Well I introduced the concept of scripts for imagery in previous post, and thought I would elaborate the concept to allow you to develop a script for a boulder problem that you can climb in overlapping sections but not yet link. Meaning that basically you can do every move but need help in making the route climb as efficiently as possible. To do this we are going to use our imagination to ‘dream’ about climbing the problem successfully. In order to do so we want to concentrate on the not only a sequence of movements but a series of stimuli and responses that we might have when climbing it.
Setting the Scene
To start with we need to set the scene, so write down a description of the boulder its setting, and distinguishing features, a nearby stream or road, add in wind, sun, sounds even smells to that descriptions. To the general setting add how you feel emotionally stood below it the anticipation of the climb, the excitement of trying.
Adding the Actions, feelings and emotions
Now start by describing each move of the problem, and add to one a distinct feeling with each action. By this I mean what your body feels like, often this is a verbal form of description of what you need to do to achieve each move. If the problem is at your limit it will often involve many tiny micro movements, so be sure to include details like inside or outside edge of boot.
This script of the actual actions should when read back feel as real to actually climbing the route as possible, in terms of the moves and how they feel physically, the next step is to add how they make you feel emotionally. So when for instance you describe the crux move, use a positive framework to hanging the hold, it may even be relief.
These emotional tags, feeling success, winning, fighting for the next hold need to be added throughout the script especially at parts of the problem that you feel are key to the success. It may take several attempts to get a good script that includes all of these aspects.
Written versus MP3 scripts
Once complete you can either read it back to yourself and image the problem, eventually you’ll probably find that you remember it by heart, this is probably the right time for you to try the problem because you can now visualise success in your mind. An alternative is to record it onto you laptop and upload it onto an MP3 player to allow you to listen to and imagine the script one or twice a day.