How can you improve your snowboarding or skiing when the lifts are closed for the day ….. or during the off-season. Well there’s always cross training, but that doesn’t always address specific needs.
Now, thanks to a series of tapes, “Integrated Snowboarding” and “Integrated Skiing,” you can improve your snowboarding or skiing in the comfort of your own home. All you need is a little floor space, a tape player and a sense of body awareness.
If it sounds a little too easy, that’s because it’s designed that way.
Margaret McIntyre a former ski instructor and avid snowboarder developed these tapes using her years of experience as a physical therapist and Feldenkrais practitioner. The majority of the tapes, one for each sport, is based on the Feldenkrais Method® which encourages body awareness. According to McIntyre, “In some respects this work is so easy it’s ridiculous, it is also fun, all you have to do is pay attention to yourself and heed the instructions.”
These tapes are not a substitute for “on snow” snowboarding or skiing lessons, but the tapes will make the learning process more enjoyable. And if you’re only in town for a few weeks, the tapes are a good way to practice your sport throughout the year. It’s like having a personal trainer!
The six tapes in each series focus on different aspects of body movements with great emphasis on the trunk, which McIntyre believes is often overlooked. The tapes help create an awareness of the trunk and upper body in either snowboarding or skiing.
“Good riders and skiers make it all look so easy,” McIntyre said. “Some of the characteristics that you will see when looking at an expert are: steady level eyes, the “center of the body” being used and the most efficient use of the skeleton.
Ideally muscles are used just when they’re needed and no more. Most of us do too much work. Our problems arise from not what we do, but what we don’t need to do. In these exercises and in most sports, less is more.
After listening to the tapes, go out on the mountain and surprise yourself. Have fun, be curious and enjoy the feeling.
To purchase the tapes or for more information on Integrated Movement Systems, the Feldenkrais Method or the snow workshops McIntyre teaches, call or send an email.