In this second issue of the newsletter we are going to explore the idea further and start to provide answers.

I propose to show you how to ski with the same ease and comfort as world class skiers. You will be shown how to create mechanical and emotional harmony between yourself, your skis and the mountain.

Let's start by describing skiing in the easiest possible way.

Sounds easy?

Well, just look around the next time you are riding a chair lift above a mogul field and notice how many skiers or boarders are actually moving? How many are actually moving? How many are actually standing still?

This gives you food for thought doesn't it? Just check it out the next time you are on the slope, you will see that out of 300 skiers on the mogul hill 290 of them are standing absolutely still, crowding the way for the other 10, preventing them from skiing their best.

Now, I do not believe in coincidences, I have witnessed this over and over again on a daily basis during the19 years spent on the slopes of Val d'Isère, so I know the reasons stifling the "Immobile Skiers Incorporated" lot.

So why do most skiers stand still in moguls?

Answer: For most, coming to a stop and standing still is the only way to achieve a secure feeling of balance. When skiing at speed with motion if you create a "balance debt" your system will take action and bring you to a stop or slow you down.

Speed and motion were sacrificed for balance because it is balance that rules our body actions.

I have no problems with people standing and not moving on the mountain, provided that they realise what they are doing instead. Maybe they are practising to become Buckingham Palace guards, which is a different kind of sport from skiing because it doesn't involve motion.
 
 

Let's see what affects our balance in the first place? We start by considering the issue of balance before skiing even begins.

Imbalance #1: Mechanical strain on your skeleton induced by…your ski boots. Ski boots are rigid mass produced plastic shells, coming out of factories in huge numbers. It is easy to understand that as we slip our individually unique skeleton into the rigid mass-produced boot, mechanical strain is induced on our skeletal frame disturbing our natural balance. Both our fore/aft and lateral balance is affected. You are in essence miss-aligned by your ski boots. It is necessary for you to have your alignment sorted out in order to allow your muscles (legs, back and shoulders) to be tension free. I know from experience that many skiers have never considered, even for an instant, that internal factors get in the way of their capabilities much more than external ones, like poor visibility or snow conditions.

Alignment for example, enhances your potential by liberating the body from its parasitic tensions. This allows your body to function naturally. With your body now relaxed and well balanced in the boots and skis, something else happens: your thoughts become more balanced too, and you experience a confidence boost. Imagine yourself driving a car with slack steering and brakes pulling to the right. How relaxed would you be driving such a car? How confident would you feel in such a car? Imagine the car to be your body and your thoughts to be the driver. Imagine now that you driving a brand new car. How do you feel driving such a car? How did the new car manage to change your feelings?

Answer: By offering a sense of mechanical trustworthiness. This is just how alignment operates. It provides your body with a sense of skeletal trustworthiness known as balance.

You now see the natural connection between mechanical elements (our body) and emotional elements (our thoughts).

The best way for you to find out more about alignment is to ask me for the English copy of the article that I wrote in the French ski-coaching magazine in June 1999. I went through the effort of illustrating in detail all 13 photographs of the document. Please take me up on the offer. Knowledge needs to flow otherwise it is useless.

Also I am living in Canterbury with my wife Shelley until the start of the ski season, and you can visit me here to have your alignment done.

Imbalance #2: Is emotional, relating to how you think when skiing. Whilst skiing your mind is often occupied with conflicting thoughts, sending out equally conflicting messages to your muscles, affecting the flow of your performance.

A common erroneous belief that skiers have is that they need to turn their skis. Attaching importance to turning will never guaranty secure balance. If you haven't experienced progress in your skiing, it is because you do not secure your balance at the all-important point where edge change occurs. This is a crucial moment in skiing; this is where everyone freaks out and gesticulates like mad. Up and down movements, pole plants, torso movements, all are parasite compensations produced by your body to disguise its underlying state of unbalance, and this affects your confidence.

Recap for today:

Balance is the key

Remove mechanical imbalance from the body with alignment

Listen to the Ski Wizdom ski motivation programme. This is a specially designed (4 tapes) audiocassette programme designed to get you to think and act like experts skiers.

Continue your ski tuition with instructors who understand that skiing is balance in motion.

The next issue of Bernard Chesneau 'Ski with Passion' newsletter will be released in October 1999.

It is already September and the season is just around the corner, booking tuition with Bernard Chesneau is best done now.

• Have you had your alignment checked? Do you know what alignment is? Would you like to find out more?
• Have you heard Bernard's Ski Wizdom audio tape programme? Would you like to see what the press says about it?
• Choosing ski equipment that will work harmoniously with you is a real science; I can help, so feel free to share your thoughts before buying. I will share my knowledge.

Until then, Ski With Passion.

Bernard Chesneau
Alignment Technology Ltd/ Mountain Masters/Ski Wizdom.