Running With Intent

There is no real reason - for some - running is simply the intent of spirit. We seek to expand past the borders of the body. All reasons give way to intent. The intrinsic being of steps and breath can only be expressed through earth and air. We match their intent and call it running.

Peace,

Eric

Running With Language

Running is our conversation with the world. There is a secret language of earth and step - a moment passed in deep connection. We have heard the silence told by stones and tree branches whispering through the air. This is our invitation - to speak with silence and whispers of our own. Our breath meets the wind - merging in a shared hush of air. Each step a subtle word spoken to the ground. We have stories to tell - and distance stretches far to hear.

Peace,

Eric

Running With Inspiration

We are inspired to run - from a single step to an infinite distance - we are called to motion. Running is spirit uncontained. We have simply expanded past the hold of form and continued in a rush of joy. This is inspiration - the pureness of a whispered urge with no will other than the fullness of expression. We have to run. We have to create. To not do so would be to deny the sacred urge that pulses through our veins - we must be wholly who we are.

We are runners - infinitely inspired.

Peace,

Eric

Running With Thought

Running is but the thought of motion expressed as form - a creative seed from the infinite mind birthed into being. There is a primordial urge from stillness to motion. A single thought that pulls us to action - run. A new world is created. Our thoughts have the power to manifest solidity from the dance of particles and infinite space. There is no ground until our eyes gaze the path and our steps kiss the earth. One thought-  held consistent - is all that is needed. We run to create. Space and steps provide the canvas of distance and the light brush of stride. The world waits for a single thought of motion.

Peace,

Eric

Running With The Breath

Running is the breath - the unseen essence of who we are in motion. A breath drawn in marks our declaration of being in the material plane. We breathe in our very existence to the world. It's this energy taken in from spirit that gives life and more - the wish to be expressed in the pure joy of motion. We inhale and the urge to run is born.

Exhalation is the gift of return. We give life back to the universe - we give life to the universe. We exhale in remembrance of the unseen. For a brief moment between breaths we exist in two worlds. We have given life and have yet to draw life back in. Running brings us to this edge in a rhythm of breath and pause - over distance we have danced with life and nonexistence. We are reminded that what sustains us can't be seen. The breath is a mystery and running the means for exploration.

Running is the breath.

Peace,

Eric

Running With Patience

We run with patience. A single step contains the infinite potential of our stride. Distance becomes the meditation of a singular movement within a flow of its expression. One step. Our thoughts wander towards places yet unreached - we find ourselves caught in a race against our own timeless nature. There is little joy beyond the present. We return. One step. The infinite unfolds from this moment.

Peace,

Eric

Running With Prayer

Our steps are prayerful - asking nothing save the ground beneath them. We could run like this forever. Runners pray in form and distance -our devotion laid out in breath and stride. The earth is holy and air gives life. We give thanks in motion.

Not every church needs walls.

~

If running is seen as communication - a prayer asked and the answer instantly received beneath steps and breathed within - there is no distance we can't run.

Peace,

Eric

Running With Resonance

Everything vibrates - a singular pulse unique to its nature. Yet traced to its source each vibration is found born from a creative silence. The common home of all things. We are the song of nature. For a runner each step resonates in its return to source. Silence is found between the notes of steps and breath and beating heart. We're learning to listen.

We're finding our song.

~

Everything vibrates and everything seeks resonance - the runner and the trail are a wish for harmony. The "Runner's High" is not a solitary effort - it's two notes resonating in a greater song. When we reach this level we feel as if we could run forever. Perhaps we could - we're no longer running under the effort of mind and legs alone. With this awareness -our solo runs bring us a to new harmony with nature and increased energy and appreciation. In races it helps us to lift others and offer a silent encouragement. Resonance - we're all vibrating to a greater song.

Peace,

Eric



It's All A Dance

The world is dancing. There is nothing solid - particles within particles all spinning within infinite space. Running is a dance of illusions. There is an agreement of solidity - distance played out as matter for the pleasure of our stride. We have joined the dance.

~

In a very real sense this plays to our advantage - in a world of energy we can't be lacking. Play by the rules of distance running - hydrate, fuel and run wisely. Yet we don't have to limit our energy source. Draw power from earth and air. Feel the strength of trees and rocks as they lend us their support. The world expects us to dance with it - we have been invited.

Running is our acceptance to the dance.

Peace,

Eric

Running With Non-existence And Creation

We dream running - it is nonexistent until our steps meet the earth in a length of will and stride. Motion is the becoming of a runner. Until then running is a thought held in the infinite potential of heart and mind. From thought we have created the world. Imagine the power we have to dream the perfection of every run - the challenges as well as the grace and ease to meet them. Running is a dream for the awakened. May we all create with love and beauty.

Peace,

Eric

The Unlimited Reach Of A Single Step

Running is the expansion of Self - from steps to stride and further still to an infinite stretch of distance - we are unlimited in our reach. Our bodies are temporary expressions of a lifetime. Spirit resides within yet is not contained by the physical. We follow spirit. The urge for motion is a call to expand our reach past the finite world. Runners view distance as a reflection of the inner landscape - not to be conquered but to be known in the fullness of love. That's what running is - a love affair with the expansion of steps and Self - each present moment we meet the earth with an awareness that with one tiny, seemingly isolated step - we meet the world in one caress.

Peace,

Eric

Calling

Distance is our calling - our spacious nature reflected always in a further step. We run to know our inner world. Everything else the clarion call to motion.


Peace,
Eric



Our Spirit (And Steps) Know That This Is True

We run to simply know ourselves as motion - to feel the grounded flight of steps and the part of air against the skin. Running is the expansion of self. The path in its entirety is our destination and the infinite condensed within a distance. We know this on the subtle level of heart and stride. Every run is an enlightened moment.

Our spirit knows that this is true.

Peace,

Eric

Running With What Is Offered

We run with what the ground offers - unconcerned beyond the present step. Running offers the singular reality of the moment set within the flow of time. Our plan is to respond and every challenge a unique opportunity of acceptance. In the calm of our acceptance we find that we may always choose again. Distance is life played through steps and stride. Running allows the karmic scene to unfold within a certain frame - we are privy to the cause and effect of every step along the way. Running breeds awareness and through awareness - wisdom.

Peace,

Eric

Running Diminishes Us

Rain,
And I stand…willing
Myself as the
Earth –
Grateful in receiving.

~

Gratefulness extends in all directions. Our steps are given to the earth in a pull beyond gravity - we are returning to the path of our creation - the physical dust of bodies again touching briefly on the ground. We are welcomed home. Our breath is gifted from the air - drawn from infinite distance and returned again with added life. We are reminded that the unseen sustains us. Running diminishes us - our sense of self is absorbed back into the fabric of life and being. We find ourselves in a constant of being received by something greater than ourselves alone. Running is what we give. Everything else is what's returned.

Peace,

Eric

My Grieving Path

I was leaving for a run when my father called to me that my mom had fallen. I waited with him for the ambulance, made sure all was in order at the house and then ran. I visited my mother daily. Everyday I ran. When the phone call came early in the morning that my mother had passed away - I drove my father to the Hospice where she had spent her last days. My father and I sat with her body for quite some time. Later that day I ran for many hours. We buried her on a very cold winter morning. The afternoon wasn't much warmer. I bundled up for my run. I learned how to run on the trails mourning the loss of my marriage - seeking a double healing of remote steps while lost in nature. There were entire days spent in motion. My steps became a healing prayer and the trail a return path to a sense of peace. I ran for forgiveness and to forgive.

Running has allowed me to escape nothing - it has

laid out my grieving path in steps of

acceptance and compassion.

Running was the moment of my healing.

Peace,

Eric



The Story Of Running

We are not runners - a mere thought given to the grace of motion. We are beyond labels. Who we are cannot be spoken - only expressed in terms of stillness and action. Running is the story of the soul told through motion. We are storytellers - moved through the fiction of space, time, and bodies. Our steps are wordless moments told to earth and sky.

We are not runners - we are the presence behind

these stories.

Peace,

Eric

Running With Adddictions

I have battled with addictions. It has often been said that many runners trade their addictions for the healthier alternative of running. This may be true for some - maybe for many. In my case I certainly don't feel compelled to run - I don't find myself in the grip of an addiction that holds mind and spirit as a vice. I feel free. I am certainly drawn to run. The experience of covering ground swiftly and with ease is healing on every level for me. In troubled times it has helped heal my body, mind and spirit. I am a dedicated runner as well - seldom missing training sessions and sacrificing many things to enjoy being fit for racing and to spend time on the road and trails. Being in nature plays a large role in this - I am more myself when I am alone in nature. The sacrifices I make to find this time are a price I am more than willing to pay. I am a better person all around when I do so. I am sure that this indeed does sound like an addiction to some. Yet it isn't. I have left my addictions behind. They are a distinct memory of another lifetime. Running is this lifetime. Running brings me to the interior room of silence that past activities never could. Once this room has been discovered - through running, meditation, prayer - we are never doubtful of its existence again and need little help reaching it. In this room addictions don't exist. For me this room holds motion and a silence found between thoughts, there is an awareness of body and its connection to the mind, an awareness of spirit and its connection to the world. Awareness is freedom. I have not traded my addictions. I have lost them through the lens of awareness.  I have discovered that running is salvation for those already saved. Motion is simply a reminder.

Peace,

Eric

Running With Order

There is Divine order to all things. We run to align ourselves with this order - to return ourselves to the rhythm of the world. First - we surrender - there is an allowance to be guided by a greater mind than ours. The universe thinks and moves through us - we are instruments of navigational wonder - our steps the vehicle for the infinite to explore itself. We give ourselves to the faith of that guides the world - trusting in the Divine order of all things.

Peace,

Eric

Running With Layers

Every run begins with layers. At the far end of distance our goal is laid bare in the essence of reality -only spirit exists. Our goal is met not in miles but by what we have discarded with each step. Running brings us to the realization of what we are not - we shed layers and labels and our false sense of identity. It's our ability to continue that helps us lose this sense of permanent self - we find nothing static in the course of our run. We are different runners every day, we change with each mile and even s single step brings us to a subtle lessening of our identity. The layers we once held as truth have been discarded. We are lighter. The weight of our identity is less. The goal - not so far away. In truth - running is the realization that layers are unnecessary. There is no real goal other then knowing this alone - only spirit exists.

Peace,

Eric

Running In Dialogue

We run in dialogue with earth and air. Our steps tell the story of bone and flesh and the weight of our becoming. Every breath is told in hushed tones of inspiration - we are alive and a celebration of motion. Our bodies speak of functionality and wonder - we are molecules dancing in the guise of solidity. The earth reminds us that we are one in nature. Each step a homecoming brief in its giving. Our bodies are of the ground - bound by spirit for a lifetime. The air speaks of mysteries - holiness gathered as a breeze and swept in silent language to the world. Earth and air are constant in their whispered secrets. Running brings us to this conversation. We are invited to share - to join the telling and listening of ancient truths.

We run to tell stories.

We run to hear stories.

Peace,

Eric

Running With Kindness

Be kind. Run with a kind heart. The path ahead is shaped by present thoughts. Kabbalah wisdom holds that we can be reactionary people or responsive Beings - the choice is always ours. Running with kindness means first practicing allowance. We accept what is and only then respond. Reacting means that we are often at the mercy of an outside stimuli or influence. A response shows that we have achieved a certain mastery of our internal states and our choices become a reflection of this inner calm. Kindness is our default mode. It's where we safely retreat to even in the midst of a choice gone wrong. It's kindness towards ourselves that allow us to make amends for a reaction that may not be in our best interest. With kindness we may always choose again. Our bodies and minds will become supple when held in kindness - we demand less and achieve more. Most importantly we find that we live in a responsive universe -our kindness is welcomed by earth and sky and the path ahead is clear in what it offers.

Peace,

Eric



Running To Beomce Less/Running To Be More

In essence we run to become less - with each step we give a fraction of self away. Distance holds no memories and at the far end of our path we find ourselves void of all but a single reality - we are spirit. In essence we run to become more - with every step we absorb the fabric of the world. Distance is our memory of the infinite and at the far end of our path we find ourselves fully realized in a singular reality -

We are spirit.

In essence - we simply run to know ourselves.

Peace,

Eric

Running With The Dream Of Pain

We are runners, dreamers - our path dreamed into existence by the faith of steps and soul. Through distance we find the transient nature of all things. Nothing is solid. Pain is an avenue of exploration - finding space within the pulse of every ache and a fluid sense of its location. We have dreamed of pain to lead through its illusion. Reality is beyond the body. Running takes us to the other side. Once there - only spirit matters.

Peace,

Eric

Running With Dharma

Every raindrop fallen has fulfilled its purpose. Each step taken has reached its distance. This is Dharma. Dharma is a Sanskrit word with multiple definitions - yet the underlying meaning is one of being in alignment with the way of the universe. Everything has a Dharma. Running is not our purpose - it is the manner in which we purposely choose to express ourselves in the fullness of our Being. That's Dharma. It's why we run.

Peace,

Eric

Running With The Buddha's Smile

The Buddha's smile - a subtle line curved against the lips. It hints of mysteries told. We run with the Buddha's smile -mysteries of our own played out in distance. Each step another universe opened to explore. We are content to simply witness. Secrets have their own accord. There is no rush - we are runners, patient in the revelation of steps. Our smile, the Buddha's smile, a runners smile - is a reflection of this patience.

Peace,

Eric

Running With (And Beyond) Duality

There is earth and steps and deeper still there is our connection. In truth we are a continuation of all that is - a stride not of steps and distance but a long caress of one. Running is our longing to return to wholeness. We give ourselves away so completely that nothing exist beyond the single step offered to the ground. We are absorbed in motion - the pure grace of our existence without the weight of time and expectations. Only motion. Caress and caressed as one.

Peace,

Eric

Running With Stillness

First we are stillness -and motion a whispered urge to know the world as a singular caress. We listen. Yet stillness remains the calm center of our Being. We choose to know the world through running - the quiet nature of Self a witness to where our steps may lead. We seek wonder. Always we return to stillness.

Until we hear that whispered urge once more....

Peace,

Eric 



Running With Emptiness

Even as our steps strike solid on the earth - emptiness greets them. The ground we run on is an illusion. Our true path is the spacious nature of reality. Running is the light of our Being swept against the infinite. We have thought the world into existence. Emptiness is a promise of potential. Everything we hold as real and solid is in fact a thought that we cherish. We are free to create and hold dear a brand new reality - at any time. Running is our chance to escape the grip of past fears and expectations. We are greeting emptiness with fresh steps on an untold path. There is nothing to take with us and nothing to leave behind - we have run to the empty place that holds only creation.

It's a brand new world.

Our steps are eager to explore.

Peace,

Eric



Running With...Running With

Running with...and so begins and ends the truth of our existence. We are aligned with all things. Running is a struggle only when we fight this truth - if we view ourselves as separate from the world then we have created an isolated act of fiction. We believe we run alone. The earth is alive and vibrant and connected to our steps. Trees respond to each heartbeat with their own subtle vibrations and even rocks speak silence in our passing. Everything is alive. Everything is aware because of our own awareness of all things. We are connected.

This is what we run with.

Peace,

Eric

Running With The Absence Of A Runner

We think we're runners - but we're not. We are motion, light and distance called forth to express ourselves. Our steps carry us beyond labels - and in this sense of freedom we gain the truth of our identity. We are not one thing. We are everything. We are the ground covered and the distance viewed. We are motion wrapped around the stillness of the soul. We run - and yet the runner is simply the ride taken by spirit. We run - even in the absence of a runner.

Peace,

Eric

Running With The Ocean

As the ocean waves in its caress against the shore - we too are an expression of something infinite. Running is our crash against the wild shores of life. Running is a display of Being. We give little thought to the action of running - it is matched by the simplicity of breath and beating heart. There's no need to question or find reason for our pursuit of nothing more than motion - it's simply what we do. We are waves to an even greater ocean.

Peace,

Eric

Running With Renunciation

We are renunciates on a momentary path - devoted only to the given distance of the day. A single stretch of time becomes our holy order. Everything else is left behind until miles are completed. We don't renounce the world- we surrender the attachments that bind us to sedentary comforts. Running is the path chosen by those who seek effort. We aren't searching for answers - it's enough to know a mystery exist just beyond our every step. Each day - if only for certain distance - we renounce all but our desire to simply run in mystery.

Peace,

Eric

Running Grateful

We are runners - our grace is in receiving and giving motion in return. We are sustained by earth and air and every step and breath is offered as a grateful prayer. We seek to run as an expression of the life we have been given. Nothing is taken for granted. No step is promised. We are fully aware of the miracle of simply being - running is an extension of this awareness given wings to fly. We are joy in motion. We are not only grateful to be runners - we run because we're grateful.

Peace,

Eric

Running With Snow

A world transformed - as if innocence regained by the cover of snow and trackless stretch of land.  We are artist, runners - each step a stroke of motion left behind and a canvas of miles ahead. We are eager to explore. Running opens the world - snow is simply shades of what a season offers - flakes of white cold against the running grounds. Yet still we run. The world is always waiting.

Peace,

Eric



Running With Power

We run with power - drawn from earth and received from the sky. Nothing is forced. We are beyond need, demands and desire. Our wishes are met in the simple action of a breath drawn while in motion and steps given to the pull of the ground. Power is the reality of our connection to the whole - we run in the fullness of all things and with the realization that there is nowhere that we leave off and the world begins. Awareness is power. We are aware of our continuation - the distance we run no more than a portion of Self spread for exploration. We are aware of our Source. We come from the Infinite and the Infinite is power. To run with power is simply to remember our Source.

Peace,

Eric

Running With Darkness

There is light behind everything. Our darkest steps lead to the light of our existence. Running brings us to the edge where shadows play-  dark thoughts of illusions cast against interior light. We embrace darkness as a means to reveal a hidden truth. Our light has only dimmed in surface thought and memory - yet in our depth we are a true light that can't be extinguished. We are Beings of light. Running is the process of our remembrance -however many steps it takes.

Peace,

Eric

Running Reason

Our steps find Presence with the earth. The air we breath is holy. We run to experience God through motion. There is no other reason.

Peace,

Eric

Running With Meaning

Even a single step has meaning...one breath is enough to wake us to the subtle language of the world. We run to reach the depth of our existence-distance spread as our souls reflection. We feel the push of earth against our feet, giving itself for travel. We give thanks for the support of air.

We share a common language the world.

Peace,

Eric

Running With The Earth

We are of the earth - dust given life through light and love. We run to know ourselves again as earth. Each step a returned caress against the ground. And the earth too rises to our presence - our steps met by what the ground offers in the moment of our passing. Our connection to the earth is vital, alive and full of meaning. We are supported - urged to run as a prayerful sweep across the earth and breath given to the air.
We are told that we belong.
Our steps accepted.
And so we run - grateful to be whole.


Peace,
Eric

Running As Light

We are light - an extension of the very stuff of sun and stars. Running is an illusion of form in motion. In truth -we a reach of light beyond form. We run to know ourselves as a play of light against the ground - a shadows game with darkness. In the end only light remains.  We are light - our bodies cloaked in the thought of form. Running is our escape to formless. We return to original light. We run - to simply shine.

Peace,

Eric

Running With Suffering

We don't seek pain. We seek to know the gift of suffering - running to the tender points of our brokenness with a willingness to simply be present to its existence. We don't seek change. Only a return to wholeness. Running is our deliverance - it brings our presence to the experience of suffering. We find the spacious nature of what once felt solid in its ache - exploring a depth matched by the distance of our run. All suffering is internal. Our steps are the means within and our awareness a shine of compassion. Suffering is the gift of reconnecting fragments of a whole self shattered by pain, grief and sorrow. Running brings us to the edge of every fragment - our steps threading broken parts of soul, mind and body through a tapestry of time and distance. We will emerge whole - healed of the illusion of separate parts. Suffering is not the truth - but it leads us to what is true. Running is how we discover this gift.

Peace,

Eric

Running With Rain

There is a message in rain - a holiness of given drops and a grace found in reception. Every drop is singular yet still identified as rain. Rain falls in a subtle wholeness. Our steps too are given to the largeness of the stride and the stride in turn to motion. We are runners - and more we are joined by running. Rain drops are a collective force in various modes of falling - each drop matters and each drop is given selfless of concern. This is the holiness of falling. Gravity becomes the pull to an ever greater existence. We run with the rain -receptive, cleansed and vital to the holiness. This is the grace of receiving. We are a touch between earth and heaven - our steps falling with the rain in a grace of their own. There is a message in rain told only to those who seek it.

Go.

Peace,

Eric

Runnining With Love

The path is always love. Our steps are drawn against the earth in a long caress of distance. We run in an exchange of equal pleasure. Both ground and air delight in subtle ways to tease our touch. Running is the expression of all we have to offer - love displayed by steps and motion. The path is love. It's the only path we truly travel.

Peace,

Eric



Running With Emptiness

Our path is a stretch of emptiness - each step provides a brief meaning of its own and then is lost within the larger stride. We don't run to find answers. We seek continuous questions to lead us further into the unknown. Within the infinite there are only possibilities - running is the art of choice and expansion. We are not bound to a single step. We explore and allow the emptiness of the path  to be the template for the fullness of our life in motion.

Peace,

Eric

The Running Scriptures - Enlightenment (11)

"Body and mind dropped off"

                                 -Dogen (On his enlightenment)

~

Perhaps we never know the moment - our steps mindful to the very instant - and then nothing. Only motion. Our body and mind cease as separate illusions and join in a peaceful flow to cover distance. Not even the path exist on its own.

Our steps merging earth and stride as

something whole.

Perhaps we never know the moment of its coming or

how long it may have lasted.

Yet we never doubt the truth of its

existence.

Peace,

Eric

Running With...Cold

We give ourselves to the cold - offering no resistance - a carried warmth sliced through air and season. Cold seeks the bones. We are saved by the warmth raised by steps taken and an inner fire that burns to cover distance. Cold waits. It won't be outrun. And so we take our borrowed warmth and give ourselves to cold and stride.

There is distance to be covered.

Peace,

Eric

The Running Scriptues - Being

See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin.

                                              -Matthew 6:28

~

There is no need to cloak ourselves in the guise of a runner. We are beyond definitions. We are past any effort needed to cover distance. Motion is simply another expression of Being and one we lend ourselves to gladly. It's what we do - our steps given to stride and earth as a means of exploration of Self and world.

Peace,

Eric



The Running Scriptures - Gold (10)

But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me,

I will come forth as gold. - Job 23:10

~

We are not concerned with surface - running is the depth of world and runner exposed. We seek shadows not so we can hide but to test our light against our own darkness. Distance is a stretch of self laid bare - nothing remains hidden and our steps probe within even as they carry out the purpose of the stride. We run with certainty. There can be no failure - a runner seeks the broken nature of the self which allows the escape of light. We are running for our true nature. We are running for gold.

Peace,

Eric

Cherishing - The Holy Art Of Running (And Other Stuff)

Grace is the spacious nature of

surrender.

Our path - is to give ourselves away.

~

The Buddha spoke a Noble truth - to cling is to suffer. Any grasp outside the present moment is to invite suffering. If we run towards or away from a fixed outcome we lose the fluidity of running with spirit - again - we invite suffering. Distance brings its own form of anguish, pain and grief - none of this is suffering. It's the divine madness of distance running - the edge of what we hold to and what is surrendered. Running teaches us the difference between clinging to a goal, object or ultimately the self and the holy art of cherishing. To cherish is to see through the solidity of thought and possessions to the formless aspect of all things. The breeze is cherished as it slips though branches, water is cherished in its caress, our steps cherish the ground even in their passing. Cherishing is sacred sight - to see the unmanifest in the manifestations of the world. Nothing stays forever yet nothing is ever lost. To know this is to escape suffering. Cherish what seems to slip away - and know that it is always present. Run with grace.

Peace,

Eric 

Running With Dreaming

We are dreamed as runners.

Dreaming is the origin of the world - the unmanifest made known and

given to expression. Running is in the dreaming - within and beyond

the body - primordial and the wild call to motion.

We are the response.

Our steps a sacred function of the dream.

And so we run.

Peace,

Eric

Running As Transcendence

The outcome is transcendence. Every run is no less a subtle shift of being - our steps an edge to different worlds. We exist as form, thought and ego and this is the true world of our illusions. We are something all together more - and less. Distance is the great lessening - form and thought become spacious through miles and ego has less to hold to. We wander the great space we once occupied as merely a runner. We are travelers now - coming to the infinite as if an open road. For a length of distance we are running pure and formless as spirit. It doesn't have to last. We only need know that it has occurred. And will again.

Peace,

Eric

Running With...

With...

We are joined by

what we love.

~

We run with - the earth is laid as a path for our travel, the sky is open in its wide embrace, there is nothing that stands between us and the soul of the world. We need only to co-operate. Run with this single thought - we belong. And we will.

Peace,

Eric

Four Elements Of Running With Spirit - Non Attachment (4)

With no concern - our steps released

become a stride.

And distance holds no

boundaries.

• 
  

We intend - yet remain unattached to the outcome of our intention. We run by faith that the unseen supports the seen. A single step joins in the creation of the stride by its release - before then it holds the potentiality of timeless travel. Nothing matters but that single step. There is no concern that it will find its place amidst the stride. We take the step - and then let go. Miracles follow.

Peace,

Eric

Four Elements Of Running With Spirit - Least Effort (3)

Surrendered - and every step to

grace the ground.

We run with the ease of our existence.

• 
  

In the true sense of running - we are goalless. Motion is our stillness released to grace the world. We may run with the perimeters of a certain set of values - a race, a quest - yet in the end everything is surrendered to the gravity of love and we express ourselves as motion. We are at ease - a step taken and let go and so continued. Nothing else is needed.

Peace,

Eric

Four Elements Of Running With Spirit - Reverence (2)

Given lightly - our steps fall

holy to the

ground.

We are received by the grace in

which we offer.

• 
  

We run with reverence - knowing well that we too are sacred by design. It's a holy exchange - our steps an extension of self given fully to earth, air and path and in return we are received by the grace of nature. Running is a prayer caressed as motion. And the sky answers with light and rain - the ground offers the whole of itself for our delight and the world is ours for exploration. We too are revered and found holy.

Peace,

Eric

Four Elements Of Running With Spirit - Singularity

Once given...our steps become

their own destination.

Motion seeks expression.

Nothing more.

• 
  

A step is singular. It's given and then the entire span of its existence is gone - no other step of its unique suchness will touch the ground again. A step is singular and yet more. Everything exist within the whole of creation. Everything ends and everything continues. One step is infinite. One step is its own conclusion. We are fortunate to be part of something so large - and so small.

Peace,

Eric



Lesson From The Wind

Against me - the wind reveals not a solid wall of bone and flesh but an

illusion weighted by thought and form. I run heavy into the wind.

There is met resistance - my will and body fighting the very

nature of the wind. I will lose. The wind has no will and

doesn't fight. I place my limits against a force with no

agenda but to simply be.

There is no fight.

Only a moment caught in an illusion.

I can't give up form (yet) but I too can refuse to

fight. I can simple be.

No less than the wind - I am a force belonging to

nature. My power is letting go and allowing

the wind its presence without the

weight of my opinion.

I run into the wind.

Lightly.

Peace,

Eric

A Course In Running (With Miracles) #3

Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all of the

barriers within yourself that you have built

against it.

                                             - A Course In Miracles

~

One pure moment - our steps a kiss against the

earth. The air parts across the flesh as a

sweet caress.

There are no barriers.

Only love

exist.

• 
  

Running removes barriers. We find ourselves as a body in motion yet more - we

are beyond the physical. Motion blurs the line where we leave off and the

world begins. We find ourselves in a spread of distance - constantly

giving steps and receiving all the earth has in return. The air is

pressed against us - light and full in it's caress.

We are a link that connects above and below.

We are vital and humbled.

The world exist because we do.

We are because the world is.

This is love.

Peace,

Eric

A Course In Running (With Miracles) #2

Perfect love casts out fear. If fear exists, then there is not perfect love.

                             - A Course In Miracles -(Text, pg 12)

~

Surrender - there is grace in

letting go.

And love is our reception.

•  

We run as an expression of love - each step given to the earth, life exchanged as

breath and motion itself caressed through air. There is no fear as each moment is

recognized fully as love. Certainly doubt and fear show their presence - and

yet this occurs only when love is not remembered. Running brings us

back to awareness - steps and body committed to a mantra of

rhythm and distance.

We remember.

We run- not to find love but to be an

offering of love.

It's who we are.

Peace,

Eric



A Healing Path - Powerful Words From Emily Kerstetter

Powerful, healing words from Emily Kerstetter - she continues her path of recovery towards a full healing of body, mind and soul. I'm proud to have her on this page and as a friend and inspiration in my life.

~

Open flesh rosy and pulsating
Shards of bone crunching
You become one with the pain
It is all you know

Confined to a bed
Thoughts swirling in my head
Parts of my body have been stolen from me
Tingling skin, sensations anew

Raw from the inside out
Numb to reality
Floating away from my body
Living in a world unseen

Shaky first steps
I am still the pain
Propelling through this wall of torment
I tread lightly, vibrating

Energy inside me waiting to burst forth
Become more stable
Rest in my cocoon
Sleep comes, a relief to the body

Many moons later
I trudge forward
I still carry the pain each day
In my heart and body

Scars tell the story
A map of the past
Skin closed, bumpy
Explosive blackness still peppers my skin

Always a reminder of the struggle
Each day to get up and push through
Spirit returns to the body
Acceptance of my new beauty

This tragic story told on my young body
It has become part of who I am
It no longer dictates who I will become
Embracing all of myself.

Emily Kerstetter 

A Course In Running (With Miracles) #1

Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unreal exists. (Intro)

                                       - A Course In Miracles

~

Our steps seek the

infinite -

In every distance known

• 
  

In the depth of fear and fatigue brought on by the longest run and

hardest race - there is a core aspect of Being that remains

unaffected by these outer circumstances. We know the truth of

every distance is the infinite placed within the borders of the

world. To run in this reality is to be true to our unlimited

potential as pure spirit - the body simply our

vehicle for expression.

We run within this world - our steps given freely to the

earth and the warmth of the sun received gratefully

by our bodies. Yet we are nor fooled by

illusions -

The infinite is the truth of

every step.

Peace,

Eric

The Running Scriptures - Faith (9)

 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

                      - II Corinthians 4:18

~

By faith alone...and every step is

shown through distance.

• 
  

Our steps show the faith of possibilities. We accept fully what is and

yet remain faithful to what might be. There is a fine distinction between

imagined and the seemingly real - as all things pass we find our selves

fluid in thought and motion. Nothing is fixed in a singular position

when viewed from an infinite perspective.

In the timeless realm of spirit the greatest distance of

every run is but a moment.

Our steps are eternal and we will run beyond the

boundaries of thought and flesh.

There is a long view - seen only by the

eyes of spirit.

We have faith that every step will lead us there.

Peace,

Eric

The Running Scriptures - Forgiveness (8)

“If you want to see the brave, look at those who can forgive.

                                            -Bhagavad Gita

~

Each step cleansed - forgiven by the

earth in its reception.

We run reborn in innocence.

•       

We run to return - to come back to our original state of innocence as each step is

given to the earth and reborn new and full of promise and lifted to the

air. We are cleansed of self-concepts that imprison. Forgiveness is

the simple remembrance of our true expression - we are free, we are

motion born of stillness and we are innocent of guilt, shame and

projections. Running is of the moment and pure at its

essence. There is nothing to forgive in that instant of

contact with the ground - we have reconnected with

earth and air and innocence.

We are beyond forgiveness.

Peace,

Eric

               

The Running Scriptures - Sorrow (7)

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted
    and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

                                 - Psalm 34:18

~

In distance...we roam the spacious

nature found in sorrow.

And every step -

a healing.

Distance is our salvation - our steps a length of prayer said

purely by our stride. Our hearts will break through the

hardships of life - grief, sorrow and suffering at times

seem near constant. We don't seek to escape. Running is

our path to understanding, to cope and to heal.

Running is the prayer for grace.

Peace,

Eric

The Running Scriptures - Beauty (6)

"The blue mountains are of themselves blue mountains;

"The white clouds are of themselves white clouds."

                                                                    -Zenrin Kushû (The Way of Zen 134, 222)

~

Only steps taken.

Yet the beauty that unfolds....

• 
  

We are merely runners - a gatherer of steps with distance as

a goal. Our meaning is provided not by what we do but

in the quality of our actions. A step taken depends on

the earth to meet its fall. We are inter-dependent

with our surroundings.

The truth is there is no runner - only motion and

the object of its caress.

And truer still...in the moment of this

meeting - only the touch exists.

Peace,

Eric

The Running Scriptures - Chosen (5)

Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”

                                  -Isaiah 30:21

~

We are guided...our steps certain in

faith and stride.

• 
  

We are chosen. We are those who find the infinite in a

world defined by borders. Distance is but the stretch

of imagination - our steps now eager to explore.

There is a silent pull - a gravity of steps and distance that

haunts a runners soul.

We have been asked to run.

And so we do.

Peace,

Eric



The Running Scriptures - Running As Love (4)

Listen! My beloved!
    Look! Here he comes,
leaping across the mountains,
    bounding over the hills.

                                                  - Song Of Solomon 2:8

~

Each step...swept through air and a

moments joy against the

ground.

Our love is found in distance.

• 
  

We are joy in depth and truth and our stride barely contains the

rush of steps eager to sweep the earth. Running is the act of

reuniting steps and ground and breath to air.

We become the sum of all parts - runner and path

rediscovering themselves as one.

Running is our cry for the beloved...and the

world responds with love and distance to

be covered.

Peace,

Eric



The Running Scriptures - Desire (3)

You are what your deep driving desire is.

                                           - Brihadaranyaka Upanishad

~

The purpose of a single step...is to lose

itself in earth and stride.

We belong to something larger than ourselves.

• 
  

Beyond want - there is desire. Our needs are basic but desire is drive to

know ourselves as more. Distance is the reflection of the infinite and

our steps long to explore their deeper truth. We wish for expansion from

the finite and running serves no reason but to seek the porous borders of

our self definition. A single step is the answered prayer of every step

that's gone before and still more they wish to know the infinite.

Our deepest desire - is to know the Self in every step.

Peace,

Eric

The Running Scriptures - Reverence (2)

Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD.

-Psalm 150:6

~

Our steps - prayerful. And distance

calls for our devotion.

Our steps are reverent. Breath is given and received as whispered

prayer. Running is a temple laid in distance and our worship

no less holy than the earth and sky. With full body we

sing praise - unafraid to give ourselves away

completely in devotion.

Peace,

Eric



The Running Scriptures - Run (1)

“Every blade of grass has its angel that bends over it and whispers, "Grow, grow.”
― The Talmud

~

• Run - a subtle urge breathed from spirit through bone and flesh. We think we're runners - but more - we are the answered prayer of motion. A body given to spirit moving fully through the world. We are runners only in the sense of self -description. We are beyond definition, beyond steps and stride and beyond even motion. We are realized space playing in the world of distant borders. The earth calls for us, the air exist for our breath alone, we feel a single word whispered from the soul....run.

    And so we do.

Peace,

Eric



The Seven Attributes Of Running With Spirit - Spirit

Spirit

~

We are spirit...expressed as bone and

flesh and motion -

Only brief in human

form.

`

Every step is taken as spirit - and yet we're mostly unaware of

this reality. We run with a blind promise of results and

miss the gift of every moment.

We are spirit guised in human form - we bring the

sacred to our steps and transform path and

stride to holiness.

But only when we wake to this truth.

Distance is our grand remembrance. Every mile lessens the

hold of self and brings us closer to

awareness.

At once there comes a single step - taken with grace and

ease and we remember. We may not when this

step will be delivered.

But it will come.

And we will run with spirit.

Peace,

Eric

The Seven Attributes Of Running - Being (Conclusion)

Being (Conclusion)

~

To exist is to be - we are the simplicity beyond need, desire and

impulse. There is nothing to be done. Run from here, with no

agenda other than existence. There is deep pleasure in

Being and allowing the world to pass unencumbered

by our effort to command.

We run to Be in motion - a gift of freedom from soul to

body and given further to the world.

We strive for nothing.

Everything belongs.

Nothing is absent.

Be present to the singular aspect of

existence -

Being.

The rest is details.

Peace,

Eric

The Seven Attributes Of Running With Spirit - Being (Part One)

We are - and the world resides

within us.

~

There is never a time when we are not - and yet each

moment holds us to a new and different

expression.

Expressed as motion - we are runners - but the essential

state of Being remains the same.

Only the expression

changes.

Being is the simplicity of existing when all

else is let go. Surrendering the will to

breathe -

and we are breathed.

Nothing needs be done to exist.

We are.

Our steps are unique in their expression - at once given

flight yet pulled joyful to their return.

We exist in this world and beyond.

We are an expression of spirit - steps taken in a

kiss of air and again in a brief caress to

earth.

In running and stillness - we are Being.

Always.

Peace,

Eric

The Seven Attributes Of Running With Spirit - Stillness (Conclusion)

Stillness

~

Even in motion - we are stillness extended. The core of

our being unmoved through steps and stride.

As spirit we are constant presence

everywhere.

Our body is for the experience of the senses - we travel a

well marked trail of spirit. Yet within the wandering

of the farthest run we remain the still, focal

point of Being.

Nothing strays from this.

Stillness is a quality of a run easily missed. Our thoughts will

crowd a still point past a moments notice. Yet stillness is

the blue sky nature of Being.

Clouds pass.

Patience is stillness demonstrated.

We run with the mindful awareness of the sky - patient,

abiding in the open blue nature of spirit.

We find stillness.

We find our still point.

Everything else is clouds and illusions.

Peace,

Eric

The Seven Attributes Of Running With Spirit - Stillness (Part One)

Stillness

~

We are stillness - lent to motion for the

momentary pleasure of

our travels.

`

All things begin from stillness - motion arrives in a

stir of pleasure uncontained. There is no choice

but to express ourselves through the

ecstatic movements of

our steps and stride.

Even in the midst of our run there are hidden still points - almost

clues of our true existence. We find the small moment

that waits between each heartbeat. The subtle

pause - hushed, holy - of the breath.

They appear through distance-  matched by silent

notes of nature played across the earth.

All things return to stillness - motion given and

now returned. A time to pause and listen.

Peace,

Eric

The Seven Attributes Of Running With Spirit - Gratitude (Conclusion)

Gratitude (Conclusion)

~

Gratitude corrects the illusion of separation - our steps a

continuous display of reunion with the earth.

There is joy in this connection.

In this state of recognition gratefulness is the

simplicity of being. Running brings us to

awareness of life and gratitude

becomes as keen as

breath itself.

We breathe.

   We are alive.

Our very nature is an exchange of momentary attributes  - we trade stillness for

motion, a breath returned in exhalation, a step given and distance granted.

We are essential.

Gratitude abounds.

Peace,

Eric

Emily Kerstetter - Breaking Free

This is from Emily Kerstetter  - it's a beautiful poem from someone who is only running with spirit right now. Her body is soon to follow. As we can see in the strength and beauty of her words - her spirit is soaring. I look forward to sharing many long runs with her.

~

Breaking free of these chains
Finally able to push forward
Running toward the future

Feet slapping the pavement
Full force electrifying the grid
Body gliding, slipping just from reach

Exhilaration fills my lungs
Sharp and cold yet welcome
Gasping for crisp oxygen

Focused on the path ahead
Never looking back in regret
Leaving behind the past

Emily Kerstetter 



The Seven Attributes Of Running With Spirit - Gratitude (Part One)

Gratitude

~

We run - grateful for steps and

earth and the moment of

their meeting.

-

We are joy and we are motion - expressed as the

steps we offer to the world. Running is

the means of our

appreciation.

Given motion - we move.

Given life - we live.

We are a continuation of each gift received and

this alone is why we run, and this alone is

why we love.

We are grateful.

Peace,

Eric 

The Seven Attributes Of Running With Spirit - Grace (Conclusion)

Grace (Part Two)

~

Grace is the revelation of Divine presence  - a veil lifted for a

momentary glimpse of wonder.

Our steps become the means of promise - distance

courting the parting veil.

We run knowing that each step is

cast as prayer -

Distance stretched in a length of answers.

Grace comes to those who endure.

Effort itself is the reward for distance. Our steps taste the

infinite in the length of what they give and

ask for nothing more but

further distance.

Grace comes to those who endure.

This is what we do: We run not to know but to seek. We explore the

depth of the Infinite in a single step.

We accept.

We give.

We endure.

We run - and grace the presence found

beneath our feet.

Peace,

Eric

The Seven Attributes Of Running With Spirit - Grace (Part One)

Grace

~

Grace is given in the

distance of our

travels.

Every step is measured.

~

Grace is a mystery in its appearance - we court its presence with our

steps and length of runs. Yet in the end it is given and received

by our willingness to be open to each unfolding moment.

Distance holds a stretch of life for runners - experiencing the creation of

our stride from those first early steps, to painful miles where joy and

ease seem far. Be open without discernment.

Grace is near.

Accepting pain and pleasure as equal gifts a runner earns through

distance - we deny nothing.

Everything is noted.

Everything is loved.

Grace comes by tenderness - our ability to love on the

edge of all things.

Running takes us there.

Peace,

Eric