The spiritual significance of running

About the author:

Tejvan organises short-distance running and cycling races for the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team in his home city of Oxford. He is also a very good cyclist, having won the National hill climb championships in 2013 and finished 3rd in the National 100 Mile Time Trials in 2014.

Sri Chinmoy believed that running is beneficial to physical health but also can give an inner spiritual fulfilment. Running teaches us determination, focus and reminds us of our aspiration to go beyond our previous limitations. Running is both physically challenging but, at the same time, gives an inner joy and satisfaction. Many runners attest to the fact that running can take us out of an ordinary consciousness and give a glimpse into a state of mind beyond our usual thoughts and emotions.

“Running is a symbolic sport in the sense that it reminds us of spiritual seekers continuously running towards the goal; it resembles the seekers running inwardly to achieve the ultimate goal in meditation.”

Sri Chinmoy [1]

Some of the spiritual aspects of running

Self-transcendence

“Self-transcendence gives us joy in boundless measure. When we transcend ourselves, we do not compete with others. We do not compete with the rest of the world, but at every moment we compete with ourselves. We compete only with our previous achievements. And each time we surpass our previous achievements, we get joy.”

Sri Chinmoy [2]

Sri Chinmoy ran 22 marathons and 5 ultramarathons, his first one being in 1979

Self-transcendence is concerned with an attempt to beat our previous achievement and stretch our capacity. This self-transcendence can be measured in a race against the clock, but even if we can't beat our times, we can still strive to make a greater commitment and effort in our training and races. If we are detached from the outer result, we will feel joy from these attempts at self-transcendence. Whilst we may not have the capacity to beat others, we always have the opportunity to pursue our own self-transcendence attempts.

Determination

Running brings forward both our outer and inner determination. Running requires effort, focus and the willingness to challenge our body against the distance and elements. To complete a race requires a fixed mindset and determination to keep going.

Surasa Mairer, holder of many women's ultradistance records, finishes the 2017 3100 Mile race at the age of 59

Getting to know yourself

“When a runner focuses all his attention on a particular race, he is in a position to free his mind, liberate his mind, from uncomely distractions. Here one-pointed concentration is the pathfinder for a deeper meditative consciousness.”

– Sri Chinmoy [3]

Running takes us out of our comfort zone. It teaches us that we are more capable than we perhaps realise. To a non-runner, completing a marathon may seem an impossible task, but if we train, we realise we are capable of much more than we realise. Whilst running, we get in touch with a different part of ourself, and we learn more about our inner reserves.

Dynamism and inner peace

Question: Can running help get rid of frustration and anger?

Sri Chinmoy: Running is an excellent way to rid oneself of frustration and anger. If you are really angry with someone, go and run. After a mile or so you will see that your anger has gone away, either because you are totally exhausted or because the satisfaction that you gain from physical exertion has replaced your anger. [4]

A great benefit of running is that it shakes away our mental cobwebs. The dynamism of running helps us to get away from the petty concerns and worries of our mind. Dynamism is a powerful tool to bring to the fore more inner peace. When we are static, we become like a stagnant pool, when we move, it is like a clear flowing stream. The Sri Chinmoy Oneness-Home Peace Run combines both running long distances with an endeavour to share peace. Sri Chinmoy felt the dynamism of running across countries was an excellent way to share peace in a meaningful way. Running brings many of our good qualities to the fore.

How to bring spirituality into running

Self-transcendence vs competition

Rather than worrying about whether you can beat your competitors, focus instead on your own performance. Can you transcend your previous efforts? - Can you make the best possible effort given your circumstances? If you focus only on your self-transcendence, you will get joy from running - whatever the outer result. You will see fellow competitors - not as rivals, but fellow runners who can inspire your own efforts.

For runners in the 3100 Mile Race - the world's longest certified race - the focus not so much on competition as on bringing out the best in oneself

Meditation

If we meditate before running, we will be conscious of our inner stillness and inner reserves which can help us in the outer running. Meditation teaches us to be one-pointed and bring all our awareness of one aspect. When we run, we can see our running as an extension of our meditation. Just bring all your focus on to the running - the rhythm of breathing. Don't get distracted by thoughts, but just try to be the observer of the running. When the body is running, at top speed, feel at the same time an inner focus and inner equanimity.

"Again, the runner's outer speed has a special kind of poise or stillness at its very heart. An airplane travels very fast, yet inside the plane we feel no movement at all. It is all tranquility, all peace; and this inner tranquility we can bring to our outer life. In fact, the outer life, the outer movement, can be successful only when it comes from the inner poise."

- Sri Chinmoy [5]

Conscious Breathing

To make running a more meditative experience, we can concentrate on our breathing. We should feel our breath brings in not just oxygen but a divine energy. If we visualise we are breathing in cosmic energy and exhaling tiredness, we will gain more inner strength.

The inner value of running

"The main reason is that running reminds us of our inner goal. Whether we consciously run toward the goal or not, our very feeling that there is a goal helps us considerably."

- Sri Chinmoy [6]

If we value running as a spiritual exercise, then it can become something much more than just the outer running. When running, we can feel we are making inner progress and striving to reach our inner goal.

Perspectives on the spirituality of running

Running the world’s longest race – Jayasalini

Jayasalini Abramovskikh talks about the experience of running the Sri Chinmoy 3100 Mile Self-Transcendence Race. In 2014, at her first attempt, Jayasalini became the first Russian woman to finish this grueling race which lasts for 52 consecutive days.

Running as a pilgrimage

Sanjay Rawal, the director of the feature film "3100 Mile: Run and Become" talks about how he sees running as a spiritual pilgrimage.

Samunnati on meditation and running

Samunnati Lehonkova is an Olympic marathon runner who took up running at an early age after becoming a disciple of Sri Chinmoy. In this short video, Samunnati talks about how she started meditation and running at the same time, and how she attempts to practise self-transcendence through running.

3100: Run and Become

A film that explores the spiritual significance of running in different cultures across the world. It includes the Gaolo-San bushmen in Botswana, the legendary Japanese gyoman-san running monks, the Navajo runners in the deserts of Arizona, and the runners of the Sri Chinmoy Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race in Jamaica, Queens, New York.

Related

Sources: Quotes are taken from the following books by Sri Chinmoy: [1] from Japan: soul-beauty’s heart-garden, [2] from The oneness of the Eastern heart and the Western mind, part 3, [3] from Run and smile, smile and run, [4] [5] [6] from The outer running and the inner running.

Inspiration - more articles

About the author:

Abhejali Bernardova, of the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team from the Czech Republic has swum seven of the world's toughest stretches of open water, including the English Channel. She has also recently published a book about her swimming exploits in Czech entitled: "Until the Water Runs Out?" For a recent podcast after the book publication, Abhejali shared her thoughts on training, inspiration and meditation.

abhejali

Could you tell us about yourself?

abhejli I am forty-four years old and I am from the Czech Republic, which is a landlocked country. But I love swimming in the ocean. I was the fourth woman to finish the challenge called “Oceans Seven.” And just recently I did an ultra-triathlon that included swimming the English Channel and then biking and running all the way to the Czech Republic. I just love challenges, and I’m so happy to be able to share my adventures with your listeners.

Why is the book titled Until the Water Runs Out?

It is a theme of the book, based on advice from Channel General Freda Streeter, mum of former “Queen of the Channel” Alison Streeter (Sri Chinmoy lifted both of them). Her advice to swimmers is to swim until there is no more water, until you get to the other side. There is no use in stopping and looking around, no point in asking how far to go still—you just have to swim until the water runs out. And we also should live to the fullest until the water of our life runs out.

I would like to know more about what self-transcendence means to you?

It means trying to do more than I did before and have goals that can be maybe a little bit scary and then finding ways to achieve them. One side is the sports side, but also for me, it means being a better person than I was before. I think these sports achievements help me in achieving that because so much that I learn during the swims or the runs is transferable to my day-to-day life. Not only everything goes according to plan and stuff like that. You have to find a way to go around and just keep going until you get there. I remember even for my first English Channel swim: It never happened to me during the training, but after I started swimming—maybe forty-five minutes into the swim—I got seasick. Everything else was going fine, but I just couldn’t eat or drink anything, and I was feeding the fish every twenty minutes or so. But I remember you just have to go and keep going. As long as you give it your all, then you are happy and you are making progress.

Tell me a little more about the meditation? How and why did you get into meditating? You mentioned a name, could you repeat that name?

I started meditating with Sri Chinmoy when I was eighteen. There wasn’t any outside reason for me to start meditating. I had a happy childhood. I was happy, and everything was going well, but somehow maybe—not really consciously—I felt there was something missing in my life. So I saw this poster for a meditation class and I went to see what was going on. I really liked this feeling that I felt in my heart during the meditation exercise that we did that evening. Somehow it made sense for me to continue doing these exercises and trying to find something deeper within me. I guess it’s also why I started doing long-distance swimming and running. Just to know myself better, to get more outside of my comfort zone and kind of dig deeper to see what is there. I think we are just really limiting ourselves with what our mind tells us we can do or we can’t do. With the meditation, I’m calming my mind and opening my heart and then I can see that there is so much to explore and so much more to do. So, it somehow made sense to put all of this together.

What happened after the age of eighteen? Did you go on to University, did you start working and then how did you balance the sport and swimming and your running and your cycling during that time?

I started to go to University and I started to run really slowly. I remember my very first run and I just left my house and I ran around the block, it was like five minutes and I felt okay, I started running. Then I increased the distance. It was like twenty-five years ago so there were no, not that many races like there are now and the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team we started organising races, six hours, twelve hours, 100k. So when we did organise these races I wanted to try them out and see how far I could go. So from those five minutes I went to 3k, 10k then a marathon and then that six-hour. Then I still felt I could do more. So, it was just nice to widen my limits or my so-called limits. In a way, it was growing really slowly and then we organised a twenty-hour hour race and then actually I was helping my friend in New York and she ran a race that was one thousand miles long. It was in a park on a one-mile loop and I remember running a marathon after she finished the race maybe a week later. And I ran a marathon on the same loop and I remember that it was my easiest marathon ever because it was twenty-six laps whereas she had to do one thousand laps. So I could totally see how if you change your perspective, if something feels difficult then just look at it from a different side or different height. So that was my easiest marathon.

abhejali

For those people who maybe haven’t given swimming a go or they want to start pushing themselves and going for longer distances, what would be your advice about going further with swimming? Increasing your time from one hour to two hours to three hours or six or twelve to fifteen hours?

I think one important thing to have a really good technique, like a stroke. Because then if you have a good stroke, good form, then you can go forever. Then for me, like mentally it’s good to not think about you are going to train for ten hours because then your mind starts revolting and telling you you are crazy, why are you doing this? Different things that the mind does to us to discourage us. I would just think of going for a few hours and then while I swim I would just go from one feeding to the next. I would eat every half an hour so then you have just half an hour to go and then another half an hour. For my long swims I would do training, maybe six hours on Saturday, six hours on Sunday and what would help would be when you go for the second six hours on Sunday you are sore and you are tired then you don’t really feel so happy to go in the water, especially if the water is cold, but then I would imagine this is my hour number seven, number eight, until twelve. So I would take it as a whole chunk of twelve hours and then it’s like you have done half of it and then I would go downhill, I always like the second half of the race, of the distance, because then it feels like you are already on your way home. Somehow like mentally divide it, make it shorter, do different things to quiet your mind which in general is discouraging and trying to tell you that you don’t want to do this, you are too tired, you are too cold and different things to really stop you from doing it.

Is that when doing back to back training, six hours on Saturday, six hours on a Sunday, you could wake up feeling so sore and tired, what are you tips for recovery? How do you make sure that you stay injury free when you are doing endurance training of this length?

I try to eat really well. I’m a vegetarian but just to really have proper food even during the training I don’t really like having gels that much, we have soup or porridge or different things so that my body is really, really nourished. And then I try to sleep as much as I can in between the trainings and just stay positive, stay happy even though I am tired, especially when you are starting your training, your body needs to get used to it. Just being in a positive frame of mind. I think that is a big help to prevent injury. When you are happy to be out there in the water and swim and just be grateful that you can do it, you are the one who is in the water, this gratitude helps so much too.

abhejali — After swimming the English Channel

Tell me about Oceans Seven? What is the Oceans Seven challenge?

The Oceans Seven challenge involves seven swims around the globe that are difficult in some way or another. One of them is the English Channel. Then the North Channel between Ireland and Scotland, which is even colder than the English Channel. I never really wanted to swim this one. Then there are some warm-water swims like Hawaii’s Moloka’i Channel, which is really long. It is more than 42k, which is a marathon distance. Then there is Cook Strait in New Zealand, Tsugaru Strait in Japan, Strait of Gibraltar which is from Europe to Africa which I really loved. And there is Catalina Channel, which is from Catalina Island to Los Angeles. So, those are the seven swims and there are tides, there are waves, there are swells, and there are some marine animals that are kind and not so kind. So there are different challenges in the swims.

Do you have a mantra or a motto that you sort of apply to your challenges and events?

I have one that I really like and it’s “I can do it, I have already done it.” It’s actually what Sri Chinmoy advised people when they were swimming the English Channel to really use the imagination even while training, to tell yourself “I can do it.” Imagine that you are swimming to the French shore and I am there. And just visualise it and then make it a reality, that’s my favourite. And I use mantras and singing when things get tough. There is a song that Sri Chinmoy composed, “I am swimming in the English Channel today” so I was singing that song quite a lot during the swim.

I’d love for you to share your final words of advice to encourage other women and girls to step outside their comfort zone and to take on a new challenge. Apart from saying “just do it” what advice would you have for our listeners?

Dream big and don’t be afraid to dream. Don’t feel that you are too old to dream and to do different challenges and then just find ways to reach those goals and those challenges and sometimes it takes some years to really be able to do it but just not giving up. And then you get there and don’t allow your mind to tell you that you are too old, you are too weak, you can’t do it. You can do it and if you try then at least you can say that you tried. If you don’t try then you definitely won’t be able to accomplish that. So dream big.

Would you mind sharing a little more about what you main goal is in life?

My main goal I would describe as really knowing myself, what I am, why I am here, what I am supposed to do and just being me. Being the best version of me and getting better every day, becoming a better person.

Here some video-footage of Abhejali's Channel Swim from 2011

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About the author:

Sri Chinmoy was a pioneer of ultra-running and encouraged athletes to challenge their limitations through a philosophy of self-transcendence and going beyond the limits of mind and body. Sri Chinmoy taught that by challenging our limits, we could do something that we previously thought impossible.

To this end, ultra-running is an excellent vehicle for runners to transcend their previous limitations. Sri Chinmoy himself ran several marathons and ultra-marathons. In 1977, he founded the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team which was a pioneer of multi-day running in the 1980s and today continues to organise The Sri Chinmoy 3100 Mile Self-Transcendence Race.

“I do not have any set goal; my goal is self-transcendence. I always try to transcend myself. I do not compete with the rest of the world. I compete only with myself, and I try to become a better human being. This is my ultimate goal.”

– Sri Chinmoy

This philosophy has inspired many athletes. Recently, Polish athlete Patryk Świętochowski won the Backyard Ultra in Malta with a final distance of 207.886 km, 31 laps. The backyard ultra is a race where competitors are to run a distance of 6,706 m (4.167 miles) in less than one hour and repeat this process until they are unable to keep it up any longer. After winning the race, the Polish runner stated that the quote of Sri Chinmoy “Determination and impossibility are never to be found together” was very apt to his experience of completing this physical challenge of the race.

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