Running Wellness Up Your Spine

Hello Wellness Running fans!

Todays post is about the chakras, specifically: incorpating them into your ChiRunning practice. Chakras is a cool word similar to prana (see below) that you may have seen or heard. Maybe the person wearing the prana t-shirt talked to you about his or her chakras. The topic is extremely vast, so this blog post will serve as an elementary introduction to this complex system of wellness.

Chakras are often thought of as wheels of light or energy that vibrate, pulse, and spin at different speeds and frequencies. There are many chakras in the body, however, there are 7 primary chakras that exsist on the spine. We will discuss a process for exploring the 7 primary chakras in this post. Below you will find and outline of a week of practice, focusing on 1 chakra per day. The week starts with Monday, however, you can adjust this to meet your needs.

1 - Monday - Root Chakra - Base of the spine - Groundedness
The first chakra is the root chakra, which exsists at the bottom of the spine. This chakra has to do with feeling grounded, secure, stable. Monday is a good day for this chakra because it is (typically) the start of the work week. We can use our ChiRunning practice to ground ourselves for the week ahead.

Focus while running/walking - Posture stance.
By focusing on your posture and feeling your feet directly under your column you will end the run with a feeling of being connected to the ground. This will get you "out of your head" and into your body. If you practice barefoot running, this is a good day for it.

Yoga poses - mountain, tree

2 - Tuesday - Sacral Chakra - In the pelvis - fluidity, sexuality, expression
The second chakra is in the pelvis and deals with fluidity, sexuality, expression, emotions and more. The Monday run left you with a feeling of groundedness, now its time to move and express yourself. this will help create a nice flow to your work and help you loosen up.

Focus while running/walking - Pelvic rotation
By *allowing* your pelvis to rotate you will run more fluidly. This will help clean out some of the tension that exsists in your hips and pelvis. Many ChiRunners report that when they get the pelvic rotation they experience a smooth flow to the run which they never could have imagined. Use this run to become aware, without judgement, of how you are expressing yourself. Are you tight, restricted, and closed? Are you loose, relaxed, and fluid? How are these physical traits manifesting in your life? How do they correspond to your emotions?

Yoga poses - pigeon, dancer

3 - Wednesday - Third Chakra - Adrenal glands, T12/L1, power, strength
The third Chakra deals with power and strength. This is a good day to add in hills, or a track workout to your practice. This will help keep you feeling strong for the remainder of the weak and not feel "beat down" by the work work.

Focus while running - arm swing or more pelvic rotation
Because the third chakra exsists around T12/L1 a good focus for this day is to feel your pelvic rotation happening at T12/L1 and imagine your legs starting from that point in your spine. Twisting from this area will open your body up to enormous amounts of energy filling your running practice with incredible amounts of joy and satisfaction. Another good focus is arm swing, especially if you do hills. Focusing on the up hill ChiRunning arm swing technique will fill you with feelings of strength and power. A great practice for the middle of the week.

Yoga poses - warrior series

4 - Thursday - Heart Chakra - Heart - Love, Compassion, Purpose
The fourth chakra is the heart chakra which exists in the chest. It deals with Love and Compassion. This is a great chance to remind someone you love them (including yourself!)

Focus while running - Lean - imagining a bungee cord pulling you forward from the center of your chest
This focus will help you feel the lean and engage gravity as well as give you a feeling of letting your heart move you through life

Yoga poses - camel

5 - Friday - Throat Chakra - Expression, Thyroid
The fifth chakra deals with expression and is located in the throat. It is good day to practice expressing yourself more clearly. This practice is about being in balance so some need to express themselves more while others need to express themselves less. Find what you need and practice it.
Focus while running - Pressing up through the crown of the head.
This focus will keep your neck in a neutral position. Remember to not look down too much (at your feet) as this will constrict the energy flow of this chakra. This is a good run to join a friend and let the conversation fly.

Yoga poses - fish

6 - Saturday - Third Eye - Intuition, focus, clarity
Probably the most talked about chakra is the "third eye" chakra, located in the brain. This chakra deals with intuition, focus, and clarity. This is a good chance to practice your focus, especially if you have a race. It is also a good day to stop during your run and do the Chi Gathering exercise.

Focus while running - Focus
Pick one of the form focuses and practice your focus. Set your watch to beep every 30 seconds to remind you to return to your focus.

Yoga poses - meditation, childs with forehead touching mat or block

7 - Sunday - Crown Chakra - Spirituality
The seventh chakra deals with spirtuality. It is located on top of, or possibly slightly above the head. It is often thought of as the spot where spirtual energy enters the body. This is a good day to detach from the rigors of the work week, relax and become immersed in the beauty of your surroundings. Even if you are in the city you can allow yourself to enter the flow state and become overwhelmed with the incredible synchronicty and perfection of the universe unfolding moment to moment.

Focus while running - Relaxation
Many people do their long run on Sunday. Relaxation is an especially good focus if that is the case. Relax and allow the Chi of your surroundings to enter you and flow through your body uninhibited.

Yoga poses - guided meditation, mantra, prayer

Try this process for a full week and let me know how it goes. You might find that once you start, you won't want to stop and the focuses will become automatic.