Currents
F L U SH E D
ON ICELAND’S JÖKULSÁÁ FJÖLLUM RIVER. PHOTO: JENS KLATT
SAM SUTTON PADDLES TOWARDS THE LIP OF THE U-SHAPED SELFOSS WATERFALL
HOW YOUR FEAR CONTROLS YOU AND WHAT YOU CAN DO TO STOP IT THE MENTAL GAME
I’m sitting in an eddy with a pang of anxiety swimming around the bot- tom of my chest. My brain is working at hyper speed, playing over every possible scenario that could happen once I peel out. I know this feeling well. I know the moves, and I know the longer I sit here, the louder the noise clouding my mind and body will become. No matter how much I’ve improved in my 15 years of kayaking, some- times it feels the same as the first day I sat my butt down in a boat. A lot of what we challenge ourselves to do on the river is the exact opposite of what millions of years of programming has taught us. The result is this feeling of fear, something all whitewater paddlers can relate to. The good news is there are things we can do to make sure it doesn’t impact our paddling performance. There’s a little part of our brain called the amygdala, nicknamed the “lizard brain.” It’s the automated command center for our body, using chemical and electrical signals to tell our bodies what to do when presented with a fight or flight scenario, such as unexpectedly flipping over in a kayak. It also stores all of our emotional memories, or fears, for future use. Picture the difference between a skilled paddler, taking calm, well- placed strokes, and a panicked boater with fear in his eyes, pad- dling frantically without getting where he wants to go. The panicked boater is controlled by the lizard brain, reacting automatically to his surroundings. The unconscious and subconscious part of the brain that deals with programmed survival response is incredibly powerful, firing off around 60,000 neural impulses a second. The conscious part, or ability to reason,
24 PADDLING MAGAZINE
however, fires off only about 60 impulses each second. To fight this uphill battle and tame the lizard brain, we need to break things down so we have more time to process what is happening. A rapid that seems intimidating at first is much more approachable once picked apart into individual moves. A major difference between the panicked boater and the pro is the mental shift from undertaking an entire rapid at once to stringing together a series of attainable maneuvers. Going from eddy to eddy gives us pause, or the ability to process each move individu- ally.
This alone is only part of the equation since there can be conse- quences downstream when we fail to execute moves as planned. I account for this by thinking through potential outcomes. If, before entering a rapid, I imagine the good, the bad and the ugly, those out- comes are less frightening because they don’t catch me off guard. This willingness to accept less than desirable outcomes is another key difference between staying focused and reverting to survival mode. By acknowledging our fear, naming it and discussing it, we can reflect on whether or not our fears are reasonable to maintain. This lays the foundation for our inevitable swims and screw-ups to be positive learning experiences instead of memories that instill anxiety. I liken learning as a kayaker to a baby learning to walk—it won’t come without its stumbles and falls. Chris Wing is the founder and president of H2o Dreams, and has been teaching all levels of kayakers for more than a decade. Find his instruc- tional videos at
Rapidmedia.com.
This article first appeared in the 2015 issue of The Paddling Buyer’s Guide.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82