Mission: Fear understanding and pics from the top of the world. by Billy Harris | Feb 28, 2011 | Whitewater | 2 comments Mission:… Fear understanding and pics from the top of the world. Carly on top of the volcano. I can’t help it but I am a teacher.… I have been teaching kayaking for the last 15 years and I love it.… Like most things in kayaking, not all, it makes little money but provides a lifestyle only some people can boast living.… Fear has always been present in teaching, from people learning, to my place in the sport, fear is alive and well.… Controlling that fear, containing the thought process of the flight or fight I have found, is the essential.… I have often found that if I can control the quality of my communication.… The quality of my self-communication rather, I can control the complex release of chemicals that produce the flight or fight response within my body.…… My friend, a guy I have paddled with for a long time, has a great roll.… He can roll for the most part every time.… He has a back up roll I call the Pallada, or extended roll that he uses as his back up incase the first roll fails him.… The problem is his self talk before the trip, during the rapid and after.… He finds demons where there are none.… He experiences an entirely different river trip than others without the same fear.…… My struggle has been how to control that.… Fear itself is the biggest explosion of chemicals your body can produce, it’s not something that you can just teach away or explain to yourself, “slow down” or relax too.… In my teaching time I have found, that the emotions that lead to the explosion of chemicals.… Such as fear, anxiety, alarm, are within your conscious thoughts and thus can be controlled to some extent.… The Delivery of this to a student unfortunately doesn’t have the same delivery for every person.… My friend for instance, I climb up on him about seeing monsters at every bend in the river, and he’s so transfixed by them that he does indeed find them.… I would like to say to everyone I have a way to solve that.… I really don’t.… I want his experience to be much like mine but I can’t make that happen.… Each one of us has to make the decision, each one of us has to say, “there are not monsters around the next bend”.… I can do this, I am in control of my own fear.… Easy to say as a teacher standing where I am, harder to accomplish when you are alone with your thoughts and a wild river in front of you.…… I took a crazy hike yesterday, some time away from the river.… Here are the photos. Argentina Volcano Hike (from hell) … Read more here Mission: Fear understanding and pics from the top of the world. 2 Comments Jonathan Spence on March 1, 2011 at 11:30 am Fantastic pics – very true about the fear thing – I think the other important point is that some people have belief where none should exist and others have little belief where much should exist – it is only when you are in balance with your capabilities and your mindset that everything can fall into place. Reply Jonathan Spence on March 1, 2011 at 11:32 am Hah – there’s also that little spark in some that allows them to make a leap of faith over the substance of reality – The distance between gods and men. Reply Submit a Comment Cancel replyYour email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *Comment * Name * Email * Website Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Δ
Jonathan Spence on March 1, 2011 at 11:30 am Fantastic pics – very true about the fear thing – I think the other important point is that some people have belief where none should exist and others have little belief where much should exist – it is only when you are in balance with your capabilities and your mindset that everything can fall into place. Reply
Jonathan Spence on March 1, 2011 at 11:32 am Hah – there’s also that little spark in some that allows them to make a leap of faith over the substance of reality – The distance between gods and men. Reply
