind

In this episode Hazel chats to Mike Weeks. Mike is a serial entrepreneur, coach and speaker, specializing in resilience and peak performance for emergency services, police, special forces and elite athletes.

Episode 9: Mason Earle – A different kind of mountain

In this episode Hazel talks to former pro-climber Mason Earle about his journey with ME/CFS.

Episode 8: Flight School Special – Busting myths about fear of falling in climbing

In this episode, Hazel and Angus Kille chat about fear of falling.

Episode 7: Tim Emmett – Which does Tim Emmett find scariest: base jumping or sport climbing?

In this episode Hazel speak with climber, ex-base jumper and all round adventurer Tim Emmett. They talk about Tim's relationship with all the risky activities he gets up to and what attracts him to sports with consequences.

Episode 6: Ross Bentley – Thinking fast

In this episode Hazel speaks with race car coach Ross Bentley about the mind of race car drivers and how he coaches drivers to be at their best.

Episode 5: Emma Wood – Competition, performance and fear

In this episode Hazel and Angus speak with Emma Wood, one of the great minds working in the space of psychology in our community.

Episode 4: Lorraine Huber – The best way to win

In this episode Hazel speaks with free ride world champion Lorraine Huber about her journey to win.

Episode 3: Aidan Roberts – Mastery and flow in high level bouldering

This is the first part of a long conversation with Aidan. Aidan is one of the world's best boulderers and recently sent Alphane, 9a making him one of the few people in the world to climb the grade.

Episode 2: Miguel Lozano – Lessons from the deep

In this episode, Hazel speaks with professional free diver Miguel Lozano.

Episode 1: Sue Jackson – The relationship between flow, mindfulness and performance

Hazel talks to Sue Jackson about flow, mindfulness and performance and how they all relate. Sue is a psychologist, researcher and mindfulness practitioner.

Fight, flight, freeze

Fight, flight, or freeze is activated by our sympathetic nervous system in response to a stressful situation. The stress caused by the fear of falling or failing can be detrimental when climbing. So, how do we recognise this response and overcome it? This article provides a small insight into what is a very broad and well-researched topic. In the Strong Mind Course, we cover this topic in depth.

A conversation with flow-state expert Cameron Norsworthy

Cameron Norsworthy from the Flow Centre chats to Hazel Findlay about what flow state is, how to access it and what the barriers to flow are. This conversation was recorded for the Curious Climber podcast.

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