Mastering Fear is the title of the chapter that I’m currently reading in a book called Change Your Brain, Change Your Life by Daniel G. Amen, MD.  While reading this chapter, I realized why I love indoor rock climbing so much.  According to studies by Dr. Amen, anxiety, nervousness and pessimism are some of the feelings that result from excessive basal ganglia activity in the brain.  Those are feelings that I often have before climbing a challenging route.  So why would I willingly and consciously subject myself to these experiences time after time? 

Dr. Amen provides suggestions for soothing the basil ganglia and one of his prescriptions is meditation and self-hypnosis.  He describes the hypnotic state created by focused concentration as a natural phenomenon “in which our sense of time and consciousness becomes altered”.  That altered state of consciousness is how I feel once I actually begin climbing.  So, that’s why I climb—it’s soothing to the basal ganglia in my brain.
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While indoor rock climbing, “Go up” is the advice that I get from one of my belay partners when I have trouble figuring out a sequence or need some extra encouragement.  Though it may not be the information that I want or expect at a particular moment, it is great advice.  “Go up” has become a catch phrase in our climbing group and has become an important part of my self-talk before a climb.  I need the positive self-talk because I often have fear and anxiety before starting a climb.

Today, I experienced my typical anxiety and self-doubt at the bottom of a climb of moderate difficulty (5.9).  It’s on one of the taller walls in the gym—50 feet or so.  It has one move that requires some core strength, it’s slightly overhanging, has a short traverse over an arch and the holds get smaller at the top.  I know all this because I’ve climbed it several times.  And still, each time, I don’t know if I’ll be able to climb it again. 
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