This morning I read mentor modern day philosopher Frank Forencich's latest Keep Your Eye on the Whole which focused on the importance of integration and cohesion for total health and living. It immediately triggered thoughts of running (and why I can't live without it), and prompted me to revisit some journaling I had done in the past. Running's most healthy attribute may not be lowering body weight, blood pressure, etc., but the fact it is a mechanism to achieve mind-body integration in a world where opportunities to do so are becoming increasingly rare.
When a runner sets out to train for a race, his or her body is the major tool at their disposal. This forces the mind to be keenly aware of how best to use it, resulting is a Zen-like harmony/integration between the cognitive mind and physical body that is constantly evolving with each and every training experience. As a practical example, in order for an athlete to avoid injury, let alone improve, the mind must be fully attentive to all the cues it receives from the body. In real time these signals determine how to approach the next stride. After a thoughtful post-workout reflection, they influence what the next training session might look like: should the runner push to build on gains, or pull-back, giving the muscles more time to recover? It follows that over a broader horizon, the build up of [physical] bodily cues and an athlete's [mental] reaction to them shape his or her training program, and ultimately, the outcome that training program produces. The more we run [in a mindful way] the more the mind and body become one.
Since the cognitive recognition [of] and reaction to these bodily cues is so central to successful training, it is ideal to approach each workout with full engagement and caring. Not only does this foster a mind-body integration within the athlete, it also yields the potential for a second level of integration; between athlete and sport. This embodies what I refer to as Quality; something that only occurs when an actor and his or her act are so seamlessly interwoven that they are hard to separate - they nearly become one [1].
There is hardly a form of engagement more intimate than that which occurs on a deliberate and mindful training run. Runners are inherently involved in every step of their act, acutely aware of muscle contractions, breathing, and the lactic acid that boils under their skin. As runners develop a closer relationship with running over time, they improve their [mental] understanding of how the body works when running, and as a result, with mindful attentiveness, they can often make it [the body] work better. Over the course of a consistent and routine practice, mind, body, and running -- three "separate" entities -- become one, given rising to a special experiential relationship.
Perhaps this is why one of the most common answers to the question, "why do you run," is "running makes me feel alive."
[1] This concept of "Quality" was first introduced to me by Robert Pirsig in his novel Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.
