"TIPs & QUIPs" Archive

Subject: Lifescope TIPs & QUIPs [09] "Skiing Out of Your Mind"

TIPs & QUIPs, the free occasional email of helpful hints and quotes (and
sometimes challenging suggestions) for getting the most from life.

This issue is dedicated to the folks who like snow on steep inclines -- and
we don't mean looking at pictures of alpine mountains! If you're a skier or
snowboarder, be sure to check out this week's Thrive On! Recommended Site...

In this issue:
     *** WiseWords
     *** This Issue's Theme
     *** Suggested Resources
     *** Thrive On! Recommended Site


*** WiseWords ***
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"A bad day at skiing is better than a good day at work."
  --Anonymous (but just ask anyone...)

"It is impossible to win the great prizes of life without running risks."
  --Theodore Roosevelt

"We cannot banish dangers, but we can banish fears. 
 We must not demean life by standing in awe of death."
  --David Sarnoff

"There are two ways of meeting difficulties: 
 you alter the difficulties or you alter yourself meeting them."
  --Phyllis Bottome

(For a collection of some of our favorite WiseWords, see our web page at
<http://www.lifescope.com/pages/WiseWords.html>.)


*** This issue's theme:  SKIING OUT OF YOUR MIND
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Imagine the following:
You get up one morning and look out on a clear winter landscape. Ten inches
of new snow! You cover the distance from bed to breakfast to mountain in
three leaps and 20 minutes. The chairlift is just opening as you hit the lift
line. You have to keep from diving out of the chair before you reach the top,
the snow is so inviting. Blasting off down a wide-open field of untouched
powder, you feel the cold, dry crystals billow around you. Each turn sends a
frosty white wave over your head. You are soaring above the earth; you are
diving to the bottom of the sea. Euphoria fills your heart, rings in your
ears, teases your palate, tickles your nose. Fantastic! When you get to the
bottom, you turn to watch another skier dance down the field of powder,
cutting tracks parallel to yours. You exchange grins of ecstasy at the end of
the run, sharing your joy.

Something about skiing creates what psychologists call "a peak experience."
A good day of skiing satisfies our need for grace, beauty, motion, danger,
and mastery. Those satisfactions keep bringing us back to the mountains.

Unfortunately, skiing is not always a peak experience. When you are having a
bad day, your only peak experiences are spelled p-i-q-u-e, at best. There is
no grace, beauty, or mastery when you are angry, frightened, cold, wet, or
aching. Yet, that is also a part of skiing. Our experience with psychology
includes both the peak experiences and the pique experiences. The skiers we
know would like to have more of the former and less of the latter.

MINDFUL or MINDLESS?
Some skiers have discovered that having a brain is an asset in skiing. However,
most skiers do not know how to use their brains to help their skiing. Generally
there are two groups of such skiers, both of them frustrated: the people whose
minds get in the way of their skiing, and the people who don't use their minds
at all. Both types want to improve but don't know how to take advantage of
their brains to get the most improvement and enjoyment from the sport. Just as
you and your body can learn ski technique, so can you and your mind discover
how to increase your peak experiences on skis.

Mindful skiing techniques are useful at any level, and improvement can be
dramatic at all levels. What, you ask, do psychologists know about skiing?
In general, probably no more than any other group. What we do know is
something about how people learn and how they change their behavior. Since 
to learn skiing you must change how you behave, the principles of psychology 
are relevant to the sport, probably more relevant than you ever imagined.
As psychologists, we also know something about how people think.

"But what does thinking have to do with skiing?" you may ask. "The last time
I tried to think my way into a turn, my skis went straight into the woods."
True enough. You cannot intellectualize your movements, or your mistakes. If
all you do is think about skiing, you may as well leave your body at home on
the couch. We are not talking about using your mind as a substitute for your 
body. We are talking about knowing when and how to use your mind to
supplement your body. They work best in harmony. But also consider that...

SKIING IS A RISK SPORT
Psychology is important to all recreational sports, but there is one factor
that makes skiing more difficult to learn than golf, tennis, or running.
Skiing is a risk sport. This is impressed upon you all too often when you see
an unfortunate fellow skier lashed tightly to a sled, wincing as he or she
takes the bumpy ride down to the X-ray table. Can you recall what went
through your mind the last time you saw this happen? 

Do you remember how your body felt the last time you stood at the top of a
steep, bumpy slope? If you wondered how you would get down in one piece, then
your heart raced, your breath quickened, your mouth felt dry, and your legs
felt weak. Your body was experiencing all the physiological signs of fear. If
you were aware of your mind, you probably noticed that it was also showing
signs of fear, with thoughts like "I can't make it. Why did I take this trail?"

There are two main difficulties with fear, even in its mild form, anxiety.
One is that it is unpleasant to experience. You know that.
The other is that it interferes with learning. We know that.

RISK and FEAR
Isn't risk a part of skiing? You may get a lot of kicks out of the risk in
skiing. You love to go fast, to take chances. Encountering and overcoming
danger is exhilarating. Skiing wouldn't be such a peak experience if there
were not some risk involved. The problem for most of us is that at some point
in our skiing we become afraid. And when we do, our skiing falls apart. There
is an important difference between risk and fear. The risk is out there; the
fear is inside you. The only way to avoid the risk is to stop skiing. But if
you learn to manage the fear, you will be left with joy and exhilaration.
This little equation is worth remembering:

     Risk minus Fear = Peak Experience.

We want to help you manage the fear. The risk is up to you. To be fair, we
recognize that fear is not the only emotion that can interfere with the joy
of skiing. Anger can also ruin a good day. This is especially true for
advanced skiers and racers. If you fit into this category, you know that even
though you have learned to love the risk in skiing, you are still susceptible
to feelings of impatience and frustration when you are not skiing up to your
potential. For you the equation should read:

     Risk minus Anger = Peak Experience.

GOOD NEWS and BAD NEWS
First, the bad news: From the psychological standpoint, you have learned to
ski like that. "Wait!" you object. "I don't want to ski (or think) like that.
I don't like being angry at myself. I don't like feeling frustrated or afraid.
I don't like any part of it. It's not my fault. That's just the way I am!"

All you say is true, of course. You do not want to ski like that. And you
certainly do not want to act like that when you ski. But you were not born
that way. Obviously, you were not born a skier at all. Just as you have
learned everything you know about good skiing, you have also learned
everything you know about faulty skiing -- faulty mind habits as well as
faulty body habits. Knowing that you have learned it is the best insight you
could have right now, because this takes the mystery out of getting to be a
good skier or better competitor. It also helps explain why, with identical
technique lessons, some people progress to become good skiers while others
don't progress at all.

Now the good news: As psychologists, we know that many of your problems 
are mind problems and can be relearned. Relearning simply applies the same
principles that were involved when you developed those problems in the first
place. However, instead of letting them occur arbitrarily in the same way you
acquired your faulty habits, you can plan the psychological process ahead of
time and use it to your advantage, systematically, to achieve your goals.

Relearning is a conscious process. Many people have trouble accepting the
idea that they learned their habits, including the physical techniques for
the body and the psychological habits of the mind. "How could I have learned
to do all those self-destructive things?" one of our skier friends once
asked. "I didn't study bad habits, you know." That's just it. Most skiers are
not actively aware of their learning, but it goes on anyway, even without
their awareness. As research in psychology has shown, we learn in ways much
more subtle than we ever imagined. In our experience, many skiers do not
begin to relearn until they become aware. That is why the relearning in this
book is a conscious process. In order to Ski Out of Your Mind, you first need
to wake your mind up.

What do we mean by relearning?
We have found that skiers commonly have in mind one or more of three general
goals when they say they want to learn to ski and/or compete better. There is
a great deal of overlap among the goals, but this breakdown is useful.

(1) You may want to improve certain skiing skills.
(2) You may want to eliminate some faulty habits you have picked up.
(3) You may want to change some strong emotional feelings or fears you have.

(Above text excerpted from Skiing Out of Your Mind, by Loudis, Lobitz, Singer)
[Excerpt authorized as Fair Use under Copyright Act of 1976, Section 107]

Here are some highly recommended resources which can help you achieve all three:



*** Suggested Resources ***
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Skiing Out of Your Mind
  by Loudis, Lobitz, Singer
The portion above was excerpted from the beginning of this book. You don't
have to be insane to be a good skier, but it helps to be out of your mind.
That's because your body knows what to do, and if you replace worry with
constructive thinking, you'll find yourself relaxed and gliding instead of
tense and fighting. With this book you'll gain a better understanding of your
frustrations, fears and bad habits, and you'll learn how to overcome them.
Free your mind; your skis will follow. 
      (softcover book, 236pp) Item# F3209-BK
            SRP$16.95  (see link for special price)
        Buy this item online now at Lifescope.com or Amazon.com.


The Handbook of Skiing
  Karl Gamma
A COMPLETE guide to skiing skills and techniques, equipment, and more! 
Chock full of photographs, diagrams and illustrations to coax out a 
fuller understanding of every aspect of the sport. Over 2,000 pictures. 
For experts and novices alike.
      (softcover book, 320pp) Item# F3246-BK
            SRP$21.00  (see link for special price)
        Buy this item online now at Lifescope.com or Amazon.com.


ESPN's Let's Go Skiing!   Lessons on Videotape 
Hit the slopes with instruction from three of America's top alpine  skiers: 
Picabo Street, 1994 Olympic Downhill medalist; A.J. Kitt, 1993 World Cup
Downhill medalist; and Holly Flanders, three-time World Cup Downhill
champion. The next best thing to being there, you'll learn quickly by
watching lessons on balance, rotary movement, edge control, warm-up &
conditioning, and more. Advanced section includes special pointers and mogul
instruction by Olympic gold medalist Donna Weinbrecht.
      (Beginner, 1 videotape) Item# F3241-VT
            SRP$14.95  (see link for special price)
        Buy this item online now at Lifescope.com.


      (Intermed. to Advanced, 1 videotape) Item# F3242-VT
            SRP$14.95  (see link for special price)
        Buy this item online now at Lifescope.com.


*** Unlike life, your Lifescope purchase is RISK-FREE: 
*** Visit our secure online store with your VISA/MC/Discover/AMEX.
*** Your satisfaction is absolutely guaranteed or your money back!


*** Thrive On! Recommended Site ***
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
GORP's SKI PAGES <http://www.gorp.com/gorp/activity/skiing.htm>
GORP (Great Outdoors Recreation Pages) contains a wealth of information on
what to do and where to go in the great outdoors! For skiing, they provide a
roundup by regions of the country & world. Caution: you could spend hours 
drooling over the great articles and attractions you'll find on this site. 
Lifescope staffer Maria Thriver says "check it out!"


DISCLAIMER
The contents herein are solely the opinions of Lifescope editors, and should 
not be considered as a form of therapy nor advice. There is no guarantee of 
validity or accuracy. Lifescope therefore assumes no responsibility for injury
and specifically disclaims any warranty, express or implied, of fitness or 
merchantability for a particular purpose. Besides, actual mileage may vary.

Copyright © 1998-2007 by Lifescope Inc. 
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