future past: retro causality, applied to carving

[b0ardski]

I see were I want to go but don't think about how to get there, did it happen by it self or did "free will" get me there?

ie; did I ride the board or did the board ride me?

only gravity knows:confused:

[BlueB]

I see were I want to go but don't think about how to get there, did it happen by it self or did "free will" get me there?

ie; did I ride the board or did the board ride me?

only gravity knows:confused:

Zen...

[Corey]

I'm a cold-hearted engineer, so I choose to believe it's the plasticity of the human mind mastering a tool such that conscious thought can be applied to the 'bigger plan' while subconscious reactions make the minor corrections to make sure that plan happens. I get that on snowboards, in race cars, and on bikes sometimes.

Think about learning to walk vs. now. It used to take all your conscious thought to do it, now it's mostly automatic. I don't feel the snowboard reacting to the snow, I feel the snow. The snowboard is me. I don't feel the car tires scratching the pavement, I feel the pavement as if it were my fingertips scratching at it for every last bit of traction.

It's a level of self-confidence/competence that many people never experience in their lives other than their morning commute. Whatever it is, it feels damn good to experience!

[kieran]

when carving, we're travelling in a straight line. it's an environment with one dimension; it has starting point, and an ending point.

(not an original idea)

[b0ardski]

well put Corey.

I lean more toward the psycho/spiritual, touchy/feely aspect of motion & sport

was watching through the wormhole last night when the proffered concept of "retro causality" got my gears turning.

the analogy to learning to walk is great. the "2nd nature" of a practiced activity allowed by muscle memory frees the focal consciousness to see the bigger picture!

be one with the board

Edited December 19, 2013 by b0ardski

[Corey]

If you read any high-level sports psychology books, they all seem to point to that same goal of having the subconscious do the fine motor control and your active brain thinking/strategizing about the big picture. I recall something about how the subconscious was dramatically faster at information processing than the conscious.

"The Inner Game of Tennis" is freaking awesome, and I don't really like tennis. He talks about getting one student to focus on the seams of the ball while fixing an unrelated problem. By distracting the active brain, the subconscious was freed-up to actually fix the issue. I've done that with some of my motorsport students with good success if they're overthinking stuff.

"A Twist of the Wrist" is awesome for motorbike riders. I love his analogy of having $1 of attention available. When you first start an activity, it takes $0.90 to do it, with $0.10 left for dealing with the outside world. As you become a master, it takes $0.05 to do the activity and you have $0.95 to 'spend' on other thoughts. For us, that's deciding to slash on that odd-shaped berm or whatever. (I may have the details wrong, I need to read that book again soon!)

The "Speed Secrets" series of books are equally interesting for those into car racing.

[b0ardski]

If you read any high-level sports psychology books, they all seem to point to that same goal of having the subconscious do the fine motor control and your active brain thinking/strategizing about the big picture. I recall something about how the subconscious was dramatically faster at information processing than the conscious.

the program explained an experiment done with a subject in an MRI doing real time brain scan; the conscious mind took a full second to decide on the stimulus to react to and a tiny fraction of that for motor control to push the button.

muscle memory is a fabulous thing and it's establishment can be enhanced/accelerated through various methods.

[Steve Prokopiw]

I'm not an engineer but I am results based when it comes to learning an activity.I find that the more I concentrate on movement patterns and fundamentals in the early stages of my own learning, the better my future results. I coach my 8 year old's wrestling team and I find that it works similarly with him and his team mates when it comes to tournament time-the tactics are more instinctual when the kids have made practiced movements into tools for getting the job done.

[big mario]

I have had a few series of runs this season on pitches that of have given me a few challenges in the past, where "time" has seemed to have slowed down, every move has felt entirely instinctual, never once feeling like I was going to lose it or blow out. During these runs I had such a sense of clarity as to what needed to happen next, and when to apply, it was the first time I had achieved that feeling of "oneness" on a carving stick. It was pretty awesome. I have been there many times on mountain bikes, but this is the first for me on snow

mario

[softbootsurfer]

to Ride between the Earth and the Sky...