Saturday 29 November 2014

Chasing Butterflies...

My daughter chasing butterflies
Jay, John and I are getting prepared for their coaching trip to the Pyrenees. Lots of madness with Jay's packing...

Yesterday when coaching Jay, I asked him how many routes we had done ( I was packing them in as much as I could to get his mind and body synced for leading in the Pyrenees). He couldn't tell me the number, and I replied "that's not very autistic of you!?" I laughed, then Jay got it and laughed. Makes me chuckle now as I right it down.

Taking him to the Pyrenees is more than just another real rock coaching trip. It means a lot for me to show him a place, a place where I chose to change my life, Climbing is changing his life.

Jay's courage in his everyday life dealing with things that confuse him inspires me every day. When I committed to making changes with help from a psychotherapist in these mountains, I was broken. I was a man broken by my childhood. But working with Jay has taught me that every single day he requires a level of courage that it took me 30 years to find.

My balcony in Auzat, tough times in a far away place
I thought I could never go back to this place as there is so much pain left behind there but I think when we land in that place, it will hold real meaning to me. Only this time, I have my daughters in my better life and the company of two exceptional people, John Churcher (VI Paraclimber) and Jay...

On one hand, I am scared to face this place again, in case it triggers bad shit, but at the same time, I know it is the right place to be for me now.  I did a 1000 pull ups one night on my balcony in Auzat to ease the psychological pain during the therapy sessions as I had lost the will to climb! Luckily I don't feel that now...



Recovering at Colin's Cottage in Scotland after the sessions in France

Referrals from clients:



"...This training season I decided to get all the help I can to speed up my improvement. I needed guidance to work towards my goals in long term. I also needed more vision and opinions about my exercises and weak links. I am glad I can share my training with Mark..." (Ville Mustonen, Finland)


" I met Mark in Glen Nevis on his return to climbing to check out some lines he had in mind for me, I wasn't really training at this point but after a day or two talking and training with him I had a much more structured idea of what to do to improve and I did" (Kev Shields)