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Posted on developmentally appropriate for walking and running, and better health
This interview is an excerpt from Kevin Gianni's Fountain of Youth Summit, which can be found in http://fountainofyouthworldsummit.com. In this excerpt, Danny Dreyer shares on developing proper posture for walking and running.
The Fountain of Youth World Summit with Danny Dreyer, author of ChiWalking and ChiRunning.
Kevin: You are an expert on this subject, I have been to some of his seminars and I have absolutely loved this approach to run around and is so radically different. I want to tell everyone out there is, if you have views about walking and running I want you to listen to this with an open mind because this could change how you approach it for years and years to come. So Danny, why not tell us a little about your history?
Danny: Well, basically I've been running for about 35 years. In 1991, I started doing only ultra operation, I had not started with 5 km to 10 km just going to run out of ultra.
Kevin: Explain what the sport is ultra.
Danny: Basically an ultra marathon is a distance longer than a marathon. 26.3 This happens [laughs] all the way up to any amount, in fact some are 3000 miles.
Kevin: Wow!
Danny: I did not do that. My distance is 50km, 50 miles, 100 km, 100 miles. I made a couple milers 100 and I call myself a former 100 miles at this point. But I got into ultra running and to run that kind of distance that really needed to learn to be very efficient with my career.
Kevin: Of course.
Danny: So it's not my fuel was consumed in addition to that it was not me hitting the same throughout the race. Then I took my first Tai Chi class and had a master of tai chi in China, he was teaching us in Tai-chi you have a line central runs down the center of your body from head to toe.
Kevin: OK
Danny: Tour through central line and if your posture and alignment is correct, then the body weight rests on the center of the line not your muscles. And then you can relax all others because Tai-chi is very aligned state, but a very relaxed state. So the arms and legs are relaxed. About Tai-chi is to get the chi moving through our governing body with his mind, but let the Chi moving through your body. And combined with that trying to keep my posture straight line really trying to keep my arms and legs relaxed, and at the same time, trying to fall forward, because I had been playing with this thing lean into the pull of gravity. To help drive and I totally rocked my boat, I mean, it was never the same after that broker. So I've been working on perfecting this technique now 10 years and been teaching that long and we are having great results with people, you know, people who are afraid of injuries. When you said you people to do this with an open mind, is as you know, running is one of the worst reputations of hurting people - disbelief is suspended when you have a belief that when you think running is going to hurt you, I want you to suspend your disbelief for a moment while I explain this, but we've got people who have really returned from knee surgery, or avoid knee surgery, you know, all kinds of athletes who have discovered that not only feel better after but not hurt while they're doing.
Kevin: Wow.
Danny: So, two things that really emphasize and teach people in ChiRunning is energy efficiency and prevention of injuries and these are our hallmarks. That is exactly what we are. Not necessarily only the athletes lead or anything. We will have someone who has never had a pair of running shoes on. We will become a great runner.
Kevin: Wow! And when you say ChiRunning, I mean, it applies the same principles to walking too, so there are people on call who just want to learn to walk in a more efficient, this applies.
Danny: Oh. It's across the board. Walking and running all the time who are bi-pedal what we call - yes, it works also to hikers and basic principles I learned from Tai-chi I brought to run and walk. Running and walking even in themselves have technique that is different one another but not so different.
Kevin: Let's talk about those principles. How were you able to go to that kind of Tai-chi and say "well, this is what I'm learning here, "and how that can be applied directly?
Danny: It was my kind of Tai-chi, I tell you, the first three weeks I was there and that was the class that was twice a week for an hour and a half.
Kevin: Oh my!
Danny: First three weeks of class, all I did was be there. The captain was only me working on my posture. Then I got in this manner using the correct posture Tai-chi. And then he had me stand there and then he went and you know, and talk with others of its kind, were about 30 people in class and around the world in different levels.
Kevin: OK.
Danny: And twice a week for an hour and a half, for three weeks all I did was be there in the class. Yes, and I kept paying and going "what am I paying this kind of" [laughs] But I tell you, he was trained in the old way old school and that's how people started and I say, I'm so grateful that I learned, because in those three weeks I was standing there and there is not much to do but focus on what you are doing.
Kevin: Right.
Danny: And it was fabulous. It really changed my approach to alignment of my body. And then I had to work to get that while I was standing still, so when I am moving with my running and walking, I could still feel stand that every time my foot came down on the floor.
Kevin: I have it.
Danny: So when you are walking or running your weight is primarily supported by one leg at a time. Every time you fall on your leg while running, your weight is on that leg. When you are walking and I step forward, as they move to the leg, your whole body weight on one leg while picking up your other foot. So that's the similarity between walking and running. So while you are at that stage, it is very important to have proper posture so that your weight rests more in structure than their muscles. That is where efficiency energy.
Kevin: And how do you feel this position? So how do I feel I am in proper alignment?
Danny: Well, one way of being is capable of feeling - - it's interesting because what you are looking for in a post position in a stand of proper posture, is if you are standing a full-length mirror you want to defend in a way that one could see her shoulders, her hip bones and ankle form a perfect line and were perpendicular in line with others.
Kevin: OK.
Danny: Most people stand with your hips slightly forward a bit, I would say that 75 percent of all people in the United States and I would say [laughs] 10 percent of people outside. We have a very bad position. And the hips are too forward and we're standing there because they slouch a lot and things and so I suggest that you start people with basic position. Stand on your two feet are about hip-width apart, and want not lock your knees, is a big mistake.
Kevin: OK, then.
Danny: Stand on your legs to stand on his feet, feel the balance on two legs. So a leg is not holding more weight than the other and then you want to balance so that do not feel the front of the feet more than the heel. So the balance that way. And then wish to find an inner balance to abroad on their feet. So do not give a pronated inside and are not bowed legs, when their weight is all on the outside.
Kevin: Does you.
Danny: You want to really create balance in the soles of the feet in three directions, from side to side, inside to outside and front to ago. Once your legs are aligned, then you want to straighten your upper spine, you know, where you are not bent, just want to kind of straighten a bit to where you are not pulling the shoulders back, it's like how the marines do not actually correct. You know, you just want to straighten your spine a little. Then simply that people get up, put your hand under your collarbone and the type of lifting his neck bone. Well, that helps you breathe more easily and helps align the spine better. And then the other thing I like about yoga class is just, links in the back of your neck, pretend like you are trying to realize the back of your neck longer and this, naturally, drop your chin in a comfortable way. Then once you get your kind of legs lined, and lined upper body, which wants to do is look down and see if you can see your shoelaces and if you can not see the laces of his shoes, then the hips are too far forward or you need to stop drinking beer.
Kevin: [Laughs]
Danny: What do you want to do is if you can not see the shoelaces, put two fingers on top of hip bones are not really your hip bones are the alliaceous shield, your pointers, put your two fingers on it and just move your pelvis back so you can see your shoelaces.
Kevin: Do you have.
Danny: And if you do that and look to this view side view mirror, while you will see that you are actually standing in a straight line, but thought it might feel like and is bent at the waist a bit. You are really straight. And when you get into this where your feet are in balance and your posture is perfectly straight, do not feel any work that is in your body at all. Its taste is hard to explain, I do not feel any muscles. When I was doing this three weeks of standing there, I could stay there and almost asleep.
Kevin: Wow.
Danny: Yes, you do not feel your body. It does not hurt, your back does not hurt, your knees do not hurt, is this equilibrium point where I feel nothing.
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