Travelers

 It's our conversation - grown reverent through distance. We cast our steps as prayers and delight in the holiness of answers given as earth and air. It takes a deeper listening. Practice. Surrender. Yet the world is large. And we are travelers.

Peace,

Eric

Story

It's not just the running - it's the moment to moment contact of steps to ground and air against flesh. It's the story of this connection as told through motion. Running is the means of our expression. We can run, walk or simply sit and gaze at passing clouds - the story itself will insist on being told.

Peace,

Eric

It's The Promise Of Every Run

Running is its own distinct thing. Devotional and prayer like in its deepest practice - distance runners find absorption in the details of their run. At a certain point steps and earth meet in a third existence belong to their common ground. It's here where everything merges. We experience an intimate connection with our surroundings and find a seamless flow breath and air - the infinite literally drawn within our bodies. These are fleeting moods bestowed by grace and nature - a whim urged by the consistency of our steps. Yet we know they're here and might at anytime be given. It's the promise of every run.

Peace,

Eric

It's Not Complicated

Our running life is simplified - needs are met and steps continue. Distance clarifies the mind by necessity. Our interior world is matched by our pursuits. We seek space in order to roam between crowds of thought and people. Our minds and steps are seamless in their expansion. From here - there are no complications.

Peace,

Eric

Karmic Running

Each run is a new beginning as well as the continuation of steps that came before - we are karmic motion in process of becoming the runner we truly are. We don't seek perfection. Only revelation. Karma is the end result of every action - our life is layered by the past and our true existence is buried deep in delusion. Distance provides the runner with the template of a fresh horizon. Our last step doesn't weigh us down but propels us to this new position. We have power of choice and that alone leads to freedom. That alone is our revelation. Karma is transcended by awareness of the present moment and the grace of steps to come. Run free.

Peace,

Eric

Imagination

In truth there is no distance - just an extension of self as yet unexamined by mind or steps. Running is a game of illusions - the infinite nature of our inner world projected to a measured length. We allow distance to unfold and simply follow in the wake of imagination.


Peace,
Eric

Embracing Doubt

There is room for doubt - our minds are stretched through distance and this spaciousness allows for all things to pass unopposed. Thoughts of doubt carry no weight. Yet even so we recognize their passage and the gift left in their wake - nothing is taken for granted. Doubt serves as a tool for mindfulness. What could we do within this moment to better serve ourselves? This is no less true for life than it is for running. There is a gift and something to learn in each moment and every step.

Peace,

Eric

End Results

Distance isn't earned - it's the grace given to the consistency of steps. Observe nature - there is no effort in the becoming of a flower. A seed sprouts on its own accord and the rightness of conditions. A bloomed flower is the end result of perfection. We are runners - distance is our potential. We make conditions right by for the end result of our own perfection.

Peace,

Eric

It Will Pass

It will pass. Running is an act of observation - and we stretch the distance to gain insight into the transient nature of the world. Here we find fluidity in unsuspected places. Nothing is truly solid. Even runner and path merge in singular space. It's a dance of particles within the emptiness of form. So nothing will last - including moments of despair. Observe again, deeper still - what feels solid in its torment is too a dance of space within a void. It will pass. If we allow it. Distance running then becomes an act of allowance - we observe a phenomenon without the anchor of a judgment and surrender our attachment to its being. It will pass. In its time. All things do.

Peace,

Eric

How Far

How far would we go if in every step we carried the subtle faith of our completion and failure ceased to be a notion. The infinite cannot be measured by sight - yet a single step will take us there. How far would we go indeed....


Peace,
Eric

Complete

Each step is a completion of its own singular journey. It's our insistence of attempting to measure the immeasurable that prevents us from realizing our own completion. In an infinite universe there is no departure or arrival - we exist in the fabric of the journey itself. In a very real sense we are running internally in place with the illusion of distance passing by. The essence of every run takes place within the mind.

Peace,

Eric 

Spiritual Practice

Running is part of my spiritual practice. It's separate from formal meditation - I sit to find myself in stillness. Running is dialogue in motion. My purpose on these runs is to receive and give each breath and step as grateful prayer. It's my time to gather insight from contact with earth. Secrets are shared. Running is an ongoing conversation - my ego is subdued through distance and nature speaks directly to our common spirit. My body speaks a primal language understood by ground and air. I tell the world that I am grateful. Nature unfolds perfect in her reply.

Peace,

Eric

Further Still On Thin Places

Worlds meet - and distance is the means of our connection. Running brings us to the thin places where unseen worlds are deeply sensed and we feel the touch of spirit soft in its caress. There are many areas known for their sacred landscape. Perhaps a border between spirit and the material world left thin to draw our steps and thoughts towards heaven. Yet running delivers us to the thin place of mind and spirit and the holiness that falls between the two. Our bodies hold themselves as a bridge -touching the immaterial world from the solidity of its presence. We are a thin place of our own accord. Distance serves to erase the barrier of thought that binds us to one world. We become fluid in our travels. Our every step wears further still against the wall of separation. Running brings us to the thin place of our existence - spirit pressing holy against our bodies.

Always.

Peace,

Eric

To Continue

We construct our world in single steps - and

distance is the infinite view of its

creation.

~

Distance running is an insular world of thoughts manifested in the steps we take. To continue in the face of difficulties is to place our thoughts not on condition of a particular issue but upon continuation and the solution towards our present issue. A runner notes, acts and then continues with faith in at least one more step.

Peace,

Eric

Distance

Distance is never the issue - it's only the thought of being somewhere other than where we find ourselves that disquiets the mind. The infinite stretches outwards from the pinpoint of our existence. There is nowhere else to be. By allowing distance to unfold from each step taken - we find ourselves once more in perfect alignment with the universe. We are exactly where we need to be. And nothing is so far away.

Peace,

Eric

Received

We are received by distance - each step its own world with an invitation to explore. It's this opening of a deeper experience that draws us on. This is new ground, a different air and with every step we are a runner reborn.

~

What draws us on to further steps is possibilities - we are not bound to who we were just moments before. Distance is an invitation. Running holds the promise that with each new step we leave a print of false identity behind. We have been reborn in that moment as travelers who continues on an infinite path. Distance receives us - asking only for steps free of the weight of expectations. It's fresh ground ahead.

Peace,

Eric 

Present Steps

At some point we just let go - time and distance become less important than the present step that we've been given. This is where the magic happens. Free of expectations we now find faith in what the moment offers. Running is our anchor to the present - we are the still point of existence in the guise of motion. Our surrender is the return to this truth. We let go - and take a single step.

Peace,

Eric



Our Gift

We are asked to run - a subtle voice whispered through the body. The universe experiences itself through the means of our existence. There is ecstasy in motion.

Running is our personal gift to the universe.

Peace,

Eric

Ineffable

We may find in later miles that there's no real reason to continue - and in truth there isn't. So beyond questions and past the need for answers is the realm of single steps. Just one step. We don't bargain and there are no excuses. We just take that single step. And again. It's the magic of existence. At sometime everything we hold as solid will change - yet something ineffable will continue. We will exist in formless form and touch our souls again to eternity. We will continue. There is no reason other than our existence. We Are. So in truth there is no reason for one more step - except we're runners. And in that moment we seek to carry on - we touch the magic of our existence.

Peace,

Eric



Our Run

It's our run- we answer only to ourselves. There is no fast or slow outside the definition of our own travels. We run for the sanctity of our own pleasure. Nothing else is measured and no one is compared. It's simply running. It belongs to us alone.

~

Here is my rule for running - if it makes you happy and harms no one (including ourselves) then do it. If we wish to take our time, to walk or take pictures, to turn somersaults then we're free to do so. Don't interfere with another's run. Don't judge. Show kindness, admiration and appreciation for what others are doing in their chosen time of running. Be respectful - to ourselves, to other and to nature. Own our own run.

Peace,

Eric

It's Like Jazz

It's like jazz - running, at its best, is an improvisational stride of intuitive wonder. We allow terrain, breath and heartbeat to play through our steps. We take what the earth has given and use our bodies accordingly -  quick steps in artful dodging to a slow glide into a subtle pause of recovery - it's a responsive song of motion. All things are considered inclusive in their position and our role is to merge ourselves with their belonging. It's like jazz - perfection is found when it all flows together.


Peace,
Eric




Belonging

Nature lends to us her grace and beauty - only asking to be acknowledged in return. We are more when joined with nature. Whole. Complete. Running bring to us an awareness of belonging. We are no longer mere observers of a phenomenon in natural settings but an active participant of its creation. It's the unfolding of the world in wonder and our inclusion even as a witness makes us part of its completion. Nothing happens by chance - we chose running not so we could pass through the world without our involvement. We chose running to belong.


Peace,
Eric

Single Steps

Peace is in the moment - steps left behind and no anticipation for the next. Single steps. Yet often the mind flows in its own direction. Our singular steps become a stride of mental chatter. It's not the focus on the present alone that brings us peace - it's the return to the moment at hand that holds a peaceful promise. We can always return. Running is countless steps into the future - yet only the one we take now matters. Peace is found in patience and by kindness. Our practice is to forgive the wandering mind, to release steps that stray from thought, and return again to this one moment. As many times as needed. It's why we practice. It's why we run.

Peace,

Eric

One Step - One Long Run

Running brings us to the edge of silence - our self talk empties into a pool of calm and we become observers of our inner commentary. It's the steps the lead us there - repetition laid down against the path and transcendence found through distance. A single step is a mantra with the power to carry us through time and miles. One step fully realized is enlightenment. One long run holds the promise of this realization.

Peace

Eric

Alone - Together

Running only becomes truly personal when it expands to include others - and further still to hold the world as one. In the solitary nature of running we are lead to a reflection on self where boundaries fail to contain. We are engaged in profound dialogue - steps to ground and breath to air - and find that answers hang in the silence after every question asked. Here's what we're told - Nothing is outside the realm of our existence. Running is shared by nature of breath in common air and our steps joined on single ground. Our experiences are unique yet belong to the whole of humanity. We run alone - together.

Peace,

Eric

Reflections On The Order Of Things

We lend ourselves to motion - yet it is to stillness we return. It's this center point that holds the truth of our existence. We are the dynamic coming and going of all things, the slide to matter from the immaterial, the expansion and contraction of earth and sky. We are the breath of the universe. Running is no less than a singular act of our largeness in the same moment that we are recognized as the smallest part of the whole. It's the perfect order of things. From stillness we run - to stillness we return.

Peace,

Eric

As Motion

Let ourselves be told as motion -  Once, from the still point of our existence came desire. We wished to know ourselves as both caress and the caressed, as steps and the ground covered, as the inhalation of breath and its release. We chose running as a means to experience all the world offered. Lets not hold back.

Peace,

Eric

Verdant Running

Spring comes sudden - an explosion of life in vibrant colors. Running is almost urgent now - as if our legs were kept still for a season overdue and now ache to cover verdant ground. We celebrate life by joining our will with the season. Everything is new, reborn and expanding - it's our season to become. 

Peace,

Eric



There's A Reason

There's a reason why we're out there - miles and all seasons and every kind of weather. It's where we belong. Running brings us to the reality that we are not removed from ground or sky. We are an extension of Source in an age for forgetfulness. Once, long ago -  we roamed in constant awareness of sacred ground covered. Running was a ritual of becoming and a celebration of being. Running was prayer. A distance runner is one who remembers. The earth is still alive for our steps and air is drawn with gratitude and wonder. We're not seekers. We've been found. And so we run - to not get lost again.

Peace,

Eric

Arriving

Distance is accumulated by single steps taken. The infinite is not beyond our reach. And so we run getting ever closer to the sudden realization - that with

every step we have arrived.

~

Distance running is a patience game - measured in miles yet achieved in the slow gains of every step. With one step we have reached the infinite. Holding that thought in heart and mind we come to the realization that all distance unfolds from the present moment and that nothing is truly far away. With each step we arrive again to here and now. The only place to be.

Peace,

Eric