Looking at Horizon
On the last weekend of ski season at Flumserberg, I among a few others, sought the opportunity to hone snowboarding skills further on a bright sunny day. Turning, and gliding are two aspects of snowboarding that form the crux of the sport. Turning taught me control while in motion, while I understand that gliding helps to accelerate between turns.
As a beginner, learning to turn either way posed the bigger challenge than gliding, for turning involves actively shifting body weight from side to side causing the snowboard and hence oneself to turn. While for an observer, this might seem seamless and simple, for a snowboarder it involves maintaining a delicate balance between either leaning backward or forward during the turn and keeping a reasonable pace. I, a fledgling, constantly struggled to keep a good balance and pace while turning, which are essential for consistent and smooth motion. My line of sight stayed glued on the area of slope near my board, with almost negligent view of wider surroundings during this whole process. Hence a small bump here or there cautioned me against turning and tripping, resulting in inconsistent and irregular turns.
Martina, who began to learn snowboarding along with me made progress at leaps and bounds, evident from her carefree turns with nearly no falls. Looked simple, but not quite! Upon inquiring, she said, 'I look at the horizon and glide along towards a distant object'.
On a first thought I didn't understand it. How can she be so consistent with her turns by just looking at a distant object? Is she naturally gifted, or more athletic in keeping her balance, or a combination of both? Skeptically, I put her idea into action. It wasn't a natural transition to change my focus from snow around my board to horizon. Upon a few falls and tumbles, I realized how deep her idea was. It made me ignore the momentary hurdles (arising from snow profile near my board) that kept me from turning smoothly, and refocused my attention towards a larger area towards which I wanted to glide. In essence, doora-drishti, or a longer vision of what one wishes to achieve, helps one overcome momentary distractions. It also made me realize that in larger scheme of things in life, having a long term vision helps overcome mundane yet frequent disappointments over temporary issues, which in my case were the few but less frequent falls I experienced upon snowboarding with horizon at my eye sight.
As a beginner, learning to turn either way posed the bigger challenge than gliding, for turning involves actively shifting body weight from side to side causing the snowboard and hence oneself to turn. While for an observer, this might seem seamless and simple, for a snowboarder it involves maintaining a delicate balance between either leaning backward or forward during the turn and keeping a reasonable pace. I, a fledgling, constantly struggled to keep a good balance and pace while turning, which are essential for consistent and smooth motion. My line of sight stayed glued on the area of slope near my board, with almost negligent view of wider surroundings during this whole process. Hence a small bump here or there cautioned me against turning and tripping, resulting in inconsistent and irregular turns.
Martina, who began to learn snowboarding along with me made progress at leaps and bounds, evident from her carefree turns with nearly no falls. Looked simple, but not quite! Upon inquiring, she said, 'I look at the horizon and glide along towards a distant object'.
On a first thought I didn't understand it. How can she be so consistent with her turns by just looking at a distant object? Is she naturally gifted, or more athletic in keeping her balance, or a combination of both? Skeptically, I put her idea into action. It wasn't a natural transition to change my focus from snow around my board to horizon. Upon a few falls and tumbles, I realized how deep her idea was. It made me ignore the momentary hurdles (arising from snow profile near my board) that kept me from turning smoothly, and refocused my attention towards a larger area towards which I wanted to glide. In essence, doora-drishti, or a longer vision of what one wishes to achieve, helps one overcome momentary distractions. It also made me realize that in larger scheme of things in life, having a long term vision helps overcome mundane yet frequent disappointments over temporary issues, which in my case were the few but less frequent falls I experienced upon snowboarding with horizon at my eye sight.
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