The Tao of Distance Running - #47

The Master arrives without leaving,
sees the light without looking,
achieves without doing a thing.

                                                                       *

~
Our steps are insular in their completion. Distance itself is
our home - and in this recognition there is no
need to strive.
With all things complete we enjoy the illusions of
miles even as we know there is no
destination.


Every step is our arrival.

• Every step is complete - each holds an arrival and departure in their moment on the earth. We collect steps within a stride and at once the path welcomes us in our completion. There is nothing left to be done, nowhere we have to go and distance becomes the means of realization - we are home. Knowing this we no longer strive to reach a finish measured by anything other than our own arrival. We run by our own standards - obeying outer rules while engaged in our own inner conversation of events. A race becomes a gathering of singular aspects of the whole - runners each belonging to a greater completion still. There is no one to beat when our steps are matched in union. There is only joy - a happiness born of knowing who we are and why we are here and having nothing left to prove. We are complete. 

Peace,

Eric

Portion of the Tao Te Ching translated by Stephen Mitchell

The Tao of Distance Running - #46

Whoever can see through all fear
will always be safe.

                                          *

~
Our stride knows no fear.
Only the mind gathers fearful clouds that storm
against the spirit.
Yet nothing can touch the still point of our being - we are
free from fear in the recognition that we run as an
extension of this truth.
Clouds are harmless in the vastness of the sky and thoughts pass
gently in the infinite nature of spirit. Identify with the
source from which we run -


And fear itself becomes impossible.

• In the absence of fear our stride is infinite. Fearful thoughts limit the distance we run and the borders we strive for. And yet a thought itself in boundless - without the mind grasping for its return, a thought would pass harmless though the mind, leaving no trace behind. Fear is a warning of the senses and serves us well in keeping the body safe. If we are able to create a little space between the initial stirring of fear and our response to it we are able to enter a realm beyond the "flight or fight" pattern that keeps us limited in choice and awareness. Spaciousness is not a state to be achieved - it's a recognition of self and being. We are spacious by nature. As we run in greater distances our mind begins to identify with the endlessness of our stride, the space between steps and length of breath drawn. We remember who we are and see with eyes newly accustomed to witnessing the infinite. We are now beyond the grip of fear and choices unfold in a limitless option of one - how deeply will we extend ourselves as love in every step and situation. In the absence of fear - love is who we are.

Peace,

Eric

*

Portion of the Tao Te Ching translated by Stephen Mitchell 

The Tao of Distance Running - #45

True perfection seems imperfect,
yet it is perfectly itself.

                                                          *

~
Every step finds perfection in it's kiss against the earth. We are fluid in
motion - simply by the grace of our commitment. Our effort is to
run beyond thought and be realized in our own
perfection. Surrender to the simplicity of
motion.


We are runners - performing an act of love - perfect in our expression.

• The perfection of our run is not measured by our performance. Running distance is beyond concepts such as finishing times and medals - they are the fringe bonus of our actions. Perfection isn't measured, it's realized in awareness as each steps plays out its role to make a stride. We are nature's art and our steps are used as brush stroke of her perfection against the earth. To judge ourselves unworthy of our role is to judge mystery - the brush displays its faith in the guidance of the artist's hand. We take no missteps. We are guided in a singular purpose of learning to express ourselves as love in any given situation. In this regard not a single mistake is ever made. As the distance of a run spreads before us - we surrender - and greet each step as opportunities of our expression. Love, faith and gratitude. 

Peace,

Eric

Translation of the Tao Te Ching translated by Stephen Mitchell

Running With The Tao - Mohican Forget The PR 50k

Taking a few days off on writing of the Tao of Distance running to experience the Tao itself - no better place than the Mohican Trail and the Forget The PR 50k. With 4000 feet of elevation gain, a major river crossing and numerous streams this will be the ideal place to surrender to the surroundings and the experience itself - to simply allow the event to unfold and choose peace in every moment. During a tough 24 Hour race last month I was able to put many of these thoughts into practice and it turned the race around for me. I hope to begin the day tomorrow grateful for what it offers and carry this gratitude throughout the race. I'm sure my mind may wander from this path - but I am heartened in the knowing that I can always choose to find my peaceful steps once more.




Peace,
Eric

The Tao of Distance Running - #44

 

Be content with what you have;
rejoice in the way things are.
When you realize there is nothing lacking,
the whole world belongs to you.

                                                               *

~
The world is contained within the present moment - no needs exist beyond
this point. We run as a single presence that flows in momentary
wonder. Miles are merely illusions of the mind - a distance
held outside the moment.
Our spirit - constant in expansion - urges the
stride for union.


We run - unrestrained within the infinite.

• A single step contains the whole run. Distance is measured by the mind and our legs respond to the thoughts we hold. It's the acceptance of what is found within each moment that frees us from suffering. The legs will ache and we will still thirst and hunger - yet these conditions are the perfect expression of the miles and work we have put in. To wish otherwise is to invite suffering. The very next moment we may find a reserve of strength, hunger may abate and thirst satisfied. This too is perfection. Every step delivers the wonders of a new world - our stride contains a universe. We are simply explorers of what is - nothing more. Nothing else is needed. 
• 
  

Peace,

Eric

*

Portion of the Tao Te Ching translated by Stephen Mitchell 

The Tao of Distance Running - #43

The gentlest thing in the world
overcomes the hardest thing in the world.
That which has no substance
enters where there is no space.
This shows the value of non-action.
                                                                              *

~
We run - yet flow from stillness. There is no struggle in the allowance of
perfection. Our journey is not to cover distance but to occupy
space in full awareness while miles pass us by.
We are the witness to natures wonders - yet
more we are the wonder too.


There is the illusion of doing - and all the while the
world keeps opening to our surrender.

• Perhaps there is some confusion on the matter of non-doing and running - of allowing and intending. The basis of our reality is stillness and from this point the smallest intention flickers in the birth of motion. Yet stillness remains our reality. Running is the allowance of our stillness to caress the world. No effort - we do nothing. A single intent and then let go. Rain drops intend to reach the sea and yet the course of its travels remain a mystery. There is no need to know. We run with the same faith as a drop of rain - we know that we will cover ground, we intend a single step to birth a stride, and we have faith in the mystery of it all. 

Peace,

Eric

*

Portion of the Tao Te Ching translated by Stephen Mitchell

The Tao of Distance Running - # 42

Ordinary men hate solitude.
But the Master makes use of it,
embracing his aloneness, realizing
he is one with the whole universe.

                                                                        *

~
We run alone - yet not without others. The spaciousness of our solitude is
matched by the fullness of nature. It's our connection - and a
runners reach is found in thought and stride.
We say much in the quiet exchange of a glance...and so
much more shared on the common path we
travel.


The world is vast...and yet we find ourselves together.

• We are pieces of a whole and more - we are the whole as well. As runners we become mindful of a shared aloneness. As miles accumulate our loneliness expands to truly be a lone experience of all that is. Nothing, no one, can excluded as then we enter back into duality and our run lessens again to separate worlds. Running seems solitary only in the illusion of thought and body. In stillness we are the hushed nature of reality. In motion we sweep the world with the stride of our caress. Distance is the common factor that removes illusions of being kept apart. We run to know ourselves as whole. We run to know ourselves as one. We run to find ourselves together. 

Peace,

Eric

*

Portion of the Tao Te Ching translated by Stephen Mitchell