The Skywalker

NLP provides multiple tools that allow those who engage in the techniques to control their state of mind and experience different or 'heightened states' of awareness.

At some point in your life, you've probably been in a situation where your 'sensory filters' were opened right up, your body experienced a feeling that was outside of your conscious control and 'the hairs on the back of your neck stood up' followed by some sort of language that might not be appropriate for documenting in this post!

A fantastic example of 'heightened awareness' and how to control your mental 'state' was there for all to see last night on a programme called 'The Skywalker'. The programme followed a man from California with a passion for adrenaline fixing activities, namely freestyle climbing and freestyle slack rope walking, the latter defined as walking across a nylon chord, circa one inch in diameter, just shy of taut and in this case, 3000+ feet in the air without safety attachments. The man at the centre of the programme continually strived for that 'feeling' he got from putting himself in situations and contexts that challenged him to the point of losing control or even death. In other words, that rush/fix/feeling from being right on the edge and the way it affected him inside as he did what he did. If you saw the programme, you'll know what I mean here.

Towards the top of 'rock climbing nirvana' (El Capitan, Yosemite CA), there was a piece of filming that illustrated the preparation he undertook to engage on the activity. 1 week of acclimatisation, intense thought processing, breathing and physical movements to get his in the right frame of mind to do it. It reminded me specifically of the 'Chain of excellence' which in NLP terms refers to the way your performance is affected by your breathing, your state and your physiology. All elements combined created the right frame of mind to undertake whatever task is to be engaged in to best effect whether it be a business meeting or in this case some death defying challenge and never more than before was the need for preparation key to the completion of this task.

Now for the really fascinating bit. Watching this guy in action was a truly fantastic experience. The level of control he had, the elegance of balance, the level of focus (to the extent that when he was on the rope I can't recall seeing him blink) the way he controlled his breathing and described how he felt and how at one point he said, "sometimes I think I can even see the air."

Your mind is such a powerful tool and with multiple studies documenting the power of the eye could this guy, in his heightened state of awareness that he experiences whilst engaged in this adrenaline pumping activity really see the air?

When a person is pushed to extremes, strange things happen, no doubt about it. So how can we resolve this 'air' seeing situation? Maybe see you at the top of El Capitan.