Welcome,
Coriana, to the fest! And the forum. We are honoured that you chose to post here first. I hope you enjoy Worlds thoroughly. Don't stress. It's up to the skaters to bring it at the right time. However, please do send some love and white light to Patrick when he comes on, and to the ice as well.
I believe that Patrick troughed at GPF and is rising now, hopefully all the way to peak at Sochi. I've long been interested in cycles of all sorts and am on to figure skating cycles, at least those for the skaters. It seems there are turning points which are peaks for some and throughs for others. E.g. Patrick and Daisuke seem to be on the opposite cycles. Early 2010 was the high for Daisuke but a low for Patrick. Then Patrick peaked at/around 2011 Worlds where Dai troughed. I believed late 2012 was another turning point when Dai Peaked and Patrick troughed. I posted the possibilities early this season with prediction of directions for some skaters pre and post GPF and will keep an eye on how things will work out.
I'm with Patrick about psychologists. Just had a discussion with some friends on psychologists and psychotherapies which focus so much on the past and the causes so they go on for years, turning into an addiction instead of a solution! Staying in the moment really is the key, as well as a high, also known as Satori, a moment of mindlessness and extreme clarity, a God moment. Very dangerous sports such as skiing, cliff climbing, and racing are thrilling because of the high induced by the total focus demanded as it could be a matter of life or death/disaster. I find it quite easy to focus with interactive sports because immediate reactions are constantly required. It has got to be very difficult and challenging to have that total focus, aka being in the zone, required for peak performance in figure skating competition. Most people try to master discipline, but of actions (e.g. training) and not of the mind which is much more significant and impactful. But staying in the now/moment is a very desirable state for everyday living and I imagine such practice would be extremely beneficial to a competitive skater. The mind is a tool we use about 10% of the time, and the rest of the time it takes over to have us living in the past or the future with repetitive useless or even negative thoughts. It is best to use only the working mind and put the egoic aka monkey mind in the tool drawer the rest of the time. And
Patrick, no negative thoughts at bedtime! Only your greatest dreams please!
Spiky, I'm with you about Kozuka.
Here is to Hat Trick For Patrick at London Worlds and Patrick In The Zone at Sochi Olympics!
(Sorry) I hope Patrick will be a little bit more relaxed at worlds
