I’m happy to be back running again. I had stopped for about three months and I had a hard time making it a priority again. I had all these other important things to do. But I started to realize that I was missing something in order to have balance in my life. (But there’s definitely not anything missing at my waist!) Learning and practicing the Alexander Technique, I’ve learned to pay attention to how I distribute tension throughout my body, and to balancing and centering my self, but I was missing physical activity to bring balance to my life. I was missing the physical realm on the wheel of the seven realms of life created by Dr. James Fricton, professor of my Preventing Chronic Pain course.
So I’m back on my ten-week program that I’d gotten to week 9 of, but I went back to week 5 today to not overdo it all at once out of enthusiasm, since it’s been a while. I use an application that tells me when to walk, when to run and when to stop, and that helps me keep from injuring myself as I had done in the past, and to keep progressing in a way that’s easy instead of frustrating.
I alternated walking and running, and it was a great feeling to be moving my body again. I used to get really bored running. I’d take music along and listen to podcasts, do my heavy thinking –anything to entertain myself and keep my mind off running. But now I realize I get a lot more out of running if I actually pay attention to what I’m doing instead of trying to distract my mind with something I’d rather be doing.
As I walked and ran, I paid attention to my different strides, remembering my Art of Running training with Canadian champion and Alexander Technique teacher Malcolm Balk so that I didn’t put on the brakes or create too much impact with my steps. Once again it was a strange feeling directing my running and walking strides in different ways. But I’m used to strange feelings. I find that feeling strange usually means that something other than habit is happening in the way I use my body, and I see this in my Alexander Technique students as well. So I just let myself enjoy that strangeness. Who knows, maybe the only strangeness came from actually pounding the pavement again! (Though I wish I could think of a better verb than “pound”! How about massaging the pavement!)
My intention is to get back on to my running program and run at least two or three times per week. I don’t know how successful I’ll be at keeping it up, but I have been successful today! And the nice Buenos Aires spring weather helps.
I’m already looking forward to my next run!
If you’d like to learn more, you can subscribe to my newsletter, read past articles here, join the Mind-Body Freedom & Balance with Alexander Technique group in Facebook to read occasional tips and ask questions, or write me at info@discoverease.how to take an online constructive rest mini-lesson or a full online lesson. I’ll also be offering classes and workshops again next year when I get back to Montana. (I’ll be back for a couple weeks at Christmas and then May through September.)
If you have any questions or issues you’d like me to write about, please write me at info@discoverease.how or post something in the Facebook group! I look forward to hearing from you!
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