I think I know what you mean, I experience something like this too. I’ll be for example approaching a jump and about to do a trick that’s still a bit new and maybe scary for me (like my new step in front flip the other day). On my approach, I’m thinking about what I will do. Then as it’s happening, there are no thoughts. My mind is just blank and my body is doing the thing. And then once I land my brain turns back on and is like “whoa, I did it!”, or “shit that didn’t work”. The problem with this when it doesn’t work is that I sometimes can’t tell what went wrong, because my brain went blank in the middle. But like you wrote, luckily it usually works 😉 I wonder if this is some kind of cognitive phenomenon where the body knows you’re nervous and insecure about the thing, so it quiets the mind so that it can take over and execute the thing it knows that it knows how to do. Thats just my theory. Does that make sense?

Hey so first of all, nice bindings 😉 I just got the same ones for my new skis. This actually looks quite good, especially in the second one you nearly get the backside 2 all the way around. One little thing that I think would help you is to pop on and off the tube. Right now you just kind of “step” onto it. You can see that here, where the back foot makes contact just before the front (see first pic). It works fine on a feature with no step up, but if you would pop on it gets you active and ready to also pop off at the end. That little bit of explosiveness at the end would get you the height and second of extra time to get it all the way around. Right now you just kind of step off (2nd and 3rd pic). So pop on and off, that’s what I’d focus on. What do you think @Lukas Mikula ?

@Ian Connelly that reminds me, I also desperately need to work on my unnat jibbing. I think Ive done 2 unnat slides all season 🫣

Hey Maurie, so cool that you’re here and a fellow mom in the park 😎 your kids probably think you’re a rockstar. I’m thinking about your box conundrum. I can share a tip I was given early on for getting that feeling of popping 90 onto the box. You stand in the middle of the box 50/50 with skis on, not moving, then do your pop to 90. This would have to be a flat box, so you’re not slipping down it while trying. So you’re stationary on the box during all this. If you’re good with popping to 90 on snow, you should be able to do this pretty easily. I think if you can do that a few times and get used to it’ll be enough to trick whatever little fear center in your brain is currently holding you back 🧠 then you can start approaching with slow speed and popping the 90 onto it. If you can, take a few clips of your attempts, either doing my tip or how you’re doing it now or better yet, both. Then we can go directly to the source 🕵

Ha. The early-midlife freestyle ski crisis indeed seems to be a thing 😂 very cool, glad you’re here!