In 2004, more than 13 million Americans practiced yoga or tai chi, and more than 9.6 million did Pilates. The mind-body phenomenon is here to stay. Conversely, running is also a highly popular form of exercise, especially in locations with warmer climes, as folks yearn for fresh air and sunshine, as opposed to the recycled air and strange odors found in many fitness facilities. Traditionally perceived as a sort of mindless exercise, as runners distract themselves from the sport’s rigors using mental displacement techniques or loud music, running is now being looked at under the same scope as tai chi and Pilates. The result is a program called ChiRunning, which can help you gain greater focus, reduce potential for injury and improve overall performance. If you’ve previously encountered difficulty with running or are looking to incorporate more mind-body principles into your regular routine, Chi Running may be an alternative.

In a nutshell, ChiRunning is a mindful approach to running combined with biomechanically sound techniques for improved performance and injury prevention. In practice, ChiRunning uses a series of minor adjustments to running form that let gravity assist in forward movement, thus decreasing effort and placing the body in a more efficiently aligned posture.

Skeptical? Me too. So to learn a bit about the phenomena that is changing the way experts view running, I signed up for a ChiRunning workshop at nearby Mission Bay Park. Co-taught by certified ChiRunning instructors, Ben Boyd and Chris Nico, my view of correct running technique quickly evolved.

The main posture adjustment is simple. Align your body with gravity by keeping your shoulders, hips and ankles in a straight line. The minor adjustments are not so simple, but as I felt the postures associated with this new blueprint of running, I began to understand the journey I was about to take.

Mechanically speaking, in order to maintain a neutral spine you must tuck your tailbone forward and pull the belly button back toward the spine. This is a maneuver utilized by exercise specialists, Pilates instructors, yogis and more, and is used to provide utmost support and cushion for the very mobile and injury-prone spine. The next adjustment is to place your elbows into a 90-degree bend and make sure to keep them above the waistband. Then tilt your body forward by bending at the ankles and not with the hips. Lift your heels in a circular motion, like little wheels. When standing with your profile in the mirror, you should ideally be able to draw a straight line from the back of your skull all the way to the backs of your heels. Any angularity in the neck, hips and knees is a sign that you have not yet achieved optimal running posture.

According to Boyd: “In the current running paradigm, everything is based around building stronger leg muscles. If you want to run faster, run longer distances or recover from injury, strengthen your legs. ChiRunning depends on good posture and strong core muscles. The entire emphasis of the technique is to reduce injuries and to increase efficiency.”

This piece of the puzzle segued nicely into the heel-lift segment. Here we felt the difference between pushing off ballistically – using our feet and calves – versus simply relaxing our lower legs and picking up our heels to keep up with our forward gravity-induced fall. When I was finished with these exercises and drills, I knew the difference between pushing off and heel lifting, and silently vowed to never push off again… well, at least I’d try. My calves actually felt looser, like they’d had a massage, rather than the usually tight, crampy feeling I usually associate with running.

Arm swing was next up, and we quickly experienced the “law of the pendulum” – a short pendulum swings more easily and faster than a long pendulum. This is why the correct arm angle for running on level ground is a 90-degree bend at the elbow as previously mentioned. The appropriate arm range of motion is to bring the hands back to the ribs and the elbows forward to the ribs. When the arms come too far forward, it invites the feet to come forward too with the result being overstriding – which is neither injury preventative nor energy efficient.

Now that we had the basic components of the technique, it was time to put it all together and run. I found it easier to forget what I just learned and just listen to the instructions as I felt for the correct feelings in my body. It felt too easy. I thought I was obviously doing something wrong. Then I remembered we’d been told that our perceived level of effort (PLE) would be lower because we would be using our strong, centrally located core muscles and gravity to do the work of propelling us, not our legs. I was a believer.

We went on to learn about things like cadence, gears, stride length and our pivot point, but that part is more or less a blur. I’ll have to revisit those points at another time. My mind was already abuzz with a swarm of information, and I had to be careful to place limits for fear that the entire learning experience would overflow and be gone forever. The take-home moment for me is when we put all the pieces together and got to conduct our own little running symphonies. The last part of class was videotaped, and we were each given specific advice on how to improve our game. Additionally, we were given tip sheets to remind us of the various specific ChiRunning focuses. There are more pieces to the ChiRunning technique, but these would have to wait for a different class at a different time.

In the days after the workshop, I’ve tried what I’ve learned and had moments of brilliance as well as the experience of my all-too-familiar habits rearing their ugly heads. But I know now I’m on a path that is not unlike my yoga practice and will continue to unfold for me as I practice with every run I take. It is a discipline, but the positive effects very much outweigh the focus required for ChiRunning. Bad news for my iPod as it now sits dusty while I run with greater attention to detail. Oh, and after only one training session, I increased my typical mileage significantly without increasing the level of fatigue. There may be something to this after all.