 Poster: A snowHead
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Inner Skiing by W. Timothy Gallwey, Robert Kriegel
Has anyone read this book? What did you think to it?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Yes I've read it. It's an excellent book, would thoroughly reccommend it. Obviously it's about the pyschology of skiing (and sport/life in general) rather than technique.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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I read it absolutely ages ago so my memory's a little vague. It was interesting and I think I tried to incorporate some of the ideas into my approach to skiing at the time. As beanie1 says it's about getting your mind right which I don't think is something that I have a problem with now. I guess if you're someone who freezes on certain slopes then it may be of interest.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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I have read it and I have to say I did not get much out of it.
I was not a skier at the time, and it maybe that for people on "the plateau" it is good. However all it said to me was "your body knows how to ski and all learning does is make you forget" not a philosophy I had much truck with on the slopes.
Its general message may be "relax more" whilst skiing, which I guess I can go with, but 150 pages to tell me this was too long!
It also felt like he spent a great deal of the book telling you how the book will change your life... and a little less on the bit that does the life changing.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| fragglerock wrote: |
| it maybe that for people on "the plateau" it is good. |
Yeah, that's partly my recollection of it. The idea being that you'd achieved a certain skill level and it was now a lack of confidence, or an inability to relax, that was holding you back. Although I do wonder whether most people wouldn't benefit more from a private lesson.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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There's a similar one by (I think) Sarah Ferguson (no not that Sarah Ferguson] which is a bit more ski orientated, rather than being an adaptation of a book for Tennis players as the Galway one is.
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Okanagan, to be fair I can serve very well on a blue piste now.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Okanagan, that would be "Skiing from the Inside". Other well known phrases and sayings include "Ski from the snow up", and I'm sure there was something about all the action being from the waist down...... 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Thanks for all the discussion on it and link to the earlier thread (sorry for cross posting ~ hadn't spotted it). I read it a year ago and thought it was really interesting... It was following a v frustrating week of lessons when I felt I seemed to be going backwards because the instructor spent so long explaining everything and making everyone do very technical exercises individually which took bloody ages and I just seemed to lose all sense of flow, or of really getting any balance and just skiing... It really felt like over-thinking everything meant my muscles couldn't actually just get on with it and ski.
Since then, I skiied in Tignes for a week and didn't have any lessons at all, didn't think, just skiied and really loved it, despite ice, blizzards, etc. Tackled my first mogully black run (albeit with zero panache, but I got from top to bottom and felt I had done most of it on skis rather than bum!)
My problem now is that I feel really reluctant to go back to having lessons as it just seems to make me 'overthink' and winds me up. But I know my technique is based on not a lot of experience and goes completely to pot in cruddy / slushy stuff.
Question is, is it more like walking / riding a bike which I think you just learn from 'natural' balance and trial and error if you just let your muscles and body get on with it? I've done quite a bit of mountain biking and white water kayaking in the past, and never had any professional instruction for them, just picking them up and improving over time, and trial and error, and wonder if it is like that really? Or is it so weird and unnatural to strap two huge planks to your feet that there is no way of really getting past bimbling about on red runs without lessons?
Phew! Sorry - that's a bit of an essay!
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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SkiBod,
I would say definitely don't give up on the lessons! Skiing is a sport where it is very easy to pick up bad habits and do exactly the opposite of what you should be doing...
I think easiski made a point in the other thread, that the one weakness of "Inner Skiing" is that it does imply that it will all come naturally if you just ski...whereas in practice that rarely happens. However, if you read the book again I think you'll find that the author does often have a ski instructor present - guiding his learning, rather than giving direct instructions, which may lead to a more natural form of self 2 learning. I think it is a case of doing two things. Firstly, find a recommended, experienced instructor who can go beyond "command" style teaching, to a higher level of teaching - convergent guided discovery or divergent production (Mosston). Whilst these styles of teaching aren't so appropriate for beginners, at your level (going off what you said about beginning to ski black runs), particularly as you find lots of instructions make you over-analytical, these methods may be more appropriate.
Secondly, give yourself time to practice what you learn. So maybe have a couple of hours lessons, then go off and just ski for a few days. Then have a couple more hours etc. Whilst private instruction may be more expensive than a week of group lessons, you'll probably get more from it.
Hope this makes sense, and is some use to you!
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P.S.
Even the best athletes still have coaches. At that level the athlete probably has the tehcnical understanding to know what they need to work on, but work with the coach in partnership to achieve a performance goal.
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You know it makes sense.
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I read this book (thanks Robbie!) and must admit I found it very useful.
I think you need to read past the American fondness for phsyco-babble, shrinks and therapists 
Oh, and they just can't help promising that you'll have a "breakthrough" or "revelation" or some equally unlikely outcome. I wonder if it's just that they are just so used to mentally scaling back that non-exaggerated claims don't "sell" - dunno (and I don't really care )
However I found some very thought provoking ways of thinking about performance, motivation and achievement. There are some very interesting sections on fear too - very relevant in skiing, especially for beginners but surprisingly also for everyone else too. Especially when you think about types of fear: falling, flying and failure IIRC, which relate to fear of hurting yourself, fear of losing 'control' and fear of, well, failing (more relevantly either to avoid trying or maybe to avoid embarassment).
Generally I think it helped me to think about skiing in different ways - not least of which was about how my head affects it all. I don't think you'd get as much out of it if you just read it verbatim.
I fully intend to buy a copy after Robbie comes around here for a coffee and reclaims hers!! 
oh, SkiBod, of course you can learn by trial and error. But just don't expect to get to the same standard as someone who is taught... and here's the crunch: as quickly.
If you are born at the bottom of a mountain and ski every day then you'll end up being a fantastic skier. If, like most of us, you live in warmer climes and get 1-3 weeks a year on skis then it'll take a lot longer.
Like beanie1 says, try some of the more coach oriented teaching - maybe consider ESA one year?
Also I think this kind of book helps deal with problems like yours too: it does talk a fair amount about the ways we learn and some of the problems (including over-analysis).
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Hi Beanie1 and lbt
Thanks for your comments. I like the idea of fewer hours of more intensive private lessons so I still get plenty of time just to ski, along with a more guided rather than command approach. Lbt suggests ESA, but I think they are just based in the States? I am going to Val Thorens next month, could you recommend any particular organisation there that uses this approach?
To be fair, it may just be the ski school group I ended up in last time just happened not to be best for me ~ other friends on the same trip had what sounded like a more guided approach, and some of them complained they weren't getting enough 'proper instructions'!
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Poster: A snowHead
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SkiBod, yep, ESA is in the US. The next academy is from Sun 29th Jan to Thurs 2nd Feb 06 in Snowbird in Utah. There's still a few places available if you're quick. There's currently six snowHeads going.
I can recommend the Warren Smith Academy. Problem is they're in Verbier not VT.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Spyderjon, Thanks for that ~ I'll keep Verbier and Warren Smith in mind for a future trip. ESA do sound really good, and I'd love to ski in Snowbird, but I think it's probably pushing it for this season... on my wish list for 2007!
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