His Chi Walking class is designed for anyone – from people who have not exercised in a long time to those who want to improve their posture, strengthen crucial core muscles (i.e. your “core”), relax tight and overused muscles that may be causing pain, and gain cardio and aerobic conditioning.

Prior to Jeff’s Chi Walking class, I thought the only way to stand up straight was to "throw one’s shoulders back”. In the very first class I quickly learned how to align my body and engage my core, and by doing so was standing straighter than I have stood in a very long time.

I have never felt better than after his class; I have increased energy for the day.

I highly recommend Jeff and his Chi Walking class for everyone."

- Ronelle "Ronnie" Genser, Sandy Springs, GA

      I just wanted to tell you that I’m so grateful to know you, and when I look back it’s interesting how meeting you at REI for the Chi Running demo has affected so many things that are going on in my life (for the better) right now.

      After REI and then taking your Chi Running workshop, I was finally feeling brave enough to start running again after hurting my knees badly in 2001, training poorly for a full marathon and a few half races after that. You got me feeling comfortable enough to try another half marathon, so I signed up for your team for the Women’s Half Marathon last Fall. I met Laura K. at the Sole Sport’s team kickoff and instantly bonded with her.

      She and I motivated each other continuously via emails etc. during training and occasionally ran together closer to our “hood” since it was hard for both of us to make a lot of the group training runs, being so early in the morning and far from where we lived. Through Laura... I met Amy D. at a Sole Sports running event. Again... Instantly bonded with her. Through Amy... I’ve met a handful of amazing, inspiring, ACTIVE women that I adore. They’ve got me totally hooked on all these fun-themed races that go on all over town, and it’s a blast! Those girls got me to run the craziest 5 mile hill course yesterday at 5:30 a.m. - something I would NEVER have done before, and I was totally able to “hold my own.”

      I’m at that weird almost 40ish age range where I’ve been feeling a major shift amongst myself and many people in my life. And it’s just life... I love them all. People get busy, a lot are not really interested in participating in or training for exercise “events,” people have husbands, kids.... etc., and I’d been feeling a bit bored and stale. I’m so grateful to have come into this “active community” where people are so cool, supportive and inspiring.

      Seriously, I would not be running right now NOR would I have met all these amazing new people currently in my life (many of which you know) if I hadn’t met you. At REI. Hahaa! Because of you, I have made some fabulous new friends with similar interests, I’m in better shape than I’ve been in, in awhile, I’m Chi Running comfortably, smartly and just overall feeling good about life.

      I’m so excited for you doing this full marathon! What a great thing to do on your birthday. Happiest of birthdays to you and may this new “birthday year” bring you much fun, joy and happiness! I hope that I’ll have the chance to see you more often in person than on Facebook.

Thanks again Coach! 

Michelle S.

Arizona

Resources to help you master the Chi Running basics:

• Chi Running Book: A Revolutionary Approach to Effortless Injury-Free Running
• Chi Running DVD: A Revolutionary Approach to Effortless Injury-Free Running

    The money I spent to take a private lesson from you was some of the best money I've ever spent. I knew I was learning about Chi Walking as we were working and practicing but I did not truly know how much until I started walking again. We had out of town company right after my lesson so I did not walk again for several days. When I did go walking I did my "regular" walking and then practiced my Chi Walking. I was frustrated because I was slower doing Chi. I had made the goal to be faster doing PF Changs than I had been during Disneyland Half Marathon so I decided that I would concentrate on Chi Walking after PF Changs. I would go back to my "regular walking". The next day I started out but discovered that my feet were not striking with the heel first but mid-foot first. I stopped and started again, trying to achieve a heel strike - I could not do it unless I concentrated very hard. I gave up on the idea of heel striking and went with the midfoot. I concentrated on improving my pace, not worrying about my alignment or my arm movements. I had naturally shortened my stride. My average pace before my lesson was 15 - 16 minute/mile. My pace has been steadily getting faster. I did 10 miles with a 14:45/mile pace. My son, who did Disneyland Half Marathon in 1:20, went with me twice during the Christmas Holidays. He commented that I was moving pretty fast for someone who was walking, In fact, he said I was faster than some runners he has observed. That made me feel really great. 

    I am not not supposed to run because of 3 knee surgeries and spinal stenosis and my husband is very firm in wanting me to not run. I did a small amount of running during the Disneyland Half Marathon and did confess this to my husband, I really wanted to finish within the time limit. After one of my recent walks I was reading off my lap times - 14:10, 13:39, 13:24, 13:34 etc to my husband. My husband accused me of running but I had only walked. He was amazed. Even though I am not doing the Chi posture, it has helped me when I have experienced pain during my walks. One day when I was doing a long walk my back started to give me a fair amount of pain. I thought I might have to stop but decided to try getting my body in Chi alignment (reverse crunch). My pain went away. It came back when I starting to lean so I did the reverse crunch and the pain went away again. Another time, I noticed my left ankle was bothering me so I stopped and did the ankle rotations to relax my ankles. When I started up again my ankles were loose and did not hurt at all.

You are an amazing instructor and I truly thank you. You and Chi Walking have made a tremendous difference in my walking.

Linda S.

Phoenix, AZ

Hope you're well. You have always been so supportive of my progress in both the workshops I have attended and through your emails.

In July, I completed my 4th IMLP (Ironman Lake Placid). This one was especially cool because my 18 year old daughter, Jane, was doing her first IM. After the race we decided to take 2013 and work on getting faster and doing shorter races with particular emphasis on running.

Last year at a local 5K, I did the first mile in 7:54 and commented on how cool it was to see a sub-8 after all these years trying to break 9 minutes.

Fast forward one year. I raced this morning. That 7:54 in the first mile was a 7:40 this year, and the sub-26 min. pace was replaced by a sub-25 min. finish. My 24:49 this morning was a 7:59 pace and a 2nd place AG finish. You told me last year I could go even faster. You were right! Holding butterflies, peeling postage stamps, proper posture, riding the unicycle. It all works.

At 62 I've just decided to speed up,
Michael B.

Sunday's race (Chicago Marathon, 2012) became a great success for me!

For one full year I have been practicing the ChiRunning technique, last sunday Chicago marathon was my first marathon using it. I still cant believe I returned from injury stronger than ever with my old times back (3:30 as predicted), during the race I felt confident, fast, relaxed, and strong; but the very best thing is that I managed to walk to the subway station and my hotel and have a next day jog just as if nothing ever happened. This is the first time as a runner that I am not hurting a single bit. I returned home yesterday and today went to the track to jog 8km but especially to tell my friends my wonderful experience, that ChiRunning works like a charm and that I was able to receive advice from the man who created it.

Thank you so much Danny, your advice on my shoulders was incredible. Thank you for your contribution to making running so fun, natural and safe.
Hope to see you in Costa Rica for the seminar, please keep me informed.
I look forward to some day share a run with you.

Your guatemalan friend,

Carlos J. Soto

My name is Randy Pumm and I took your Chi Running workshop in Edmonton last year. I had signed up for Ironman Canada, but had never been able to run more than 10km because my knees would hurt or I would pull my left calf muscle.

I promised that I would let you know how it all turned out...

Unfortunately, I'm not wearing a Chi Running shirt (I don't have one), I'm not smiling (I tried, in between catching my breath), and I don't know if my form was intact at all--
but I'm a happy Chi Runner just the same!

My photo was taken last 2011 on my first ever 42km race here in Manila called the Skyway Marathon. I'm an easy runner, so my goal was to finish in 6 hours, 30 minutes.
You can zoom in to my watch and you'd see my finishtime -  5 hours, 40 minutes. Not bad for a turtle - I was shocked and very happy!

 I had just came fresh out of a Chi Running workshop some months before that (coached by Lit Onrubia, the only certified trainer here that time 2010), and I diligently tried to use all the Chirunning focuses (posture, lean, armswing, stride and cadence) I learned to practice by self-training (yes I practiced all by myself - lonely and tedious, but all worth it!) in my desire to run my first full distance. I even read Danny Dreyer's book.

My experience was pretty surprising - I ran steadily and I didn't have any painful post-race soreness or agony like most firsttimers, just a pinch here and there. I felt great generally, and firmly believed my Chi Running habits must have worked for me. Thanks to Coach Lit and Danny Dreyer's inspiration!

I intend to sign up for another full race late this year, and your newsletters and reminders always keep me motivated. Thanks and best regards!

Bebette Altónaga
Manila, Philippines

I highly recommend the e-Chi Training program - I couldn’t run for 12 years because of chronic piriformis syndrome, and so I started Chi Running after taking a workshop in April with a local instructor. It was my dream to run a 5k without injury, and I did it! Completely pain-free!

The e-Chi training program made me more than prepared for a 5k. I was a bit nervous before the start, but once we got going I just did my body focuses and the time flew by. I had no pain whatesover, I even passed people along the way. There was a steep uphill at the end, so I applied my Chi step and let myself "float up" without much trouble at all. I finished the run TOTALLY relaxed and loose with a BIG smile on my face. I even turned down a free massage because I felt so good!

I have signed up for the intermediate 5k starting next week, and I’m looking forward to it!

Update:

SO, I started my intermediate 5k eChi training program last week. I was a bit discouraged, because I felt like I was struggling with my form. Maybe it was the heat wave we had, but I sure didn't like what was happening. So, I just kept thinking of beginner mind, and let myself be a beginner if that is what I needed.

Today, week 2 - I decided to do my form focus intervals on a local quarter mile track. It was quite a bit cooler outside and I was looking forward to the focuses today - they were all about relaxing. I ended up shaving 3.5 minutes from my 5k race just two weeks ago. I did 5.55 k in 30 minutes. When I saw my watch at the end of my workout my eyes nearly popped out of my head, I had exceeded my 6 week goal in 2 weeks!  So, now I am really going to make sure I take it easy on most of my runs. This just showed me what is possible, I still can't believe it....

I hated COL Weiss. I was in constant pain, and I felt humiliated. But I kept running. If for no other reason, I ran to be seen running. I wanted “Ranger Weiss” to know I was at least trying. One of these mornings, I noticed another member of my team, Capt. Nikita Belikov, going into the gym. He went to the gym every morning at the exact same time. I could almost set my watch to it.

Nikita Belikov is a Russian born immigrant who graduated from the Air Force Academy. He was our communications specialist. He reminded me of the Russian boxer “Drago” in the movie Rocky IV. He is smart, disciplined, extremely fit, and everything he does seems effortless. He is a genetic gift to the human race. In fact, he jokes that he is the product of a Soviet genetic experiment. In high school, he was a varsity weight lifter. He became my personal trainer. Six days a week at 5:00 AM, he put me through a Crossfit workout. Then at 6:00 AM, I ran three painful miles. One of the Crossfit workouts had a running segment and I asked Nikita about running. He said, “It looks to me like you are striking your heels too much. You should look into Chi Running. Just Google it. You’ll see what I’m talking about.”  The Chi Running website promised “Pain-Free, Effortless Running.” I signed up for the newsletter and ordered the training program.

Chi Running changed everything. My foot and leg injuries actually healed while I was running. I could run several miles every single day with no pain. I lost weight and gained muscle. My mental shift was most astounding. It was a total lie to tell myself that I was genetically incapable. If I can run, and if I can lose weight; what other lies have I been telling myself? What am I capable of?  I took up speed reading. I started learning Arabic. I left the Iraqis with two full sized manuals in both English and Arabic which I wrote with my Iraqi counterpart. Now, I am systematically crushing all the “lies” in my life.

Harry Y.

My name is Sandra Bonilla and I am from Costa Rica. I moved to the United States about 4 years ago, but have been running all my life.  Ever since I was a child, I have run short distance races, half Marathons, and Marathons. I love to run.

I ran the Baltimore Marathon and qualified for the Boston Marathon in 2009 and ran it the same year. I have also run the NCR Trail Marathon twice, both with successive better times and very good results. After each of these races my hips were always tight. I was also in pain because my Fascia Lata and my hamstrings were very tight.

On June 2, 2012 I ran The North Face Endurance Challenge, a trail race. I started training for this race three and a half months leading up to it and after taking the Chi Running workshop in Washington D.C with Danny Dreyer, the author of Chi Running. I always trained by following the directions of the Chi Running Marathon Book.

The North Face Endurance Challenge held in Great Falls, Virginia, was not an easy race. The course conditions were horrible due to the Mid Atlantic being hit by a line of storms the night before that brought tornadoes, wind, and torrential rain. The storm started at 2:30 Friday afternoon and did not clear until 3a.m. Saturday morning—the day of the race! The course was saturated with water and very muddy.

Spectators of the race could only see the racers at the beginning and ending 1/2 mile of the course. The rest of the race was in the wild.  Therefore, the audience could not see what the storms did to the course the night before. The storm added fallen trees and deep swampy mud to every step of the race, both the flat parts of the course and in the hills.

In order to get through the race with tact, I engaged my core muscles and was able to dance over the mud, passing every single person in front of me. I focused on my nephews, my friend Doreen, my family, and my husband. All these people are amazing fighters I know. They were my inspiration.

The last two miles of the race I felt the need for water. I did not have anymore water in the bottle I brought with me. I had to walk because my need for water became so great and because I knew an aid station was just in front of me. When I started walking I became disappointed, but then I told myself, "The race is not over because you are walking!" After getting water in my body, I started walking faster and faster until I was able to run again all the way to the finish line!

Later I found out that Wow!! I had won the race! I was the first woman to cross the line in my age group and in the general category! We made it, God!!

Today, Sunday Jun 3, 2012, my legs are tired but that is all. I don't feel pain in my hips, knees or ankles. I completed the race in 4h.35min running with a distance of 28 or 29 miles.
I am happy about it.

Thank you, Danny, for showing me how to use my Latino skills (my hips)!

Sandra

Search under last name “Bonilla” to see full results:  http://www.sportstats.ca/displayResults.xhtml?racecode=102117

See a few seconds of the last ½ mile at: http://youtu.be/jWOi6xTOpXA