Inner Skiing by W. Timothy Gallwey

Author:W. Timothy Gallwey [Gallwey, W. Timothy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-75886-6
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2010-07-14T04:00:00+00:00

FEAR OF FEAR

Often when a skier is caught in Fear 1 he is so acutely conscious of his terror that it is difficult for him to focus attention on the slope. When the physiological symptoms of fear are overpowering, the skier often begins to be frightened of the fear itself: I know I can never ski a hill like this when I’m so petrified. At times like this, illusion can be decreased by focusing on the symptoms of the fear.

A good example of the power of such awareness occurred during a program Tim and I were giving to a group of three hundred skiers. Wanting to make his point by example, Tim asked how many people would be afraid to come up on stage and face the audience. About a hundred people raised their hands. Then he asked, “Of those who would be afraid to come up, how many would do it anyway, if I requested it?” About two-thirds raised their hands. “Of those who feel they are too terrified to come up here, is there one or two who’d be willing to do it for the sake of an experiment?” Tim asked. One hesitating hand was raised, and Tim encouraged a young, slightly overweight woman to come forward. Once onstage she didn’t face the audience, but stood sideways looking toward Tim, who asked her name and how she was feeling. “Barbara, and I’m scared to death!” she replied while blushing and giggling.

“Of what?” Tim asked.

“I don’t know—all I know is I’m petrified.” She was obviously more conscious of her fear than of the audience.

Tim asked, “How do you know you are afraid?”

Barbara looked surprised. “Because I feel it.”

“Where are these feelings located in your body?”

“Well, my heart is pounding and my face is hot, but mostly I can feel my knees trembling.”

“Are your knees shaking right now?” Tim asked.

“Yes.”

“Does it hurt?”

“No, but I wish they’d calm down a bit.”

“If shaking as much as they possibly could were measured as ten and not shaking at all was zero, how much are your knees shaking?”

“About nine,” Barbara replied, but by now her voice was considerably more calm.

Tim asked if her heart was still pounding as hard and her face still as hot, then told her to focus her attention on her knees again.

“Huh, they’re down to about five,” said Barbara with surprise.

“All right,” said Tim, “let’s see what happens when you look out at the audience.”

Barbara turned and stared blankly at the sea of faces. “Wow, the knees just shot back up to ten.”

“Just keep looking out there and at the same time pay attention to your knees,” Tim suggested.

Soon Barbara’s knees were only at four or five, even though she was facing the audience.

“Where is the easiest place to look?” Tim asked.

Barbara stared at the back of the hall and reported that her knees were only at two. Then Tim asked her how far she could bring her eyes toward the front of the hall without an increase in the shaking.

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