The Tao of Distance Running - # 23

Open yourself to the Tao,
then trust your natural responses;
and everything will fall into place.

                                                           *

~
There is wisdom found in parts. Our feet know the
nature of the path. Follow them. The breath is
sure in the pureness of its passage.
Simply breathe.
The heart beats without conscious effort.
Surrender to it.
We are the force of being that holds all parts together.
Trust yourself.


Run in the completion of every part.

• We are runners. There is no need to divide in categories. We run. It's simple. And yet the mind loves to complicate and separate - we are fast or slow, we race or jog - and a thousand other thoughts that cloud the soul. Thoughts are not the enemy but they are the source of complications. If we believe them. Motion is our birthright and for most of us we were running soon after our very first steps. No instructions needed. No thought necessary. We gave ourselves to motion. We trusted. We were full of grace and the courage to surrender. Nothing has changed from these first hurried steps. Motion still calls. Our body still longs for the grace it once knew. It remembers. Trust it. Run without complications. Ignore the ten thousand questions that flitter through our heads. Just run. Smile. Breathe. W are runners. 

Peace,

Eric

Portion of the Tao Te Ching translated by Stephen Mitchell