t was such a pleasure to have joined the NY Flyers last Fall, and also having the opportunity to share Chi Running with over 30 Flyers at Jackrabbit on June 14th.
Chi Running is a form and philosophical approach to running, making running more enjoyable, effortless, and injury free, while increasing speed and longevity. This may sound like a big statement to make, but I know — I've come back from open knee surgery to run 5 marathons per year and 1-2 triathlons up to ironman distance per year. Chi Running applies several principles of Tai Chi, the martial art:
This is combined with the power and energy of running. You can run like you did when you were a kid! It's a gradual progress — everything grows in increments — from less to more (you can't skip steps). You go from smaller steps to bigger: each step creates a stable foundation for the next step. If you attempt to fight this process, injuries and unhappiness will occur. You won't be able to enjoy the ride.
Principle #1 — the "needle in cotton". Here you align your standing posture, working and strengthening the centerline of your body. Your spine is long. Your core muscles hold this "needle", keeping you aligned with gravity floating down around you. You stand strong, as we displayed with the pulldown exercise at Jackrabbit. The "cotton" is your peripherals — the arm, and leg muscles are relaxed. Your core muscles — the perimedalis are used. These muscles level your pelvis, engage your core, and reduce low back and glute tension.
Principle # 2 — once you align yourself with the pull of gravity — once you are aligned — you may move forward without using your muscles. You will tire less and be able to move forward with greater ease. The ground coming at you will be more like riding a treadmill rather than impacting your joints.
Principle # 3 - as above, take your time with everything; you will enjoy whatever you're doing when you are truly present. You will be building a better you. As Scott Cohen, ironman, former president of NY Flyers, friend and sometime chi running student of mine eluded to in his article last month, every little bit counts — you'll become a better athlete by showing up and participating in whatever condition you're in.
At Jackrabbit, we were taken through 4 steps for finding and creating our perfect posture:
Once we have found our perfect postural alignment, we can moved forward, using the pull of gravity, while maintaining that postural column.
This is a start to a more energy-efficient, injury-preventative way to run, by creating the conditions for energy to flow within. There's much more to go over. I'm sure this text has a lot of information for you to absorb and to embrace within your body.
I would be happy to email you a "form focus" list which includes a lot more than what we were able to cover at Jackrabbit or to explain in this short summary.