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Skiing Zen: Searching for the Spirituality of Sport

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Rick Phipps discovered the benefits of self-consciousness in Japan, in the thoroughness of its arts : pottery, calligraphy, tea ceremony, flower arts, poetry, martial arts, etc. In his book, "Skiing Zen. Searching for the Spirituality of Sport", he tells how Zen buddhism allowed him to improve his skiing skills, after he spent a season with the great Japanese ski champion Yuichiro Miura, the first skier to have skied down the Everest in 1970. Within his team, he learnt how to move softly, play with gravity and control his gestures. Above all he noticed that Japanese ski beginners are not given any detailed instructions : designed for the brain, they produce disruption when one needs to apply them. On the opposite, learning is made by watching champions and imitating their moves. The movement goes straight from the eyes to the body, without being rationally interpreted by the brain.
An essential reading for whoever wants to capture the essence of skiing.