Somatic Skiing

  Our feet have a huge role in providing support and balance to the rest of our body. It's a big job. Especially given how relatively small they are in comparison to bones elsewhere in the body. We stand on a small base and support a large frame way above. If we ever tried to construct a building in the same way it would never work. Picture an upside down Eiffel Tower. It would fall over the minute there was a gentle breeze! Yet us humans can balance even on one foot quite easily.    Our feet also deal with a lot of pressure and load especially in a sport like skiing. Up to 3 G's for a ski racer all coming up through the feet first. There are considerably large forces from the ground up when we land a jump. How we move in the foot and ankle will ultimately have a  knock on effect through the rest of the joints as to whether this force is spread evenly or whether it causes excess stress and strain on certain parts. So I myself have found it very useful to gain a better understan

My talented friend Laurie drew me a skiing Skeleton. This is how I have been thinking about my skiing for the last three years.  Hi friends and followers. I have decided to create a blog page to post all my case studies, movement ideas, movement explorations and areas of current interest so its all in the one place for you to read. My hope is that the content inspires, educates and empowers you to take more ownership of your own body as that is the main reason I began this journey of learning as much as I can about how our body's function. First off why have I called it Somatic Skiing?? Somatic by definition means: " Part of, or relating to the  body  of an  organism ". Somatic Skiing then being relating the body to skiing. From the very beginning of my skiing career I have been interested in how our bodie's move and function. The more I have come to understand about our joints, muscles and neurology the more I have found my skiing and other physical activ

A movement like this requires refined joint awareness to keep my balance. Skiing is a very dynamic sport. Our position and alignment is always changing and requires our body to constantly adjust to stay balanced. Different external elements such as a mogul, an icy patch of snow or the turn shape will challenge our body's alignment and ability to stay balanced. Each of our joints have a role to play in allowing us the ability to adjust to these changes. And furthermore allow us to adapt and change angles and shapes in our body to ski with more performance or finesse. Interestingly enough there are 360 joints in the human body. So are you aware of how each one those is moving in all three planes of motion? Wow that's a lot so possibly not. However, if you are into developing your skiing and technique and changing some habits, getting to know your joints more closely is essential to making the next breakthrough in your skiing.    For example: When creating higher edg