This is why I teach!

Posted In: ChiRunning | Fitness | Me | Running March 19th, 2011 divider No Comments »

Folks,

See below for an email I received from Denise, a participant at one of my last workshops. This is why I teach this stuff. Awesome!

Hi Eric,
Didn’t think I’d be compelled to send a note so soon after Sunday’s running workshop – but I had to!
I ran a couple of km on Sunday night to try to consolidate what we had done in the afternoon, but didn’t really feel I had the knack of much of it. On Monday, during a long car ride, I reread Chp 4 & 5 in the book and last night was my first attempt at a ‘chi run’. I went out planning to focus on posture & keeping my ankles loose with a short stride. I was happy with how my ankles felt but did feel some tightness in my calves. The run required a lot of concentration but I felt pretty good. On the way back after so much mental work, I decided to choose a spot to focus on & forget I was running. It was pretty cool – without intending to, I ran the fastest km since I started running and without trying to do so. It wasn’t ‘fast’ by any means but it was quicker than any I had done & clearly without the same effort.

What blew me away though was afterwards. As I was walking around getting supper ready – my  calves were very warm, soft & supple. Usually this is the tightest part of my body after a run and here they felt like jello. Even though I had felt some tightness there during the run, it was obvious to me that there had been way more circulation & blood flow there than ever before. That was amazing to me!
So, thanks for so much thought provoking work on Sunday afternoon! I am a work in progress – but didn’t expect to see that much progress on my first run.
Denise

I hope I get more like these after today’s workshop!
-Eric