Running Is My Meditation – Don’t Sit Around, Move Something!

Yesterday I did a 10 mile run. Two days before that a 6.2 mile run.

This morning I ran over the Golden Gate Bridge in the early morning sunrise.
It was utterly gorgeous and I felt such a sense of freedom.
I run approximately 25 miles per week. That’s 100 miles a month at least.
I have run 446 miles this year so far. All my runs have been in the morning.
My best running time is 11am when it’s warm, preferably sunny.
I’m 59 years old.
I am fitter than I have ever been as an adult.
I’m pretty fast for an older guy. I average 9 minutes per mile and my average length of run is 5.1 miles.
My app tells me I’m usually in the top 8% for distance run.

I am motivated for running.
For me it’s physical and spiritual. It’s even a kind of meditation.
It gets me into a zone. It helps me sweat. It enlivens me. It brings a great spaciousness to my mind.
I connect with some deep inspiration when I run.
I feel it enliven my cellular body.
It doesn’t feel like a stretch in a bad way, ever.

But it really hasn’t always been like this. In fact it was the opposite for years and years.
I was the most unfit guy ever during my 20s and 30s, and even my 40s.
It has taken years of persistence and success, and failure, to get to this point.
And still I have to persist. But I found the groove and know the rewards.

And don’t forget:
I have been through chronic illness, on a long journey that lasted about 10 years. Some of that time I ran, but I struggled with exercise. I stayed with it. When the body and nervous system is under par and stressed it’s very hard to get the full benefit of exercise. So you do what you can. I did rebounding to keep the energy flowing. I did yoga for flexibility. I did core strength exercises to build muscle. All of this you can do, adapted to your own state of health.

The bottom line is, you can’t recover or heal or find true vitality without doing something for the body.
If nothing else, walking is great! 5 – 10 miles a day will get things going. Just don’t sit around. It will kill you.
Sleep is so very important, good quality sleep. We go to bed very early and get up very early.
Hydration is very important.
Nutrition is vital.

But of all things I have seen and felt over the years, enthusiasm and motivation are the two most powerful. With those on your side anything is possible.

Anything.

Thanks for reading, see you out there!

Kavi

ps. Any runners out there, connect with me!
SmashRun – https://smashrun.com/kavi.hockaday

 

Exercise – Movement of Energy – Is Not Optional

I feel called to talk a little about exercise. I don’t think enough people actually do it regularly.

That’s the key, regularly. There is no real point in just doing a bit here and there. It doest work. It is regular movement of energy that works and gets the the flowing going. And that is one of the keys to health.

It sounds obvious but from what I see not many people actually act on this information.

Exercise is simple. All it really is is movement of energy. Energy must move or it stagnates. If it’s energy inside the body, inside the blood system, lymph system, bones or nervous system, it needs to move, period.
The lymphatic system is a major drainage system for cellular waste, but it relies on movement of energy to work. No movement, no elimination of lymphatic waste. No elimination of lymph waste and there will be build up of toxic residue in the body. That is trouble. That is toxicity in the system that cannot get out and just circulates. We call that the onset of chronic disease.

So exercise, or movement of energy, is necessary for regular health. And it is not just necessary for the body. Oh how the mind loves movement. It gets the chance to hatch ideas, dream, reflect and contemplate.

What constitutes movement of energy?

Walking, running, hiking, cycling, yoga, etc etc, you know the kind of things. Even breathing, deep diaphragmatic breathing can be a form of exercise. Rebounding is excellent.

But you have got do it often.

A little movement often is better than a lot every now and then.

It needs to become a habit, the same way not doing it has become a habit. Children do it naturally. You and I were children. We became lazy and distracted and forgot the joy of movement.

And here is my final point in this short call to movement.

Before you start you might have a lot of resistance. The mind is lazy and says ‘I don’t want to, it’s too hard, lets do it another day.’ and so on.

But if you persist, the reward is satisfaction and a warm body glow, and a sense of pride and achievement. Even if it’s small its there.

And you get to choose which feeling you want to respond to. The resistance or the possibility of satisfaction.

I know which I choose, and I do that over and over. And it has been hard for me to be motivated. But it works.

Yes of course when you are so out practice it is tough at first. But thats where your will, your desire, your determination and your warrior nature, kick in. You make it your business to keep going. One foot in the front of the other. Not just when yo feel like it.

Exercise is not something you do just when you feel like it. It is beyond that limited thinking.

Make it you business to find something that suits you. Experiment.

And persist.

If you want support with motivation or you have any other issue you feel you need support with, get in touch.
I could help you change the course of your life.

https://www.kavijezziehockaday.com/sessions/

Runners High

Yesterday I ran 14 kilometers in the heat. I was transported to bliss. It was like meditation and calmed my mind. I was absolutely at peace with myself and the world. It was such a transcendent yet ordinary experience that I became instantly addicted. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been a runner a long time, but this feeling was at another level to anything I have previously known.
It wasn’t exercise, it was life, it was spiritual, it was euphoric. And of course it didn’t last, but in those fleeting moments I was at home. Runners know what I’m talking about.

In the 90’s my current wife, who has transformed into a (spiritual) teacher, wrote her phd on the Runner’s High and was one of the first people to study the direct connection between exercise and feeling good, or meditation. Nowadays we know these things and take them for granted, yet they are easily forgotten.

And yesterday I was there, in the zone, no time, no space, just running happening to me, one foot in front of the other, body delighted, mind quiet and occasionally distracted but always returning to peace.

I am saying this to encourage those of you who get defeated real easy, those who give up, those who think they will never get to a place of effortlessness.

I got news for you…IT TAKE TIME, PERSISTENCE, PATIENCE AND TRUST.
I am 54, healthier now than ever before in my life. From the age of 16 to about 40 I did NO EXERCISE. None!  I drank, took drugs, smoked, walked to the pub, got on trains, but never any exercise. And then I have experienced Major illness in the last 9 years and had to deal with that, healing it bit by bit, slowly slowly..
And all the time gradually getting fitter and fitter until this year, when I can finally say @I’m pretty fit!

I can run. I love running, I am a runner. It gives me everything I need, space, motion, outside, time.
When you couple this level of exercise with great nutrition, which for me in Summer is RAW and very Fruit based, then you just feel fantastic!

Don’t give up hope. Keep on keeping on, gradually and suddenly. It will happen if you aim in the right direction and trust, and of course keep training.

I’m going again today! I don’t expect the same experience, I learned long ago never to expect the same experience, you are just setting yourself up for disappointment.
Don’t expect anything, just give all you’ve got and leave grace to do the rest.

Have a good run!

Related articles

• Why Exercise Gets You High (dangerouslee.biz)

Interval Training is WOW!

Interval Training is WOW! For me today it was 30 seconds full sprint to exhaustion then 2 minutes real slow jog, 8 times. That’s 20 minutes full on exercise.

Interval training like this has increased my duration running, my core strength, and my attitude to running itself. It is Excellent FUN!

Try it. Don’t forget to warm up properly and warm down. If you don’t know what you are doing seek advice, don’t pull a muscle by being all gung ho about it, it doesn’t work. Strains and sprains are a pain in every way. I’ve had loads because of ineffective stretching and over enthusiasm. So now I’m pretty careful and still I get little injuries here and there.
But it is so worth it…

Persistence..Never give up, it’s never too late – for anything.

Persistence and dedication to the task eventually gets results…

I have been a runner for over 15 years. I’m 54 years old. That means I started running when I was about 40..Before that?

I stopped all physical exercise when I was about 16 years old…and I don’t remember doing ANY until I started running and playing the occasional game of tennis at 40. During my 20’s and 30’s I was seriously out of shape..I would get absolutely shattered by climbing one set of stairs.. I mean I was real bad..

And then when the tide began to turn and I started running wow! I could not run for 30 seconds without feeling as though I was going to die of heart failure..I have simply persisted throughout my illness to gradually maintain and improve fitness, and eventually things changed.
Now I’m a runner, I run maybe 5 times a week and do 6 – 9 k each time and then one 10 k once a week. I do rebounding and some yoga..I keep improving and I just love it, even when I don’t like it..

The reason I’m sharing this is that I see people starting out who get frustrated and give up and I want to say ‘Don’t!’ Just persist slowly slowly and gradually you get there..

See you on the road!