Anchoring

It is all too easy to get caught up in our thoughts and feelings during run or a climb. Self-doubt can creep in like finger nails on a blackboard. Then we start reacting to those thoughts and feelings instead of what we need to or planned to do. What then?

Anchoring is a tool that you can use to ‘anchor’ to the present moment, allowing space to separate yourself a bit from the internal chatter and make room for ACTION.

Take this short example I experienced on a climb years ago:

I had just placed a stopper (a piece of protection that ‘stops’ a climber from falling any more than the distance they go above it) in a crack just below the crux of a difficult climb and made the move a foot or two above it in a challenging roof.

I started feeling a sense of panic, the thought ‘I am going to fall’ started to creep up in my mind like a radio blasting with an awful song. My hands getting wet from sweat, my arms pumped, by breathing was fast.

I took a deep slow breath, felt my hand in the crack, noticed the gentle breeze and moderately warm temperature on my skin, the smell of the sage and juniper below, and suddenly - I was right there, the background music was quieter - I started focusing on the problem in front of me, started telling myself I got this, the piece I put in was solid, my belay good, I reached up above the roof and found a good hold, and made the two or three moves to a safe ledge where I could clip into the bolted anchor. (Not the intended metaphor but this will work too!)

What I did came naturally, I hadn’t been trained in any mental ‘skill’ at that time.

Likely you’re doing something similar already - specifically, I was grounding myself in the present moment - then refocusing using positive self-talk, and focusing on my game plan, and taking ACTION.

It is easy to get wrapped up or ‘hooked’ into our thoughts, sometimes self-defeating and sometimes just plain dangerous as in my rock-climbing example.

Our thoughts are going to be there like the background radio noise and often times trying to control the thoughts is like fighting a swarm of flies - distracting and uncontrollable.

But we have control over our arms, legs, hands, feet and mouth.

Taking that moment to take a deep breathe, coming into contact with my surroundings by using my senses, anchored me to the present moment like a ship in harbor during a storm - the waves crashing around - the boat secure. The thoughts still there, but just background noise.

Anchoring comes in many shapes and sizes - stemming from the practice of mindfulness. Essentially what you’re doing is using your senses to become aware of and in contact with the here and now.

Try this:

Take a deep breathe, breath in for six seconds, hold for a few, exhale seven seconds (here you increased the affect of your parasympathetic nervous system slowing things down a bit) Now find five things you can see - slowly noting them. Next, find four things you can touch, three things you can hear, two things you can smell and one thing you can taste. Slowly go through this. That is it. Notice anything different? Where’d your thoughts go? Still there but much quieter I suspect?

Mindfulness meditation practice helps to develop this - but it’s not for everyone. Anchoring is a skill anyone can learn and can be used in a number of settings. Let’s take for example during an ultramarathon. Eighty miles into the race your mind starts to spout all this negative garbage like you’re not going to make it, your going to get cut off, you’ll never catch so and so. You take a moment for a deep breath, notice the trees, the flowers, feel the coolness of the air, and then - you’ve got a space to act on your plan - that could be a mantra that you’ve practiced, a specific performance plan for the race. It doesn’t take much, but it takes practice. It also doesn’t take going through all of your senses. Maybe just a few, maybe only a few split seconds like I did on the crux, just enough to get me back to the plan and ACT.

Give this a shot. Set a timer to go off during the day to remind yourself, use an object to remind yourself that you’ll know you see during the day - a picture, a plant, a coffee mug - just something to trigger yourself to attempt this quick tool. Try it on runs, bike rides, climbs, when ever you notice your mind taking you where you don’t need be right now. Remember though the thoughts are still there - we’re not forcing them away, they just start to become background noise so you can focus and take action.