ZEN AND THE ART OF SNOWRIDING
There are so many Zen and the Art of --- (Whatever)'s that the phrase itself has become a cliche. But extreme ski legend Kristen Ulmer's "Ski to Live" camps do put the art...and the Zen...into skiing and snowboarding.
Ulmer's four-day workshops, called "Ski To Live," are held at Utah resorts Alta, Park City Mountain Resort and Snowbird. The camps feature both Ulmer and famous western Zen Master, Genpo Roshi, whose "Big Mind" concept is renowned as a method of educating Westerners about Zen. Zen and snowriding? Participants rave; all insist that the combo works wonders.
Ulmer says about the experiential workshops, "This is completely not religious. It's not about Buddhism. But (both) people who are religious and people who are atheists can come to this and have a very moving and powerful experience."
Ski To Live is a strange path for Ulmer, who was considered the best woman extreme skier in the world for more than a decade. But she explains, "I felt I had learned absolutely nothing from my years as a skier. I hadn't learned anything useful. But I knew there was more of the sport that could be useful."
Though Ulmer was holding skiing clinics, she knew that teaching just technique was not all she wanted to accomplish. She wanted to begin teaching the spiritual side of skiing. And so, long before "The Secret," she acted on those principals.
"I put it out there that I needed to find a person to teach these clinics that I put together, and someone suggested Genpo Roshi, but they said, "You'll never get him, he's too big." But I called him up and he just happened to be available and said he wanted to do it."
The two put together the Ski To Live concept, which now also includes sports like climbing and snowboarding. The concept itself is growing exponentially. It's almost like Zen as fast food, but more nutritious.
"You're not going to be like a person who's spent 30 years in a monastery, but you will have gotten an understanding of those 30 years," Ulmer says. She describes it as receiving the realizations and clarity of someone who has spent decades studying Zen, but it's only a map. The receiver must explore the actual terrain of that map to expand the understanding.
Of course, it is a ski clinic, so there are coaches who teach the skiing (or snowboarding or climbing) part. Ulmer can boast of top names like Scott Schmidt, Kent Kreitler and other professional skiers who have coached at her clinic---as volunteers.
The goal, according to Ulmer, is to use skiing along with Roshi's wisdom, to educate participants about Zen.
"Keep in mind, Genpo is the first person who has changed the way Zen has been taught in 2,600 years," says Ulmer, who insists the workshops are far from any concept like "The Secret." She says, "The Secret is very heavily new age, where this is 2,600 years of ancient wisdom."
Three Ski To Live workshops are scheduled for 2008, all in Utah. The first is at Snowbird, January 3-6, the next is at Park City Mountain Resort, February 28 - March 2, and the third is at Alta, April 3-6. For more info, visit skitolive.com, or email Kristen at: kristen.ulmer@gmail.com