We have reached the time of year (in Chicago) when it warms up enough to get outside and start the running season. This may instill in you feelings of great joy or sorrow based on your experiences with the activity of running. As a recreational runner I have experienced both of these feelings, and have found running to be at times highly detrimental to, but most often deeply therapeutic for my health. So I am going to share and discuss how I have come to relate to the act of running in a way that has transformed the experience into an ever increasing experience of happiness.
It is estimated that 50% of runners develop some running related injury every year. Because of its popularity and accessibility, running is one of the most commonly practiced forms of exercise. Running has also been linked to and often recommended for a variety of health benefits. Unfortunately, these benefits are limited for every 1 in 2 runners who are injured and unable to take part in the activity until recovery is achieved. Many non-traumatic musculoskeletal injuries occur due to inefficient postural alignment and muscle recruitment during movements. Over time, repetitive movements create strain in the soft tissues that eventually become compromised with injury. And while good running programs incorporate instruction on good form, postural alignment is an advanced topic that requires consistent attention, plenty of practice, and a fresh perspective. And the perfect remedy is surprisingly thousands of years old! By applying the techniques of the ancient practice of yoga one gains a full understanding of postural alignment and kinesthetic (bodily/spatial) awareness in running, and in any other form of movement or activity.
How does yoga work differently? The answer is not only the key to that euphoric feeling you achieve at the end of your yoga practice in Savasana, but also the key to an approach you can take with any activity to create the most optimal outcome possible. The answer is a change of your perspective. We think of many activities as means to an end, or effort toward a goal. For runners, that goal might be a race distance or time, a split pace, or even just getting through a run without wanting to keel over. As a matter of fact, most exercise is set up in this paradigm of cause and effect. We think "If I burn X calories or do X reps at Y weight, my body will respond and create the desired result Z." This is true in a way because our body adapts to the demands and stresses placed on it. Where yoga is different is that effort, demand or stress is NOT required. Unfortunately, I cannot say these won't be present when we practice, and they often are until we achieve the state of Yoga, which is why we practice! But the "action" of yoga is not one of effort. It is an action of connecting (or observing the already present connections between) the body and the mind. In a yoga practice, we don't care if we can put our feet behind our head, or whether our nose touches our knees or our hands touch or feet. Though some schools of modern yoga put great emphasis on accomplishment of posture, the power of yoga comes from "being" or being consciously connected to one's self through an experience. So while we often practice this by situating our bodies in a posture, or flowing through movements from one form to another, the result or outcome is not as important as the process. Yoga is much more about how we relate our experience to our actions without concern for the result. We don't ignore the result because we don't care, but we know that a result will occur. The law of Karma in yoga is much like a natural law like gravity. It has no bias, good or bad, it simply implies the relationship between action and result. And fortunately we are not limited to the amount of actions and results we experience, only by how many we choose to observe or be conscious of. So the only "effort" that we actually experience in the practice of yoga, is the mental energy required for the focus of our attention on the present moment in whatever it is we are "practicing". The physical efforts are just part of the experience, and the process of integrating the physical components of our physical selves more completely. Eventually those fade and we find true grace and ease within ourselves, which is a great goal if you're going to have one!
Why do you go for a run? There is most likely a reason why, or a goal to be achieved. And it's great to have goals! However, if our concentration is only on our goal, and not present in our practice, chances are we will not be listening for those habits and patterns that are holding us back. Not a single client or student that I have worked with has a truly balanced body. I sure don't! Through our past Karma (actions and the results of those actions), our brains and bodies have developed highly organized patterns within our nervous system, muscles, and tissues that allow us to perform actions without much thought or attention. This can be a great help for us in daily life, but can also be the root of a career ending injury in the body. Every time we take a step, walking or running, our body creates the movement based on past experiences of that movement within the whole body and the current environment, and puts out a coordinated action (output). Almost simultaneously, the brain is receiving information about the outcome of that action in the present situation (input). After years of experience with a particular action, our magnificent mind/body tries to utilize the best possible actions for each situation. But say along the way, we injure ourselves and our body has to come up with a new organization for that action. And with our goals in mind, we push forward without giving our bodies the appropriate time for recovery or to "rebalance" those imbalanced patterns, we begin to feel strain, and once again we are stressing this system. Even expert runners find after a long career their joints and soft tissues suffer. Bad knees aren't a fact of life but a result of years of imbalance within our movements and posture. And any joint or muscle pain after exercise or competition of any type is a good indication that the body was working in an inefficient way, likely in an effort to achieve a goal. I have many memories of feeling my lower back, feet, ankles, hips, even shoulders or neck aching and throbbing after one of my runs because I was set on my 4 mile distance without pause, or had to maintain my 8 minute pace. I never noticed what was wrong until long after it had gone wrong, which is what I would call "unconscious running".
What happens when we don't pay attention to what we're doing? It's not pretty!
This is after all, how we were taught to believe things work: anything worth achieving takes work, blood, sweat and tears. And so here comes Yoga, saying "there is no need for effort or strain, and everything is possible!" What?!? Again the apparent magic comes from reframing the understanding of how things work. Another aspect of the yoga practice and philosophy is that everything is interconnected. In the body this means if your ankle is weak, your knee or your hip will likely feel an effect, or take up the slack and overwork becoming tight or sensitive. Actually no one part of your body is isolated, modern anatomy theorists have found, through a complex network of connective tissue that our living body is connected both spatially and functionally. Again, if something goes wrong, even the slightest crack can cause the tower to topple so to speak. But, the reverse is also true. If we can experience or know this fact of interconnectedness, we know that all parts of our body are supported by all the other parts. This offers us an amazing opportunity to create true cooperation. And I have found, through training, through body work, and through yoga, it's the practice of yoga that gives us the most direct access to this ability to utilize the whole body. Not just the body, but the body and the mind, and even our intentions and desires that fuel our bodies and minds to act. In training, again our attention is on a result. With body work (not always but often) the client's participation is minimal, so there is little opportunity to truly connect. With yoga, whether in downward dog, or sitting in meditation, we are listening, observing, and interacting with ourselves on the fullest level. We think about how we sit, or how we are supporting a pose, it helps us discover connection, and observe and reconnect any disconnections that may be present in our experience. So it might seem that this change of perspective doesn't lead us to any fruitful result, but if we can practice really paying attention, intuitively we learn to integrate all of our systems into a balanced whole.
What is a yoga class but a bunch of made up poses? We learn what postural adjustments create an ideal environment through our experiences in the poses. Through practice we reinforce this balancing of our bodies and the patterns that sustain it, and we observe and reorganize the patterns that bring fatigue, discomfort, or inability to maintain a pose. This actually happens without us having to do anything. The mechanisms of the body and mind which I have described above naturally process our experiences and work to create the most efficient outcome. Postures in our practice are just different examples of how we relate to ourselves creating an environment for this process of integration to occur. So in actuality, we can take any movement, posture, or activity like running and make it a practice of yoga. All we must do is be present to our experience, rather than focusing on the end goal. We know a result inevitably follows an action. If we direct our fullest capacity of energy to the action, we have the greatest chance of achieving the desired outcome. This is one thing Yoga teaches. We know the input process of our sensory experience is also a natural process that requires no physical effort, only the direction of our attention to it. And as we learn to relate to our bodies and our minds more fully, even our desires and goals will become aligned in a way that situates us gracefully within our lives and with a complete sense of fulfillment within them.
So the next time you go for a run, just start to notice, whether you are truly being a part of the experience, or if you are going through the motions to get to the finish line in whatever sense you see it. Every step can be insightful and transformative, as we listen in we truly gain awareness and the ability to create a new pattern of balance and ease within our practice.
Stay tuned for Part 2: Simple practices to gain awareness before during and after your run, that will support any and all goals you may have this running season. And check out my Yoga for Runners workshop @ Bucktown Athletic Club Saturday March 25th 1-3 p.m and gain some practice in the Yoga of Running!