Ski-therapy

Do you want to totally empty your mind? Chase away worries, problems and all that nasty stuff for a few hours or a full day? Go to the mountain and ski. Just like meditation, prayer, or any other mind-cleansing system, skiing will erase what’s on your mind and what’s bothering you at the moment. This advice doesn’t apply to beginner skiers or those who might venture on terrains that exceed their normal abilities. You know it; when you’re on the boards, you need to really pay attention, be present and never let your concentration quit, even for a few seconds. At that moment, you’re witnessing the moment, seeing the obstacle, the bad snow patch, the nasty bump, or the steep and narrow couloir. You’re just witnessing and acting upon a given situation. You’re not actively thinking. Your mind remains free, pure, unencumbered. You’re in the middle of the “here and now,” a mind-relaxing moment that for lack of a better expression I call “nirvana-on-snow.” When I ski alone, I generally listen to my music, but unless it happens to be a tune I particularly like, I don’t even pay attention to what goes through my ears... How’s your own skiing experience?