When we begin to feel more, it’s a lot to take in. It helps to know what to expect, though every athlete differs.
Look at how you feel at a busy skate park, and when skating alone. 
Our most honest athletes have said, “I don’t feel anything” when asked simple questions. Realizing this is a huge step. Feeling light and tall doesn’t happen overnight, unless a skilled coach is present.
“Feeling nothing” is where modern humans are at. Most shoes prevent you from feeling the Earth. When you feel the Earth more, boardfeel improves.
Ask any bodyworker, most people can’t say what they feel in the body. Pain is difficult to locate, and can move to different areas day to day. With back issues(we all have them) pain shows in any and all corners of the body.
Pain is one way our body speaks, and we learned at a young age to ignore it. The easiest way to ignore it is to keep moving. Our body feels pain and movement in the same neural pathways. If we keep moving, the pain doesn’t register. When top fighters are punched in the face, they know to keep fighting. They feel no consequence to the shot in the moment, but there are consequences to getting haymakered in the face. 
Emotions in the Body
- Enjoyment
- Lightheartedness
- Fear
- Mistrust
- Trust
- Confidence
- Openess
It’s a journey to bring back the freedom we felt as a kid. After some bodycare, we often find fear under the surface. We judge ourselves for being afraid, and feel guilty and shame. Fear is the last thing we’d like to feel. Don’t worry, just take 3 long outbreaths. This shifts fear towards safety.
Fear is our brain perceiving a threat. Our brain is not wired for shredding, but for safety. There may be no real threat from an ollie up a curb, but our brain can make it a life and death matter. Slowing our outbreaths lets our brain know we are safe. We can feel that safety throughout the body, or in the ankle.
Many of us were traumatized by an ankle injury. To a body worker helping the ankle, it feels cold and stiff. “Old and cold injuries” are everywhere these days, and athletes often feel nothing. We train to feel alive, leg alignment, bounce, and confidence.
The body holds our emotions. People value feeling emotions, but cherry pick. When an unwanted emotion rises, we’ll do anything to not feel. The goal is not to feel what we want. The goal is to feel all the textures of the road.