The team did a great thing for me today, they helped me break a jump. Not just any jump, it was a jump that I had broken last year but somehow through lack of repeating it I was back to square one and this tormented me. It was a precision jump between two widely spaced concrete walls. On one hand I knew that I had done it before but on the other hand it just didn't look safe anymore. My mind was filled with thoughts of slipping or landing too short and then contrastingly I would remind myself that it was doable and safe. This mental argument would loop over and over and so instead of repeating the jump, I endured the repetition of *almost* jumping. Frustratingly, preparing to jump and abandoning the jump became the norm. Until today....

Breakthrough didn't happen straight away though as again I stood facing my tormentor, psyching myself up with more conviction than before only to be rooted to the spot. TOTAL PARALYSIS. Like a mime artist I had created an invisible barrier that seemed tougher than any wall could be. My body was strong and ready to go but I just couldn't pull the trigger and commit.

More encouragement came and the guys rallied to keep me positive and spot my landing area. It all seemed in place to guarantee my success: the outside conditions were perfect but inside my mind it was a different story. Something extra was needed, my mind and body had to move. To stay and ponder the jump any longer would only reinforce the problem...it was time to break out of this prison.

"Frustratingly, preparing to jump and abandoning the jump became the norm. Until today...."

Johann led me in a route around our training area, jumping from wall to wall, running, vaulting and rolling, I wasn't to stop and I wasn't to think about the jump. On the next circuit Johann recruited the whole team to run with me as I freed my mind and got my body warm and my muscles firing, I followed him as closely as I could and I didn't know where he would step or when the jump was coming. I could only think about following and making the next move.

He curved round in the direction of the jump and I followed, briefly I looked at it and it looked different. I sprung off the wall in front of me and came down on my landing area but only got one foot in place. I didn't make it but I was almost there. “Don't think about it. Keep moving!” said Johann.

The run continued: breathlessly I vaulted, climbed and jumped in quick succession, I felt tired but a feeling of confidence and determination emerged within me. Johann looped back round to the jump area and again I jumped, I just jumped, I landed and made it! I din't think about it or psych myself up, the jump just came to me like any of the others I had been doing. Both feet, safe, secure and on my landing spot!

Yeeesss! I yelled and the whole team cheered with me. “Now do it again!” I was told. I was so charged up, the chains had come off and I was liberated. I jumped it again and again from one side and the other to make sure i'd got it. I had it! it was mine. I felt immense relief and the strong feeling that I could do so much more.

Could it be that the antidote to my paralysis was not a complicated technique but simply: raw instinctual movement? Through being caught up in the momentum of 'the pack' I forgot myself and followed without hesitation and unlocked what had always been within my potential.

It was the perfect way to end the session and a great way to continue on to my next level of progression. I still have to work that jump though, because it was only mine for one day.....and I'd like to have it permanently. Thank you guys, I'm looking forward to my next breakthrough.