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Inner Balance - RX-Sore Muscles
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By Julie Dugdale
Your feet drag, your calves cry out, and your lungs feel like mere shreds of those healthy organs that once infused you with oxygen. All you want to do is stop.
Clearly you are not in touch with your chi (also spelled qi), the essential inner energy that connects one’s mind, body, and spirit. By ignoring this reservoir of spiritual energy, muscle fatigue and soreness can soon bring your running game to a halt. But Danny Dreyer, the innovator behind a new running practice, may have the solution: ChiRunning.
• Drawing on the principles of t’ai-chi, ChiRunning encourages runners to listen to their bodies and make spiritual connections. A few physical adjustments and a touch of Chinese wisdom may be all you need to pound the pavement without pain.
• Good posture is the first step to engaging your chi. Runners can learn correct body alignment by borrowing a basic principle of t’ai chi, known as Needle in Cotton. The needle represents the body’s central axis (the spine) and the cotton represents the extremities. To run more efficiently, gather your energy at your core (those muscles that stabilize the pelvis) and release the tension from your arms and legs. A relaxed body keeps your shoulders, hips, and ankles in a straight line. A rigid body and a soft, disengaged core, on the other hand, can produce an out-of-sync, body-jarring experience.
• Try tilting your body from the ankles, instead of the waist; Dreyer says this will help your balance. And then shorten your stride so that one leg doesn’t bear a heavy burden for too long. Shorter strides exemplify the classic t’ai chi philosophy of continual, fluid weight shifting, from empty to full, yin to yang.
• Relaxation is the next key to your chi. Try to relax your joints and concentrate on the bubbly spring of your foot, the point that allows you to sink down and spring up. Center your weight on this middle part of the foot when you touch down, not the toe or the heel. When your joints are open, your chi flows through the body, diffusing the healing and nurturing energy.
• Finally, allow your mental energy to sink from your mind to the lower part of your body. Be aware of your body’s needs and limitations while you run and respond to them.
• Once you’ve righted your posture, relaxed your joints, and put that spring back in your step, can Chi-Running bliss be far behind? If you’re not yet feeling euphoric as you plod up that quad-busting hill, don’t be discouraged. It can take time to find your chi—but once you do, you’ll never be running on empty again.
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