How Ice Skating Can Help You in Life

I went ice skating today. I haven't done it for 14 years :) So, of course, thoughts like "What if I fall down and break something?" did enter my mind. The fear of "falling out" of your normal daily life for weeks with a broken arm/leg is much stronger when you are 33 than when you are 19. Especially if you are not a very good skater.

However, I am now entering this stage in my life where I learn how to be more positive and easy-going, how to take everything easier, how to trust God, the Universe and my inner Self and how to accept my unique life path. I am like a child again, a happy child that is curious, that has an open heart, that wants to try everything new. So I was more curious and happy to try ice skating again than I was anxious about hurting myself while doing it.

So I went to our local ice rink with my aunt, my sister and her two children, my niece and nephew.

At the beginning I was a bit clumsy but after an hour on the rink I grew in confidence and was able to get to a higher speed. And here is what I noticed (lately I've been noticing a lot of parallels in life).

When you are new on the rink, you are not confident in what you are doing. Of course, after a bit of practice you get the trick: bend your knees slightly and keep your body leaned slightly forward if you don't want to fall. However, many people just stop at the stage "I don't want to fall." Those people have that kind of a mind that is too controlling. Such mind keeps their body too tense by throwing in thoughts like, "Be alert, or you will fall down!", "Watch out! There are so many people here, make sure you don't hit anyone!", "Don't ride too fast", etc. I felt that too, I caught my mind doing that and I noticed how such thoughts or signals from my mind kept my muscles in too much tonus, which made my movements stiff and clumsy. Yes, I was moving forward, but too slowly because my only purpose was to escape the fall.

Then I remembered how I have been learning to relax and trust. So I let it go and relaxed. Those were the same movements. The technique didn't change. It's quite simple. Just bend your knees and lean forward. But suddenly I was moving easily and freely. I have never felt that confident on skates before. They became the continuation of my legs. I was able to gain speed. This was the moment when I actually started enjoying it.

Of course, I wasn't in this state of mind for the whole hour that I was on the rink. The mind of a 33-year-old is more controlling and anxious than the mind of a 6-year-old. That is why those people who learned how to skate early in life become good skaters. When you are a kid, you are more able to trust.

Going back to the parallels between ice/figure skating and daily life. You can live your life every day trying to "escape the fall". Then you will never gain speed. You will remain at your current level. Whatever it is: work/business, relationships, self-realization, etc. However, when you let it go and keep doing what you are doing every day in an easy-going way, trusting life, God, and the unique guidance that everyone of us is provided, you get much more than you expected and everything works out even better than your mind is able to predict.

Does letting go mean you will never fall? Of course, not. No one is proof against falls, even those who try so hard to be safe and escape them. I would even say they are the least proof ones. But it's much easier and more enjoyable to move through the ice rink of your life when you are relaxed and when you accept everything that happens to you.

That is what I have been learning to do lately. To keep my mind calm and relaxed. To let "the stream" take me.

I am not undermining the job of the mind. It plays an important role doing analysis, synthesis and strategy building. It is our super-computer. But after the necessary information has been analysed, the method synthesized and the strategy built, you need to be able to say to your mind "Цыц!" (a Russian word of restrain :)) and let God operate through you, with your hands, by letting go in a complete state of trust.

Going back to skating, I really enjoyed the process itself and would really love to practice more. I love the feeling that my body is experiencing when I am on skates. I am learning how to coordinate my body better. I am quite tall and I'm even taller on skates, which felt unusual at first and made my mind even more agitated and afraid of falling down from such a height. However, I like the fact that skating is God's other way of telling me to accept my body. Who knows, maybe I will start taking skating lessons one day and make it my new hobby :)