Recently I have been reading a book that teaches the art of Zen and how it can be used as an aide in your running routine. A very interesting couple, to say the least. I am a fairly new runner but I really enjoy it and have always felt my early morning runs to be very meditative. I love the stillness of the day, finishing its last moments of slumber before the sun. I get in my pace and stay there, my feet a predictable rhythm along with my heart. So, adding something like Zen, makes sense.
Keeping in mind: Zen comes from the philosophy of Buddhism, which doesn’t always align with the Christian philosophy.
Using Zen works in the sense that often times my head tells me all kinds of lies for that first half mile, until I get warmed up and start feeling those happy hormones. A practice of mindfulness allows you to bring to light what you are feeling: to remove your attachments to those ideas and to just remain. Yet this doesn’t always work in other areas of our life. God gave us feelings for a reason.
Our abilities to feel love and pain and a desire to be connected to other people is the essence of our humanity made in the image of God.
I have seen the Zen philosophy lived out in a way that causes people to live a numb sort of life, free from attachments to even other people.
This is my understanding thus far. I will let you know if I change my mind.
