Running Meditation

I was at Padmaloka on retreat again this weekend but this time went well prepared for running: I took a torch along and marked up my running route carefully on a map so that I wouldn’t get lost running along the country lanes in the early hours as I had done a few weeks previously. This was to be a 20 mile run, which must be the longest run that I have ever attempted, starting early on Sunday morning. One of the things I enjoy about being on retreat is having time in peaceful surroundings to meditate. Meditation involves gently but persistently bringing ones awareness back to an ‘object’ - the breath for example - when the mind drifts off into its habitual patterns of thought. It is quite simple, in  a way, but can be profound. I was speaking to someone on the retreat - Arthasiddhi from Cambridge, who I tend to meet only on the football pitch during the annual London Buddhist Centre vs Cambridge Buddhist Centre 11-a-sides - and saying that I was having to miss meditation on the Sunday morning and he said ‘well, you’ll have a running meditation instead’. And that is how it turned out. It was a hard run of two ten mile laps and I found that the best way of distancing myself from bodily aches and pains was to just be mindful of the birdsong I could hear on the way round - that became my object of meditation and allowed me to feel much lighter, to enjoy the run much more. And I was approaching mile 16 or 17 - approaching a village called Rockland St Mary when I was overcome by a feeling of euphoria which coincided with the sun finally emerging from behind clouds. Everything just seemed so fresh and clear and vibrant and I felt so lucid. If this is what long runs and meditation can offer then I want more of both! I’m entering the hardest part of the training, as shown by the graph (which I could resist), so I have every opportunity to explore this further.