Laurent (Lolo) Besse

Cameron: [00:00:00] Flow unleashed, unleashed, unleashed with the ever increasing pressure of competition. What are the biggest struggles for today's young athletes and how do we curate high performances year after year?
Welcome to Flow Unleashed. I'm Dr. Cameron Norsworthy, scientist and high performance coach to multiple world champions. In this show, we unpack key insights on specific topics so that you are kept up to date with the latest science and practice of human performance.
Imagine witnessing a young sport [00:01:00] evolve from. It's humble beginnings into one of the most elite and celebrated disciplines in the world. This transformation not only reveals the growth of the sport itself, but also offers profound insights into the journeys of the athletes who dedicate their lives to mastering it.
We've all stood on the edge of our own metaphorical cliffs, hesitant, uncertain, and held back by doubt. And how do we take the leap when trust is wavering, confidence is low, or our minds demand ideal conditions before moving forward. How do we embrace the thrill of the unknown and turn uncertainty into an opportunity for growth?
Our guest today, Laura, also known as Lolo Bei, has been at the heart of elite skiing and snowboarding for over 35 years. A former world-class [00:02:00] competitor, Lolo reached the pinnacle of snowboard cross securing two World Cup victories and earning the title of French National Champion three times. Now serving as the commissioner and head judge of the Free Ride World Tour.
Lolo has been instrumental in shaping the sport, developing the five criteria valuation system used globally, and earning the title of the Wise Man in Free Ride. In this conversation, we dive into the lessons learned from watching free ride skiing and snowboarding evolve from an art form into a sport, and Lolo shares his insights on performing at the highest level year after year.
Overcoming setbacks and rebuilding confidence after disappointments. And whether you are chasing your personal best or standing on your own cliff, join us as we unpack resilience, trust, and embracing the leap into the unknown
[00:03:00] flow unleashed. Welcome to the show, Laura. Hello. Hi Cam. How are you? Yeah, good. Really excited to chat to you today. I've always been fascinated in free sports because they've often been reported as an amazing way to find flow, and so I'm fascinated in your experience having been in the free ride world for so many years and seen it be.
As a hobby sport and see it grown in its professionalism and in its competitiveness. Over the years, how have you seen that increase in competitiveness for free ride skiing and snowboarding be both a positive and a and a negative?
Laurent: Well, so. Yeah, obviously the, I think the sport has grown massively. You can tell just by the element of riders nowadays, there's so much more licenses given to [00:04:00] kids all over the world.
New countries opening like some, some clubs and things like this. All those guys, they're pushing each other. They, they're going riding. Off slope, enjoy themself. Jumping off cliff, having some fun in the powder. And then obviously just by riding together without any competition and putting the competition on the side, they will al always push each other like, oh yeah, let's jump this five meters, six meters, 10 meter cliff, and then, oh, shall we throw a back flip from it?
Or things like this. And I think that's how the sports is constantly. Getting better. I think the rider is getting better because they're just pushing each each other just on day-to-day life. And then I think we see the results of that in the competition itself. So, which are like the qualifiers or the Fred War tour are the really poor level and that's where the top of the riders are, are meeting up and just show what they are capable of.[00:05:00]
Cameron: And have you seen that rise in professional competition? Help the art of free ride skiing.
Laurent: Yeah. I think it's, it's funny because we were gathering a few years ago, uh, some feedbacks from riders about the fiya. It was at the time where I. The merger between fro Walter and the FIS was about to happen, and systematically all the riders, they all said that the, the thing about the Fre Walter, what it gave them was this.
The fact that they had to push their own limits so much because watching another guys just dropping right in front of you in the same venue, exactly the same cliffs and stuff like this, and see what they were Ebola to do was pushing themself. It was pushing the next conent and then, um, everyone was [00:06:00] just saying, yeah, we without.
The pole level competition, they wouldn't have been able to become what they were as a fur rider because they wouldn't have pushed the limit as much as they did in competition.
Cameron: Yeah, I'd, I certainly know that with myself, even if I'm just going for a jog with someone else and then going for a jog in a competitive nature that pointy and becomes a little bit more pointy.
Laurent: Sometimes riders would have a big parallel between the film industry and what the riders are capable doing some filming. And you can see some huge things. And obviously they are amazing and sometimes they even look better because the conditions are absolutely perfect and it's a bit like in the surfing worlds.
And you'd have like the mental white waves and they are just like perfect tubes and, and those guys are taking barrels and they're just like, oh yeah, looks amazing. And then. The, when you have a competition, maybe the com, the [00:07:00] conditions themselves might not be 100% right, but the fact that you have all the roster to stack up best riders in the world, or best surfers in the world, or if you're doing a mountain and the best runners in the world taking part of it, then yeah, everyone is pushing each other to a level, which is.
Beyond what you would do just on your own or just with couple of friends filming or, or even like, yeah, just taking a jog on your own. If suddenly there is thousands of, of people at the start that that changed the whole thing.
Cameron: Yeah. It adds a greater sense, I guess, of importance and meaning I've only got one shot and I've gotta get it right.
That's an incredible motivator. Yeah. Well, what do you think the biggest. Changes you see in the younger athletes coming through from athletes 10 years ago or 20 years ago, or 30 years ago.
Laurent: Well, the, the changes, I think it's, it's the professionalism. They're [00:08:00] getting a lot more pro meaning they have a coach, they have probably a bit more money as well, so that it helps them to just gather some more people to surround them and to make the right choice if they, if there's choice to make.
But sometimes it's also about support and mental support, a dietician, um, make sure that yeah, you eat well and all those things will make a big difference. And the strength training, massive parts of it. I think nowadays you can see the difference in, in the size of those guys and girls and, and the, the element of training detecting off season and, and, and I think.
Yeah, it's, it's hard on your body what you, what you giving, doing for riding. So better to be, to build your structure, to have this sort of a body armor. And I think that's, that's what it's very important.
Cameron: Yeah. Critical to be able to stand up [00:09:00] to, it's what they're doing and day in and day out. Especially as I get older, I realize the importance of that underpinning strength and foundation to not getting in injured and so forth.
What? What do you think are the biggest challenges for the athletes nowadays?
Laurent: There's a lot to have to face, but I think it's, it's not getting too much into this professionalism and losing the passion. This, I think the passion of skiing, of snowboarding, of whatever you do in your life. I think it could be a sport, it could be an art, it could be your work.
You have to be driven by what's, what brought you to do that. And if you lose that and you're taking too much as a job, then I think you. Automatically, you're not gonna excel at it and you're gonna be stacked. And that's, I think, where it's super important to whatever you do at one point, maybe just take a setback and, and [00:10:00] go and have fun with your friends.
And, and I think that's, that's a, a major thing to realize because the competition now I is getting so big that you really have to enjoying it outside of the competition as well.
Cameron: How would you advise a rider to do that? Like we both work with these athletes and they're focused. They're driven and results all important and it's so easy to say, oh, just go out and enjoy, enjoy the moment.
And they're like, yeah, whatever. How do you, what advice would you give to athletes?
Laurent: Yeah, it, it, it's funny because, uh, I often, so I'll, I'll do the, um, the face check. We, we call that the face check of the venue inspection, you know, like, so on the morning of the competition or the day prior to the competition.
So free ride athletes don't have the, I. Right to go and ride the, the venue, the competition venue before the event. Or it has to be [00:11:00] like months before, but not just before. So then the conditions can be pristine and it's perfect and you can feel the, the, the tent between everyone and everything. And and o often, often, you know, like we just say, are you right?
Everything is good. So all the judges are watching it as well and trying to figure out what's gonna be the, the biggest jump where the, the H slides and things like this. And, and then sometimes some riders are just coming over and just say, oh yeah, what do you think? And you can hear them. And, uh, and pretty much every time, uh, if I have one, one thing to say to the writer, it would be, do you know what?
Just keep a line. Where you're gonna enjoy yourself, where you're gonna have pleasure doing it. And I said, I try to be at the start with a smile on your face. If you have a smile on your face, that's already massive thing. And the judges through the, they will see that. They obviously won't see you as [00:12:00] smile.
I mean, we don't have that much of a, but what we'll see is the body language. Everything will go with it. And I think. As long as you have this smile on your face and the happiness, the, the sort of positiveness that will change it all.
Cameron: Yeah. Fascinating. 'cause it's interesting you say as a judge that comes across because it's often a mature athlete that can get it and do it and apply it.
So often there's, it takes like an injury or it takes years of experience. Being a professional athlete to sit back and go, wow, these moments are actually pretty special. And we know that when we're more relaxed, right? Our sympathetic nervous system has calmed down. Physiology helps us out when we're relaxed.
If the moment is intense and important, then what we don't need as a tight mind and a tight body. So then performing. And so taking charge of that whole system by being relaxed [00:13:00] is, it sounds such a simple skill and an obvious thing to do. But it's so challenging to do when you've got, you know, the cameras in front of your face and you've spent the last four months in the gym getting your body to a place to even to be able to compete.
And you've spent the last five years trying to get on the tour and so forth. I.
Laurent: Yeah, yeah. This is, uh, crucial and, and it's funny to hear like from your professional advice and then I guess from where you stand, you, you have all the keys to realize that, and for anyone to be able to set back, and it took me years to do it.
But strangely enough, at the beginning of my career myself, I find myself into this position of, I would say, I would call it flow state. That was somewhere where. I didn't have to, well, I didn't think of anything else. I was really in the present moment and just I was, yeah, in it completely, so much that I remember passing the finish [00:14:00] line.
I was 18 years old. First like major World Cup. They used to call it the Master World Cup. That was in Breckenridge in the US and I have absolutely no clue what I just sat down if I had just. Being out full or whatever and everything. And I think the perfect example of a flow state, so it was so much into it that I did not even remember what I just did.
And I think the more. Professional or the more experience you have, the more you are into it and the harder it is get it's, it is to, to get into this flow state. But I learned also through visualization for example, there is a, a big part of it and then trying to visualize, but also realizing that all distress coming over specifically is funny because there's also some other riders mentioning it.
There's this. This fun, a little [00:15:00] movie called what? The FWT. And this is a bit a movie on, uh, on, on what the riders are living, but also the organization and everything. And one of the rider in it, I think it was Elizabeth Garson, was mentioning the fact that, yeah, okay, you get yourself prepared, you're at the start, you warm up and all of these things is okay.
Yeah, you visualize it, but there's one thing. Who, who was sticking to her mind is like when you've got the helicopters or the drone coming over to you, like from the live show and that's when you know, okay, this is my time. And I think it's really important to have to, to realize that those key moments, actually, you have to focus on this for your visualization for then when the moment comes.
In the competition. You say, okay, that's the right time. And that's when you should have the smile on your face when you can feel your, maybe [00:16:00] your legs shaking, but just like getting into it and just say, oh, yes, yes. That's my moment. That's when I'm going to rise. And I think all these good things, that's when, yeah, you'd be ready to go and then you can achieve great things without being all back by the pressure.
Cameron: And there's this sort of like, fine. Line, I'd love to get your take on it where when we let go completely, we can go deeply absorbed in into the experience like you were just talking about, not even remembering the run, but at the same time, when you're doing something really risky and you've got a plan and you want to create points and you want to do a particular.
Trick on a particular clifftop or whatever it is, there needs to be a certain level of conscious awareness of, okay, I'm gonna hit the lip here and I'm gonna spin round and, and there's this sort of interplay, this game. The mind plays with itself as so letting go enough just to be in it and, [00:17:00] and let it rip, but just conscious enough to keep the plan in place if you like.
How do you find that line? Did you always perform best when you just let go completely and get absorbed as you possibly can? Or did you have that kind of interplay where you were, you were still loosely attached to the plan, but letting it go? Or were you very consciously at attached to the plan that you had?
Laurent: Well, that's, that's a good question for myself. I mean, that brings me back to nearly 30 years ago last time. I've been competing over 20, that's for sure. I mean, I'm not canting, but, uh, I think it's a bit of both really. Do you know, I think the, the best plan is the one that you can actually get out of the plan, particularly in free riding.
There's no such a, a one perfect plan line that you have. In your mind, you go through and then you can execute it and that just that perfection [00:18:00] exactly as you plan it. Because, because there is, yeah, you haven't tried the venue. You don't know how the snow conditions is or how exactly like there is what we call sharks, which are the.
The pointy rocks below the, below the surface of the snow that you can't even see it. There is all those lips just, uh, above the, the cliff, and you imagine the snow to be soft and it might be hard, or the opposite way around the landing of the jumps. So I think the perfect plan is a plan that you have already.
That you, you have to change. And I think that was also a, a, a, another great rider in the free world tour called Andrew Poll, an American guy. He was saying, yeah, the free riding is you all saying, oh yeah, you go from the top and you just do the best all the way. But in fact it's constantly the balance between what you can do.
Following the conditions that you are in it and, and then obviously this change, of course, the [00:19:00] run along the run, you can't be completely like, I think this flow state, and then I think you, you'd be able to tell me about it with your proposition point of view. But I feel that it's also this, uh, your mind is so, uh, aware of all those things that you can put yourself into a deep concentration.
But then you always can change those things on the last minute and just realize that maybe whatever you had planned may change, but because you already have planned that the plan can change, then it's your new plan. I dunno, it's, yeah, my, my seems funny, but I think, yeah, that, that's the thing that always try to be ready for whatever can happen.
Cameron: Yeah. And the great riders and athletes out there are able to trust themselves implicitly. When those moments come, they're not too attached to the old plan and therefore become rigid and oh, it can't [00:20:00] happen because the moment isn't presenting itself or they don't get. The anxiety of uncertainty of what the, the new present moment has brought up.
And that resit plus really, I guess, so critical to be able to stay in that space and remove the friction from everything that's coming up, but still have having that. Intention behind, what am I trying to do here? Am I trying to hit it with speed or grace or that being the kind of the north staff through that moment so often that that discussion comes.
Back into a discussion around confidence. You know, kind of like confidence is, is king in most sports, especially in free ride skiing. When you're dropping off a cliff and you're going down a, a mountain that we don't always know exactly what the ski conditions are gonna be like. And how have you learn to build confidence over the years?
Laurent: Yeah. [00:21:00] Confidence. You're right. I think confidence, it's, it's the key. It's the key. Because if, if you are. If you stand on the top of a mountain and you're not confident in what you're going to do, you're never gonna manage or realize what you're doing. I mean, there's no luck out there. Uh, you can't just toss a coin, just say, oh yeah, I'll try it and hopefully it's gonna work.
No, there's no chance that's gonna work if you toss a coin. So you have to not in competition at least. And, and I think you really have to build that with, um. I think it's training a lot, a lot of training. I, I listened to an interview yesterday of this, of the, it is actually Wal Champ from last year, max Zi, and it was a quick interview, but it was just talking about, oh yeah, I, or he's key of the success and he was saying, oh, everybody is, look him as a sort of a robot because he is so strong, so.
Where systematically he is like, yeah, always on his [00:22:00] feet like that. That's the guy who's never gonna fall. And he said, in fact, when off the light or off the competitions, I'm falling nonstop because I'm pushing the boundaries, but I know where my boundaries are. And when I'm into competition, I'm aiming for this 97%.
This is what I'm aiming for. So I want to go to my. 98, 90 7%. And he said, yeah, it was funny to hear from him. Maybe he say, oh yeah, it, that's an easy number. So I keep that at the start and I know it's not like, oh yeah, shall I go 90 or 100? No, 97. And, and those 3% of margin that he give himself, he's exactly what needs to stay on its feet.
I,
Cameron: I think it's. So interesting where confidence comes from. There's that obvious self-efficacy, right, of I've learned the skill, I've executed it, I've built competency to deal with the difficulty ahead. But then we're [00:23:00] also thrown into situations, everyone listening as well, where. We were a bit unsure, you know, we're like, oh, I think I've got this.
But, you know, I'm about to find out certainly in a lot of action sports where there is a lot of risk, that level of novelty plays a, a more important role. And I, I often look back at people's lives during those moments when I know for myself, I've had lots of troubling times and from. Learning how to speak through having a stutter when I was a child through held at gunpoint, whilst traveling and so forth, and lots of interesting experiences.
But they've, they've formed a particular part of me that allows me to go, you know what? No matter what the situation, I'm gonna find a way, and I know yourself. You had some setbacks of not being able to make the Olympics, and [00:24:00] then suddenly you. Then must have found an inspiration and was able to change codes and win national championships, and I believe you also had a chronic inflammatory autoimmune disease.
How those sort of experiences, and please tell us more about them. How do you feel they shaped your level of confidence in your approach to how you performed your sport?
Laurent: Yeah, it's funny to hear about your experience as well and to hear what you had to go through in life, and I think it's, that's the case for every human being.
So I think from the, the day you're born, you're gonna face some, some struggle and some steps that you might just manage to climb and some other that you'll fail. But all those fold that you're gonna take are going to be the ones that they are going to make you. Better to actually step further better.
[00:25:00] And I think that was probably your case. And that was definitely mine. I think. Uh, yeah. You mentioned the Olympics where I was in the pre lympic team and I, I learned like. Very close to the Olympic Games event that I wouldn't make the team and that was really hard. But yeah, I think all those things just made me probably just like step back to bounce and to become better.
And you offenses it? I mean, I'm a big fan of fighting. I mean more the martial art. Things and watching MMA fighters, boxers and, and I think when you are, when there's two guys in a cage and then those two guys are some of the best in the world, but at the end of the day, there is one winner, one loser, but there is no, there's no winner without the loser.
And this loser might well be the next winner, but it's through those loss that it will gain [00:26:00] the. Confidence and also the knowledge of what to do or what not to do, to not. Like repeat, uh, the, the loss itself and, and then, and I think that's the way to just climb and get better. So yeah, there's so many different things.
I think I could be, I mean, you, you were mentioning yeah, the Olympics just before, so I think that was really, uh, personal, more on your mind level. So that plays something where you feel, okay, maybe I'm not worth it and I wasn't good enough. And I step up by. Changing the discipline and reaching some new podiums and another World Cup wins through this other sport, um, even though I couldn't make it to the Olympics.
And then, yeah, like, uh, other things, like you were mentioning this, uh, so I've got this enclos on spon, so this sort of a, it's not very rare, but it is just sort of things like all my. My muscles and spine was tight [00:27:00] and I couldn't really do any sports anymore. And I used to just look at through my window watching the mountains and then through that, like for a wall, winter, not being able to ride, I just learned to scope a line.
That's the word that we use, like as a free rider, you have to look at the mountain, you scope the line. So you look at the. Your path from top to bottom. But obviously when you look at the mountain and then when you are on top of it, everything is upside down, so and left to right because you're gonna look it from the top rather than from the bottom.
And I learned that through the difficulties because I couldn't go on the mountain and just looked at the mountain through the windows. So I think I'm, as a general, like a very positive person, but I definitely a lot from my. Past, past experience in general and all of this shape where I am today. And I think, yeah, that's the best moment to stand back up and just say, okay, [00:28:00] let's go.
Let's try again. And that's all you rise.
Cameron: Hmm. So true. There's so many. Any failures that. Create success and often like, prefer the term feedback rather than failure. You know, even Michael be, he got, but we never think about that. You know, we just think about that incredible buzzer beater ability that he had yet he, you know, he missed more than he than he got.
And it's quite human to focus on the negative and to not focus on that, on the positivity of it. And I loved what you said a little bit earlier around. The two athletes fighting it out and the losable soon become the winner. And we need that opposition right, to test us, to push our own ability. And we, but often we see that other competition or the structure of a competition as [00:29:00] as combative as something we've gotta overcome.
And when we see that competitive. Aspect to it is collaborative, like it's on our side, like the genesis of the Olympics, of getting the greatest athletes together, just to see what they can do as opposed to awarding the winner, but as a collaborative competition to get both parties, both athletes in that situation to be their best.
Then I think that kind of bounce back that you talked about. Some people would call resilience. Perhaps it's difference of opinions there won't go down that rabbit hole today, but that when we have that approach, that ability to see that silver lining or to go, you know what, as you just said, you did, I lied on that bed and I can't hit the mountain, but I can study the mountain and find some kind of aspect there that's gonna help you and build you and, and still [00:30:00] put you on a path of mastery.
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Do you think there's anything that's helped you to, you know, because two pretty major things where in other situations other athletes may not have bounced back. Do you think anything has helped [00:31:00] you? Take that perspective and come back from those two events.
Laurent: Yeah. If you're already in a sport that, I mean same, I think you are from the tennis background and you do a server and then you, you have to do hundreds of them and to place the ball exactly where you wish to put them.
And then at first you're gonna just not manage to do it. And then the more you're doing it, the more you'll be able to be more precise. And so that's why I think. Being able, the repetition is one thing, but the other thing as well is, is put yourself in a not comfortable zone. I think the being too comfortable will lead to a weakness, and that's why it, it, there's all these things where you need to train a lot.
You need to have all this routine to be ready. But, uh, I also learned, and to be out of your routine sometimes put yourself, um. In a position [00:32:00] where you're uncomfortable and the more often uncomfortable you'll be, the more comfortable you'll be into this uncomfortable moment, and that will make you better.
And I think that's the key as well. So train your best side, but train your west side and then you'll be, you'll be good also into this bad side.
Cameron: Yeah. Great message. And often we forget that. These skills can be transferable. And when we put ourselves in uncomfortable positions in one area of life, that can transfer to other areas of life where we can feel comfortable within the uncomfortable.
You know, something that always fascinates me about free ride skiing, and I've worked with a, a few of the athletes there, where in other sports you get a chance to practice. You get a chance to understand the terrain, you get a stance to, even if you haven't played, let's say tennis played another play, you've had chance to study them and [00:33:00] understand what their weaknesses are and so forth.
And generally speaking, you might've played them before a couple of years ago or whatever. With free ride skiing, you're dropped at the top of this mountain. You're able to study the line and get photographs of the actual pitch and the face and so forth. But these athletes don't get a chance to actually ski that line before the competition and actually dropping down it.
And where for peak performance in athleticism preparation is so important. How? Do these athletes navigate that? How important is the preparation and their routines when their main preparation of actually pre-experience what they're about to do can't actually happen?
Laurent: Yeah. Um. That, that's, that's what we were talking about before.
I think it's being ready into the uncomfortable to be better and to be [00:34:00] more comfortable outside of it. I used to do a lot of visualization when I was younger and, and sometimes this visualization wasn't working because. I was visualizing only the good thing, so, oh yeah, I was winning. I was just, I was achieving to do the good thing, like it was sunny, good weather, everything was clapping.
And in fact, it's really that way. So particularly in free riding, like you get up in the morning and uh, yeah, the weather is not as good as it was planned and the organizers. May on this part will tell the rider, well, do you know what guys? I think we'll have a 20 minute delay. And you'd have to stand on top of the mountain for 20 minutes and uh, the wind is blowing and you're getting cold, and then it's not as warm as you were thinking of.
And then you start to feel like shaky and not good. And those 20 minutes turn into an hour or maybe two hours where you have to stand at the top. And all this preparation [00:35:00] were. You think, okay, so I'm gonna be do that. I'm gonna do a little bit of warmup, and then that would be my turn. And then allow, I hear the, the noise of the drones coming to me, and at the moment where I need to drop.
Then all of that just fall and it doesn't work. And it doesn't, I. Play because, because there is all those things to come up. So I think it's really important to visualize also everything that could go wrong from the, the moment where you forgot your ski pass, so you got some, uh, snow in your goggles and then you need to on the last minute just wash it off.
But all those things I think are super important to build yourself the confidence that whatever happens, you are ready. And I think it's, it is the, the, the thing where, yeah, you, you are ready. In your mind so much that it's not only about like what you can just look at in the mountain and what you have achieved.[00:36:00]
I mean, we have asked some riders from the top to change their lines because a slide and avalanche has gone through. A part of the venue, and then if some riders had their lines planned there, then they had to change it. So again, it's super important for a rider and we tell that at the rider's meeting to say, to always have.
Couple of lines, but through like what, what we call lines, it's nothing different than having different plans. So you have to have different plans and I think that's also, you can relate to that and put that into life in everything what you're doing. So have our plans, plan ahead. Aheads not working. Okay, let's go plan B.
And I think it's, this is the key for success. As long as you have visualize all those plan, as you're aware that all those plans may work or may, you might have to use them, and then you know that they're [00:37:00] working and then you are confident doing it because there is nothing worse than having to change your plan.
And finding this new plan. And she said, well, I'm actually not sure of it and I can't do it. And I, this experience myself, free riding, not a competition. We stood in front of a, a venue with some friends, so we were doing some photo shootings and I said, okay, Gail, Le Le, we're gonna go there, there. And then I went to the top, that was my home ski resort, and I was with this friend of mine called OME Katz.
Great writers from. From the, the 20th and, and came at the top. The photograph was on the mountain facing us. We had some walkie talkie say, okay, ready whenever you want to go. And then my mate was just on top. He said, you know what, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm kind of lost. I'm not sure I'm gonna go. And I say, all right, well use my line, which I had planned so I could really describe him like super [00:38:00] well to him.
And there was one where from top to bottom there was no Eden. Places like you could see everything. I. And then hard to go on one, which I haven't planned. I cannot remembered it, but it wasn't just because I was from the ski resort, but never done it before. It wasn't like something and, and when I did it, after a few turns, a slide took my boards and I went into jumping well.
Sliding on this sort of, uh, avalanche. It was like a soft snow avanan show you on top of it. It's carrying you like it's, it can crush you. But at the moment I was still like on it. So sitting on those moving avalanche things and. Ice blocks and snow, and I could see ahead of me this sort of, and then cleft that.
And I had to jump, but I, I wasn't sure how big was the cliff. And, and it was just [00:39:00] this moment just say, okay, like what should I do? And then I just remember that I actually, when I took off from the cliff sitting on this, like moving snow avan. I just, okay. I dunno where I'm going, but turns out that I. I was landing and just covered by the snow, and then on the last minute, like the, the avanan popped me out like a champagne top.
But everything was fine. Things could have gone terribly long wrong, and I think that was also a very good lesson I learned from that. It is just always have a plan B and, and, uh, potentially a plan C or D as well, but never go with only one plan. As good as this plan seems to. Look and to be. I think you should always have an escape plan.
Cameron: Such a important point on so many levels. Often when I'm working with athletes, they're quite reluctant to. Look at things that can go wrong. [00:40:00] They're quite reluctant to go to those Plan Bs, plan Cs, almost in a kind of superstitious way. If I give that attention, then that might happen and, and we're not talking about a deep visualization of it, but rather just thinking about it and accepting that there's.
Different possibilities ahead. And I think when we can, in psych terms, we talk about foreshadowing success and foreshadowing failure. And when we can do those things, it actually puts the mind at ease. So A, we become less attached to things having to go a certain way, which allows us to have more trust in the moments of novelty that we talked about earlier.
And B, when those moments do come and we do have to change, we can feel more. Comfortable in the uncomfortable 'cause we've already accepted the sacrifices or we've accepted the the negative consequences of what might or might not happen and we have less sort of attachment and less [00:41:00] friction to the reality that we're facing.
We always ask guests on the show to give us their favorite. Well, not favorite film, but a film or a book that has had a big impact on you.
Laurent: Yeah, well that's a difficult question because there's so many. I think I had one movie and strangely enough, there's a book afterwards who came, which was a similar, so it was all about, um, free diving and, uh, so the movie, uh, was called The Big Blue Rumble in French, so made by Luke Beon, and if you, if you put aside the love story and the romance and everything, I think it was, it was the story of this guy from.
The early age who had found his passion. And in fact he went into the competition through that passion. But it wasn't easy. He didn't want it to, [00:42:00] to compete against other, but more like with others. And I think this. Allow him to become better. And he lives through that passion. And I love that. And I also, afterwards, I read this book from, uh, this French World Cup older and world champion free diver called uh, Gil.
And the book is pro founder, which I think it translate that in in depth or Yeah, yeah. In depth. And I think as a free diver, you really have to. To control your mind as saying the full flow state, there is no better sport than free diving where you need to really practice the flow because you can't go five or six or eight minutes underwater without breathing.
Putting your body under the pressure of the ocean and everything without being in flow yourself, like mind and body. So th those are [00:43:00] probably Yeah, book and, and movie. The, the one that I would say, yeah, I think I could, I could also put, uh, a and the power of now, which is something that I probably use on my day to day basis, and, and I love the.
Just the fact that, yeah, leaving the, the present moment. I think it's a, it's a key thing. But, sorry, I gave you two then time to flip the
Cameron: mic.
Laurent: If you wouldn't have been into sport or now in flow, what would you have done? Is there anything that had to, attracts you in the world that you feel like, oh yeah, that, that's something I would've really liked to be, I.
Cameron: Good question. I mean, the things that came up intuitively for me were initially other sports. You know, I'd, I skied slalom, and I loved other sports, which I wish I had maybe followed as well. And rugby was another one. But I've always had a passion for capturing the [00:44:00] moment. And that's come out in my kind of amateur photography.
And whether it's a conversation with someone, whether it's capturing a photo of a particular experience or now in my work of helping people find their greatest moments, that kind of crystallization of a special moment I think has always been with me in one form or another. And I think in areas where we lose ourselves, I, I think I.
Possibly could have made a really good actor. I, I think I loved acting, but I was so scared of my own voice, right, and stuttering and looking like an idiot, and being self-conscious and looking like in those days, it wasn't necessarily, I guess, a cool thing today. But I think if I'd given myself the belief and the confidence where you, I love those moments where you can lose yourself in the moment.
And acting is one of those experiences. And I look now at my [00:45:00] son and daughter who are both great at it, and um, I'm like, oh yeah, there's moments created all the time when they're doing those things. Uh, very interesting. Yeah. The desire to capture that moment is, uh, I haven't really thought about it before, but there's a thread that that sticks.
Laurent: Love it. Yeah. It's funny because you mentioned two things like the acting and the photograph. In both of those things, you can and you have to lose yourself into it, and I think you can plan the perfect photos and frame and everything, but I think the best ones. Comes when you just click and you push the button and then everything fall into place.
And I believe in the acting, it's probably the same thing, is when you became so much the person that you are playing or. Wherever you are playing, you become that own person and you don't have to think of it anymore.
Cameron: Flow unleashed. [00:46:00] Well, Lauren or Lola Beste, thank you so much for your time and we look forward to seeing you maybe in the mountains this winter.
Laurent: Well, I'd love that, cam, thanks a lot and really looking forward to, and potentially to bring you and to have few turns together in the powder.
Cameron: This conversation with Lolo. Served as a powerful reminder that achieving our best isn't just about putting in the hard work and hoping for the best. It's about preparing for setbacks, anticipating challenges, foreshadowing failure, and building flexibility into our approach. And while we can aim for perfection, life rarely unfolds as planned.
Our ability to adapt trust in our skills and make decisions in the moment often defines the difference between an ordinary performance and an extraordinary one. Between a flourishing career and one cut short lolo's journey [00:47:00] shaped in part by the unexpected challenges of living with an autoimmune disease highlights the value of resilience and perspective.
What might have felt like a setback. Time spent off the slopes and competition when he was confined to rest instead became an opportunity. It was during those moments of for stillness that Lolo deepened his study of mountain lion. Unknowingly honing the skills that would make him not only a better competitor, but also the thoughtful commissioner of a world tour.
What struck me most about Lolo's resilience wasn't sheer determination. It was his ability to let go of past attachments and embrace the opportunities in front of him. This ability to flow with life rather than fight against it illustrates a profound lesson. Success isn't always about rigid control.
About learning, growing, and adapting. My main takeaway from this conversation that I'm [00:48:00] sure you've gathered many is the next time we're striving toward a goal or supporting someone else in their pursuits approach with flexibility. Replace fixed endpoints with evolving signposts and pastes, and trust the journey as it unfolds.
Success as Lolo's story beautifully illustrates often lies not in the destination, but in the way we navigate the path. If you'd like to find out more about Lauren a k Lolo. Please see the show notes.
Thank you for listening to Flow Unleashed. If you enjoyed listening, please subscribe to get notified when our next episode drops. The more people that subscribe, the better I can make the show for you. Equally, please leave a review. Your review will go a long way to helping others find this pot until the next time.
Thank [00:49:00] you for listening to Flow Unleashed.
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