Form vs. Technique, Technique vs. Learning Part Two

The word form refers to either an ideal form or the actual current shape of our running movements, what it actually looks like right now. The word form could also refer to a current state that is malleable, and growing.
  

 As Americans we are accustomed to a "quick fix" mentality, fast food, quick answers, and high productivity. Unfortunately this attitude has been applied even more to running than to sports activities and functions that are considered “skilled."  Actually the best runners are masters of human movement. We settle for a quick fix of running form tips. We may pick up a DVD or a book that teaches a certain technique. All these things are wonderful tools and will advance us to a certain degree. But who would think that you could ever become a concert pianist, a Michael Jordan, a Mo Farrah, a Peyton Manning with a quick checklist, book, or DVD. Could you imagine a runner at any level continuing to improve with only foundational instruction?
   

We could define skill as improvement or mastery of an activity. Why are so many runners in any given year injured?  Why do so many fail to achieve their potential in other ways? I believe the answer is a lack of personal skill. The kinesthetic sense, the ability to sense what we are doing, is the key to the learning process. Unlocking the ability of the human nervous system to learn is what brings us father along the path of skill development.

If you have read a lot of articles or books on running form or technique, you realize that not everyone agrees on what is the "right" way to run. Let’s look at something that most everyone agrees on, the ability to run with a long uncompressed spine. Some call this "running tall." Some refer to this as our posture.  But what does right posture feel like for us individually?

    Please take off your shoes and stand for a few moments. Notice how your standing is and what the general feeling of your weight is on your feet. Take your time! Now lie on your back on the floor. Notice your contact with the floor. Pretend you are lying in sand. Which parts of you would press more deeply into the sand? Also notice which parts of you do not make contact, but are held up from the floor or are not quite touching. Compare your right and left sides and notice any differences in their contact with the surface you are lying on. Notice anything you can without changing anything. Just notice. Is one leg turned out more? What are the curves behind your low back and your neck like? How is your head lying? Are your shoulders making a different shape or pattern of contact in your imaginary sand? 

     Now bend your knees and have the soles of your feet flat on the floor. Can you shift the weight of your pelvis a little towards the top of the pelvis? Can you feel the curve in your low back changing and flattening as you do this? Keep doing the movement until it becomes clear and easy. Pause for a few moments. Then begin to shift the weight of your pelvis toward your tailbone. What is happening to the shape of your low back now as you do this movement? Pause and begin to do a small smooth movement of shifting the weight of your pelvis toward your tailbone and then all the way back to the top of the pelvis. Rest fully on your back for a full minute or two with your legs straight.

Now bend your knees again and begin to shift the weight of your pelvis a little bit to the left toward the left hip and then back to center. Pause.  Please don't forget to pause for at least 15-30 seconds. These pauses and rests are for the brain to process sensory information and are necessary for a deeper experience of change. Now shift the weight of your pelvis a little to the right towards the right hip and back to center. Pause. Now shift the weight of your pelvis from the left hip to the right hip, back a forth a number of times. Put your legs down and rest.

Bend your legs again and begin to do circles around the four points of pressure you have already explored, low back, tailbone, right and left hip. Do the circles many times. Each time you do the circles, make them lighter, smaller, smoother, rounder. Take your time. Take several minutes to explore these pelvic circles. Again moving slowly and taking your time is important, how much you notice depends on taking your time.  See if you can have smooth coordinated, easy uninterrupted flow around each circle.

Rest for at least a full minute or more on your back and notice the contact you have with the surface you are lying on now. Do you notice perhaps, that you are lying flatter in places that were more held up from the floor? Do you notice any other changes? You can also experiment with making circles in the opposite direction, or feeling the different coordination it takes to make circles with one leg crossed over the other.

Roll to one side and come slowly up to sitting and then standing. Notice what might be different in your standing now. How has your whole organization been affected? Where is your horizon now?  At what level are your eyes looking out? What other differences do you feel? Stay within your experience and take a walk around the room. How is your sense of connection to the earth? Does your posture and stance feel easier in some way? You may wish to take a short walk or a short easy run.  Just to notice what that is like now. Enjoy!

This lesson was not about "fixing" your posture and so it was not a "technique."  But it may have been the first time that you took the time to be more aware of how you stand, what could change, what could be improved. If so it is a glimpse of what could be the start of a deeper process. The learning process may have a beginning but it never ends. Awareness can continue to develop.