Undergrounded

Sabri Ben-Achour, reporter for 88.5 wamu’s program Metro Connection, contacted the DC Grotto in late January asking if we knew anyone who used caving as a method for confronting claustrophobia.  An excited email exchange later, he had not only found that person (Amber Lehmann, a local caver who had recently become more involved with the grotto), he had also put in a request to get underground himself.  Displaying no noticeable phobias - nor any of the general hesitation in the underground world that I have come to expect from new cavers - Sabri tagged along with myself, my 6-year-old daughter Neeka, and caving buddy Adam Lake through Whitings Neck Cave on a spur-of-the-moment Sunday adventure.  And learned everything I had to say about ecopsychology, fears, and the emotional, psychological, and spiritual impact of the underground world along the way.  While most of that content couldn’t be included on a 5-minute interest segment that also needed to devote time to Amber’s first-person account and an expert opinion on phobias from an Associate Professor of Psychology, Sabri’s interview got my creative juices flowing.  I’ve found in the intervening days that I have a lot more to say.

In the car on the way to the cave, with Neeka in the back seat demanding to be taken to McDonalds, Sabri asked me what I thought was happening when people panicked underground.  I don’t know if it was my state of mind at the time (hungover, and somewhat successfully distracted by Neeka’s diligent attempts to distract me), or if it was Sabri’s intense curiosity (mark of a good journalist), but I felt a real desire to just get it out, answer this question I’ve been pondering so long and so intensely in as few words as possible.

What I said to Sabri: “It’s because safety is a fantasy.”

The second I said it, I realized I had finally figured it out.  Safety is a fantasy.  Of course.  In reality, the world is so chaotic, you never know when something catastrophic is going to happen.  You just gotta take your best guess about each situation, make a decision about what risk you’re willing to take - and then get the heck out of your head and let your body accept the consequences.

People who can move through that process smoothly are graceful underground.  That’s because when they are moving through the cave, they are fully in their bodies.  They’ve already decided that they’re going for it, and their bodies don’t hold any remaining hesitation, letting the animal inside find its footing.

People who don’t trust themselves, on the other hand, tend to get stuck in their heads, perpetually doubting their decision.  Because in their fantasy construction of the world, nothing is really safe.  In their hesitation, they lose the ability to relax and let their bodies take over.  When they start to move, it shows.  Ironically, the awkwardness inspired by fear tends to reinforce that fear, as the fearful person feels the body’s inability to master the novel circumstance, and concludes that the situation is truly unsafe.

Over and over again, I have noticed this phenomenon in caving.  Because mainstream caving isn’t really that difficult physically - but it can be extremely difficult psychologically.  Sabri himself was a great example; despite having only been underground once before, his general gung-ho approach to life - probably integral to his success as a reporter - made him graceful in the cave, wiggling through cracks and moving down drops without slipping or batting an eyelash (despite the melodrama he demonstrates on the air).  Perhaps more to the point, I have also noticed that caves are a place where people can really make changes to the dysfunctions in their reigning sense of safety.  Because learning to relax underground reaps powerfully satisfying results, as you feel your whole body start to move through the earth with grace and agility.

Listen to the Extended Audio of Sabri’s Program:

And Visit Bat’s Eye View for a more detailed trip report . .