Feel the joy of sliding again

This is the feeling of flight that captures and excites us. These are body movements, intoxicating with their beauty. This overcoming – obstacles on the descent or themselves. Children’s joy and pride from the fact that we managed to surpass our capabilities. We especially like sports that involve gliding because they give us a feeling of freedom. Our body rapidly flies along a smooth surface running away from under our feet. Coordination of movements, a sense of balance, attention, agility and endurance – all our physical abilities are tested. At the slightest mistake, the consequences overtake immediately. “When I was younger, I skateboarded and skied with my brother,” says Laura, 37. “But now that my son was born, I can’t behave like a daredevil, I like to improve my technique, skill, and hone my movements more. And yet, sometimes that carelessness is sorely lacking … “

Overcoming fear

“Carefully! Slippery, you’ll fall!” In childhood, we heard such exclamations more than once, delightedly sitting in a sled or pulling on skates. Isn’t that why now many of us are standing on top for a long time, gathering our courage? “When adults are too protective of a child, not allowing him to take risks, to experiment, when they limit any of his activity, he involuntarily feels anxiety and anxiety,” confirms clinical psychologist Ekaterina Vinogradova. – And becoming an adult, it will be more likely than others to be shy and play it safe. But indecision can also be associated with the fear of repeating a very real injury, if we ourselves or someone close to us experienced the accident.”

Slope behavior can reflect personality traits. “I was told that every beginner skier is afraid of falling,” says Alexandra, 35. “But when I was on the slope for the first time, I was terribly afraid not only to fall, but to fall ugly. It seemed to me that I would flop like a frog and everyone would laugh.” “For Alexandra, in general, it is very important what others think about her, how she will look in their eyes,” comments Ekaterina Vinogradova. “And this character trait, of course, manifested itself when she got up on skis.”

It’s not just beginners who get excited. Some extreme people enter into a relationship of master and servant with the surface going down, they strive to overcome and assert themselves, literally squeezing everything that it is capable of out of their body. Patrick Balmain, instructor and creator of his own technique of “internal sliding”, notes: “For such people, overcoming their own fear becomes almost a drug. They will not be satisfied until they receive strong sensations, and therefore they go further and further in their exploits, sometimes overstepping the boundaries of danger. To pacify fear, Patrick Balmain advises “to get rid of false motives”: bravado (“I go out on the slope even in poor visibility!”), Ideas of inferiority (“My husband rides better than me”), doubts about my abilities (“I have will not work…”). And also take the situation more calmly (“It’s good for me, and I don’t care about the opinions of others”).

With closed eyes

It is important to acknowledge your doubts and fears before you plunge into a whirlwind of movement. And shift the focus of attention from them to your own feelings. This will help to remain in a state of concentration of body and spirit – “here and now”, as Eastern practices teach. We usually tend to think back to past experiences (for example, remembering a fall at the end of a fast descent) or jump ahead (to overcome an obstacle). Our consciousness seems to jump, our gaze is tense … “A sliding person turns into a string stretched into the future,” Patrick Balmain compares. He only thinks about the goal to be achieved, instead of listening to the signals of his body in the present moment. How not to lose touch with your feelings? By focusing on the contact of the legs with the surface of the ground – as if the skis separating them did not exist. “This will reduce not only eye strain, but also the constant tension of the whole body, which prevents them from being controlled,” says Patrick Balmain. Each of us can test this effect by sliding our eyes closed over a horizontal area while holding a friend’s hand. So the body switches to “listening mode”, it straightens out in order to better establish itself on the ground. In addition, this empathetic state of “here and now” allows him to quickly respond to unexpected situations. Since the muscles are in minimal tension, they can be included in the effort without a relaxation phase.

Relax your ankle

“After starting to slide down, many beginners panic at the increasing speed and forget what they were just taught,” says Kristina Priida, beginner instructor. – If the ground leaves under your feet, it is enough to connect the toes of the skis together – and you will stop thanks to the edges, metal strips that run along the edge of the lower surface of the skis. However, most amateur skiers tense up and use the edges more like claws and literally cling to the “prey” so as not to lose balance. Of course, the realization that you can grab onto the ground with your feet is a little reassuring. But excessive stress fetters the joints, which sometimes leads to injury. “Skis and a board in this case violate our basic reflex – in case of danger to crouch to the ground,” explains snowboarding instructor Yuri Voronov. “When the legs are fixed, it seems difficult to control the trajectory of the fall.” In order to glide freely, you need to let go of the “hook point”, just like we let go of the edge of the pool to swim. Allow your body to use the properties of a sliding surface – after all, it can naturally float on water in the same way. How to do it? Relaxing the ankle. As a result, the skis will stand up straight, and for good stability, you just need to maintain an imaginary vertical that goes down into the ground from the center of the arch of the foot.

Feeling of “flow”

“Traditional training in these skiing-related winter sports relies more on our response to external factors than on self-observation,” laments Patrick Balmain. More than a learned technique, this sensitive inner attitude, which is worth learning, will help here. And in this sense, beginners may have an advantage over experienced athletes.

“It takes time to get rid of the old “technical” ideas before being filled with new ones. During this pause, it may seem to a person that he is moving backwards, that he is confused, ”Patrick Balmain warns. But then, in harmony with the body and himself, he will be able to glide in the state of “flow” (English flow), described by psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi), in the feeling of “the triumphant fullness of life, which can be achieved when we completely surrender to that cause that fascinates us and requires our skills. To be focused, but as if to soar above the ground. Control yourself without making any effort. Glide forward, enjoying the harmony with the surrounding world…

* M. Csikszentmihalyi “Flow. Psychology of optimal experience” (Sense, Alpina non-fiction, 2011).