Leyla (Summary)

Centring

• Focus

Dynamics

• Centre of Mass
• Dynamics – Turn Initiation
• Feet
• Carving
• Dynamics – Turn Completion
• Pole Touch

Skating

• Timing
• Foot Forwards

Pivoting

• Hip Angulation
• Pole Plant
• Compression Turns

Centring

The whole aim of changing skiing is to be able to become centred and still within the chaos of movement in a wild environment.  We become centred by focusing internally on the awareness of the physical process of skiing.  In practical terms this means that distractions and fears are shut out and the artificial boundaries between body, mind and nature disappear. Becoming centred is a constant journey because it is a state that exists far from equilibrium that requires work, attention, constant input, adaptation and creativity. Just when you feel centred something will turn up to throw you off. No two turns are ever the same, just as no two snowflakes or people are identical. No two moments are the same in time or in form. We recognise and study elements of movement that help us to work towards this goal – optimising the use of the body, equipment and terrain – and they become the focus that pulls us to this centre. Those elements are fractal in nature, once again resembling the snowflakes beneath our feet so the deeper we zoom into them the more we see that the journey is not an end but a process…. endless…  

Dynamics

The centre of mass is not a fixed point in the body – it is an abstract point that moves relative to the body depending on the shape made by the body. Upright and steady it is usually somewhere between the belly button and the pelvis just in front of the spine. When somebody folds their body over a high jump bar they are deliberately making sure that the centre of mass passes below the bar. When somebody spins they spin specifically around the centre of mass. We can become aware of the point of a pencil on paper as if it belonged to our body and likewise we can become aware of the centre of mass as a point which we can guide with similar precision. All of dynamics is about guiding this point. Our movements themselves should begin from our centre and move outwards through the body. Breathing should be focused towards this centre – in and out through the nose if possible and deep in the belly with the diaphragm – breathing in between turns and out slowly while building up force and pressure during the turn. The feet are the only solid contact with the Earth and most of our postural reflexes are controlled by the pressure on them. The intelligence of the feet has to be respected. Your feet have 52 bones, 66 joints and 214 ligaments – yet most people can’t name any.  In a real sense the ski is a high-tech extension of the intelligence of the foot and the boot is an additional exoskeleton. All of this has to be understood and related to its relationship with the centre of mass. Turn Initiation is not an attempt to throw yourself downhill and towards the ground – it is an attempt to generate pressure beneath the uphill foot. Gravity itself will not do this because falling actually reduces pressure so this pressure depends on either an impulse from the leg or the ski design. Pushing the ski (or skis) forwards and  using this to create more disequilibrium – separating the trajectory of the skis from the trajectory of the centre of mass even more – will ultimately create more pressure. It also creates a far greater sense of freedom – but requires greater sense of belief! Carving gives the solid feedback that the feet and reflexes can relate to most of all – but to extend the dynamic range in carving requires great commitment and courage to throw the body into physical extremes and the mind beyond emotional barriers. Racers take this aspect of skiing to its limit. Turn completion requires the greatest athleticism – not the turn start. Pressure grows towards the end of a turn, but the job of the skier is to create and harness this pressure not to be dominated and spat out by it. The exit from the turn has to be chosen and timed  – through experience – coming out over that lower ski – and the pole touch just marking the occasion afterwards.

Skating

Skating is simply what the body does. We generally miss the fact that when walking and running our forward propulsion actually comes from gravity – but in skating we are wonderfully brought back into contact with this phenomenon. Hip angulation and “feet forwards” techniques are extensions of  skating actions. Down/up timing of dynamics is complimented and matched by skating with the legs – eventually creating a resonance leading to a bounce off-piste and giving skiing a life of its own in general. Skiing is the great destroyer of the human lower back! Next to Nike running shoes! Unlike normal skating, skiing pulls the leg around in front of the body, pulling the hip further forward and the pelvis further around than nature ever intended by a big margin. This act causes posture to collapse under loading and for the back to be damaged progressively.  Understanding how to work from the centre the core of the body can protect us from this as well as enhance skiing performance and efficiency. The first move from the centre of the body should always be to pull back the hip on the supporting leg – especially when pushing the foot forwards. The core of the body should be felt to tighten in response and the core muscles and reflexes kick into action.

Pivoting

Pivoting is a creation of skiing – the choice of two edges! The ski boot, with a stiff lateral shaft keeps the ski base more or less perpendicular to the leg no matter which edge is used for support. A skate in contrast only has one edge in the centre of the foot – which is why it doesn’t need a rigid boot. Pivoting is the only legitimate “braking” form of turning, the skis always sldeslipping on uphill edges and the feet always below the body on the mountain. Dynamics here are still in charge but they are far more subtle. The key is to always move inwards to create a turn – think of moving towards the centre. In this case the pole being used as a support can be directed towards the centre. In Bumps (Moguls) when skied fluently, the dynamics become strong again but the bump shape itself still permits an easy pivoting action. The toes and ski tips have to be pushed down into the troughs because the body has to stay perpendicular to a constant gradient despite the shape of the bumps. The skier will look like the upper body is still and the legs are moving a great deal. This wonderfully centred skier is actually creating a visual illusion of stillness because the body has to be moved very strongly to create it – the turns effectively cancelling out the lateral movement visually. Reiterating: being centred is a state very far from equilibrium.