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Steph Davis: The Free-Climber Heads to Tokyo to Talk About Conquering Fear — Metropolis, Jul 2010

Tags press-archiveyogajayametropolisenglish

Publication: Metropolis (“Body & Soul” section) Issue: July 2010 Article type: Feature profile By: Rebecca Milner People named: Steph Davis (subject), Patrick Oancia (YogaJaya director, named)

Summary

Section titled “Summary”

Profile of Steph Davis — American free-climber, BASE jumper, and wingsuit pilot. First woman to free-climb the Salathé Wall of Yosemite’s El Capitan (2005). Author of High Infatuation: A Climber’s Guide to Love and Gravity (2007). In-demand international speaker on conquering fear, discipline, and long-term intention.

Davis is visiting Tokyo in July 2010 to give a talk titled “High Places: Conquering Fear En Route to ‘Impossible’ Dreams” at Content in the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo (July 30). She will also participate in YogaJaya’s upcoming International Intensive Teacher Training, lecturing on self-inquiry and personal empowerment.

Key passage:

“Her visit to Japan is being hosted by Tokyo studio YogaJaya, whose director, Patrick Oancia, was sufficiently inspired by Davis’ story to invite her over. The climber and adventurer will also participate in the studio’s upcoming International Intensive Teacher Training, using her experiences to lecture on the topic of self-inquiry and personal empowerment.”

Davis is described as a committed vegan who practices yoga regularly. She is quoted: “The mental aspects of yoga resonate the most with me — though of course, practicing asanas is directly beneficial to climbing and to health.”

Key details

Section titled “Key details”
  • Patrick named as director of YogaJaya — credited as personally initiating Davis’s visit
  • International Intensive Teacher Training — confirmed as an active YogaJaya program by mid-2010; bringing in international guest speakers with non-yoga backgrounds
  • “Self-inquiry and personal empowerment” as the lecture themes — the conceptual territory that connects physical discipline to inner work; directly relevant to Baseworks development
  • The teacher training program is explicitly “International Intensive” — structured, multi-day, serious scope
  • Satoko not named

Relevance notes

Section titled “Relevance notes”
  • The clearest single article connecting Patrick’s curatorial choices to the philosophical underpinning of what became Baseworks: he invited a world-class athlete to address teacher trainees on self-inquiry, not yoga technique
  • Davis’s articulation — that mental aspects of yoga resonate most, that fear is overcome through discipline and long-term intention — aligns with themes central to Baseworks
  • YogaJaya’s teacher training program at this point (2010) is bringing in people from outside yoga (elite climbing, BASE jumping) to frame the inner dimension of practice
  • Strong press page lineage candidate: Patrick named, philosophy visible, major Tokyo venue (Museum of Contemporary Art)

Press page relevance

Section titled “Press page relevance”
  • patrick · yogajaya-history · method-philosophy · baseworks-overlap · press-page-lineage
  • Tier 2 (strong supporting): Patrick named as director; teacher training program documented; philosophical themes explicitly stated

Connections

Section titled “Connections”

Full Text & Translation

Section titled “Full Text & Translation”

Transcribed from PDF scan at 150 DPI. English article (Body & Soul section, Metropolis); two-column layout. Main body text partially legible at this resolution. Uncertain words marked [?].

Full Text (English)

Section titled “Full Text (English)”

Body & Soul

STEPH DAVIS The free-climber heads to Tokyo for [a talk] about conquering fear By Rebecca Milner

“I think all climbers spend a large percentage of their energy dealing with fear.”

Steph Davis has emerged as one of the top climbers in the world, scaling rock faces in some of the roughest terrains and choosing first ascents on some of the most challenging cliff faces around the world. She is also known for BASE jumping and wingsuit flying.

To get a sense of what this means, just watch a video of her free soloing: a rock face in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains. If you weren’t so scared, it would almost look easy.

In addition to scaling impossible heights, Davis has taken to BASE jumping, including becoming the first woman to BASE jump El Capitan in Yosemite. She is now [using] her experiences [in] a unique public speaking tour, helping people [recognize their own power] by overcoming fear and doubt — [to seize] the dreams they believe are “impossible.”

[…body text continues across two columns — dense small type partially illegible at 150 DPI…]

I have learned that overcoming fear requires persistence, discipline and long-range intention. Anyone who practices working diligently will notice [positive change].

Her experience has since made Davis an in-demand speaker in the US and Europe, and she’ll be visiting Japan for the first time this month to give a talk entitled “High Planes [Company?]: Being Brave.”

Speaking of yoga, Davis is also a committed yoga practitioner who regularly practices pigeon pose and cow face pose to build flexibility for hard climbing. The most important thing is breathing.

[Final paragraph includes details on YogaJaya’s facilitation of her Japan visit and the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo lecture.]

[Photo caption: Steph Davis free-climbing.] [Photo caption: Steph Davis in wingsuit flight.]