Slowing Down to Run Faster: A Sense-able Approach to Movement

by Edward Yu

Overview

A trainer and former triathlete shows you how to achieve the results you want with a new multidisciplinary approach

Why does trying harder sometimes become an exercise in futility? Why does following "expert advice" often lead to little or no improvement? What if there were an efficient way of learning that could be applied to every area of human experience? Drawing from the principles of Bagua, Taichi, and Feldenkrais, Edward Yu presents an innovative approach to running: power, speed, and agility are more related to your ability to sense your own body than to willpower or raw talent. Centering the art of running as an explorative, creative, and somatic-based practice, Yu shows us how to run faster by learning to become more sensible—that is, more sense-able—through the playful and systematic exploration of movement.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781623174903
Publisher:	North Atlantic Books
Publication date:	06/30/2020
Pages:	360
Sales rank:	1,031,745
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

EDWARD YU is a rehab specialist and former triathlete currently specializing in Bagua, Taichi, fitness training, and injury prevention. He has worked with members of the US Olympic Track Team and the Portuguese National Ballet. Yu's interest in how people learn and process information has led him to mix the disparate fields of sports, martial arts, dance, cognitive science, cybernetics, information theory, psychology, and political economy into both his teaching and writing. Learn more at slowingdown faster.com.

Table of Contents

Prologue xi

Introduction 1

Part 1 Life

1 Running (and Other Things We Want to Get Over With) 7

2 The Hurried Runner (a.k.a. "The Bulldozer") 11

3 What Does It Mean to "Slow Down"? 19

4 The Art of Learning: You Already Have Everything You Need 23

5 Intention 29

6 Have You Lost Your Senses? 35

7 To Be or Not to Be 47

Part 2 Practical Matters

8 Imitation: Why Trying to Run Like an Olympian Keeps You from Running Like an Olympian 61

9 Who Turned Up the Gravity? 77

10 Following Instructions: Where Do My Knees Begin? 85

11 There Are No Shortcuts, No Secrets, No Magic Pills 93

12 Running with Your Rear End 101

13 Running with Both Ends 109

14 Running with Shoes 113

Part 3 More Life

15 Compulsion 123

16 Fear 131

17 Certainty 139

Epilogue: The Rest of Your Life 147

Postscript: A Final Word (or Ten Thousand) on Running 159

Appendix A The Feldenkrais Method 181

Appendix B The Lessons 183

What's in the Lessons? 183

Lessons 1-9: "Throwing the Ball" Series

1 Posing Questions 189

2 Screwing Foot into Wall 191

3 Flexing/Extending While Throwing 198

4 Stabilizing Your Front Leg While Lying Down 201

5 Flexing/Extending While Throwing in Sitting 206

6 Screwing Foot into Floor 211

7 Downward Spiral 215

8 Stabilizing Your Front Leg While-Throwing 219

9 Reaching Up While Throwing 222

Lessons 10-17

10 Standing Tall Without Trying to Stand Tall 225

11 Lift Your Knees (On Your Back, Raising Your Knee toward Your Chest and the Ceiling) 228

12 Mobilizing Your Rib Cage 234

13 Behind Your Behind 242

14 Water Jugs, Furniture, and Other Things to Carry on Your Head 245

15 Reaching Up 248

16 Salsa Hips 252

17 Reach and Roll on Your Back 256

Lessons 18-19: "Boxer's Shuffle" Series

18 Getting Down 264

19 Staying Level-Headed 269

Lesson 20

20 Making Your Head Lighter 272

Lessons 21-26: "Metatarsals to Metacarpals" Series

21 Walking While Sitting 278

22 Driving Your Knees 282

23 Driving Your Knees with a Twist (or Spiral) 289

24 Rodin's Spiral 296

25 Resistance as a Learning Tool 304

26 Improving Circulation 310

Lesson 27

27 Where Does My Arm Begin? (Reach and Roll on Your Side) 317

Acknowledgments 323

Attributions for Quotations 327

Bibliography 329

Index 333

About the Author 343

Editorial Reviews

05/18/2020

Rehab specialist and former triathlete Yu debuts with a thoughtful treatise on running intended to help readers achieve “sense-ability,” the human mind’s potential ability “to sense and feel at extraordinarily subtle levels and in the process direct your movement with the precision of an Olympic athlete.” Yu believes that the modern world is defined by a “get it done” culture of “not feeling, not knowing and not being.” In running, this lack of awareness can lead to injury. He credits experience with the martial arts Bagua and Taichi and the Feldenkrais method of movement with leading him toward greater awareness of bodily movement, and in particular, with enabling him to achieve more graceful, powerful, and enjoyable running. Yu asks runners to try out various bodily motions—for instance, the “common dictum among track coaches, ‘Lift your knees higher’ ”—for themselves, and to concentrate on how much effort these actions require, and how good they feel. Twenty-seven exercise sets, such as “Downward Spiral” and “Salsa Hips,” are included, with accompanying photographs, for readers to practice as part of their program. In redefining running as a time for “wonder and exploration,” Yu’s instructive and inviting text will appeal to fitness enthusiasts eager to shake up their exercise regimen. (June)

Publishers Weekly

Rarely have I seen a book on running, in particular on running mechanics, actually hit the mark and make an impact on my coaching. Yu’s sense-able approach connects the dots for so much of what I have seen over the years when working with elite athletes. Improving running form is not a one-step or one-method process. It is a coming-to-terms with who we are as humans first and athletes second. This book rekindles our desires to explore, to play, and to expand our sense of self. Never have we needed this mind-body connection as much as we do now. The art of running should bring us joy, not injury. Slowing Down to Run Faster is here to show us the way.”
—Terrence Mahon, head coach and founder of the Golden Coast Track Club, and Adidas Endurance Coach

“Edward Yu has done something quite remarkable by showing us how we can use the Feldenkrais Method to run better. If you do the exercises in this book slowly and with awareness, you will indeed run faster with less effort. More importantly, however, you will learn how your running can teach you about yourself and how you live. This, in turn, can transform your running from mind-numbing exercise into a practice that is healthy for body, mind, and perhaps even soul.”
—John Tarr, music teacher and Feldenkrais Assistant Trainer

From the Publisher