Conversation with Fear

[snow addict]

I personally struggled to finish this book and was relieved when I finally did (I hate giving up reading books that I started) but I know many Divas liked it so if anyone is interested the book is back on sale at Amazon.com for around $16.

 

[marzNC]

I have a feeling few people understood from the title of the thread that you were talking about the book that used to be titled the "Yikes Zone" by Mermer Blakeslee.

I got it as an iBook a few months ago. Started it but haven't finished it yet. What I read was interesting, but it didn't pull me in. Perhaps because I learned to ski when young so fear has not been much of an issue for me.

What made it difficult for you to finish the book?

 

[BackCountryGirl]

I had the same response to the book as Snow Addict. I felt it was terribly disjointed -- a bunch of quips and observations strung together in a really rambling way. I remember thinking, while reading it, that I wouldn't remember any of what I read after I put it down. And, I didn't.

 

[Little Lightning]

I've had the book since it came out. I couldn't put it down. I cried all the way through it. It was helpful to know that, for whatever reason, others have unexplainable fear too.

Maybe you have to go through some really fearful moments to appreciate the book.

 

[Pequenita]

I haven't read the book. But my guess is that how you receive the book probably depends on your personal experience/history/makeup. Heck, whether we actually like each other in person is based on that, too.

It's always nice to find others with whom you resonate.

 

[abc]

I haven't even been tempted to give the book a try.

Fear isn't something that bothers me. Every time I feel fear, it's always associated with some real danger. So I tend to listen to it (and back off).

Overcoming irrational fear isn't something I ever remember having to deal with.

 

[liquidfeet]

I loved the book. I don't have issues with fear when skiing, but read it some years ago to understand others who do. As an instructor, I deal with fearful/overly cautious people often, and so I need to understand where they are coming from and how to help them get past the panic that so cripples them as they strive to become better skiers. The book was excellent for this purpose. I couldn't put it down. Not sure, but I suspect both of these books are the same thing.

 

[vickie]

I bought the book, read the book, and gave it away, saying, "I had a hard time reading it, but I think it might be good for instructors as it may provide them with tips on how to help students".

I also felt it was disjointed. But I saw some information I knew I should retain, so I wrote that down. The first thing that disturbed me was the back-and-forth between the two versions of oneself. I thought that was what I didn't like. But the next book I read was Inner Skiing where, lo and behold, the author talks about Self1 and Self2. I cringed! In the end, not only did I like Inner Skiing, but I kept it for rereading. So it was apparently not the Self1 and Self2 that bothered me so much.

 

[liquidfeet]

It seemed to me that MerMer's book was an updated version of Inner Skiing. I went through the romance with eastern mysticism back in the 70s when I was young and find it a bit swimmy headed now. That stuff runs through Inner Skiing. It's even stronger in The Centered Skier, which came out the same year if I'm not mistaken (1979 I think).

However, I did love Inner Skiing. I just liked Yikes Zone better. It's odd how so many people here don't like MerMer's book. Could it be because the women on this forum have worked hard to distance themselves from the familiar stereotype of the fear-stricken woman skier and don't want to come anywhere near it ever again?

 

[vickie]

It's odd how so many people here don't like MerMer's book. Could it be because the women on this forum have worked hard to distance themselves from the familiar stereotype of the fear-stricken woman skier and don't want to come anywhere near it ever again?

wow

 

[abc]

It's odd how so many people here don't like MerMer's book. Could it be because the women on this forum have worked hard to distance themselves from the familiar stereotype of the fear-stricken woman skier and don't want to come anywhere near it ever again?

"Odd"?

"Come near it again"?

There's nothing to say women must be naturally fearful.

So for many of us, there's nothing to "come near", nor distance from.

 

[marzNC]

Not sure, but I suspect both of these books are the same thing.

Yep, same book. Seems like the idea was to reach a broader audience for the second edition published as a paperback in 2010 by just using the subtitle. Yikes! Zone was published in 2002 as a hardback.

 

[marzNC]

It seemed to me that MerMer's book was an updated version of Inner Skiing. . . .

The book "Inner Skiing" that I found on Amazon is by a man who had written a series of of Inner Games books, came out in 1997. Doesn't seem connected to Mermer's book.

 

[marzNC]

While I don't have fears related to skiing, I could related to Mermer's thoughts and examples of irrational fear based on other life experiences. Although I'm not a ski instructor, I'm interested in understanding more about how women think who do ski through their fear. I've skied a few times with women who learned to ski as adults. They clearly were both having fun skiing but had major fear issues at the same time. On a ski club trip to SLC, had the experience of not being able to convince one woman that she really could get down a slightly steep blue while I did get the other one to finish the trail. The first walked down. At the time, it didn't make much sense to go a one week ski trip out west and then only ski green runs.

 

[marzNC]

There was a discussion of fear that included the Yikes! Zone a while back.

https://www.theskidiva.com/forums/index.php?threads/does-fear-betray-you.11544/

 

[liquidfeet]

The book "Inner Skiing" that I found on Amazon is by a man who had written a series of of Inner Games books, came out in 1997. Doesn't seem connected to Mermer's book.

Right. Not technically connected. But in my mind yes, connected; I read all three books the same summer, in rapid succession.

 

[liquidfeet]

"Odd"?

"Come near it again"?

There's nothing to say women must be naturally fearful.

So for many of us, there's nothing to "come near", nor distance from.

Of course there's nothing to say women must be naturally fearful. But the stereotype exists, and some of us try to distance ourselves from it. Perhaps you've never encountered this stereotype.

 

[abc]

Perhaps you've never encountered this stereotype.

No.

At least I wasn't aware of such stereotype, not as a women specific one that is.

As a skier, I'm well aware of unnecessary fear that gets in the way of skiing techniques. But I know men have it too. So I never associate it with women only.

 

[Olesya Chornoguz]

After reading this thread I started reading the "Conversation with fear" book. I really like it. I started skiing two years ago as an adult and fear is something I have to grapple with every time I ski. I really like some of the concepts the book offers on coping/making peace with fear.

 

[snow addict]

I have a feeling few people understood from the title of the thread that you were talking about the book that used to be titled the "Yikes Zone" by Mermer Blakeslee.

I got it as an iBook a few months ago. Started it but haven't finished it yet. What I read was interesting, but it didn't pull me in. Perhaps because I learned to ski when young so fear has not been much of an issue for me.

What made it difficult for you to finish the book?

Yep, this is the book. I just ommitted the first line I don't know. I started quite well, but I probably expected more from it, some breakthrougs, at some point I just started to find it little bit boring and not as practical as I thought it would be.