Warrior's Way Expresso Clinic Experiences

I've been thinking about the "game" of climbing ever since my second exposure to the sport, in 1982. More recently, I've asked myself why I'm so much more comfortable skiing a 48 degree couloir than I am 8 feet out from a bolt in a safe falling situation on a sport climb. Some trad patterns take a long time to re-program ... or a completely fresh approach.

When I picked up Arno's book "The Rock Warrior's Way", not only did I find such a fresh approach, but I recognized Arno as being on the same learning path that I've chosen - albeit, having thought a lot more about how we learn, focus, and process stress than I have. His book and the techniques he teaches are priceless. I've picked up several gift copies ... and not just for climber friends. The knowledge and techniques transfer to life in profound ways.

The next time you're in a climbing shop and thinking about buying yet another new widget to "improve" your climbing, dig into your pocket for $18.95 and spring for this book (there's an audio book version too - for about $10 more). Better yet - for the retail price of a cam and a quickdraw, buy the book and sign up for one of Arno's Espresso, 4 hour clinics if it rolls by your town. The cam will eventually wear out, but your experience in this session will last you a lifetime.

Books can take you only so far, and Arno's is one of the great ones, but a coaching session in the context of a small group will accelerate your learning.

Last night, my wife and I attended an Espresso Clinic at Rockn' and Jammin' in Thornton, CO. I envisioned different learning goals for each of us as we occupy different learning spaces.

All six attendees of the clinic wanted to spend some time getting more comfortable with falling (surprise!) - with the intent of better learning how to apply the skill. My wife, in particular had a tendency to get sketched out with merely rope stretch potential on a toprope fall. By the end of this exercise, she worked herself up to taking a 12 footer (slack on a toprope - not a lead fall) and was smiling and in perfect body position.

I've always been comfortable climbing and taking leader falls in a gym, but outdoors, my trad roots surface, even on a well protected sport climb. With each successive fall (perhaps a dozen falls in total), the process of a fall began to unfold more slowly. I had a memory and awareness of exactly how and where I contacted the wall. It is this sense of lack of control that has been debilitating for me out there where the sun shines and the wind blows.

We all know that there's a lot more to the climbing game than knowing how to fall, but for many of us, this irrational fear (fear of falling in an objectively safe situation when you have the skills) is debilitating. We went through quite a few exercises intended at helping us to direct our awareness. I won't go into these, and if you're interested in getting a general flavor of Arno's approach, look at a couple of his posts on this forum:

Article: Deliberate Transitions are Ambiguous
Learning How to Learn - By Arno
Or on his Training training forum on the Warrior's Way website

Please forgive me if I appear to be gushing, but this was a break-through moment for me and my wife - this, after climbing for nearly three decades. I know these sorts of testimonials appear to the external observer as someone who drank the Kool-Aid. Well, the Kool-Aid works ... at least for us! Also note that I am in no way connected with Warriors' Way and that this is just one guy's comments about a very meaningful experience.

I can envision the seasoned hard man for whom many of these techniques are internalized saying that this is all a bunch of psychobabble / mumbo-jumbo. Well, we all learn and process things differently, but I'll bet that even the seasoned hard man would walk away with a few "ahha moments".

Cheers,
Thom

Congratulations on your breakthrough moments! I know how you feel, I've had those same moments in the workshops I've attended with Arno. Every time, my climbing has taken a great leap forward.

If you found the Espresso Clinic useful, you should try to get to one of Arno's two-day mental training workshops. You'd love every minute of it! You work on a lot of stuff that there's not time for in the short clinic, plus it's outdoors. Look on the WW website for a schedule of these two-day workshops, it's worth doing a little travelling if you have to.

I'd like to comment on what you said about "seasoned hard man" and the perception some people might have of this being "psychobabble." When people see some of the terminology Arno uses (including Warrior's Way itself), it's easy to lump it in with New Age thinking. But it's important to realize that Arno isn't just an armchair theorist -- he's a pretty damned "seasoned hardman" in his own right with some serious FAs to his credit. I'll never forget watching him casually down-lead a 5.11c that one of his students had to bail off of. The WW training is a highly practical approach to climbing, taught by someone who can walk the walk.

So -- I guess I'm gushing too, but that's okay. I recommend Arno's workshops to everyone I know.

JL