Every runner should master conscious movement and the things happening inside his body.
This means that he should constantly observe and learn to feel and understand changes while moving. That would help him pinpoint the cause of pain or injury and prevent it while getting a better result.
The body’s normal functioning demands our consciousness to check posture and how we sit, running, and walking. Some moves that we constantly perform unconsciously and automatically should also be observed and corrected. Again, we perform other movements actively – in sports and recreation or work (behind the conveyor belt, several hours of sitting at the computer, long drive…) – these require more of our energy, and more energy means more responsibility, which requires more attention. However, we can all see that more energy in athletes does not increase the attention to what they perform with this energy.
Regular conscious checking of movement is very important for maintaining efficiency and is necessary for its increase. Being aware of one’s movement and controlling it allow elegance and lightness with less needed effort. The less effort we need, the more we can move – we are talking about rationality or the rule “less for more.” The energy input is smaller; the effect is bigger. The systems operating by this principle operate even better and malfunction less (injuries), while those who do not increase efficiency suffer the opposite fate.
However, we must cultivate this doing persistently and regularly. The effects are achieved only with slow but persistent learning – long-term results cannot be expected by force or pain. Why? Learning is possible only if we internalize it (conscious exercise); the learned becomes an inseparable part. The best learning of movement when we connect theory and conscious practice is to feel and understand proper movement’s reasonableness. We teach ourselves; the AEQ teacher only guides and aids you.
Awareness learning is not a well-known method; only a few know it. We know that we can learn different skills, e.g., play football, become a hairdresser, mechanic, play guitar, train or shape muscles, raise skills… The skills listed are known everywhere while controlling the body’s center’s muscles when we don’t see them and haven’t yet learned to feel them is an almost unknown area. And here lie the most problems. Conditions such as rigidity and pain due to wear are usually assigned to aging. While it certainly does leave its mark on our skin and hair, the movement problems acutely come from an even bigger subconscious muscular tension, sped up by sensory-motor amnesia, which holds back the body’s efficiency systems and stops the irrational ego from destroying the body completely.
I have the opportunity to observe how AEQ therapy helps improve my patients’ well-being, movement, and thinking. After they finished a series of therapies, their thoughts, goals, wishes, and habits change. They begin feeling light and joyful again; all of this is caused by the body losing its rigidity and non-painful movement. Regular conscious monitoring of normally automated actions, habits, emotional patterns, and reflexes is extremely important, but unfortunately, very rare. That’s why there is an increased number of tired, fed up and ill adults without any obvious or logical reason.
Runners face the same problems: extreme efforts and lots of training speed up the disconnect of the body and mind and a loss of feeling, the lack of upgrading the quality of movement, and their running is not as effective as one would expect. A longer period of such movement leads to a feeling of poor physical fitness, even weakness, depression, and strong pain, which the body utilizes to slow down the mind’s exaggeration. Therefore, the athlete changes his training routine: he adds strength exercises, which are completely meaningless as the problem lies not in the lack of strength, but in the feeling and control over the existing strength. Over time, therefore, various injuries to muscles and joints occur. Still, the usual therapeutic methods do not regulate for a long time. They do not allow for the ongoing learning of everything necessary, as the athlete is not even aware that this is the cause of problems. We should be able to notice negative changes within us, understand their source, and remove them. This way, we would prevent even bigger injuries, a drop in motivation, and results.
Adding the AEQ method into the training process will help change the movement and life of the runner. He will not lose the joy of running; he will not make wrong decisions in training and competitions and extend his active running period. Most runners sooner or later lose the feeling when the effort is too much; they get used to the pain and think that constant fatigue is a sign of good training. Such a condition leads to a reduction or interruption of running life and more difficult interrelationships between the athlete and the environment. Regular implementation of somatic movement and increased proprioception that the runner gained at an AEQ therapy allows for an easier understanding and focus on movement when running and more frequent checks of posture and movement outside of running. By improving these feelings, we easily adapt our running to the changing conditions – during a run and in life. We can detect our errors and fix them. With this type of training, the coach slowly turns into a professional advisor, which is also his task.
An athlete who has a properly developed and maintained sense and knows his weaknesses will help the professional team. Precisely because of the growing alienation of the athlete from himself, determining the current situation is left to technology and the coach’s senses. Time and time again, I see how both recreational and top athletes change after a few months of dedication to the AEQ method and observe more and more closely what and how to do so that they can go the shortest possible path towards the set goals. Technological gadgets are being used as gadgets and not to figure out their current state and well-being. In general, in top athletes, but increasingly also in recreational sports, most people are at the genetic maximum in the areas of VO2max and power-to-weight ratio. Simultaneously, they are becoming less aware of their rigid and inefficient movement, which only increases as the years go by; they feel the consequences but not its causes. Fortunately, even in the professional sector, an understanding is being formed for VO2max alone. Without a proper connection of mind and body, it is not enough for long-term success and a healthy mind in a healthy body. Read more here: https://www.triathlete.com/2017/03/training/vo2-max-dead_299664
The answer to these seemingly difficult problems is the AEQ method, which manages to “remind” the athlete of the meaning of child-like lightness and efficiency. Connecting the athlete with his strength, stamina, experience, and wisdom can be done in a relatively short time, which leads to a pleasured, motivated, self-conscious, confident, advanced, and injury-resistant athlete who knows what he needs to reach his goal.
A teacher of the AEQ method teaches how to better your senses, control, and body efficiency. With active therapy and the correct implementation of AEQ exercises, the athlete learns to focus where he wants; he can achieve the desired goals with the least effort and without injuries.
We pay attention to, and time for, we understand more, respect and appreciate more, so it is strengthened. Let that be our body.
Aleš Ernst, author of the AEQ method and AEQ breathing
