First, I would like to say a sincere
thank you to all of you who took the time to answer the brief survey I recently
sent out. It gave me a chance to know you better. I will be directing my blog
posts toward the concerns you voiced. I will be sending out two posts this week
on two different subjects.
I asked the question do you need help in
clarifying your purpose in running or in life.
Have you ever heard the phrase “that person really knows what they are
doing”? That might be a common response when you have listened to someone who
has impressed you a lot. A favorite
quote of mine is-“If you know what you are doing, you can do what you want” M.
Feldenkrais. However, for the purposes
of this article I would like you to think of the reverse. You do not know what
to do if you are not clear on what you want. This is one of the biggest hurdles
that people face when they do anything.
They are not really clear on what they want. If we don’t know what we want we leave some
of the magic on the table. We do a collection of actions that are vaguely what
we want but are not completely satisfying. Improving our running like anything
in life is a process. It involves questioning and knowing and more questioning.
Take as an example the person who says
“I want to lose weight” or “I want to run faster” or I want to run “farther” or “ I want to run injury free” or even “ I want
to improve my life” in any other way. Once
our purpose is clear, then shining the flashlight of awareness on our current
life in relation to what we want brings to light the actions necessary to
achieve full satisfaction.
In the case of the person who wants to
lose weight there is only a vague apprehension of something that seems
desirable. Many questions are yet to be asked to define the true intent.
We know the “quick fix” attitude and the
disassociation of mind and body that is prevalent in industrialized countries.
But I want to propose that truer mastery, and more fulfillment comes from the
elegant integration of our actions with our purpose, that is the applying of
our whole selves to the satisfaction of what we want. We can never apply
ourselves well to something we have not yet cared to define. To succeed at or
enjoy anything then requires that we grow in self awareness. If we want to run
injury free we need to ask questions. Do I want to run two to three miles,
three times per week at a non competitive pace? Do I want to run injury free as
I train for an ironman distance race? Can you see that injury free means two
different things here? The idea of
injury free has to be defined much more specifically and then you can learn how
to do it? You could integrate all of your actions to produce the specific
result.
Let’s say you want to run faster. Again this is vague and meaningless until it
is questioned. Do you want to run faster in a 5K? Perhaps you want to run
faster in the mile distance, or at a sprint distance. Do you just want to add a
slight bit more potential for speed in your weekly fun runs? Do you want more
endurance? What do you want to do? Do you like ultra running, or do you just
want to jog your first mile? Your
actions would be very different for each of these outcomes.
Here is a radical idea. We do not run
with our feet. We do not run with our knees, or our hips. We especially do not
run with our legs. We do not act with our parts. We act by organizing our
entire selves to do something. We may have pain in our feet, legs, knees, hips,
etc. But that is not where the problem is. The problem is in our whole self
organization. I could also bring in the idea of society and convention such as
wearing tight shoes. But that is for later.
Imagine that you always stand and run on the balls of your feet because
you always look down at the ground and bend forward at the waist. Can you see
how this quick example of movement would be a possible cause, one of very many
of foot pain?
The learning process is one of
continually defining ourselves and learning to use ourselves better. It is
truly a process of finding satisfaction. I want to give you an example lesson to illustrate what we are talking about here. I hope that you can take just a few minutes to
do and enjoy this lesson. It is from a classic ATM ( Awareness Through Movement
) lesson.
I intend to give you all the information
you need to succeed. But if you need more you can always work with me.
Working with my online coaching
can take you much farther than I can take you through words. Enjoy your running
to the max. J Run strong
forever! - Scott
Next time we will talk more specifically
about injuries.
Scott Forrester
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