The effortless approach...

Before the snow had blanketed Park City overnight, we spent our weekend indoors, under an incredible downpour, so we watched more TV than usual and on Sunday, we had a chance to follow the first ski races of the season in Austria as well as some figure ice skating in Japan. What struck me, while I was observing some of the athletes, was their seemingly lack of efforts in executing the high-performance moves they were supposed to deliver during these competitions.

That's when it downed on me that in sports, and particularly in skiing, we focus far too much on achieving the best technical gesture, in attaining the flawless form, while in fact we should be much more focused on attaining effortlessness. We should first think that we're light, nimble and float on snow, and this would surely lead us to accomplish everything the in the most natural manner possible. Paying too much attention to the perfect gesture and the ideal body placement stiffens the athlete and often goes against the natural way we're built. Going with the least amount of effort and a greater dose of softness lets our bodies speak their true language and look naturally beautiful. That's right, form follows function!