Overcoming your FEARS
Great Article from the Tapp Brothers, if you have not subscribed to them do so, they really put good information together! http://learnmoreparkour.com/parkour-training.htm
Below, is an except from the article.
Learning my long kong precisions was like a roller coaster.
One day I would have it down. The next day I would bail. Then I’d spend a week being to afraid to even attempt the same kong to precision.
A few weeks later I’d have it down again. Then I’d put it off for a while. And this process pretty much went on like this for a few months.
Then kong to rail precisions, I was just too afraid to even attempt at first.
Though my skill was good enough. I knew I could get them, but the fear of slipping on the rail or bailing really hard kept holding me back.
When I finally attempted kong to rail precisions, it was when I was in a fearless mood.
I’m sure you know what I’m talking about. Some days we are in those scary moods where we are afraid to do anything outside of our comfort zone.
Then other days we are in a fearless mood, where we are up for the challenge and quickly go outside our comfort zones.
These fearless days are also the days where we usually progress rapidly.
So what I wanted to figure out was why on some days I was scared and other days I was fearless.
Why some moves, after I bailed or messed up on, I was soo scared to do again?
Why moves that I knew I could physically get, gave me soo much fear I couldn’t attempt them?
Well after some research into psychology, studies from others, and testing of my own, I’ve come up with a simole system for overcoming fear for parkour moves.
Now not all fear, but a system to help keep us in that fearless mood, to keep us from being afraid of a move just because we bail once on it, and to keep us from being to afraid to attempt moves that we physically know we can do!
FEAR
Why I fear a new move!
We fear moves because we associate more pain than pleasure with the move.
We associate the pain of getting injured or sometimes even the embarrassment of failure more than the pleasurable feeling of landing the move or upping our parkour skill.
So what we really fear is injury and or embarrassment.
And the reason we fear injury and or embarrassment is because of three main reasons:
1. We are un confident in our physical abilities. We do not know our limits physically.
2. Emotionally we are in a scared mind set. We are focused on the pain and not the pleasures.
3. Logically we are validating fears that are not valid. We are allowing our emotions to control our mind.
Why I fear a move after I bail on it!
Our brain works in patterns. Certain things trigger different emotions and feeling in our minds.
Think about when you listen to a song that was playing during an important, dramatic, or distinctive moment in your life.
Even years after that moment, when you listen to that song now it quickly brings up emotions and feelings that you felt during that time.
Some people who suffer traumatic events such as almost drowning, will be very afraid to be in water or stick their head under.
This is because being in water, around water, or the thought of being in water triggers all those terrible emotions and feelings they felt during their traumatic experience.
The same thing happens when you bail hard on a move.
The area, music you were listening too, and move you were trying during that bail, can all trigger those painful and scary emotions and feelings you felt from that nasty bail.
Even the way you carry yourself physically can change the way you feel and your confidence.
For example, I want you to think of something that makes you very mad. Think of a time or situation that got got you soo angry and upset you were on the brink of snapping.
DO THIS!
As you think about that you can probably feel yourself being flooded with angry emotions, and becoming mad.
Now I want you to think of the same thing, but I want you to put the biggest grin on your face you can!
I want you to hold that ridiculous smile, keep your body posture up, head held high, and try to think of that same angry experience.
You can’t get mad can you. You probably even laughed a little bit.
That’s because when you smile it triggers certain joyful emotions and feelings that you can’t control.
SOLUTION
Physically- You need to have your body in good shape and prepared for the move.
You need to know your physical limits to the best of your ability so that you know when a fear is justified or just your mind trying to hold you back
Emotionally- You need to be in the fearless confident mindset.
You need to be focused on the pleasures you will receive from the move instead of the possible pain of injury or embarrassment of failing.
Logically- You need to recognize when your fear is valid. If the fear is not valid, you need to use your physical and emotional techniques to eliminate the fear.
We need to disrupt the negative patterns that bring up fear in our mind and replace them with positive ones that bring out confidence.
Step #1
You need to put yourself in the right mindset from the get go.
Listen to music the reminds your brain of success.
Watch videos of successful parkour moves.
Start off by doing simple moves and landing them solid.
Repeatedly imagine yourself doing the move and landing it perfect. Not only does this help with the fear but it also helps the brain connect with the move physically.
Smile, be happy, be in a good mood, and hold your body posture in a confident relaxed position.
Step #2
Make sure you are physicaly confident in the move before you attempt it.
Meaning you know that you at least won’t get injured from the move.
So you want to get your mind and body physically comfortable with the move.
You do this by gradually building up to the move if possible. Or mimicking the motions of the move in a safe manner that you are comfortable with and start building up.
A gym is a perfect place to do this. Because you can get your body used to the motions without the fear of injury.
So for a kong you start with small kongs, then build your way up to bigger and more precise kongs.
Step #3
Make your spots and scary moves trigger comfort and success.
When ever you start to feel fearful about a move in a certain spot, automatically go do a different easy move on that spot or in that area to make your brain connect with fearless emotions and success with that spot.
That way when you start to think of that scary move your brain will start to connect it with the success of landing other moves instead of fear and failure.
We want to try and disrupt the negative patterns and replace them with positive ones.
Do these things and you will see a lot of your invalid fears will go away.
These tactics are used to make you mentally prepared and take away invalid fears.
If you are still deeply afraid with the move.
DO NOT ATTEMPT IT!
You will most likely fail. You are not in the right mindset. Wait till you feel confident. Anxiousness or slight nervousness before the move is ok. However, you do not want to have doubt on whether you will be get injured or not.
This is just a small overview over fear and how to overcome it. If you want an in depth program over how the brain works, how to overcome your fears, motivate yourself, and become successful, I highly recommend checking out some of Tony Robbins products. In particular, “Personal Power”.
That’s where I learned most of these original concepts.
Sincerely,
Jonathan
