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"Now that it seems to you that you have doubled the range of your motions, as I asked", said the instructor to his uncertain student, "double them again, square the result, multiply that by 3.5 and you will have accomplished half as much as you need to". So advised the instructor to his fearful student, who seemed more like a zombie than a living human. Of course, a few learners will move too much, but even these will likely move in the wrong direction or at the wrong moment or pace, so they, too, can benefit from a pair of eyes outside their own bodies to help them understand the effect of their motions.
MOTION is the special province of the animal kingdom. Plants, mainly, are rooted; mostly they just sway or drift. Animals go where they please, and when, and how. It's great to be an animal. Let's capitalize on our special attribute!
To use the body in a physical way that involves the blending of balance and motion gives a sensation of pleasure that may be narcotic. Snow-boarders know this, as do ice-skaters, and, I suspect, so do tumblers, gymnasts, acrobats, dancers, roller-bladers, sail-boarders, surfers, mountain-bikers, rock climbers, and probably golfers and tennis players. Football place-kickers probably know it, too, but I doubt if many other sports participants can relate to what we skiers feel, and I wonder if the competitive fires enjoyed in these other sports are adequate compensation for not having these sensations of managed balance and motion. Skiers, though, can compete, too, in ski racing and other means.
CONTROLLING MOTION is a major focus of skiers--at least it is of those who survive. Controlling motion on skis may involve changing direction or changing speed or both. By turning our direction of travel we can avoid things, or, if we prefer, hit them (like a ramp to lift off)! To change our speed we have three choices, and the first is again a change of direction, for if we turn to ski more steeply downhill, we can speed up; less steeply, we can slow up. A second way to change our speed--if the snow is soft and deep--is to sink our skis into it so there is resistance on them and our legs. The third way is to put the skis in a tilted position so their edges scrape the snow, creating friction. (Here, someone usually notes there is a fourth way--you can also fall down; of course this creates even more friction).
WORDS ONLY GIVE A START: As we learn more about moving our bodies to get our skis to perform what we want them to do for us, we are taught with words from books, videos, instructors, friends, parents, etc. Early we find that there are many otherwise separate motions that need to be performed at the same time and other motions must compatibly precede or follow these. It is hardly possible to use enough words quickly enough to direct our actions. Instead we must ingrain our actions so they become almost automatic and yet still allow not only for adjustments as we go but even more importantly proactive motions that set us up for situations we want to have happen. So another process, a wordless one, must take over. This process is more like a rhythm or music or a flowing of our bodies' elements that is loosely programmed to coordiante our movements of our various parts. There is even subliminal feedback from our visual and auditory and feeling sensors that without word-thought trigger what we need to do to get an effect in our motion. Perhaps it is like the difference between prose and poetry or perhaps it is somewhere between or beyond them. Patrick Armstrong, a backcountry skier and snow surveyor expresses this "process" in his book, "The Log of a Snow Surveryor" on page 94: A sports coaching mechanism called "cybervision" involves watching the same motion repeated over and over until it creates a pattern in the brain which can be recalled, almost automatically and without thought when of use. Repeated movements do much the same, especially if repeated with discipline to replicate the needed pattern. Closing one's eyes and imagining continual movment, such as how one moves around a ski turn or from one turn to the next, can help imprint desirable patterns. Some skiers imagine themselves to be an animal making coordinated movements such as a bird in flight, or a snake slithering along with continuous flow; there could even be assertive animals conjured up in situations where stronger actions are wanted. "Playing" appropriate music in one's head can also give a "melody" that helps one flow in the continuous pattern desired in making many ski turns. All these processes are wordless. MOTION
IN SKIING
Conventional Skiing Wisdoms
Skier Excuses Fear in
Skiing Conditioning
for Skiing
Equipment and
Technique
Skiing Equipment
How Skis
Work How
to Develop Balance on Skis A Skiing Turn
Simplified The Final Skiing Skill:
pressure management Tactics for Terrains and Snow
Textures and Racing
Skiing Tips and Tales--a potpourri
Exercises for Developing Skiing Skills
Children and Skiing
Age_and_Skiing
Gender & Skiing
Culture & Skiing
Skiing Ethics and Slope Survival
Slope Safety Skiing
Environment Videos and Apps Glossary Acknowledgements
SkiMyBest Website Contents |
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Two four-letter words are key to this
sliding sport: MOVE and MORE. Yes, move the body parts into new positions to
point the skis, tip the skis, and pressure the skis. And, for most, move more,
because our uncertainties inhibit us into too much caution and the skis don't
get our intended directions strongly enough to do what we want them to.
Favored are the animals that fly or swim. Watching flocks of birds veer in unison or
porpoises surfing in formation can give us humans pangs of jealousy. We, however, can
dance with intricate fluidity. We can harmonize with the undulating haunches of a trained
riding horse. We can flit underwater with the aid of swim fins or surf down wavefronts with
boards or just our bodies. We can sail over water with the wind, or soar on it
with wings in the sky. We can slide across ice
surfaces, even twirling and leaping as we go. With wheels we can do more on
solid ground. Skiing, too, is about the
human body in motion, allowing gravity to propel us. Skiing is setting our bodies free from
attachment to Earth. It is another, special, way to do the animal thing of going where we please, and when, and how.