MINDFUL SKIING - MINDFUL LEARNING
How it’s come about
BASS Morzine is committed to developing new and innovative methods of helping skiers improve and enjoy the skiing mountain environment. They have teamed up with John Arnold to launch an approach to skiing and learning which is based upon the principles of mindfulness. Having John on the Team of instructors and coaches at BASS Morzine means that Mindful Skiing – Mindful Learning sessions can be offered through Private and Group coaching sessions.
BASS Morzine have been delivering valued ski instruction and coaching since the year 2000 and have established a reputation in Morzine and the Portes du Soleil as one of the leading ski schools, well respected by their customers, peers and the French authorities. John has a deep and broad experience in coaching skiers of all levels, including competitors and aspirant instructors and coaches. What is unique is John’s training, experience and qualifications in mindfulness and sports psychology from which he is well placed to develop these innovative approaches to improving and enjoying skiing.
Behind the methods
The methods John has developed are a unique blend of mindfulness principles, sports psychology, performance coaching, student centered experiential learning, positive psychology, neuro-linguistic programming, emotional intelligence and mental imaging. John brings coaching experience not only from skiing and sports but also from his work in coach education, life and business coaching, trainer training and leading mindfulness and meditation courses.
The coaching approaches are built around John’s sound knowledge of skiing bio-mechanics, anatomy and the fundamental skiing skills. There are a certain set of skiing skills which underpin all performances irrelevant of conditions or terrain, skills which all skiers are performing, and which provide control and comfort when applied appropriately to the conditions, context and intentions of the skier.
What you can expect
Your safety, enjoyment, comfort and learning needs are crucial and will provide the back drop to the sessions. The focus of the sessions and your learning are on your mind-set, your attitudes, your emotional awareness and you’re thinking and how these elements shape your performance, negatively and positively.
The technical elements of the session are consistent with the technical models which BASS applies to all its coaching sessions. How the Mindful Skiing – Mindful Learning sessions differ is how the technical elements are framed and the strong emphasis on the skier’s mind set, attitude and emotions.
Through the sessions learners build self-awareness; becoming to know more clearly the mind set which facilitates performance and those which inhibit and limit the improvement of your skiing. The learning journey is experiential in that during the sessions you will be guided to know, feel and understand your present movements and techniques and how these effect your ability to control and master the game of skiing.
There is also an emphasis on developing body and movement awareness and recognising the muscular forces which is generated to control the direction and speed of travel. To this end there will be a range of activity to enhance self-awareness of posture, movements and self-generated muscular forces.
Your learning is enhanced when you have a clear view of the model performance, what really matters in terms of movements and how the ski interacts on the snow. Self-awareness is a key aspect in this.
We cut through all the skiing jargon, the labels and myths to reveal what truly influences our control of speed and direction, and you learn how the body moves dynamically and freely.
Often the best way is not to tell skiers what their weaknesses and faults are; instead we focus on strengthening the parts of performance which work, beginning with where the skier is at that present moment.
Who will benefit
We would say that any skier will benefit from becoming more self-aware and being guided in ways to develop a more self-coached approach to one’s own skiing. This we believe is true because our approaches develop your capacity to learn more and quicker through generating an advanced capacity to know what’s happening as its happening during your performance and realising those mind sets which help and hinder skiing improvement.
These outcomes benefit all skiers. For some the approach to understanding oneself, body, mind and emotions when developing your skiing, will be just the methods required to unlock any ‘stuckness’ you feel in your skiing and improvement. An approach which is less judgmental and teaches you to utilise your body and awareness much more may be the way ahead for you.
If you have ever thought of or agree with the following, then the Mindful Skiing – Mindful Learning sessions will appeal to you:
I am always interested in new approaches.
I think increasing my self-awareness will improve my skiing.
I have a need to ‘feel’ the body and ski more.
I want to learn how to think less and feel the body and skis more.
My head is so busy and gets in the way of my skiing.
My fear and over all mind set inhibit my skiing.
I need to direct / control my emotions more when skiing.
I want to enjoy learning again and become less judgemental of myself.
I have heard of mindfulness and intrigued to learn a little more about the subject.
I have attended a mindfulness course and / or read about it and this is an opportunity to learn more about mindfulness, what it entails and it benefits.
I want to try a fun, experiential, light approach to developing my skiing.
For further information and questions please speak to John Arnold or any of our bookings team at BASS
Resort:
BASS Morzine