How Silence Helps You Run Better

Throughout the ages people of wisdom have found time to muse, ponder, and spend time alone with their thoughts.  Scientists, artists, poets, and musicians know all to well the many hours of silence that precede a breakthrough to a creative idea.  Runners can find this success in silence too.

If you try to meditate while running you can create a more peaceful and enjoyable run while both improving your running abilities and reducing your likelihood of injuries.  Try running in the moment, increase your body awareness, and clearing your mind.  It's a great experience and it's quite uplifting.

Running provides a great opportunity to meditate like this.  Focus on our breath and on your form as you continuously move forward in a fluid motion.  This will help you clear your mind and focus on your body.  As you focus on our muscles, your stride, your breathing, and all the other sensations that rise to the surface when your are running, you can very easily clear your mind of the everyday issues that can create stress and tension in your body.  Your job, finances, home, family issues, etc...they all melt away when you run.

I'm no expert in this, but I'm learning.  The first steps is to leave all of your tech gadgets at home and make it a solo run.  It doesn't have to be every run, but at least once a week is a good start.  I've done it on a few long runs and it's great!  It's up to you; just keep it consistent.

Learn more about meditative running in this entertaining Runners World article http://www.runnersworld.com/runners-stories/transcendental-steps?page=single.  Also, if you want to do some in depth reading on the topic, a good book to pick up (which I admit I have not finished reading yet) is Running with the Mind of Meditation by Sakyong Mipham, a leader of Shambhala, a global community of meditation retreat centers grounded in realizing basic goodness and enlightened society through daily life.

So try something new.  Try silent, meditative, running!