Chi Workout Part III

There are four basic skills of ChiRunning or ChiWalking: focusing, body sensing, breathing and relaxing. Whether you want to run a 5k, 50k or longer, use these skills to maximize your performance while minimizing physical effort. These skills will actually help you achieve any goal in life with greater ease. Focus your mind and thoughts to instruct your muscles to work together and relax. Your mind coordinates the perfect run, perfect tempo and engages the beauty of chi, allowing you to finish relaxed, empowered and full of energy for the day ahead. Use full body/mind focus to improve efficiency, speed, and decrease injury. Align your body, vision, forward movement, mind and your heart so eventually your ChiRunning form becomes second nature and your mind and body become one effortlessly. Body sensing is the skill of having your mind and body work together as a team. Constant communication between mind and body works without judgment of whether information is good or bad. Any negative or judgmental thought breakdown in communication creates static in the line. There are three steps to body sensing: listening carefully to little nuances of how your body moves, assessing the information to discern if the adjustment made is working, and adjusting incrementally. Relaxation begins with the breath and in this type of exercise, expect at first to be out of breath and work up to proper oxygen supply with long, slow distance running to increase your aerobic capacity. Belly breathing stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system which has a calming effect on your body. Try to breathe in an out through your nose, as this is a great self-regulating mechanism as you won’t be able to do it if you’re running too fast or inefficiently. Use relaxation to create a focused spaciousness without unnecessary effort. Using these skills correctly can dramatically improve your exercise capacity and purpose on and off the track. For information on the cousin of Chi Running, Pose, visit posetech.com