Zee Mystery of climbing, by Stevie the sage Haston.

In 6 weeks I haven’t really been climbing but I managed 8a+ today. How is it possible? Some years I tried fairly hard, and never made it past 8a+, what is going on? I guess I am very fit, both Cardio wise and in a muscle sense, but this seems too good to be true. For the last 10 years I have been thinking that climbing is quite complex, but in some ways you might be able to say it is simple. Or is it complex and simple, depending on you, yourself, and more importantly the link between you and your mind. My mind and body are in tune at the moment (I hope it stays that way), my body is not very strong but it seems to know what it is doing without to much instructing from the computer, and more importantly I think the computer is not overloaded with info, or talking to the body. If this is too deep for you, don’t worry, don’t take any notice. If you think you understand, try following thru with it for your self. I am doing a lot of mind disassociation at the moment, thru walking, running, yoga and swimming, and success in climbing means very little to me. It could all be nonsense of course and that in reality 8a and 8a+ are not hard.

“The most important muscle is the mind”, Wolfgang Amadeus Gullich-muscle perfect climber.

 Who knows? I have noticed that when I practise yoga breathing my climbing is always better, and I have been doing a fair bit recently. My wife Laurence who teaches Kundalini Yoga is helping me thru some scepticism, and laziness,  with my Pranayama, and I am making a tiny bit of progress, I will continue with it because it helps me in other ways,  rather than just climbing.

“Try to use the mind more, and not the muscles”, Jacques Mayol –free-diving legend.


I was recently thinking about not climbing for a while, but to days success cheered me up no end. Just before climbing I was thinking how my climbing was not rewarding, and how I just climbed in many ways only for duty, and other reasons.  So when I arrived at the chain I actually felt pleased at how everything had turned out, it was just really nice,  no stress, no fooking furries, so I’ll have some more of that , I think, yes please.
So a few months climbing and watch how things are going, and see if I can get up to a decent standard.  Oh well here we go again, but this time we will try it in a more gentle way.  

“The most important thing is not muscles or mind, but that far place where you are in harmony, it is not Shangri-la, it is within you, but finding it, you need more than Google, you need a guru”, Stevie the sage Haston.

And what is a decent standard Obi one? I wont talk about climbing because it is something I am too good at, so instead I think my journey will be 40 meters horizontal, 40 meters depth and over 4mins static breath hold. And perhaps I will never arrive, but I will try, and if you don’t try you cannot succeed, and if you fear failure, you will surely add to your burden. And of course the greatest journey starts with the first step, and everything starts with the breath, and you will surely die when you stop to breath. 

“What is old age? Old is a shallow breath. People who take deep breath never feel old. They can be old but never feel old. Is your breath of life conscious and deep?” Yogi Bhajan