Meditation too Boring for You? Try ChiRunning

I love to meditate. It’s a beautiful way to center myself inside my body and to set my mood to that of gratitude and appreciation for all the amazing people and things in my life. It gets me away from the frantic pace of everyday life.

One of my favorite ways to meditate is to sit or lie back quietly with ear phones on, and listen to a guided meditation. One of my favorites is from Chunyi Lin from Spring Forest Qigong called “Small Universe”. Another one that I’m just getting into is “Seeds of Enlightenment” by Jeddah Mali.

However, many people just can’t sit still…is this you? They fidget if they try to quiet their mind, and the thoughts are racing all the time. It frankly drives them nuts! Lots of runners fall into this category—maybe a little ADD, maybe a little Type-A, and always in motion with their bodies and mind.

Well, for these runners, there’s no better way to practice meditation than to go for a run. I know several runners who’ve told me that their running is a meditation for them—it quiets the chatter of the day and lets them escape.

That is true for me as well, especially when I go through the focuses in ChiRunning: I set my posture, engage my lean, and relax my legs as I float above the ground, receiving feedback and cues from my body to what it needs. It allows me to be in the present moment at all times and to truly enjoy just being right here, right now.

Sure, there will many times that one of my 50,000 thoughts or so per day pop up, but I just welcome it and then let it go. Then I get back to nature and enjoy the process of feeling my body moving through space and the energy surrounding and encompassing me—not a bad way to spend a morning run!!

ChiRunning can be a great stress reliever, and most people need this for sure—it’s estimated that up to 90% of doctor’s visits have some basis in stress! A big part of ChiRunning’s effectiveness for stress is its meditative aspects of being present and mindful of how you’re moving and feeling. It’s amazing how this mindfulness becomes almost automatic as you practice it every time you go out to run.

So if you can’t sit still but want the stress relieving benefits of meditation, then take your meditation with you with ChiRunning.