Chi Living Blog

Ah-ha Moments in Running

2010-07-22T00:28:19+00:00

Last weekend I had the pleasure of hosting and assisting Danny at two Chi Running workshops in Seattle. It was a full weekend with lots of good energy and inspiration. Danny arrived Friday afternoon, and despite having been up since just after midnight our time, he agreed to go running. There were some trails near the workshop location I wanted to share, in case we needed them. I wore my Bikilas and Danny had on his Treks.

The first serious hill came five minutes after we started running – I was not warmed up. I started to run up it gently, but soon had to walk while Danny made the most of his lateral stride, floating all the way to the top! I usually run at a cadence of 90 but I noticed the I was a little fast; Danny noticed this too and said it’s probably because of the very minimal cushioning. Many barefoot runners have very quick turn over to lessen the impact. In the Chi Running technique, the impact is reduced as your leg swings out behind, following the force of the oncoming road. Danny suggested I “soften” my hips and allow the pelvis to open up and rotate. I let go just a little – like when your knees are locked, and you let go just enough that they aren’t tense anymore. By doing this, I was able to lean and get more hip extension out the back, which opened up my stride length to the rear. My cadence fell to 90, and the impact was no worse. In fact, it felt better since I was working less! Ah-ha!

The next day at the workshop, while practicing the running posture lesson, one of the participants got dizzy and nauseated, and had to sit down. After a moment, I asked her to stand and guided her back into the correct posture. She still felt bad, so I asked her to feel the bottoms of her feet (in her mind’s eye). She was more on her heels, so I asked her to rock on the bottoms of her feet until they felt even on the ground. As soon as she did, she felt much better. It was pretty powerful to see what grounding could do! It was as if the energy could flow again as she connected to the earth. Wow!

The next ah-ha moments came on Sunday in the Level II running workshop. A fellow in our group had trouble with the pelvic rotation and had been struggling several months to get it – not an uncommon problem with tight hips. I was trying all my tricks (spread the arms to a T, lean a little forward) but no success. Then Danny said ‘Make sure you engage your core. Level your pelvis.’ and he suddenly got it! The ah-ha look on his face was priceless!

In the hill climbing lesson, Danny was demonstrating how to bend the arms relative to the incline of the ground. One of the instructors, Alice Diffely, said she always thinks of the forearms as being parallel to the ground, so that as you climb, you bend them so that they remain parallel to the ground. Danny added to shorten the stride length relative to the distance between the hands and the shoulders. Hills are much more fun now!

There were many more ah-ha moments, but those were the highlights. As I put these insights into practice, the ah-ha moments continue to happen, making my running a whole lot of fun! You never know where your next ah-ha moment is going to come from!

From pigeon-toed to running excellence

2010-07-16T05:59:23+00:00

I was born in 1955 in Auckland, New Zealand, to a teenage mother who gave me up for adoption. As I began to learn to walk, it was observed that I rolled outwardly on the sides and heels of my feet … very pidgeon-toed!

I had bone deformities which caused me pain around my big toes and prevented the natural heel/toe motion of walking. Doctors told my parents that they wanted to wait to see how it all developed before considering surgery. As I grew, the deformities grew, making wearing normal shoes difficult. I went barefoot as much as possible and, fortunately, the Auckland climate is mild. However the cold temperatures of winter did make my feet ache terribly.

My parents did not own a car until I was 12 years old, so I walked two miles each way to school. I also suffered terrible headaches, which often resulted in days home from school.

Fast forward to age 13. The doctors said they would consider surgery. I was in the hospital for three weeks, and the surgery was very painful. When it came time to leave the hospital, the doctors said they had come up with a plan to help me gain a better walking gait as my feet healed. They were not going to give me crutches or a wheelchair. I was in plaster casts up to my knees, and they designed a black leather boot to attach to the bottom, under which was a wooden rocker, like a rocking horse.

Their idea was that as my feet were healing by me walking on them using these boots, I would gain the heel/toe motion of walking.

Now remember, I have had surgery that removed excess bone, and I still have all the stitches in my feet under those casts. It is the middle of summer. I was in so much pain and discomfort, not to mention starting high school. It was a rough time, but these doctors had it right. When the casts came off, my feet looked normal, and I had the heel/toe motion of walking. I immediately found it was easier to run, but still fell back into my awkward walking style at times. I still do!

After one year I asked my parents if I could join a track and field club. The sport was huge in New Zealand then. They were very hesitant but I persisted and found that I not only loved running, but was good at it. In those days women and girls were limited to a mile as the longest distance. In the Olympics the longest distance for women was the 800m.

As I proceeded, I noticed that I never got the headaches anymore and to this day have never had one again. I often wonder whether they were stress related, or if running was making me healthier, or both!

In the beginning, I often pushed my feet and myself too hard and would have to take breaks from running. I still preferred to go shoeless, and fortunately the majority of New Zealand tracks were grass. In follow-up visits with my doctors, they gave me a piece of advice that stayed with me my entire career: “Run in the nearest thing possible to bare feet. That is the only way you will keep your feet strong and working correctly.”

Fast forward to 1972. I qualified for my first of six Olympic Games, the 1500m in Munich Germany.

For the next 10 years, I competed for New Zealand in World Cross-County Championships, more Olympics and the British Commonwealth Games. The sport was amateur during those years, so after graduating from teachers college in 1975, I became an elementary school teacher.

Due to many factors, some out of my control, I decided to quit the sport in 1980 out of frustration and disappointment.
I was persuaded to begin again by my second coach John Davies, and the rest is history. I arrived in the USA in 1981, took the stand for professionalism in June of 1981 and soon after signed with Nike for $400 a month and free shoes!

I went on to have a 22-year career, all the time remembering the advice from my doctors. Throughout my career, I raced and trained in racing flats, the lightest I could find. I never suffered any running related injuries.

At age 54 I am still running daily and still in racing flats. I totally believe that those doctors gave me a perfect running style. No heel strike at all. I still love it.

Please see more information at http://www.anneaudain.com and www.runningherway.net

Resources to help you master the Chi Running basics:

Effortless Running Refresher

2010-07-12T01:36:00+00:00

This morning we held our monthly Chi Running technique refresher. Summer finally arrived in Seattle and motivated a couple of past students to come out and refresh their Chi Running technique skills. After a brief check-in, addressing any issues or questions that come up, we went through the Body Looseners, and prepared to start running. Our running route is a 3 mile loop, but we tell people they have an option to turn back at any time. This morning I did a couple of things different.

In the past, I have used the metronome at a slower beat than what I am used to, trying to match an ‘average’ beat of about 85 (I run at 90 bpm). I have always instructed clients to meet their body where it’s at and start with a cadence that they are running at, increasing one beat per week until they are in the 85-90 bpm range. One of the clients already ran at 90 bpm, and the other ran at 85, but he wanted to see how 90 would feel. Instead of setting it at 90 bpm, I set it at 180, so that there was a beat for each foot landing. I told him if it felt uncomfortable, to let me know and I would slow it down. It should be noted that this client hadn’t been running much since last fall, only going about a mile at most.

The other thing I did was incorporate a focus I learned at the instructor training workshop last May in Chicago. As you lean to fall with the pull of gravity, feel your shoulders over your toes, just before you pick up your feet. This focus gives one a feeling of that nice straight column that is leaning into the pull of gravity.

We started off running in a very easy first gear, and focused mainly on posture and the cadence, using the arm swing to match the beat. By about mile one, we were running in sync, and the 1 mile runner said he was feeling great. He had no problem with the increased cadence, and feeling every beat made a difference. Without noticing it, soon we were running in second gear, still in lock step with one another. Occasionally, I would remind them of something, like feeling the shoulders over the toes, feeling the circular motion of the heels and elbows, or using their Y’chi (focusing the eyes on one spot in the distance). But mostly we just ran. As we came to the end of our loop, the 1 mile runner said he was surprised how easy that was. He pointed out having others in step beside him was helpful, as it provided a visual cue. Hearing (and feeling) the metronome added to that ease. It was a great refresher and a great reminder of how effortless running can happen when you get ‘yourself’ out of the way!

Freedom

2010-07-06T06:59:13+00:00

In Chi Running, Chi Walking and Chi Living, freedom is an important theme that we explore and work towards in its myriad facets: freedom of movement, freedom to make the best choice for yourself, freedom to respond creatively in the moment.

The 4th of July is the commemoration of America’s freedom from the tyranny of British rule. The colonists had come to this land because their hearts and minds were set on starting a new life and finding a place where they had freedom: religious freedom, freedom of expression, and freedom from a foreign entity that sought to control their lives, economically, politically and socially. They sought the freedom to choose what was best for them.

We have all experienced tyranny in one form or another, both external and internal. However, one of the most insidious forms of tyranny comes from our own mind. As many spiritual teachers have said, “We are not our thoughts.” But, until we fully realize what that means, they will continue to control us. We are often oppressed with needless worrying, poor choices, and reactive and predictable responses that dictate how we live. Our minds control most aspects of our lives, sometimes making choices that don’t promote our best interests and often times leading to some level of imbalance or excess.

On the other hand, some people are enslaved by their body’s instinctual needs (or sensory cravings), which can lead to excesses such as too much food, too much comfort, or too much or too little exercise.

The best way to ensure “freedom” from the tyranny of either the mind or the body is to have them working together as a team where one keeps the other in check and one informs the choices of the other so that we are guided by a healthy, intelligent blend of both our physical and intellectual “minds.” We call this Body Sensing.

Body Sensing is a powerful tool for personal health and fitness to grow beyond the purely instinctual level of life where we often react without vision or foresight and allow our minds or cravings to be in the driver’s seat of our lives. The right use of the mind (led by higher impulses of love, service, understanding and vision) combined with a honed and penetrating body-intelligence, creates an inner freedom where you are truly choosing how you want to live your life rather than your actions being dictated by despotic impulses.

You can practice Body Sensing when running or walking. Another great time to practice is while you are eating. Imagine what you want to eat. Check in with your body and see how the idea of eating the meal you have in mind “feels” to your body. Be aware of your eating patterns: you might eat too many sweet foods or crave fatty foods. Combining the knowledge you have of your dietary needs with the feel and sense in your body of what it needs in the moment, will help you make the best choice.

There is little else that will leave you with a clearer sense of inner freedom than Body Sensing the right choice and allowing your actions to be guided accordingly. The result of living a conscious life, one that is balanced and efficient, is that all the positive, moment-to-moment choices you make will directly increase the quality of the rest of your life.

Resources to help you master the Chi Running basics: