Think You Can Run? Don’t Ever Think That Again
Adding a touch of meditation to your running can make you better — at both.
I don’t run to be a better runner, I run to develop patience, to meditate.
Try to run in the zone — watch the world go by from your peripheral vision. The trees, the lampposts, the road signs as they appear and disappear — on and on.
Empty the mind — no thinking of pace, distance to go, how much you want to stop.
When you meet a group of runners coming down, do you straighten a bit more, move a bit faster? Stop that. No wondering how are you looking to others. It’s not important.
What’s important then? That you are not thinking of anything.
Put one foot in front of another, and focus on nothing going past on either side of your eyes. The thirst, the pain in the legs, the sweat, the breathlessness, the burning chest will exist. You need only to acknowledge their presence, at the door — don’t invite them in, don’t start a conversation.
Let them be, they are only trying to keep you alive. They have clear instructions to keep you ‘safe’. Thank them for their efforts, but be aware, they are misguided.
You have a very important task to do. You have to do nothing, to think nothing. That’s your task, that’s your goal.
Keep a soft focus on a target ahead. I choose a part of a tree hanging low, a few hundred feet away. As you get closer, your gaze moves upwards. An upward turned eye is the best position for a meditative experience.
Don’t let the gaze go too high, you could have an eye ache. Choose another tree farther away. Or choose a road sign, no difference.
Don’t make strategies about running, while running. Don’t wonder what will you tell the boys about your experience today. Don’t think about what goes into the next article on running.
No worries about how much to go, what speed, or the big question — ‘why am I doing this?’
Let the mile alarm on your watch tell you the story. Watching the watch is not required. You can get an estimate of your running speed from how fast things are flowing past. Nearer objects will move faster, but the mind will compensate for that, and still give you a good estimate.
Often I find high speed is a by-product of not thinking of running fast.
Keep a target speed in mind, and start running. Watch how your body will deliver that speed. It will. Let the mind guide the body.
These guys work well together, if only you get out of the way.
If the road is clear and I sense no danger ahead, I’ll close my eyes for a few seconds. Or longer, if I feel comfortable. Be warned — this can be addictive.
So what do I think about, if I don’t think about anything? Well, nothing. That was always the point.
The mind craves entertainment, we have conditioned the mind to do that. Thinking is wonderful entertainment, for your mind. It’s just not a good deal for you. Thinking is a great ego inflator — alone in your mind you are smart and funny and perfect.
This unfocused thinking takes a big bite out of your bandwidth, makes you tired.
It’s painful to stop thinking. Bear the pain anyway. Pain is temporary. You could even get a headache, trying hard to not think. That too is temporary. And it gets easier with every attempt.
It’s mentally taxing, tiring, and troubling to not entertain any thought. It’s hard to not enjoy the delicious flavors of story-making.
I can’t push through the resistance of tired legs and aching lungs. It’s easier to push through the resistance of not thinking. And achieve the state of thinking lesser, with every attempt.
Don’t try to calibrate your success at not thinking. That’s thinking too. Just let it go. Any thought not entertained will slink away. That’s what these rascals do. That’s how they are brought up.
So why practice meditation during running? Because you are getting an extra hour of meditation, a bonus. Use it with glee to practice not thinking.
Simple? Yes. Easy? No. Not easy on day 1, a lot better on day 10.
No one is asking for 100% perfect results. Anything better than 0% is good. And it gets better. Start by not thinking about running. One foot in front of another, and remember to watch the world flow by.
I call this ‘getting patient on the run’ — changing outlook in runtime.
