This episode was recorded live as a SHAFF (Sheffield adventure film festival) event, so it's a little different in format compared to our other episodes. 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. To check out more about what we do head to strongmindclimbing.com
In this episode, Hazel chats with 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. After a decade of climbing around the world in full dirtbag style he briefly flirted with celebrity, leading Jack Osbourne up El Capitan for the TV series, Jack Osbourne Adrenaline Junkie, in between climbing various E8’s and falling off of E9’s!Mike currently lives in Bali, Indonesia, where he runs regenerative agriculture projects, restoring polluted rice paddies, cleaning river systems and developing a centre of excellence for farming. When he’s not rescuing far too many stray dogs (six and counting) he surfs whilst dreaming of rock and his next book. He is the author of three books, Un-train Your Brain (Vermillion), Resilience By Design (Wiley) and The little Speck of Life (self published)
In this episode, Hazel talks to former pro-climber Mason Earle about his journey with ME/CFS. Mason was living a life full of adventure before almost everything was taken away from him by a debilitating illness that he still doesn't fully understand. Mason is extremely smart and insightful and his story and perspective is a stark reminder that we shouldn't take what we have for granted. 02.26 | Reminiscing on climbing03:36 | How his illness has made him a better person04:15 | What is ME/CFS where he is right now with his illness?6:52 | Cranial traction improving his symptoms12:00 - 16:00 | How it started and how the nightmare unravelled16:21 How does Mason endure so much suffering, how does he keep fighting18:52 | Was the fear that this was ‘forever’ always there?How does he weigh the consequences of his actions having this health condition21:00 | Does his climbing experience help him manage the consequences in his illness?24:00 | Where he gets his feel-good chemicals from these days25:50 | What is his view on gratitude?31:27 | How does his illness affect his sense of identityHow does he deal with his health condition36:14 | How much responsibility can he take over getting better?42:50 | Is he still climbing?44:41 | How does he maintain his personal relationships?48:00 | Toxic positivity49:30 | Mental health and its importance for everyone54:03 | What has he learned in the past four years?
In this episode, Hazel and Angus Kille chat about fear of falling. They talk about- what fear of falling is and discuss some nuances and misconceptions around it- how fear of falling holds back so many climbers- how culturally we've neglected to address this in the right ways- how easy it is to get fall practice wrong and how this has given fall practice a bad reputation- self-awareness as the missing ingredient to effective fall practiceIf you'd like to learn more about fear of falling join the waitlist for Strong Mind's upcoming course and we'll send you 6 free videos in fall practice training. GO.STRONGMINDCLIMBING.COM
In this episode, Hazel speaks 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. They talk about the extra risks in base jumping and how he has justified those risks in the past. Tim talks about being ready to walk away and focusing on controlling every controllable. Then they talk about why he eventually gave up base jumping. They then spend the final portion of the podcast focusing on Tim's recent process of trying to climb his hardest sport route which he hasn't yet done. Tim has been sharing a lot about this journey on social media which has been really positive but it has also added external pressure. He talks about how he's managed that and how he's tried to stay positive despite having not done the route. Show Notes0:00 | Intro4:52 | Conversation Start / Catching Up7:38 | Is Tim an adrenaline junkie or is he chasing flow? 9:48 | Why do all these risky sports such as base jumping, climbing, mountaineering and free-diving? 13:09 | The common thread between all these sports is that they all have consequences 18:49 | Talking about his experience on Meshuga19:50 | Closing his eyes as a way to focus28:05 | Tim’s closest calls base jumping and climbing 31:04 | Witnessing a fatality on Tim’s first-ever time base jumping32:54 | How Tim justified the risk - "I’m different" 36:45 | Fatalities in base jumping39:58 | How to walk away when it doesn’t feel right.49:28 | Why has Tim gravitated towards so many diverse activities52:39 | Talking about flow in sports55:06 | Accessing flow in fast sports58:21 | Wim Hof breathing63:12 | Era Vella (his recent 9a project) - the overall story and why he picked this route66:22 | How sharing the journey has been really fun but also added pressure69:32 | How his positivity has been tested during this process70:15 | The use of positive affirmations to bring positivity and psyche71:49 | Tools he’s been using in the moment81:47 | How sport climbing made him cry when all the other terrifying stuff he’s done didn’t make him cry*83:37 | Everything he’s done to manage his psychology during this process*88:57 | Whether he’ll go back91:44 | Tim’s lucky mantra95:18 | Focusing on what you can control96:49 | Why he wants to go back103:03 | Outro
In this episode, Hazel speaks with race car driver coach Ross Bentley about how he uses psychological tools and strategies to help drivers perform at their best. 0:00 | Intro4:24 | Intro to his career as a race car driver and now a coach 8:17 | Explains the challenges of race car driving and what it feels like13:52 | What does it mean to perform well as a race car driver - what does that look/feel like 18:39 | Analysis versus intuition25:42 | What are the hurdles to performance - self-belief 30:36 | What is intuition and his concept of ‘driving stupid’37:53 | Managing competition - focusing on your own performance over results and the results of others 41:46 | Use of ques to keep on task 45:57 | The use of ‘sensory input sessions’ 49:54 | The concept of trying too hard and what’s wrong with it58:17 | The concept of ‘letting it happen’ 59:31 | Trust 1:06:37 | Motivation and why extrinsic motivators can be dangerous1:15:30 | Motor racing as a macho sport that historically hasn’t valued coaching and psychological training (remind us of anything?) 1:20:54 | Outro
In this episode, Hazel and Angus speak with Emma Wood, one of the great minds working in the space of psychology in our community. This is the full version of the conversation for members only. We talk about sports psychology for competition, what we can all learn from how competitors manage their mindset and attention under pressure, problems with how we approach psychology in climbing, how our community could be better at educating, understanding and welcoming psychological concepts, why don't instructors and guides get any training around psychological concepts (?!) trying hard, effort and how this can be trained, winning mastery and competition and how to balance them all, process versus outcome, self-awareness and psychological tools to manage stress, fear and pressure and much more. Emma is always a joy to speak with and one of our most trusted thought leaders working in this space. Show Notes 00:00 - 2:24 | Podcast introduction3:24 | Emma’s introduction. 4:05 | What is hypnotherapy, and how compares to coaching 8:28 | Training as a psychologist, how to work with a climbers' mind 11:40 | Psychological research in climbing and in fear 14:10 | The distinction between rational and irrational fear and why it’s not that useful17:00 | Why don’t instructors and guides have any training around psychology?! 21:51 | Mental health crisis training, trauma, ingraining fear and getting fall practice wrong 28:09 | Competition climbers and their psychological challenges30:29 | Youth comp climbers what do pushy parents look like these days 32:55 | Shifting a competitor's mindset - mastery over winning, process over outcome 36:00 | How to balance the desire to win with a learning mindset 37:09 | Do external motivations help you try harder or not? 41:00 | Motivations that distract us and the role of desperation 42:00 | Trying hard as a skill 45:56 | Healthy and unhealthy competitiveness 47:55 | The relationship between confidence and performing well under pressure 48:25 | Managing confidence and creating knowns from unknowns, what is confidence? 53: 00 | Breaking down the challenge and having a practice mindset "match day isn't every day" 57:00 | Tools and routines competitors use before they compete 59:00 | Visualisation for competing and Angus talks about his visualisation practice for trad routes1.03 | Strategies for introverted competition climbers1.06 | Self-awareness, normalisation of stress, how life stressors affect our psychology1.17 | Reframing fear as an opportunity 1.20 | Public speaking
In this episode, Hazel speaks with free-ride world champion Lorraine Huber about her journey to win. At first, Lorraine had a lot of anxiety around competing and focused all her attention on the podium. Through mental training and mindset shifts she learnt how to find flow and joy during competition and which enabled her to ski at her best. Lorraine is a true testament to how important the mind is in sport and also that we are all capable of training and changing our minds. Learning how to train your mind is the single greatest investment you can make in climbing, sport and life in general. Check out strongmindclimbing.com for more information on our coaching, online course and upcoming membership programme. 0:00 | Episode Start0:06 | Intro2:14 | Conversation Start3:34 | Her Ski Career6:49 | Social Media and Professional Skiing11:33 | Describing the freeride world tour15:44 | Visualisation18:13 | Dangers21:47 | How she used to get very anxious when competing and focused entirely on the podium and let external stressors affect her24:18 | How she learned to focus on the process28:56 | How she emotionally let go of the goal 31:48 | How she found flow by creating the right challenge level 32:48 | How winning became a bonus34:35 | More advice on how she let go of the desire to win especially for young people at the start of their careers 37:19 | The benefits of big goals39:35 | Mantras “I’m here to learn, grow, find flow and enjoy the process’43:56 | The essence of mental training46:24 | Fear-based motivation47:13 | Managing attention49:55 | Pull vs Push55:26 | Confidence56:22 | Self-kindness and being a good inner coach 1:06:43 | Deliberate practice1:09:33 | Self-awareness, being an observer and distancing from thoughts1:11:36 | Tools to use in the moment to stay in flow such as keywords 1:18:46 | More on visualisation1:24:22 | Analysis vs letting go1:26:09 | Pre-performance rituals1:28:12 | The body is the pro athlete1:31:47 | Why we neglect the mind in sport1:39:05 | End Conversation1:39:10 | Outro
0:00 - 1:24 | Intro1:30 - 3:20 | Resuming Conversation/Casual Talk3:20 -7:42 | The projecting process (continued)7:42 - 13:58 | Aidan’s precise goal-setting approach and considerations in goal-setting13:58 - 23:34 | What’s the leading source of inspiration23:34 - 29:40 | Mastery in the detail29:40 - 30:35 | Love of climbing30:35 - 32:28 | Flow state32:28 - 36:46 | What Aidan does to get into an intense state of focus36:46 - 42:59 | Relaxation instead of being amped up42:59 - 44:40 | Where does analysis fit into flow + left and right hemispheres in flow44:40 - 46:31 | Intuition versus or as well as analysis and understanding 46:31 - 47:32 | Well we’ve been chatting for a while, let’s chat again47:33 - 48:33 | Outro
This is the first part of a long conversation with Aidan. We mostly focus on mastery, goals, motivation and direction in climbing. To access the second half of the conversation where we further explore mastery, discuss flow in bouldering and talk about how Aidan focuses become a Podcast Community Member at strongmindclimbing.com/podcast 0:00 - 6:54 | Intro and chat about the Strong Mind Podcast Community 6:59 - 11:00 | Chit chat 11:01 - 13:58 | Aidan and Hazel’s routine13:58-19:13 | Pro climbing and balancing time 19:13 - 33:17 | Game theory and Instagram, body image and objectification 33:17 - 39:02 | Podcasting39:02 - 41:21 | Aidan's goals, motivations and finding his limit41:21 - 46:42 | Burden of Dreams46:42 - 50:00 | Gravitating towards a style niche versus being a broadly accomplished climber50:00 - 58:44 | Mastery in climbing - what is it and do Aidan and Hazel have different conceptions of mastery 58:44 - 1:03:55 | Collective mastery and the difference between mastery and difficulty1:03:55 - 1:05:16 | Exposing weaknesses1:05:16 - 1:06:13 | Enjoyment and preferences in climbing1:06:13 - 1:08:16 | Tools to understand where your motivation comes from 1:08:16 - 1:11:39 | Aidan’s aversion to extrinsic motivations 1:11:39 - 1:14:57 | Authenticity1:14:57 - 1:24:45 | Psychological traps in goal setting and the projecting process1:24:52 - 1:28:29 | Outro
In this Strong Mind session, Hazel talks to Angus about what he learnt from trying and doing his hardest redpoint. He talks about his psychological preparation for the project, his motivations, how he stayed positive, the challenges he had to overcome with his mindset and learning takeaways for his next project!
In this Strong Mind session, Angus talks to Hazel about her recent trip to Greenland. They focus on the psychological takeaways from that expedition and everything she learnt from the unique challenge of being away for 6 weeks, climbing freezing cold big walls, doing extreme science projects and making a film!
In this episode, Hazel speaks with professional free diver Miguel Lozano. Free diving has to be one of the more psychologically uncomfortable sports you can do and Miguel has learnt a lot from his time mastering depth and holding his breath! Start > 8 mins - talking about parenting 8 mins > explaining freediving16 mins > dangers of freediving 18 mins > how to equalise the ear 21 > managing the urge to breathe, mental training and similarities between free diving and climbing 23 > dissociation and hypercapnia as the urge to breathe, diaphragmatic contractions 26 > knowledge, adaptation and physical training as sources of confidence 29 > matching psychological discomfort and physical ability 32 > passing out, blackouts and death in freediving, managing risk 34 > managing external pressure and the desire to beat the record 48 > mental training tools, visualisation, connecting to sensory information 50 > how to relax as much as possible, only using the muscles that you need 52 > breathwork 58 > flow state and focus 60 > negative thoughts 63 > progression in freediving 65 > mental preparation before a dive69 > how has what you’ve learnt in free diving helped you in other areas of life? 74 > learning from other sports
Hazel talks to Sue Jackson about flow, mindfulness and performance and how they all relate. Sue is a psychologist, researcher and mindfulness practitioner. She has a phD in flow and carried out the first in-depth qualitative investigation of the experience of flow by elite athletes. She studied under Csíkszentmihályi, who first coined the term flow and carried out the first research into flow as experienced by everyday people. Sue and Csíkszentmihályi wrote a book together called 'Flow in Sports' which was the first book addressing flow state in sport.Learning how to train your mind is the single greatest investment you can make in climbing, sport and life in general. Check out strongmindclimbing.com for more information on our coaching, online course and membership programme.
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1:48:00 encore! I