Is posture before our perception or perception before our skiing posture? If we apply the Gestalt theory, we should perceive a sense of verticality to control our postural action, which is defined as perceiving before acting. In this setup, the action of adopting a certain posture comes from the perception of it.
Instead, if the Behavioral theory is applied, we should first keep our posture to perceive verticality, based on the criterion that acting is previous to perceiving. In this case, we would accept that our posture is controlled by actions that determine the perception of it. Gibson (1952) suggests that both proposals relate to each other.
In skiing posture perception, we generally use two kinds of references: the visual perception independent references, based mainly on kinesthetic information, and the visual perception dependent references, adopted usually by skiers with less psychomotor control. In postural re-education, visual perception dependent skiers will need visual references to improve their skiing posture, like setting body or external reference points, while skiers depending on kinesthetic perception use postural references based on sensations of body position.
Factors that influence skiing posture perception
Our perception guides our skiing postural activity and this allows, in turn, the development of perception; in other words, perception stabilizes our skiing posture and posture stabilizes our perception.
Adopting a certain skiing posture depends on our perception of verticality. Gravity affects our perception of postural verticality: we perceive it not just towards the center of the earth but also down the slope.
The effects of friction changes due to snow texture influence our plantar information and our posture perception. In these situations, we should compare the desired posture with the perceived posture and correct the difference.
Modification of skiing posture perception
The expert skier has assimilated postural perception on inclined surfaces, but the beginner will need to adjust his gravitational reference from a horizontal surface, which he is used to, to an inclined one. As his body schema is prepared for an upright posture on horizontal ground, the beginner skier must modify his postural perception adapting it to an inclined surface. While posture perpendicularity in relation to the base of support is maintained, he must orient his perception to the new oblique reference.
Postural perception and attitude
Posture and attitude are directly linked to skiing. Attitude is the significant body behavior, i.e., we externalize our attention and emotional reaction from posture. It is the requirement to adopt a required posture to deal with skiing activity. We relate to the environment through our postural attitude and this reveals our bodily predisposition towards a particular situation. Our posture shapes our body; orienting, directing and organizing it. Rigidity in attitude hinders changing to a new posture.
Skiing posture not only represents body positioning; it also represents our mental and emotional state in a given situation. Then, postural attitude makes reference to our human body posture, especially when it is determined by motivation, confidence, and intention.
Posture also delivers attitude towards skiing, showing our motor limitation or potential, depending on our postural attitude to prepare for action, and our willingness to receive a stimulus that still did not arrive. Not only we need a postural function to face the slope; we also require a certain attitude or mood that prepares and holds skiing posture, this is why our skiing attitude is linked to our skiing posture, being both interdependent.
The lack of functional attitude and certain circumstances impeding posture restricts our skiing. Focusing attention on our actions is expressed in postural attitude, as for the internal predisposition (attitude) reflects the external (posture).
Skiing postural attitude not only orients and directs our motor activity; it also does with our perceptual, mental and emotional aspects. To attitude and posture, it also relates gesture, which is the manifestation of attitude. Attitude, posture and technical gestures make up our body activity.
According to Feldenkrais (1992), the combination of action and posture is transformed into acture (active posture). This author proposes that to execute an action, some peculiarities in acture are needed as free breathing, lack of effort, the absence of resistance and reversibility (possibility to modify it).
Posture and imposture
Imposture is a simulation with the appearance of reality and when we confuse posture with imposture, our mistakes begin. We learn to feel comfortable in our discomfort trying, with a will, to place our body in a fixed position rather than just assume the intended skiing posture.
This deficiency is very common, coming from inadequate postural habits, and from a triple body blockage: muscular, respiratory and perceptive. It produces the alignment alteration of different body parts, which leads to increase muscle tension and decrease performance. At this level, we perceive our skiing imposture as a fragmented body, needing a model to emulate in order to unify our body parts and find the posture we lack.
Skiing imposture is considered a restrictive movements’ position, which we accept as normal, feeling it uncomfortable but believing it is suitable We perceive a posture ‘sensation’ since this is the objective of imposture, but it is not appropriate since it inhibits the normal action execution.
At the beginning we have an awkward impression of it and if not corrected, we begin to believe that it is proper and we end adapting by learning to tolerate it. To modify it, we need to be conscious that there is something that is not working but we do not know what it is or how to correct it.
Skiing imposture is easily observable in the beginner skier because it develops in the learning period in which he does not have yet defined the technique for postural control.
