Yoga Journal #86: Marathons and Mindfulness

So, you may have read in the previous entry, I’ve signed myself up for a marathon at the end of March. I think it’s a good idea to always keep pushing and developing yourself in new ways and I don’t know why I decided to pick a half marathon, but I did. I think it will be really useful for me, as a yoga teacher, to do something that makes me physically uncomfortable (Running = NOT my natural thing), so that I can better relate perhaps to beginner yogis who practice with me, who feel like the physical aspects of the practice are just too much, too uncomfortable, too far to have to go. This way, I will be able to say – YES, I really know what you mean. Let’s do it together.

Started a little “marathon training” plan (have decided to follow this one  – mainly because it had the word “easy” in it). Set off this morning for a 30 min run and have realised that I am perhaps running a bit too fast for a longer endurance marathon. Ran for 32 minutes with an average per km of 5.44mins. I stopped once (twice, okay three times) to catch my breath “check the route” and then again (thank goodness) when I bumped into a friend at the bus stop. Running is HARD ASS. Felt like I was literally dragging myself across the pavement. I’m hoping these feeling are arising because it’s my first run in ages. But man alive, these people who just run for days, I freaken salute you – you are HARD CORE.

Anyway, the practice of yoga has always been interesting to me, because it’s become an observance of how the mental body affects the physical body. How the mind affects the physical performance. This morning, my brain was running at one hundred miles an hour – thinking of everything I needed to get done today – (e.g.: packaging up 100 Valentine’s Day Orders before 12:30pm, having run out of envelopes to package them in, so spent the large part of the run trying to figure out that little tricky scenario.) So it was interesting to observe perhaps that because my mind was running so fast and with so many things in my head and to-do lists, how my body wants to run a bit faster too to try and keep up.

Over the next few sessions, I’m going to see if somehow I can integrate the practice of yoga more into the running that I’m doing. I have done some walking meditations and a few running meditations using headspace, but will see if I can bring it out on my own. When we bring ourselves into “yoga” or that state of being completely connected: body and mind, it can often highlight where exactly sensations are arising, how the physical body is feeling, how we are adjusting and where we are holding tension. I can pretty much guarantee that because running is SO not my thing (actually, I find it fucking difficult) it will be really hard at first, but we shall persevere!

Also, whenever I go for a run, I feel like I legitimately deserve ALL THE CARBS IN THE WORLD. So, there’s that.

2 Comments

  1. Kristy on February 8, 2016 at 9:28 pm

    Keep it up Ché! The physical challenge is secondary to the mental challenge. Twice in the last three weeks I have run with friends who have broken down in tears during a long run. But they pulled through and felt stronger the next time they ran.

    You should check out http://www.parkrun.org.uk/wimbledon/ – it’s a free local 5km run every Saturday – good for testing your fitness before a big race!

    • Ché Dyer on February 9, 2016 at 9:00 am

      OOH that’s amazing!! I will definitely check that out! (let me know when you next running – although you will be WAY faster than me! haha) I read your comment before I went out this morning (my second 20 min run) and you gave me some inspiration to finish strong! thank you! xx

Leave a Comment





This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.