Some thoughts about Gurus, Kripalu Yoga, Chi Running and my recent race recap at the end:
Last week I had a wonderful experience teaching a Chi Running and Kripalu Yoga retreat at the Kripalu center in western MA. The reason I love Kripalu yoga is the same reason I love Chi Running...
Both approaches are a non-dogmatic inquiry based approach led by a community of people seeking to grow their understanding through experiments and experience.
This is very different than traditional yoga and running methods which rely very heavily on gurus telling people what they should and shouldn’t do. People generally recognize yoga as being guru based, but are a bit confused when I tell them running is not much different. Allow me to explain.
Once a distance runner enters high school they can expect most of their runs to be completely planned by a coach. This coach is most likely following the plan of either Arthur Lydiard or Jack Daniels, both of whom are regarded as top running coaches, and rightfully so. You can go on message boards and read the debates on which guru system is better, Daniels or Lydiard. There is very little emphasis on running by feel. Everything is structured. Everything is planned often months or even years in advance. Yet, somehow the runners miss the fact that they are blindly following the guru without much room for personal experimentation.
The huge irony here is that the same community that worships Lydiard and/or Daniels as their guru will criticize Chi Running for being a guru based system when actually the opposite is true. There is a reason the author titled the book “Chi Running” and not “Danny Dreyer’s running method.” It’s because he is trying to remove the guru system and offer the option of a run by feel method. I’ve met at least 60 Chi Running instructors and all of them encourage personal experimentation, finding what works for the individual, and avoidance of cookie cutter training systems. This is in sharp contrast to the number of track coaches who have told me I *need* to do high mileage, or I *need* to do 400 meter repeats, or I *need* to do this, that and the other thing. Luckily, none of my own track coaches have had this approach, I’ve just had to hear it from other coaches in the community. I even hear it from other runners who have no credentials as a coach and have few, if any results to back up what they are saying.
Chi Running was not the first approach to talk about running by feel, but it has certainly had the largest impact. For many, running by feel is a scary concept.
Wait…you mean I should actually pay attention to the crazy stuff that’s happening in my body when I run? Forget that, just tell me how far and fast to go and I will throw on the headphones and grind my way through it.
The concept of a guru was once a huge subject at the Kripalu center. Kripalu started out as a guru based community, with Swami Kripalu as the guru, Amrit Desai as his main pupil, and a few dozen other students rounding out the close knit community. After Swami Kripalu passed on, Amrit Desai became the main guru. He was loved by the students and revered to the highest degree.
Then a scandal broke where the students found out that Amrit Desai had been having sexual relations with some of the students. It really rattled the Kripalu community pretty hard. So what did the community do? Sweep it under the rug? Find a new guru? Force Amrit to repent for his wicked ways? No. They asked Amrit Desai to leave and then took a long hard look at the community and how best to move forward. What they decided was to eliminate the guru system completely and have a community of yogis that are all viewed equally. The learning seemed to grow exponentially as the community shifted from 1 teacher/30 students to 30 student-teachers. This is why I love Kripalu yoga. Kripalu is one of the first yoga systems to completely do away with having a guru, and shift the focus towards personal experimentation and experience.
This doesn’t mean there aren’t experts and teachers. I’ve had the good fortune of learning from many of the long time Kripalu residents and it is very clear to me that I have a lot I could learn from them. I love learning from experts. I get turned off when a guru starts telling me I *need* X in order for Y to happen.
One of the phrases we use in both the Chi and Kripalu communities is “nobody knows your body better than yourself.” In my teaching I have found that this comes as a bit of a shocker to many. People have seen so many experts (gurus) and have been bombarded with so much technical jargon they think said guru must know their body better than them. It is my belief that you know your body better than anyone else. Chi Running and Kripalu yoga are both approaches that aim to help you gain greater understanding of your body in a format that makes it easy to share your experiences with the group so everyone can learn and grow together.
Recent Race Recap:
Christmas Weekend I was back at BU for another indoor track meet. I started off with the 3K and felt very good. I was in a faster heat this week and had some guys to work with. I ended up running 9:15 which is a 10 second improvement over the previous week. I then attempted to race the mile and this did not go so well. I was feeling good through 800 meters when someone decided to run right into my legs, trip me up and send me flying into the track. Not cool. I walked off the track shocked at what had just happened. I then walked over to one of the officials and asked if I could run the 800 just to get a second race in for the day. He graciously let me get into a heat of the 800 in which I ran a 2:10. I felt relaxed but definitely had to work a bit to run that speed. Overall it was a good day despite the fall in the mile.
New years eve I was again at BU for the last meet of the series. The 3K felt pretty similar to the previous week and I managed to cover the distance about 4 seconds faster than the week before. I was happy that I at least got faster but was a little surprised I was only 4 seconds faster. I then gave the mile another try and for whatever reason I just didn’t have it. I ran a 4:43 which felt easy, but I thought I could have run faster than that. I’m not sure exactly what went wrong but I think limited sleep due to a busy holiday schedule was the main culprit.
For my next event I’m stepping a bit outside the comfort zone and running a half marathon on an indoor track. I really do not know what to expect from this event and that’s a good thing! I’m entering the race totally open to whatever happens. At the very least it will be a nice opportunity to get in a solid run in a warm, dry climate in the middle of winter. At best it will be a great chance to run a fast time on the controlled setting of an indoor track. The track is about 300 meters, so bigger than a normal indoor track, smaller than an outdoor track. The race is limited to 60 participants, so it shouldn’t be *too* crowded, but I imagine it will be somewhat crowded. Honestly, I don’t know what to expect. Things could get very messy if people start lapping other runners. Luckily the race is chip timed and your name is displayed on a t.v. screen each time you complete a lap. This way, my lap and times are taken care so I don’t even have to calculate how many laps I have left. If the race gets really messy I am not planning on forcing anything and weaving around a bunch of runners to get a fast time. If it stays relatively clean I will attempt to open it up a bit and see how fast my fitness will allow me to cover the 13.1 mile distance.
Last week I had a wonderful experience teaching a Chi Running and Kripalu Yoga retreat at the Kripalu center in western MA. The reason I love Kripalu yoga is the same reason I love Chi Running...
Both approaches are a non-dogmatic inquiry based approach led by a community of people seeking to grow their understanding through experiments and experience.
This is very different than traditional yoga and running methods which rely very heavily on gurus telling people what they should and shouldn’t do. People generally recognize yoga as being guru based, but are a bit confused when I tell them running is not much different. Allow me to explain.
Once a distance runner enters high school they can expect most of their runs to be completely planned by a coach. This coach is most likely following the plan of either Arthur Lydiard or Jack Daniels, both of whom are regarded as top running coaches, and rightfully so. You can go on message boards and read the debates on which guru system is better, Daniels or Lydiard. There is very little emphasis on running by feel. Everything is structured. Everything is planned often months or even years in advance. Yet, somehow the runners miss the fact that they are blindly following the guru without much room for personal experimentation.
The huge irony here is that the same community that worships Lydiard and/or Daniels as their guru will criticize Chi Running for being a guru based system when actually the opposite is true. There is a reason the author titled the book “Chi Running” and not “Danny Dreyer’s running method.” It’s because he is trying to remove the guru system and offer the option of a run by feel method. I’ve met at least 60 Chi Running instructors and all of them encourage personal experimentation, finding what works for the individual, and avoidance of cookie cutter training systems. This is in sharp contrast to the number of track coaches who have told me I *need* to do high mileage, or I *need* to do 400 meter repeats, or I *need* to do this, that and the other thing. Luckily, none of my own track coaches have had this approach, I’ve just had to hear it from other coaches in the community. I even hear it from other runners who have no credentials as a coach and have few, if any results to back up what they are saying.
Chi Running was not the first approach to talk about running by feel, but it has certainly had the largest impact. For many, running by feel is a scary concept.
Wait…you mean I should actually pay attention to the crazy stuff that’s happening in my body when I run? Forget that, just tell me how far and fast to go and I will throw on the headphones and grind my way through it.
The concept of a guru was once a huge subject at the Kripalu center. Kripalu started out as a guru based community, with Swami Kripalu as the guru, Amrit Desai as his main pupil, and a few dozen other students rounding out the close knit community. After Swami Kripalu passed on, Amrit Desai became the main guru. He was loved by the students and revered to the highest degree.
Then a scandal broke where the students found out that Amrit Desai had been having sexual relations with some of the students. It really rattled the Kripalu community pretty hard. So what did the community do? Sweep it under the rug? Find a new guru? Force Amrit to repent for his wicked ways? No. They asked Amrit Desai to leave and then took a long hard look at the community and how best to move forward. What they decided was to eliminate the guru system completely and have a community of yogis that are all viewed equally. The learning seemed to grow exponentially as the community shifted from 1 teacher/30 students to 30 student-teachers. This is why I love Kripalu yoga. Kripalu is one of the first yoga systems to completely do away with having a guru, and shift the focus towards personal experimentation and experience.
This doesn’t mean there aren’t experts and teachers. I’ve had the good fortune of learning from many of the long time Kripalu residents and it is very clear to me that I have a lot I could learn from them. I love learning from experts. I get turned off when a guru starts telling me I *need* X in order for Y to happen.
One of the phrases we use in both the Chi and Kripalu communities is “nobody knows your body better than yourself.” In my teaching I have found that this comes as a bit of a shocker to many. People have seen so many experts (gurus) and have been bombarded with so much technical jargon they think said guru must know their body better than them. It is my belief that you know your body better than anyone else. Chi Running and Kripalu yoga are both approaches that aim to help you gain greater understanding of your body in a format that makes it easy to share your experiences with the group so everyone can learn and grow together.
Recent Race Recap:
Christmas Weekend I was back at BU for another indoor track meet. I started off with the 3K and felt very good. I was in a faster heat this week and had some guys to work with. I ended up running 9:15 which is a 10 second improvement over the previous week. I then attempted to race the mile and this did not go so well. I was feeling good through 800 meters when someone decided to run right into my legs, trip me up and send me flying into the track. Not cool. I walked off the track shocked at what had just happened. I then walked over to one of the officials and asked if I could run the 800 just to get a second race in for the day. He graciously let me get into a heat of the 800 in which I ran a 2:10. I felt relaxed but definitely had to work a bit to run that speed. Overall it was a good day despite the fall in the mile.
New years eve I was again at BU for the last meet of the series. The 3K felt pretty similar to the previous week and I managed to cover the distance about 4 seconds faster than the week before. I was happy that I at least got faster but was a little surprised I was only 4 seconds faster. I then gave the mile another try and for whatever reason I just didn’t have it. I ran a 4:43 which felt easy, but I thought I could have run faster than that. I’m not sure exactly what went wrong but I think limited sleep due to a busy holiday schedule was the main culprit.
For my next event I’m stepping a bit outside the comfort zone and running a half marathon on an indoor track. I really do not know what to expect from this event and that’s a good thing! I’m entering the race totally open to whatever happens. At the very least it will be a nice opportunity to get in a solid run in a warm, dry climate in the middle of winter. At best it will be a great chance to run a fast time on the controlled setting of an indoor track. The track is about 300 meters, so bigger than a normal indoor track, smaller than an outdoor track. The race is limited to 60 participants, so it shouldn’t be *too* crowded, but I imagine it will be somewhat crowded. Honestly, I don’t know what to expect. Things could get very messy if people start lapping other runners. Luckily the race is chip timed and your name is displayed on a t.v. screen each time you complete a lap. This way, my lap and times are taken care so I don’t even have to calculate how many laps I have left. If the race gets really messy I am not planning on forcing anything and weaving around a bunch of runners to get a fast time. If it stays relatively clean I will attempt to open it up a bit and see how fast my fitness will allow me to cover the 13.1 mile distance.
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