Yoga Teacher Training As A Runner - It Begins

By Sarah Krzyzanowski

This week I am blessed to have started my yoga teacher training!! So naturally when I arrive home from class, sore and overwhelmed in joy, I picked up a dictionary and flipped to RUN.

My running sadly has been sporadic for a dozen reasons. I wanted to reset and go to the source to see how running is defined by Mr Webster. Running has defined me as an athlete. I spend every day talking about running and hope to for the rest of my life. So in this period of transition from marathon training to teacher training, I worry about losing all that running has given me and that soon I'll hardly be able to run a mile. Irrational to some, sure, but if you are a runner I know you are nodding emphatically in agreement

Yet, the definition (as pertaining to the physical action) reads:

1 to go faster than walk

2 flee

3 to go without restraint

Such a small word can be defined in so many contrasting ways. You can run just to get from one place to another faster. It can also be the action in relation to fleeing, associated with escape of a negative or dangerous situation. But the definition that hit home was "to go without restraint".

Running is so often associated with the end game, but the truth, found from a dictionary no less, provided me with the clarity of why I run -- to truly be free and express that freedom with my able body. And that is what I can offer to you, to get back to the meaning. We all run for different reasons, yet we can all agree that the ability to move is a gift. A gift that we should celebrate that by going without restraint in our runs, our practice and our lives.