Long Run Solution

by Joe Henderson

13. Meditating

Once each day, at about the same time and for about the same amount of time each day, I quietly go out of my mind. I leave my rational mind behind and spin out for at least a half-hour, usually longer. It's brain-washing in a positive sense -- in the sense of cleaning and clearing gummed up thinking by intentionally not concentrating on any thoughts for a while.

A stock question asked by people who don't run of those who do is, "What do you think about all that time you're out there alone on the track or road?"

The best answer is "nothing."

Dr. Leonard Reich, a New York City psychologist and runner, answers his friends this way: "I tell them cryptically that I try not to think about anything. In fact, I concentrate on clearing my mind of all thoughts so as to become receptive to the activity in which I am engaged. I call this 'meditative running.'"

Of course we can't stop thinking, but we can stop guiding our thoughts in specific directions. The first step in "meditative running," Dr. Reich says, is to "focus oneself in the present, to become aware of the here and now. This means to be receptive, to open awareness to all internal and external stimuli, to allow all the forces in the immediate situation to have equal attention."

In short, let the mind float or leap at will from one subject to another, without focusing on one or giving it greater value than another.

The same principle applies to transcendental meditation -- which, incidentally, Dr. William Glasser calls the second most effective path to positive addiction, behind running. Dozens of books praise TM. I quote one of them not because it is best but because it is the only one I've read.

In Tranquility Without Pills, Jhan Robins and David Fisher say, "The most important thing during transcendental meditation is to avoid concentrating on anything in particular. Concentrating holds the mind at one level and will not allow it to submerge into deeper levels of consciousness."

At least on the surface, sitting (TM) and moving (running) meditation seem quite similar. The TM teachers say to meditate for 20-minute periods. Psychiatrist Thaddeus Kostrubala says the same for running. TM meditators rhythmically chant a "mantra." Steady breathing and the beat of the feet set the runner's rhythm. The thought (or no-thought) processes are alike.

However, TM is wrapped in ritual and mystery, and requires a teacher and a training fee. If you don't learn to meditate properly, you don't reach the "transcendent" mental state. Running, on the other hand, is simple and free. People who thought of it as meditation are meditating with it every day. The out-of-your-mind state is easy to reach -- when a few basic conditions are met.


The conditions for "meditative" running are almost identical to the ones Dr. William Glasser listed for "addictive" running in Chapter Two.

1. Run alone. You can't have anyone else intruding on your non-thoughts.

2. Simplify. Run over an uncomplicated route and by an uncomplicated routine which don't demand constant attention.

3. Go gently. Run at a steady, non-exhausting pace. If you're too tired, all you can think about is how much you hurt and how far it is to the finish.

4. Race not, judge not. The mind can't float if it is fretting about the other runners ahead or behind, or about the hands of a clock rushing onward.

5. Allow time -- a half-hour to an hour a day. It takes much of that time to clear away the worst of the garbage.

6. Spin free. If you catch yourself clinging to one idea for too long, submerge it back into the unconscious.

"I have talked with many physically addicted people, runners and others," writes Dr. Glasser in his book Positive Addiction, "and it is this state of mind that almost all of them describe -- a trance-like, transcendental mental state that accompanies the addictive exercise."

"Transcendental" is a rather large and pompous word to describe the result of what is essentially a mind-clearing and cleaning process. You are a garbage man working in your own head.

The brain is a garbage bin which collects sensory stimuli at an astounding rate. It takes just about everything it's offered in the way of sights, sounds and smells. Usually we're so busy taking things in that we don't have time to process them.

Running at a "meditative" pace gives us a chance to catch up. We can stand aside and watch ideas float past as if they're pieces of garbage on a conveyor belt. We can poke casually through the information, plucking out the few bits worth saving and letting the waste fall away. The recycled pieces are automatically stored for later use.


Martha Klopfer is a Quaker, accustomed by years of training to quiet contemplation. The North Carolina woman is also a long distance runner who spends an hour or more each day on the road. This combination solves a lot of problems for her.

She told Dr. Glasser in Positive Addiction, "Sometimes problems get solved while I am running, or I think of things to say to people. But it is not a 'figuring-out' process -- more of a sudden flash of insight that comes when you are least trying to find an answer. I think worrying and running are impossible to do at the same time."

A way to handle a thorny problem, then, is not to worry about it but to run away from it -- literally. When I'm worried, which is fairly often, I go through the following process:

1. Define the problem.

2. Think a little bit about the alternatives it poses.

3. Forget it. Send it diving into the unconscious.

4. Go running and think about nothing in particular.

5. Wait for an answer to come bubbling unexpectedly to the surface. Nine times in 10, it will come up.

After meditating comes creating, which is putting meditation into action. I write right after I run because more good ideas come to me when I'm running and not thinking about writing than when I'm staring at a blank page, straining to draw out the right words.

I'm not saying running will turn you into a creative genius. It won't magically put talent into your head and fingers. But it will clear away the accumulated debris which clogs up what is there.

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