"It feels like flying!" Olympic figure skater, Michelle Kwan, said in an interview, and watching her joyful, mesmerizing dance across the ice, I could believe it. It was so inspiring that I signed up for figure skating lessons. I have been skating for three years now, and as I slowly make progress in my skating skills, I am finding that beyond being a fulfilling and beautiful sport figure skating is also a wonderful life metaphor. It melts away many illusions to reveal that my attitude, approach, fears, insecurities, and strengths on ice are much the same as those off-ice in my day-to-day life. Consider the following concepts:

Balance

Balance is essential both in figure skating and in life. Figure skating requires attempting to find that delicate equilibrium between art and sport, between muscle memory and mental understanding, between pushing your comfort level and over-training, between slacking and taking things too seriously, and between timidity and recklessness.

The Sweet Spot

One of the most beautiful and recognizable figure skating moves is the spin. In this move, the skater twirls seemingly effortlessly on the ball of one foot. Really, it’s not that easy. The skater must be perfectly centered to have a good spin. One must also find that "sweet spot" on the blade, just behind the toe pick, in order to spin smoothly. In life, I think we’re all searching for that "sweet spot" where we finally feel centered as individuals.

Edges

The blade of a figure skate has two edges (inside and outside) with a hollow down the center. Figure skating requires leaning into these edges and to change directions, one must maneuver from one edge to the other. I think edge control is one of the most difficult aspects of skating, but learning control also means finding freedom. The same can be said of life.

Fear and Courage

The blade of a figure skate is only a few millimeters wide, and fear can be the most daunting obstacle of all. I admittedly have a great fear of falling. As in life, fear in my mind is often larger than the actual danger. I am always trying to work through fear to face challenge with courage.

Flexibility and Muscle Tension

In life and in figure skating, preparation is essential. In skating, this means warming up and stretching so that your muscles are flexible. However, skating moves also require muscle tension and sometimes pulling in tightly or holding a position against the forces of physics. In life, we must be both flexible enough to face the unexpected and strong enough to stay true to ourselves no matter what is pulling.

Ironically, as I write this, I am sitting at home nursing a sprained knee. Sometimes you mess up. Sometimes stuff just happens. So here I am, waiting and healing and raring to get back on the ice. There’s something exhilarating, intoxicating even, about the brisk air at the rink, the white sheet of glistening ice underfoot, and the quiet sound of skates cutting into the ice. I miss it. Every practice session is a tiny leap of faith toward that feeling of flying. It’s always a few steps forward and a few slips backward, feeling up and down, failing and succeeding, trying and trying some more. It’s all a dance.

But then again, so is life.

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