Jacques Martin, 1944-2026

Jacques Martin passed away on June 15 at age 81. He was one of three partners in Sidas, a company founded in 1975 by three French ski instructors, including him, Loïc David and Gaby Pellicot and based near Grenoble, France. 

 David, the company’s visionary, got the idea from seeing a human footprint on some Hawaiian beach and thought that similarly looking molded insoles would make ski boots far more comfortable. Lacking specialized tools, he famously molded his very first prototype inside a kitchen oven dish. 

This initial ingenuity grew into SIDAS, and the subsequent launch of their Conformable brand, which became synonymous with custom footbeds. It later expanded into the medical fields as well as into sport-shoes. 

In 2003 as the founders retired, the company was sold to a new management group that is still running it to this date. Before that transfer, Jacques Martin was the administrative and financial guy, while Loïc David was the front marketing man and Gaby Pellicot handled the technical and production side of the enterprise. 

When I was distributing Koflach in the US in the mid 90s, I seriously considered becoming the distributor for Sidas in America, and was in close contact with Jacques and Loïc for a while, but in the end, I decided against it as I determined that the business potential was too limited for the work involved.

Getting to know meditation (Part Four)

Even though the downsides of meditation are few and far between (I haven’t experienced any) much, they remain a possibility. Rather paradoxically, meditation can sometimes initially increase anxiety. When people stop distracting themselves, they may become more aware of fears, worries and unresolved emotions and while it’s temporary for some, it can be distressing for others. 

Meditation can also uncover grief, trauma, shame and unresolved conflicts, something that’s not necessarily harmful, but that can be overwhelming without proper support. 

Beginners sometimes believe they are meditating when they are actually worrying, replaying arguments or obsessing over problems and this can reinforce distress rather than reduce it as they would hope. 

A small minority also experience feeling detached from themselves, disconnected from reality with a sense that the world is unreal ; these effects are usually temporary but could be frightening to some. Practitioners could also become less engaged with family, work and relationships as meditation is taken as an excuse for disengagement. 

There’s also the case of practitioners avoiding difficult conversations, therapy, emotional work and using "acceptance" as an excuse to ignore problems. More concerning is excessive self-focus as some individuals become overly preoccupied with their thoughts, emotions and their inner states. Instead of increasing freedom, practice can become self-absorption. 

Ironically, meditation is found to sometimes increase self-criticism if expectations are unrealistic. Interestingly, long-term practitioners often describe a different outcome as meditation does not necessarily make their life easier but enhances their experiences. That increased visibility can feel pleasant, neutral, or unpleasant depending on what is being observed. 

I must admit that I’ve never felt any of these negative effects. I must be just a very lucky guy!

Getting to know meditation (Part Three)

Under its most various forms and iterations, meditation isn't a black and white practice, nor does it have clear benefits and drawbacks. As we’ve seen, "Meditation" encompasses hundreds of practices—from focused-attention techniques and mindfulness to mantra repetition, Zen, loving-kindness, transcendental meditation, and intensive retreat practices. Their effects overlap, but they are not identical. 

A useful way to think about meditation is that it is a mental training method that can produce benefits, neutral effects, or occasionally adverse effects depending on the individual, the technique, the intensity, and the context. 

The strongest evidence of well-documented benefits comes from mindfulness-based interventions and related practices that have been studied in clinical settings. Most consistently, practitioners report feeling less overwhelmed, recovering more quickly from stressful events, less emotional reactivity and greater ability to pause before responding. 

Then, there’s improved attention and concentration as well as better emotional regulation as experienced practitioners often develop greater awareness of emotions before those emotions become overwhelming. Specifically, less impulsive anger and rumination, greater emotional stability and increased tolerance of difficult feelings. 

Anxiety symptoms also are reduced, even though meditation is not a cure for anxiety disorders, but many studies show meaningful reductions in generalized anxiety, worry and stress-related symptoms. In a related category, one of the strongest clinical applications of meditation is preventing relapse in recurrent depression in which practitioners often become better at recognizing negative thought loops before becoming trapped in them. In terms of health benefits, while meditation generally does not eliminate pain, it often changes pain perception, suffering associated with pain and lessens emotional reaction to chronic pain. 

There are also modest improvements in blood pressure, cardiovascular risk factors and stress-related physiological responses. Finally, many experience shorter time to fall asleep, less pre-sleep rumination and improved overall sleep quality. Surveys have shown that effects vary considerably between individuals. Many report noticing habits sooner, recognizing recurring emotional patterns and understanding personal motivations more clearly. There’s also increased compassion and empathy, greater patience and improved interpersonal relationships.

Tomorrow, we’ll check the downsides...

Getting to know meditation (Part Two)

Meditation isn’t easily defined. To begin with, there are hundreds of techniques, but most practitioners fall into a few categories. On top stands mindfulness meditation (currently the fastest-growing), followed by mantra meditation (better known as Transcendental Meditation), Zen meditation, Vipassanā (insight) meditation, loving-kindness (Metta) meditation, yoga-based meditation and Christian contemplative prayer (see chart).

At what age do people begin? This varies by culture. In traditional cultures with strong Buddhist or Hindu traditions, many children are introduced before the age of 10, with formal training beginning in adolescence. In modern Western countries, people begin much later, between an individual’s 20s to 50s, which is the most common starting period. 

Often entering the practice is triggered by stress, illness, burnout, or a life transition. In the US, meditation users are disproportionately middle-aged adults. You can wonder if meditation usually become a lifetime practice and the answer is yes, at least traditionally. In Buddhist, Hindu, Taoist, and contemplative Christian traditions, meditation is generally viewed as a lifelong discipline, similar to physical exercise or prayer. 

However, modern secular meditation is different as many practitioners meditate for stress reduction and many quite once the immediate problem improves while others yet cycle in and out of practice. Research on meditation apps consistently finds that long-term adherence is difficult. There’s no single global figure, but dropout rates are high. Depending on the program, short mindfulness courses often lose from 20 to 50% of their participants before completion.

Meditation apps frequently lose the majority of users within a few months and only a minority maintain a daily practice for years. In the US, one large study showed that about 79% of people who had ever meditated had also practiced within the previous year, suggesting many continue at least intermittently, so meditation is not usually abandoned completely, but consistent daily practice is much rarer than occasional one.

In the next blog, we’ll explores the most well-know and also potential drawbacks of the practice...

Getting to know meditation (Part One)

For almost six and a half years I’ve been meditating without missing one single day. I had begun in 1969, dropping off and restarting for short periods every now and then. With that in mind, don’t jump to the conclusion that meditation is addictive, because it’s generally not considered pathological, though some people become attached to the pleasant mental states it can produce. 

It’s simply hard to stick to it for a wide variety of reasons. Yes, there are hundreds of millions of people who meditate worldwide and the practice is gaining rapidly more followers, especially in the mindfulness category. Unlike myself, most people can’t maintain a strict daily practice for long periods of time as dropout rates are substantial, especially during the first few months after they get started. 

Meditating begins anywhere from childhood (in traditional cultures) to middle age (in secular settings like our Western world). Reliable country-by-country statistics exist only for some nations; the highest participation appears in countries where meditation is integrated into religious and cultural life (see table). 

The biggest uncertainty lies in Asia, where meditation is often embedded within religious life and may not be measured separately from prayer, temple attendance, yoga, or other spiritual practices. For countries such as India, Thailand, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, China, and Japan, the cultural importance of meditation is clear, but rigorous nationally representative prevalence figures are surprisingly scarce. 

One interesting conclusion from the available data is that modern secular countries such as Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the United States now report meditation participation rates comparable to—or sometimes higher than—those measured in many traditionally Buddhist countries, depending on how "meditation" is defined, which is a dimension we’ll explore in the next blog.

Barbecue spring cleaning

A few days ago, I received a postcard from Bar-B-Clean, a local franchise inviting me to have someone come to my house to clean our patio barbecue, so I wouldn’t have to get my hands dirty. I did it myself last year and must admit that it’s not one of my favorite chores!

In addition to that, Americans love to have someone to inspect, repair if necessary and lube their bicycles before riding season or “detail” their car right at their home, so why not their sacrosanct summer grill? I checked the prices and for an average size barbecue like ours, it would cost us from $250 to $350. 

What might influence an exact final quote include the size of the device. For instance a larger or built-in grills might exceed $800. If something additional might be required, just plan on a base rate of $125 per hour and parts. 

The company utilizes deep steam cleaning and degreasing so the inside of the grill is free of residue and completely clean to the touch. 

With about $25 in supplies, my wife and I (almost) did as good a job in less than 2 hours that afternoon. 

Our grill doesn’t quite look brand new, but still is very clean and saved ourselves a pretty $275!

Park City’s last patch of snow

Same thing every year. June 16 holds a special significance to me. On that day in 1985 as I was house-hunting and had rented a large camcorder to shoot a movie of the house we bought in Park City, for my wife to see and hopefully, get her stamp of approval. 

There was a bull-eye window in the house, and through it, I accidentally captured Jupiter Peak with a tiny snow patch left just below the summit, just like you can see on the picture below! 

What’s amazing is that this winter was our worst snow year ever, and yet after an excellent 1984-1985 snow season, we have as much snow left this year not to mention even more around the main bowl and Portuguese Gap, thanks to some cool weather in April, May and June. 

Amazing isn’t it?