The Tao of Distance Running - #34

The great Tao flows everywhere.

~

We are solitary - yet connected by the source of motion. From stillness we

emerge and as runners we carry the silence of our beginning

through the miles that we wander. So much is

said in the quiet spaciousness between us.

In breath and stride we find our

common ground.

When we run...we speak a language of our own.  

Distance reveals our shared nature - a common self that belongs to earth and air. We are joined in a great belonging. Viewed as such the path we run becomes our own self spread before us - eager for our steps to reconnect in exploration. Distance no longer threatens but now invites our steps to remember this holy connection. And our steps caress the ground in a stride of devotion. We are recognized and welcomed and the world opens before us. There is only this...and every runner belongs and no path exist in the absence of our steps.

Peace,

Eric

We are solitary runners connected by the source of motion. From stillness we

begin and a runner carries the silence of this beginning through the

distance of road and trail. So much is said in the hushed

spaciousness between us. In breath and stride we

find the common ground of our together.

When we run...we speak a language of our own.



The Tao of Distance Running - #33

One who gives himself to the Tao

surely lives forever.

                               *

~
We give ourselves fully to the run. With this surrender comes a
merging - one body beating as the earth and the path we
run a vein that feeds the heart.
We are runners still - yet more - we are
particles in an unseen force
defined as motion.


We are that which endures forever.

• Every run is part of something greater than itself - it's the earth asking for our presence and each step sings a rhythm in reply. To give ourselves fully to the run - body, mind and soul is to re-enter into a sacred wholeness now lost in everyday life. We can't give away the baggage that we carry, we can only allow the miles to strip us bare of all but our essential self. Spiritually naked, free from the weight of all concerns we surrender to the run. Our presence is given and received. Now we run as the infinite...meeting the world in its embrace. The run itself is the deliverance to this world. We enter by our refusal to fight what is and simply accept one moment at a time. Nothing more. Distance itself will no the work. All we have to do - is run. 

Peace,

Eric

Portion of the Tao Te Ching translated by Wayne Dyer

The Tao of Distance Running - #32

All things end in the Tao
as rivers flow into the sea.

~
Running is our return home. It's the remembrance of our original
nature and everything that holds us from this
memory falls to the stride of
our arrival.
We are motion...coming back to the stillness of
our being before again setting forth
amidst the flow of time.


Running is the vehicle of our spirit.

• The nature of running is expressed in the duality of motion and stillness - and yet in distance the two give way to one. We are stillness given form in the temporary game of life. We seek to know ourselves through motion and distance provides the template for exploration. Duality ends as our steps delivers a rhythm danced around a quiet mind. Intricate and intimate and soon shattered by thought - yet for moments stretched within a stride - we are part of this One great song. 

Peace,

Eric

*Portion of the Tao Te Ching translated by Stephen Mitchell

The Tao of Distance Running - #31

Peace is his highest value.
If the peace has been shattered,
how can he be content?

                                                   *

~
Nothing leads to peace - our steps are the means of revelation. No matter the
terrain - our course is always an inward quest to
remove false layers of self and meet the world exposed in our
true expression. We run with a peaceful heart - certain only of change and the
one thing alone that remains changeless...spirit.

• Running centered in peace means bringing awareness to the still point within while cultivating a sense of detachment from the outer conditions that surrounds our run. It's a gentle nod of acknowledgment that while certain issues are bound to happen and to affect us - they certainly don't define us. The truth, our true nature is the witness that remains unaffected by the (all too) seemingly real illusions of life. We suffer for our wish for things to be other than they are - it's the grasping nature of the mind to seek pleasure and to hold it dear. When the mind finds no lasting pleasure then it repels what it once cherished and seeks again something new. It's an endless cycle. Until we learn not to take it all so seriously. Until we remember to smile and simply enjoy - resting in the awareness of life's fleeting nature. Every run seems to consist of separate steps - and yet each step contributes to the stride that delivers us to motion. Peace is found in the knowledge that no single step lasts - but our stride belongs to the infinite. We allow events and circumstances to bring us pleasure and often pain. That's the way of time and steps. Yet we run free in the peace found in our endless stride. That's the way of the infinite.  

Peace,

Eric

*Portion of the Tao Te Ching translated by Stephen Mitchell



The Tao of Distance Running - #30

The Master does his job
and then stops.
He understands that the universe
is forever out of control,
and that trying to dominate events
goes against the current of the Tao.

                                                                *

~

Our goal is to run clear of inner resistance - we are against nothing and

celebrate with gratitude the sake of the run itself. Anything beyond a single

step is of no concern. Our stride is made carefree in the collection of

these steps and the surrender of all else.

Run...as if a single step is our existence.

• There are select things that we can do that will make our run or race a success. Mentally and physically we prepare the best we're able. We fuel and hydrate well. We dress accordingly. Everything that we can account for we see too. And still the run is beyond our control. That's the nature of the world reflected in our steps. To grasp at the intangible aspects of life is too suffer. As runners we focus on our steps collected to a stride - each step brings an ending and then opens to a new world. Our stride contains the seeds of all possibilities - there is nothing to fight nor resist, nothing to grasp or avoid. We abide in the moment, aware of it's passing and grateful for its promise. With that in mind - we take one more step.

Peace,

Eric

*Translation of The Tao Te Ching by Stephen Mitchell

The Tao of Distance Running -# 29

There is a time for being ahead,
a time for being behind;
a time for being in motion,
a time for being at rest;
a time for being vigorous,
a time for being exhausted;
a time for being safe,
a time for being in danger.

The Master sees things as they are,
without trying to control them.
She lets them go their own way,
and resides at the center of the circle.

~

Our steps are not projected- we run in the certainty of the present moment - fully

aware that all things change yet content in what is offered.

We are free from the grasp of thought and objects.

The world moves though our minds

unopposed by needful

things.

Our hearts are open.

It's enough to simply run.

• Distance running is the art of acceptance for what is and the wisdom to know that all change begins within the present moment. The state we find ourselves in now is the result of choices made within previous moments. Denial of what is happening now is a waste of precious energy. We accept, we adjust and we allow the spaciousness of the infinite to open in its limitless potential. It's not for us to decide what the next moment will bring - we act only in the present and draw faith from the perfection nature and knowledge we are not separate from this perfection. We don't control the hill, we simply climb it. We don't fight thirst, we drink when possible. We don't regret the distance run, but embrace the coming miles. All thing happen within the grace of a single moment. Staying centered here, we smile, and simply run. 

Peace,

Eric

*

Portion of the Tao Te Ching translated by Stephen Mitchell



The Tao of Distance Running - #28

Know the personal,
yet keep to the impersonal:
accept the world as it is.
If you accept the world,
the Tao will be luminous inside you
and you will return to your primal self.

~
Our motion is not the opposite of stillness - it's the extension of our
essential selves seeking to know its own unexplored parts.
Every hill and sudden twist in the path shows an aspect of
self that yearns for our embrace.
Nothing is fought - for every battle is internal and
every victim is slain is our own defeat.
We run - surrendering to each moment and finding grace in the
stride of our acceptance.

• We run to bring the stillness of our being to unexplored regions of both our inner and outer worlds. Giving up the struggle of how far and how fast we return to primal travelers seeking shadows to offer light and joining in the play of their dynamics. We are part of all things and simply wish to experience every depth of our dimension. In the acceptance of duality we discover our singular expression - the steepest hill before us offers something different on its far side - and yet a hill it remains. We accept it on terms the world offers and bring our own grace to the experience. We bring our best to the world - and the worlds response if full of wonder. 

Peace,

Eric

*

Portion of the Tao Te Ching translated by Stephen Mitchell