This is an extract from the book, “Skiing without Fear – for beginners, intermediates, and experts”.

Firstly, please accept the fact that as a beginner you will fall over.

No one in the history of skiing has ever learnt to ski without falling.

Consequently, you must accept that falling is a part of the learning process – of course, you want to minimise the number of falls, but the problem comes when you are overly afraid of falling – and thus paralysed from actually learning by the fear of falling.

Note, it is vital that you are learning on a slope that is appropriate to your level: that you are on the nursery slopes or beginners area. Also, I cannot stress enough how, especially in the early stages, one-on-one instruction from a good private instructor will help you to make the most rapid improvement to your skiing, and help you overcome your primary fears.

There are many ways that you can create your fear of falling. Perhaps you imagine the pain or humiliation of falling – in other words, you are creating kinaesthetic projections. Perhaps you visualise yourself falling.

1. Stop and breath. Get your breathing under control. Do not over-respire, but gently wait and normalise your breathing. Do not hurry this process – and take all the time you need to get your breathing back to normal.

2. Relax your muscles. You will probably find that you have tensed all your muscles. Consciously, relax. You are not skiing right now. You are merely standing on a ski slope – so relax. Keep breathing normally. Be aware of any tight muscles and relax them.

3. Visualisation from the third-person perspective. Can you visualise yourself from a third-person perspective? I want you to imagine that you are watching yourself skiing. Visualise yourself from below, pushing off gently, and skiing just a few short metres to come to a controlled stop just slightly further down the slope without falling. Do not visualise skiing the entire slope just yet: just a short section. Repeat this visualisation 4-5 times. Be aware of how you feel in your body. Have you tensed back up? If so, consciously relax again. Keep your breathing normal and repeat the visualisation until you can do it without tensing your body or increasing your breathing.

4. Visualisation from the first-person perspective. Now, I want you to visualise yourself skiing exactly the same section, but this time, you should visualise it from the point of view of what you would see if you were actually skiing the section. Imagine how it will feel with the snow passing under your skis. Imagine how the view will change as you descend slowly under control. Imagine the sounds that the skis will make as you ski the slope. Imagine how it feels to ski under control and come to a controlled stop. Again, be aware of how it feels in your body, and whether your breathing has changed. If so, get your breathing back to normal, un-tense those muscles, and repeat the visualisation until you can complete it without tensing your muscles or altering your breathing.

5. Check the results. Now you are about to ski the slope, how do you feel? Has the fear reduced? Again, check the tension in your muscles, check your breathing rate. On a scale of 1 to 10, where would you rate your fear? If it is any more than a 3, then repeat the visualisations. Always visualise yourself completing the run standing up.

This is an extract from the book, “Skiing without Fear – for beginners, intermediates, and experts”.

The “Circle of Excellence” is an exercise you can do at home, or on the slopes.  It is great exercise to do at the start of each day immediately before you put your skis on.  You might like to practise this exercise regularly every time you ski.  If so, do not be surprised when you notice how you have feelings of confidence every time you step into your skis, perhaps sooner than you’d expect. 

I suggest you might like to read the exercise through once before trying it out.

I wonder if you can remember a specific time when you felt a really strong, total, inner sense of confidence.  It can be totally unrelated to skiing – just pick a really strong, vivid memory which you will enjoy remembering.

 

1.  Feel that confidence once again.  There’s really no need to “take a deep breath and close your eyes” – but you can if it helps you get back into the same state of confidence.  Let yourself go back to that moment when you felt fully 100% confident.  Re-live that exact moment in your mind, seeing exactly what you saw, hearing exactly what you heard and feeling exactly how you felt.  Re-create the posture you had at that moment.  Breathe in and out at the same rate.  Feel the confidence of that moment surging now within you again.

Make the pictures in your mind of that moment really vivid.  Picture it in high definition, with the colours really bright.   Turn the volume up on the sound to really intensify the memory.

 

2.  Circle of Excellence.  Now, as you feel your confidence-level building within you, imagine a coloured circle on the floor around your feet getting wider and wider as your inner confidence grows.  What colour would you like the circle to be?  Does it emit a sound that indicates how powerful it is?  When the circle is at its largest and your feelings of confidence are greatest, step out of that circle on the ground, leaving those feelings of confidence within the circle.  This request is rather unusual, and you can do it.

 

3.  Imagine yourself just about to put your skis on.  Your ski boots are on, your ski jacket cosy around you and you are just about to put your skis on.  Your skis are lying flat on the snow, parallel to each other with space around them.  It is just before your first ski run of the day.

 

4.  Centre your circle of excellence on your skis.  Now imagine your circle of excellence surrounds your skis; its centre exactly halfway between each ski situated near the bindings.  See the colour of the circle exactly as before; hear the noise that it is making.  As soon as you can strongly visualise this circle around your skis, step into it, and click into your ski bindings.  Check your bindings are firm. Imagine yourself with your skis on, now surrounded by your circle of excellence, with those same feelings of confidence fully available to you.

This is an extract from the book, “Skiing without Fear – for beginners, intermediates, and experts”.

This next exercise will help you change your internal representation of your fear of learning to ski.  It should help build your confidence in your ability to learn to ski, whilst removing doubts in your ability to learn to ski.

You can use it at home or on the slopes – though it is better if you practise it at home first.  Find a quiet place where you will not be disturbed, breathe deeply and relax for a moment or two.

Exercise:  Improving your confidence in your ability to learn to ski

 

1.  Think of a belief you know is true.  I want you to stop and think of something you absolutely believe 100%.   Just stop.  Think about it.  Think about something you know.  Is the sun coming up tomorrow?  Is breathing useful?

I want to you to notice where the voice comes from that confirms this.   Does it come from ahead, in front of you?  From the left or right side?  Up or down?  Kind of all over?  What we are doing here is identifying how you represent beliefs to yourself: identifying the submodalities necessary for it to be a belief.

 

2.  Think of something that may or may not be true?  Think of something you are not sure about.   What do you want for lunch?  White cars are driven by safer drivers than silver cars.  The health and education systems are improving as a result of government reforms.  By 2020, 95% of the world will have broadband internet access.

Again, notice where that voice comes from.  Where are the pictures located in your mind?

Here, we are identifying how you represent doubts to yourself: identifying the submodalities necessary for it to be a doubt.

You now have a strong belief and a doubt.  In most people, the strong belief is located straight ahead, and the doubt is located to the left, lower.

Is one bigger or smaller?  Normally the strong belief is bigger.

 

3.  Are you afraid to ski?    If your response is from straight ahead, I want you to actively move the fear.  Move the voice down to the left where your doubting beliefs were located, move the pictures down to the left.  Make the voice or images smaller, quieter.  Shrink the image, mute the voice.  Make the image dark and fuzzy and difficult to see.  And very very small.

 

4.  I am learning to be a great skier.  Take that thought and the images it gives you. Take the voice.  Now move it straight ahead in front of you.  Up close and personal.  Make it big, bright and loud.  I am learning to be a great skier.  What happens if you change the tone of the voice?  For some people, deepening the tone of the voice to lower and lower tones helps increase the intensity of the belief.  Close your eyes. Now, double the size of the picture.  Quadruple the volume of the voice. Turn up the brightness even more.  Increase the volume yet more. 

 

5. Now look at your skis – or visualise them straight ahead if they are not at hand.  Repeat the last step again – I am learning to be a great skier –  five times really quickly whilst looking at your skis.  This time, when you turn the dial up on the volume of the voice, forget turning it up to eleven – turn it up to twenty-seven!  I am learning to be a great skier.  Make your visual images enormous.