Tuesday, 18 August 2015
Post originally published at www.joy4running.wordpress.com
Written by Victoria Stanham
Most of my
non-running friends’ response to “Why don’t you run?” is something along the
lines of, “I love the idea of running… I just hate the actual running
itself.”
If we are all born
with the necessary hardware and software for the task... why is running
pleasurable only to a gifted few? Does it have to be this way? Can something be
done about it?
I believe it can...
and I have this great idea to share with you.
Just for clarity's
sake, I’m not going to teach you how to go “from couch to 5k”, nor give advice
on what shoes to buy, nor what training plan to follow, nor what to eat before
a run. All these topics have
already been exhaustively covered in other running-related
blogs out there.
My focus here is not
so much on the “externals” of running as in the “internals”. What you’ll get
from me is ideas on how to manage
your breath, body and mind so that they stop fighting each other and start
cooperating during
your runs.
What for?
Sheer running-bliss. No more, no less.
So what’s my running-mojo all about?
1.
Awareness and Use of
Breath. Enjoyment of running is
almost equivalent to your enjoyment of breathing. Do you enjoy breathing? Do
you like how you breathe? Do you enjoy breathing even when your heart-rate
speeds up? Or does it suddenly get all painful and out of control?
2.
Awareness and Use of
Mental Processes.Out of control breath
equals out of control mind… and vice-versa. Where does your mind wander off to
when you run? Is this what your train of thought looks like? Most exhaustion is rooted
in the out-of-control wandering mind; once you learn to bring it home to rest,
more energy becomes available to you.
3.
Awareness and Use of
Body Mechanics. The
body is the resting place for both breath and mind. But, if pain and strain
also reside there, you can’t blame breath and mind to try and go wandering
somewhere else. To master the biomechanics of running, body awareness has to
come first and excess effort must be let go.
Every complaint I’ve
ever heard about running from would-be runners can be traced back to the
downward spiral of a poor breathing pattern, fuelling an out-of-control mind, which
engenders poor body-mechanics, which in turn hinders the breath, which
exacerbates the mind, which tenses the body... ad infinitum.
The saddest part
is we are not even aware that this is going on, we’re only aware of the
discomfort and pain it causes to
a specific part of us. So before you decide to tinker with your breathing
pattern or your body-mechanics: STOP! You can’t
change what you don’t know is there.
My first tip is
this: Invest in heightening your awareness of
body, mind and breath. Above all, become aware of
how these
3 aspects are intimately related.
In future posts I’ll share some of the exercises that
have helped me enhance my own awareness of
these three areas and their interrelatedness. If you don't want to miss
them, just register your email to receive notifications of new posts directly
in your inbox.
Happy Running!
-Vicky
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Top 50 Alexander Technique Blog
.jpg)
Excellent post, especially about the breathing. I find that if I lose control of my breathing then a kind of panic sets in. Which means it's time to slow down.
ReplyDeleteYou are right on Robin. The out-of control breathing sets all the panic alarms going in the brain and the body. There is a precise physiological explanation for this, but I would need to dig out my physiology books to give you the exact data. After I recognized that reaction while running, I started to become aware of it when not running, and just becoming stressed about some personal issue: same panic reaction, though not as evident from the outside. Best part is the same principles applied to subdue that reaction too!
Delete