Use Body Awareness and Run Injury Free!

Body awareness connects you with your innermost self allowing your body to intuitively correct problems. Using the mind and body connection, you will discover how to improve movements and remove limitations in mobility. With enhanced awareness, you can learn to let the body heal itself, keep it healthy and run injury free.

We have much more control over the health of our bodies than we originally believed. We just need to learn how to harness the power of the mind and body connection.

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When we experience pain such as a stressed muscle during a run, we often resist the sensation and turn our attention away from the area. We try to ignore the signals that our body is sending to us. If we create resistance, the condition usually gets worse and develops into an injury. However, if we give full non-judgmental awareness to our body and the source of our pain or ache, our body will respond in a positive way. It will change to meet its needs or release what it is holding avoiding the necessity to send further signals.

Acceptance of how your body is feeling rather than rejecting running pain activates positive energy and promotes healing. I have practiced this technique many times while running and I can validate its effectiveness. Sometimes it is necessary to repeat the process more than once, but with continued focused attention, you will experience positive results. When a particular pain is stubborn, continue to give that area of your body full attention until the discomfort goes away and you can enjoy running injury free!

The Many Benefits of Body Awareness

There is a strong connection between the mind and body. Increasing your awareness will develop and strengthen this connection, proving to be beneficial physically, emotionally and spiritually.

Awareness promotes living in the present moment, rather than focusing on the past or the future. As runners, we know how detrimental it can be to focus on the distance remaining to run rather than where we are right now. As we develop and practice awareness, we become more mindful of our bodies as we learn to live and run in this moment.

Become a more efficient runner

Developing awareness of the body improves concentration and will help you learn How to Relax while Running. As you become more aware of the areas of your body that are tense, you will be able to consciously relax them. A relaxed runner is an injury free runner.

With the healing benefits of a body awareness practice, running will become pain-free. You will be able to utilize your energy more effectively and run more efficiently. You will feel an overall sense of well-being as you become more in tune with your inner-self and the pleasures associated with being in the present moment.

The following video, which is a short guided body awareness meditation, will help you begin a body awareness practice.

Want to learn more?

Try our Guided Running Meditation: Beauty and Body Awareness to practice a guided body awareness meditation while running and get the full benefits of awareness while running.

There are other methods that we can use to develop awareness of our bodies. One that I practice and have had much success with is the Feldenkrais Method. This method teaches awareness through whole-body movements and proves that it is possible to heal chronic injuries.

Barefoot Running is another way of increasing awareness of the body. Runners receive instant feedback through their feet increasing awareness of how their body moves. They focus more—developing a stronger mind and body connection. The body reacts naturally and barefoot runners instinctively run softer on the forefoot.