Ultrarunning - Insights Gain Through Suffering

Vipassana or Insight Meditation seems to lend itself quite well to ultrarunning where awareness of mind and body conditions are so vital to success. The act of Vipassana is using momentary concentration to see the inherent temporary nature of all things - to gain this insight and too use it in daily life to alleviate suffering and eventually - liberation. We develop concentration with a focus on a single object - most often the breath - the inflow and the outflow at the tip of the nose or the rise and fall of the abdomen. It's a single minded pursuit of knowing the breath and we return to it with a persistent gentleness as often as needed - for taming our minds to hold one pointed attention is not an easy task. In Buddhist and Yogic tradition it is likened to a monkey in its mad scramble to grab every object within sight and so it is with the mind. We can't force it to obey yet we can patiently train it with a constant return to our object of devotion. That's meditation. Insight occurs when use this concentration to penetrate the illusory nature of the things we view as permanent. This in turn leads to the wisdom of non-grasping and again liberation. We are free from suffering. I mentioned ultrarunning early and to tie this all together - no one knows suffering as an ultrarunner does. We seek it out, it's the nature of our pursuit and yet instinctively the best and most successful runners know not to take their suffering seriously. I have seen horrendously wrecked bodies beneath a mile wide grin as well as complete turnarounds where I would swear a runner wouldn't make another step let alone an addition 60 plus miles. Somehow they do and perhaps the answer lies in the insight gained from previous moments of suffering. Experience counts, yes, but insight counts even more and intimately knowing that there are levels to our suffering and to grasp at any one level prevents us from being a witness to its passage is an insight gained from wisdom, faith, patience and experience. This is awareness. Watching the body and mind with stillness will take us there. Using the same stillness while in motion is the meditation of the ultrarunner. It will take us there too.


Peace,
Eric