In my blog post a year ago I talked about taking up running, aided by Couch to 5K. At the time, I was 6 weeks into it and my post finished with the question of ‘Would I keep it up’? Well, I have! Since then, I’ve kept running three times a week and each run is now 30–50 minutes long. If my former self had read that last sentence I would have fallen off my chair with surprise at such an improbable idea.

So, as someone with a previous long-standing aversion to running, how have I managed it? Here are ten ways in which the Alexander Technique has helped me in my running:

1. It was through an Alexander workshop that I had my first experience of it actually being possible to enjoy running.
2. I can run! Ok so I’m not the fastest runner but I run in a much more coordinated and less effortful way than I could have done otherwise. This means that running is more enjoyable and puts less stress and strain on me (joints, muscles etc).
3. I’m never bored! The Alexander Technique creates interest so there is always something to notice and always something to experiment with. For example, if I invent and try out different directions does this make the running easier right now?
4. I can motivate myself to go out even when I really don’t feel like it, and to keep going on those days when it feels hard work. Sometimes I might feel exhausted, or too busy to have time, or the weather is awful. On such days, I often feel like I need to ‘give myself a little nudge’ but I’m not forcing myself to do something. It’s helped by my new attitude of ‘well I can just give it a go’ being safe in the knowledge that I can come straight home again if it turns out not to be a good idea. Because of this caring attitude to myself I find I don’t over-ride what’s good for me and yet I almost always find I can manage the whole run and feel better for it afterwards.
5. Linked to this, I find I’m better at making decisions and sticking to them. I’m much clearer in my mind that I’m doing whatever I’m doing through choice, hence I know that I can always change my mind – I can choose not to go at all that day, or I go but take it gently and being prepared to cut it short if needed. So, I don’t feel the pressure that I would have done pre-Alexander days, of ‘making myself do something’ – I no longer have those internal battles about ‘Will power’.
6. I know how far to ‘push myself’: Because I’m now more ‘tuned in to myself’, I feel like I’ve got a good idea of how far or fast I should run each time.
7. I feel confident that I’m very unlikely to injure myself because I know that I can look after myself when running.
8. …And, if I were to injure myself running, I’d be better equipped to recuperate quickly.
9. Aiming to run ‘better’ not just faster: When I’m out I get the chance to observe a lot of other runners – their coordination, the necessary and unnecessary effort they’re making etc. It’s interesting to notice the variety, some are obviously enjoying it, others look like they’re punishing themselves, and others seem only to be trying to go as fast as they can with no regard to how they’re doing it. So, if I’m overtaken by another runner (which happens frequently), the less generous side of me can comfort myself that they may be faster but I’m putting a heck of a lot less strain on myself than they are 😊.
10. It’s kept me running all this time and I’m noticing the health and wellbeing benefits.

And finally, my running has also helped my Alexander Technique: I certainly started out in life as a ‘live-in-my head’ type person. I began learning the Alexander Technique more than 25 years ago and, through this, I’ve gradually developed a more embodied sense of myself, rather than simply being a ‘mind’ carried around by a ‘body’. I’ve found that the physicality of running has advanced me further on this journey, with an ever deepening sense of my whole self.