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3/28/2024 1 Comment

The Best Balance Tips for Skaters

PictureFigure skater showing good balance, smiling and looking happy in a catch spiral
 Improving our balance isn’t reserved for the ice or off-ice conditioning.

In fact, everything in the universe is about balance--

the scales of justice
our ecosystem
education
the human body
relationships

Balance is not about staying in one static state.. it’s a gentle moving back and forth between different sides.  Like the pendulum action of the free leg on the American Waltz!


​
Some systems and people can withstand some pretty wild extremes on either side of center… and others are a little more delicate.


And most of the time, the level of extremes that we can withstand as humans changes over time, due to age, health, and outside factors.

World champion Deanna Stellato-Dudek is able to withstand the intense training of elite pairs skating because she dedicates several hours a day to conditioning AND recovery. The injury and burnout that forced her out of the sport years ago were a result of major imbalance in her training and life. 

Very few things push the actual limits of our physical balance as much as skating.

But what about the balance of our internal systems?
Of our minds and our spirits?

The 8 limbs of yoga are a practice dedicated to observing and finding that balance.

The first two limbs - the yamas and the niyamas - include different mindsets and habits that, when integrated and balanced, lead us on the path to a happy life.

Practicing them takes time and awareness.

The rest of the limbs are physical and mental practices that help us slow down and observe our habits.
They help us practice and integrate the yamas and niyamas, so we can reach that blissful, balanced state of ease.

So we can flow into to the blissful zone on and off the ice.

​
In the Skating Yogi Membership we practice the 8 limbs, learning to balance the yamas and niyamas. Join the waiting list today. 

1 Comment
Richard Myers link
9/10/2024 04:24:37 am

Don't forget about the 3 axis' that keep you balanced while you are on the ice. the direction that you are falling towards is the one with too much weight on that side!

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    Author // the skating yogi

    My name is Sarah Neal. I have been immersed in the world of figure skating for over four decades. I have seen firsthand the abuse that happens at the higher levels of our sport and experienced how that trickles down into unhealthy training practices and habits at the grassroots. I have seen this play out in the operations of the very institutions that control our sport.  Whether for a profession or hobby, pursuing skating should be a joyful, rewarding process, an opportunity for athletic and personal growth, and a place to build lasting friendships. 

    Following the framework of Patanjali's 8 limbs of yoga and my unique application of the 8 limbs to the skating journey, I help skating folks of all ages learn to train smarter, skate better, and enjoy the process. The Skating Yogi offers space and support to help you, through yoga, release harmful conditioned beliefs and habits to let a new path unfold, leading you to true connection and contentment.  Ditch the comparisons and begin to connect with your true self and to a new kind of skating journey.

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