Skiing with the Whole Body: Your Ticket to the Expert Slopes (Feldenkrais based)

192 Pages·1993·43.451 MB·English

by  Jack Heggie

JACKH EGGIE .·~
SlliiI ng
with the
WholeBody
Your Ticket to the Expert Slopes
SKIING WITH
THE WHOLE BODY

SKIING WITH
THE WHOLE BODY
Jack Heggie
North Atlantic Books
Berkeley, California
Also by the same author:
RUNNING WITH THE WHOLE BODY
SKIING WITH THE WHOLE BODY
Copyright© 1993 by Jack Heggie. All rights reserved. No portion
of this book, except for brief review, may be reproduced in any
form without written permission of the publisher. Printed in the
United States of America.
Published by:
North Atlantic Books
P.O. Box 12327
Berkeley, California 94701
Cover photograph by Jerry Sinkovec
Photography: Moses Street, Boulder, Colorado
Ski clothing courtesy Spyder Active Sports, Boulder, Colorado
Cover and book design by Paula Morrison
ISBN 1-55643-140-6
These exercises have been tested and found to work for people in
good health. If you have any questions about your fitness and
your ability to do the exercises, consult your physician before
starting the program.
SKIING WITH THE WHOLE BODY is sponsored by the Society for the
Study of Native Arts and Sciences, a nonprofit educational corpo
ration whose goals are to develop an educational and crosscultural
perspective linking various scientific, social, and artistic fields; to
nurture a holistic view of arts, sciences, humanities, and healing;
and to publish and distribute literature on the relationship of mind,
body, and nature .
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 / 97 96 95 94 93
For
Marty, Chris, andJohn
and all the good days.
Acknowledgements
This book evolved from my studies with Moshe Feldenkrais,
D. Sc. Without his pioneering research in the practical func
tioning of the human motor system, the book would not exist.
The awareness lessons for improving skiing ability are a direct
adaptation of the ideas and methods that he presented in his
Awareness Through Movement ®l essons.
Karl Pribram, M.D., Ph.D., contributed original ideas through
his book Languages of the Brain which lead to the concept of
the Moving Mind.
I acknowledge here also my students, who put up with my
unorthodox ideas and allowed me to use their bodies as my
experimental laboratory while I developed the method over a
period of many years.
And finally, Ian Jackson, who suggested the final form of
the book, and engendered the umpteenth, and final, rewrite.
Tableo f Contents
The Spirit of Skiing ...... ... ... .. .. ... ... .. ... ..... x
Introduction ...... .... .. .... .. .. ... ... .. .. .. .... . xi
Part I
The Moving Mind
Why Johnny Can't Ski .. ... .... ...... .... ....... ... 3
Experiencing the Moving Mind .... .. ............... 7
Learning Ten Times Faster .. .. ............. ..... .... 8
Reprogramming the Moving Mind ............. ... ... 9
The Reasoning Mind and the Moving Mind ....... .. 10
The Safety Factor ...... .... .... ......... .. ........ 13
The Method .. ...... .. ... ... .... ..... ... .. .. ... .. 14
The Way of Skiing .. ....... ..... ......... ... .... .. 14
A Few Definitions .... ... ... ................. ..... 15
Part II
The Lessons
1. Bill: Becoming Grounded .. ... .. ....... ............ 19
2. Bev: Learning Without Teaching .. .... ............. 28
3. Maria: The Coordinate System on the Feet ... .. ...... 37
4. Mark: Moving and Sensing ... .. .... .. .... ... . '. ... . 42
5. John: Feeling the World .......... .. ........ .. ..... 48
6. Kay: Action and Intention ........ ... ... .. ......... 55
7. Kim: Independent Leg Action ... ....... ... ....... .. 67
8. May: A Total Change ... ...... ............. .. ... ... 77
9. Lisa: The Balance Point for Turning ......... ........ 87
10. Joy: The Unbendable Knee .. .......... ... .. ....... 96
11. Ralph: The Straight Back .............. ... .... .... 108
SKIING WITH THE WHOLE BODY
12. Bob: The Case of the Wandering Feet ..... ... ... .. . 121
13. Kathy: Whither the Poles? .. ...... ... ... .... ..... . 128
14. Tom: The Myth of the Quiet Upper Body .. ... ..... . 138
15. Carol: First Wind Up, Then Pitch ..... .. ..... ... ... 150
16. Ed: The Three Primary Movements of Skiing ... .. ... 161
Appendix: The Neurophys iology
of the Moving Mind .... .. .. .. .. ........ ... ... .. . 169
Books about the Feldenkrais Method .. .. .... .. ... . 175
About the Author .... .... .... .. .... .. .. .... ..... 176
"You cannot teach a man anything. You can only help him
to discover it within himself."
- Galileo Galilei