Consciousness

In order to move efficiently and respond to the demands of skiing, we orient our consciousness partly to our body and partly to our mind. The physician and psychotherapist Alexander Lowen mentioned that this duality is limited only to the conscious because below the level of consciousness we are neither a thinking mind nor a living body but a unit.

Due to its extensiveness, the concept of consciousness cannot be defined in a single way. Some definitions are:

• Mental activity of a person which allows to feel present in a given environment.
• Clear and reflective knowledge of the surrounding reality.
• Moral sense or knowledge to evaluate one’s own and others’ acts.

Other definitions:

• According to Brentano, consciousness implies intentionality, that is, it is always consciousness of something.
• As indicated by Bianchi, conscience alludes to the capture of internal and external changes that occur in the person-environment interaction in order to apply the necessary adjustments to his responses, this being a function of his psychic life.
• Revonsuo maintains that consciousness is a present continuum that connects, moment to moment, the subjective experiences forming a tendency, a kind of behavioral flow in our existence.
• According to Peterfreund, consciousness is the set of sensations, feelings, impulses, and fantasies that are difficult to quantify or even verbalize.

We are able to act according to this duality because there is no thinking without a feeling, a sensation, or an emotion. In certain intense skiing emotional situations, we feel that our self-esteem is confronted, then we tend to act under a certain form of unconsciousness in that the emotion dominates us and takes away the awareness of the real situation.

Awareness of reality is the instrument by which we can modify our behavior. Moral awareness appears when we realize that we intend to do or have done something we should not have done. This type of conscience is linked to our supra-individual needs in terms of respect for norms, consideration of ethical demands, justice, and the recognition of right and wrong.

Levels of Consciousness

Sigmund Freud, with his classification of unconscious, preconscious and conscious, and William James with the physical, the mental, and the spiritual, have been the precursors of the notion of levels of consciousness. Another model determines the focus of attention towards the external (consciousness) and towards the internal (self-consciousness).

Currently, there are classifications that describe different levels. One of them is the distinction between unconsciousness, consciousness, self-consciousness, and meta-self-consciousness.

• In a state of unconsciousness, we are not aware of what is happening and cannot respond normally as, for example, in fainting, in a coma, or in general anesthesia.
• At the level of consciousness, we focus attention on the environment and spend a great deal of time in a conscious state interacting with environmental stimuli without necessarily supervising these operations.
• At the lowest level there is activation of consciousness, in which the organism proceeds through simple basic manifestations. Then follows sensorimotor consciousness under the modality of analysing and processing sensory information to generate complex motor responses. Primary consciousness would be the highest level of consciousness, while peripheral consciousness remains at the limit of primary consciousness. Reflective consciousness is that in which thoughts about our own experiences are generated.
• Self-consciousness, or self-awareness, is the ability to pay attention or focus on ourselves. In this state become aware of our own existence, our sensations, thoughts, and feelings. We become a self-reflective observer by processing information not about the environment but about our own mental, sensory, and motor functioning.
• The maximum level would be meta-self-awareness, i.e., beyond self-awareness. Here we would become aware of our self-consciousness as a form of extended consciousness in which we represent our own past and the anticipation of the future.

On-Slope Examples of Skiing Consciousness

CONCEPT NAME	ACADEMIC CORE	“ON-SLOPE” EXAMPLE
Consciousness (Intentionality)	The psychological reality that mental focus is never passive; it is always directed intentionally toward a specific object, target, or internal sensation.	• A racer stands in the starting gate, completely blocking out the wind and crowd noise because their mind is single-mindedly locked onto the first blue gate.
Consciousness (Person-Environment Interaction)	The psychological capacity to capture rapid internal and external changes to dynamically adjust motor responses to the environment.	• A skier flying down a fast groomer feels the snow surface instantly change from soft powder to hardpack ice and immediately tilts their ankles to hold grip.
Consciousness (Present Continuum)	A moment-to-moment subjective stream of linked experiences that forms a continuous, fluid behavioral flow during an activity.	• A skier enters a continuous rhythm, effortlessly linking twenty consecutive parallel turns down a long boulevard in a perfect, uninterrupted state of flow.
Consciousness (Set of Sensations)	The complex, multi-layered collection of internal feelings, motor impulses, and imagery that is highly difficult to quantify or verbally explain.	• An advanced skier finishes an incredible powder run through tight trees, feeling a deep, non-verbal sense of weightless floating and excitement.
Unconsciousness (Emotion-Dominated)	An intense psychological state where sudden, overwhelming emotion completely blinds the skier to the objective reality of the situation.	• A skier panics at the steep lip of a black diamond run, freezes completely, and begins crying, entirely unable to see the wide escape route to their right.
Moral Awareness	The activation of an internal ethical compass and consideration of norms regarding safety, justice, and respect for others on the mountain.	• A fast skier prepares to blast down a narrow, crowded beginner trail but restrains themselves out of respect for the vulnerable learners below.
Activation of Consciousness	The lowest, most primitive level of alertness where the central nervous system processes basic, automated survival functions.	• A completely exhausted skier pattern-glides down an easy green trail at 4:00 PM, barely tracking their surroundings but maintaining basic upright balance.
Sensorimotor Consciousness	The active cognitive layer that analyzes incoming sensory data to orchestrate complex, highly coordinated physical movements.	• A mogul skier actively processes the visual size of a bump while simultaneously feeling the structural pressure building against their boot cuffs.
Primary Consciousness	The peak operational state of real-time environmental engagement where a skier interacts fluidly with external stimuli without needing to supervise body mechanics.	• An elite racer tears through a high-speed giant slalom course, completely focused on the racing line, ice textures, and gates while their body carves automatically.
Reflective Consciousness	The cognitive state where a skier generates deliberate, analytical thoughts about their own immediate past experiences and movements.	• Standing at the bottom of a steep pitch, a skier analyzes their performance: “I skidded those turns because my upper body rotated too early.”
Self-Consciousness (Self-Awareness)	Shifting focus completely away from the external environment to become a self-reflective observer of one’s own internal sensations, thoughts, and body alignment.	• A skier glides down a flat cat-track, entirely tuning out the scenery to check their internal muscle tension, core engagement, and breathing rate.
Meta-Self-Awareness	The maximum cognitive level where a skier stands outside themselve, reflecting on their own self-awareness across past experiences and future goals.	• A veteran skier stands at a peak, reflecting on how their past fear of steep terrain has transformed over years of training, planning how to conquer the face ahead.