{"id":629,"date":"2009-06-03T12:34:48","date_gmt":"2009-06-03T12:34:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/onecity\/2009\/06\/national-running-day-is-running-meditation.html"},"modified":"2009-06-03T12:34:48","modified_gmt":"2009-06-03T12:34:48","slug":"national-running-day-is-running-meditation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/2009\/06\/national-running-day-is-running-meditation.html","title":{"rendered":"National Running Day – Is Running Meditation?"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’ve been a runner on and off for the last fifteen years. Last year I (slowly) ran the New York City Marathon.  Today is national running day<\/a>, and as a Buddhist Meditator I thought it would be appropriate to tackle the question “Is running meditation?” here at beliefnet<\/a>.   Folks who run will often say running is their meditation, or that running is zen, and I think it’s worth examining these statements in light of what we know to be the benefits of a regular practice of sitting meditation. Since I have run hundreds if not thousands of miles, and I meditate daily, I feel that I can speak about this from a position of experience rather than speculation on this most holy of days, national running day<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"National<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n


\nI’m
\ngoing to over-generalize and say there are two things that are
\nreferered to as meditation, only one of which is truly meditation.
\nThere’s a kind of “clear your head and bliss out” meditation- which is
\nreally a relaxation technique. Then there’s meditation with the purpose
\nof revealing the truth of interconnectedness and compassion.  Blissing
\nout and feeling good is not the same thing as removing crusty ego
\nstructures in pursuit of greater compassion.  The kind of meditation
\nespoused by Buddha (and really, the only thing he said you gotta do)
\nis  the “sit down, shut up, and pay attention without getting stuck in
\nyour thoughts” kind.  <\/p>\n

Sometimes after sitting, I do have kind
\nof a chill, mellow feeling; but sometimes some pretty fearsome stuff
\ncomes up that does not leave me feeling at all blissed-out.  I have no
\nexpectation of one or the other, and merely try to be present with
\nwhatever comes up and to not follow too many distracting thoughts
\nbefore returning to my breath.  If I were sitting to bliss out, relax,
\nor make myself feel chilled out, that would not only be a different
\nkind of meditation it would also not do much to make me a more
\ncompassionate and “interdependent aware” person.  Nothing wrong with
\nthat, but it’s not what true contemplative practice is about, and
\nshould be thought of more as a relexation technique.<\/p>\n

As a
\nrunner, I frequently get extremely chilled out by a run.  I used to
\nthink that this blissed out feeling you get after a good 30 or 40
\nminute run was meditation, but then I started meditating. The chilled
\nout feeling from running is actually a chemical response your body and
\nbrain has to repetitive motion. An AWESOME feeling to be sure, but not
\nthe same as meditation.<\/p>\n

Another thing that happens during a long
\nrun (or even a good long walk) is that I tend to start thinking about
\nproblems or creative ideas I have, and sometimes I will get an amazing
\nrevelation or sense of clarity about something that I did not have
\nbefore the run.  It’s almost like the repetitive motion allows your
\nbrain to bubble up ideas that otherwise get buried underneath all the
\nnoise. This is also awesome, and this is what a lot of runners or
\nwalkers refer to when they say “running is their meditation”. Again,
\nyou can certainly sit on your cushion with the goal of coming up with
\nsolutions to problems or creative ideas, but this is better referred to
\nas concentration, or directed thought – it is not meditation. <\/p>\n

Now
\nthat I have experienced several years of what actual meditation is, as
\nwell as having experienced nearly fifteen years of running (the first
\n12 of which I thought “running is MY meditation”) I can compare the
\ntwo. Running can give you great clarity and it can leave you feeling
\nchilled out and refreshed, but neither of these are really the core
\nbenefit of a regular practice of sitting meditation. The profound
\ndifference in my life and how I relate to people around me as a result
\nof true contemplative practice is radically different than the states
\nof clarity or bliss that I experience when running.  I love that I get
\nto experience both, but my conclusion is this: Running is not
\nmeditiation, but I couldn’t imagine giving up either. <\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’ve been a runner on and off for the last fifteen years. Last year I (slowly) ran the New York City Marathon.  Today is national running day, and as a Buddhist Meditator I thought it would be appropriate to tackle the question “Is running meditation?” here at beliefnet.   Folks who run will often say…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":191,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-629","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-buddhism"],"yoast_head":"\nNational Running Day - Is Running Meditation? - One City<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onecity\/2009\/06\/national-running-day-is-running-meditation.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"National Running Day - Is Running Meditation? - One City\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I’ve been a runner on and off for the last fifteen years. 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