Sitting Meditation ~ Walking Meditation ~ Opening up to Space and the World Around Us

One Day Workshops are offered on Sunday 3:30-6pm  

Cost $50.00 each, or $165.00 for all Four   

Jan. 27th ~ Feb. 17th ~ March 24th ~ April 21st–see below for Class Content

4 Classes teaching you Inner Exercises for Runners, Athletes, or Anyone wanting to master one’s body and bring more enjoyment to  everything that you do.  These exercises will enhance and heighten the ways you’ve been working to improve your running and your life. 

When we think of improving our running, we think of how to train harder, how to improve our form, how to learn to develop our mental skills,  and how to reach our goals the fastest way possible.  There is much of our lives outside the formal province of running that contributes to our success as a runner or any life endeavor.  Among the obvious and more concrete areas are lifestyle, diet, stress management, sleep, our general emotional life, and relationships.  But another far more neglected area of pursuit that contributes more subtly and more powerfully to our life and running is our inner or spiritual life. These classes will help you to bring those inner qualities to everything that you do and will magnify any of  the efforts that you make.

In each class I emphasize both a psychological focus and physical postures in order to teach body sensing and self-observation, which are the foundational skills for mastering any activity.  Beyond running and the physical realm, these classes can also help you learn how to create the best possible state within yourself, whatever situation you are in.  It’s a powerful way to raise our energy level, our mood, and our general mental attitude with everything we do.

Class Content

Class 1 ~ Jan. 27th ~ Sitting Practice:  As we all lead busy and more complicated lives in this culture, a meditation practice is more of a necessity to balance and deal with daily stress.  It is a constant challenge to learn how to live your life in such a way that we don’t undermine the contact and connection with our true selves, and live in a way that we can deepen and strengthen that connection.

Some of the benefits we can derive from Sitting Practice are to learn how to make better choices in all areas of our lives, as well as learn how to do things with a sense of valuation and deeper meaning rather than be pulled by reactions in the moment.  It also will develop centeredness, strengthen our powers to self-observe and bodysense, increase energy levels, sharpen our mental focus, and bring more power over our emotions in order to gain more equanimity.

This workshop is about learning a sitting practice designed for our lifestyle at this time in this culture.  Advanced and beginners are welcome.  We will learn the basic focuses for a body oriented sitting practice which will teach you the two complementary but seemingly contradictory poles of human consciousness, the within and down of body sensing and the outside and above of self observation.   This practice will create a powerful means of accessing the powers of our human nature – that of both the body and spirit.  Posture will be emphasized to get the body aligned in order to take the practice mindfully into your daily life.

Class 2 ~ Feb. 17th ~The TBU (Transformational Body Usage) Exercise is a short series of postures and gestures done in conjunction with specific internal focuses, and then taken into walking and movement.  The TBU first teaches one how to stay grounded and connect more fully with one’s body solidity and power.  Next it helps establish a sense of incredible lightness, openness, clarity, spaciousness and ease from being fully upright without strain.  Then it blends these two poles to create the experience of maximum extension and the sense of the body as one integrated whole.  Finally all these qualities are applied to our most fundamental, basic activity — walking, resulting in an effortless grace and fluidity.  The TBU exercise lays a solid foundation for transferring these qualities and skills to more complex and specific movements such as running.  Done properly and consistently, it lays a foundation for any kind of movement resulting in an effortless sense of grace and fluidity.  Beyond running and the physical realm, it can also help you learn how to create the best possible state within yourself, whatever situation you are in.

Class 3 ~ March 24th ~ Craning and Flowering 

Craning is a simple physical exercise to get maximum extension of the head and neck, and on the psychological end helps us to break the spell of self absorption and identification.  It can be done simply several times a day and hardly takes any time at all.  It creates clarity of mind and more ability to self observe.  Head and neck alignment also has a profound effect on our sensory perceptions, mental clarity, attitudes, and consciousness. This exercise helps us to stand above the body as a command post and as observer and registrar in order to have a full experience of the body.

Flowering is an inner exercise that opens our whole body up to the enormous space around us and the space within.. This promotes being able to move with more openness, lightness, consciousness, and clarity.  This exercise will teach you  how to receive energy through your whole body and not just through your eyes.  Even though there’s a physical aspect to opening up the chest, the exercise is more about opening up the circuitry to contact the vast world of space, light, and impressions.

Class 4 ~ April 21st ~ Sitting 2:  A chance to deepen your Sitting Practice after having 3 months to focus on it, including developing the other practices so that you have more opportunity to bring sitting practice into your daily life.  This class will focus on individual questions that have come up over that period of time as well as strengthen the focuses you have learned and how to access the power of that energy on a daily basis.

Benefits to a Sitting Meditation Practice
(How it can help you in your life and training)

As we all continue to lead busier and more complicated lives in this culture, Sitting Practice has become more of a necessity to balance and deal with daily stress.   It is a constant challenge to learn how to live your life in such a way that we don’t undermine the contact and connection with our true selves and live in a way that we can  deepen and strengthen that connection.  So, I wanted to just list a few of the benefits of Sitting Practice–what it can contribute to your life as well as your training.   And, of course, remember all this takes time, patience, daily practice, and consistency.

Making Better Choices

When we are stressed out, we tend to react according to the patterns that have been set in us over  a long period of time.  We tend not to be very open to new or creative solutions.  Sitting practice helps us here tremendously.  With sitting, you learn how to do things with a sense of valuation and deeper meaning rather than be pulled by reactions in the moment.  It helps us slow down our quick and impulsive responses and allows us to make choices from a calm and centered place.

Developing Centeredness

Sitting practice helps you contact your being, a place inside that you can call home.  Sometimes home can be a scary place if you haven’t been there for a long time. Sitting practice enables you to have a deeper understanding of your inner self.  Through sitting on a daily basis you can gain a better understanding of your life’s purpose.

Self Observation

When you sit quietly and allow yourself to watch your thoughts, even if it is only for a few minutes, you become aware of how much noise is in your mind.  Sitting practice will help you learn to have leverage and perspective on these thoughts and develop a place of neutrality.  It is very challenging to bring what you practice and learn in your meditation practice to a real-life situation, but when you’re actually in that life moment and someone is yelling at you–you have to remember to step back and have some separation and notice the feelings that you are having.  This all happens in a millisecond, so it takes a lot of practice, but it’s possible to begin making headway to change your reactions.

Body Sensing

There’s two poles that give us the data we need to determine what we really need and be able to direct our attention and our movement the way that we want to.  Self Observation is the top pole and the bottom pole is Body Sensing.  Body sensing gives us all kinds of information about ourselves from what needs to change with our form and movement patterns to perform the best we can, to being able to contact a place of stillness rather than franticness.  Sitting practice will bring your attention to your body in a whole and integrated way and will help you in all your physical activities.

Mental and Emotional Equanimity

Clinical studies have documented specific ways that meditating may help people stay healthier, sharpen mental focus, and gain more power over their emotions.  Sitting practice will help reduce overall stress levels and alleviate anxiety.  If we feel less anxious, your mind will be more clear and productive.  You will also learn to detach in a positive way to emotions that often distort the reality of situations by excess worry or mental gymnastics that can create more stress.  Instead, there will be more equanimity to deal with situations directly and from a place of reality rather than the distortions that can get created.

Increased Energy

Sitting practice can provide a break in the day, thus refreshing you, the meditator,  who then has renewed energy and attention to put into whatever tasks may be at hand.  It can teach you to bring your attention more to the present moment so that you’re not wasting energy on unnecessary thoughts or worries.  It can help you break negative thought patterns that are not good for overall health and productivity.

Loosen up  ~ Lighten up

Delight in Your Radiant Body

Cost:  $275.00 for the 8 Class Series–$500 for 2

Dates: Tues. evenings from Feb. 26th thru April 15th 

Time:  6:00pm to 7:30pm

For more info: Email Janet Runyan at jrunyan@indra.com

This workshop will help take your running and/or any movement in your life to another level.  It will teach you how to release energy so that you can move more freely and tap the potential power that is in your body.

Part of Your Daily Life

Sunday Afternoon Single Class Workshops:  3:30 – 6pm  

June 16 ~ July 7 ~ Aug. 11 ~ Sept. 15 ~ Oct. 13 ~ Nov. 10

Workshop Cost:  1 Class Series  $50.00

~Bring a Friend and Both take the class for 85.00 ~

Learn How To Transfer your Sitting Practice into Daily Life

Learn Correct Sitting Posture to Create the most Benefit from Sitting

Free yourself from the Speed and Acceleration of Daily Life

Discover the Gateway to that Rich, Wordless, Silent Realm

Learn Basic Meditation Focuses Designed for our Lifestyle at this Time in this Culture

Please contact Janet Runyan at janet@janetrunyan.com or

Beth Davis at bethmdavis@me.com

Benefits to a Sitting Meditation Practice
(How it can help you in your life and training)

As we all continue to lead busier and more complicated lives in this culture, Sitting Practice has become more of a necessity to balance and deal with daily stress.   It is a constant challenge to learn how to live your life in such a way that we don’t undermine the contact and connection with our true selves and live in a way that we can  deepen and strengthen that connection.  So, I wanted to just list a few of the benefits of Sitting Practice–what it can contribute to your life as well as your training.   And, of course, remember all this takes time, patience, daily practice, and consistency.

Making Better Choices

When we are stressed out, we tend to react according to the patterns that have been set in us over  a long period of time.  We tend not to be very open to new or creative solutions.  Sitting practice helps us here tremendously.  With sitting, you learn how to do things with a sense of valuation and deeper meaning rather than be pulled by reactions in the moment.  It helps us slow down our quick and impulsive responses and allows us to make choices from a calm and centered place.

Developing Centeredness

Sitting practice helps you contact your being, a place inside that you can call home.  Sometimes home can be a scary place if you haven’t been there for a long time. Sitting practice enables you to have a deeper understanding of your inner self.  Through sitting on a daily basis you can gain a better understanding of your life’s purpose.

Self Observation

When you sit quietly and allow yourself to watch your thoughts, even if it is only for a few minutes, you become aware of how much noise is in your mind.  Sitting practice will help you learn to have leverage and perspective on these thoughts and develop a place of neutrality.  It is very challenging to bring what you practice and learn in your meditation practice to a real-life situation, but when you’re actually in that life moment and someone is yelling at you–you have to remember to step back and have some separation and notice the feelings that you are having.  This all happens in a millisecond, so it takes a lot of practice, but it’s possible to begin making headway to change your reactions.

Body Sensing

There’s two poles that give us the data we need to determine what we really need and be able to direct our attention and our movement the way that we want to.  Self Observation is the top pole and the bottom pole is Body Sensing.  Body sensing gives us all kinds of information about ourselves from what needs to change with our form and movement patterns to perform the best we can, to being able to contact a place of stillness rather than franticness.  Sitting practice will bring your attention to your body in a whole and integrated way and will help you in all your physical activities.

Mental and Emotional Equanimity

Clinical studies have documented specific ways that meditating may help people stay healthier, sharpen mental focus, and gain more power over their emotions.  Sitting practice will help reduce overall stress levels and alleviate anxiety.  If we feel less anxious, your mind will be more clear and productive.  You will also learn to detach in a positive way to emotions that often distort the reality of situations by excess worry or mental gymnastics that can create more stress.  Instead, there will be more equanimity to deal with situations directly and from a place of reality rather than the distortions that can get created.

Increased Energy

Sitting practice can provide a break in the day, thus refreshing you, the meditator,  who then has renewed energy and attention to put into whatever tasks may be at hand.  It can teach you to bring your attention more to the present moment so that you’re not wasting energy on unnecessary thoughts or worries.  It can help you break negative thought patterns that are not good for overall health and productivity.

This meal is Back to Basics: three veggies and a couple of seasonings sauteed and layered on top of  whole grain kasha or bulgur wheat in a bowl.  We love this meal for breakfast or dinner.   You can add variety by having it with zucchini or yellow squash instead of broccoli; chard (or a mix of chard and spinach) instead of spinach; and – for additional protein – stir in raw almonds, cashews or sunflower seeds.  If you like, top it all off with Monterey Jack cheese cubes or fresh alfalfa sprouts!

The basic recipe (for 4 people)

3 cups onion cut in 3/4 inch squares

3 cups broccoli cut in bite size pieces

6 cups spinach washed and cut/torn into silver dollar size pieces.

2 cups cracked bulghur wheat

6 cups water

OR

1 1/3 c roasted buckwheat groats (kasha)

4 1/2 c water

2 T Unrefined Safflower Oil

2 t savory

2 t thyme

Optional:

2/3 cup sunflower seeds or 3/4 c raw almonds or cashews cut in half cross-wise.

1/2 cup/person of Monterey Jack cheese cut in 1/4″ cubes.

1/2″ layer of alfalfa sprouts on each bowl.

Preparation and Cooking:

Bulghar takes about 2 hours to cook to be really soft, and the kasha takes about 20 minutes.  You can also put this meal over brown rice.

The veggies will take about 25-30 minutes to cook.   We like to cook in cast iron, but a stainless frying pan will work fine.  Heat the pan on medium.  Add safflower oil.  Saute the onions on medium with or without a lid, stirring frequently.  Add herbs.  Once they are translucent and soft, add broccoli or squash.  Lid the pan. If you are using chard, add that about 3 minutes after adding the broccoli heads, once they have started to wilt and soften.  If you are using spinach, wait a little longer as spinach will cook faster than chard.  Add small amounts of water as you are cooking the vegetables if the pan starts to dry out and things begin to stick.  Once the veggies are tender, add a little more water for juicy-ness; add nuts or seeds (optional).  Serve over grain (about equal amounts of grain as vegetables).  Top off the bowls with cheese cubes or alfalfa sprouts (optional).

Winter Cabbage Salad

2 cups green or red cabbage -1 cup tomato- 1/4 cup radish- 1/4 cup daikon-

1/8 cup onion -1 cup carrot, grated- 1/3 cup sunflower seeds- 3 eggs

DRESSING – Mix oil and vinegar with dill seeds and salt. Set aside. 4 tablespoons safflower oil

2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar 1 1/2 teaspoons dill seeds 1/8 teaspoon sea salt, to taste

SERVING

Have a slice of whole grain or Ezekiel sprouted grain bread with your salad.

PREPARATION

Lightly roast sunflower seeds in a heavy skillet, then cool. Put eggs into a pan with cool water just barely covering them. Bring to a simmer and cook for 14 minutes. Crack eggs against side of pan and cool immediately in cold water. Cut eggs into 1/4’s, then cut each quarter into 4 pieces or so.

Slice vegetables according to the following sizes:

Cabbage- very thin slices ~ 1 1/8” long

Tomato- 3/8” cubes

Radish and Daikon- very thin slices, no bigger than ~1/2 depending on shape of vegetable

Onion- very thin slices ~ 1/4” long

Carrot- grate

KEYS TO SUCCESS

• Cut the vegetables as THIN as possible! • Add less vinegar to start – you can always add more. • Add a little water if the tomatoes are dry.

VARIATIONS ON A THEME

• Substitute tofu cubes for eggs. • Substitute grated beets for half the carrots.

My specialty is helping people to improve their running form. One of the simplest ways you can improve your speed and efficiency while lessening your risk of injury is by focusing on this area of running. Unless you’re a natural, running form is one of the most overlooked aspects in the development of a runner.

In this clinic you will learn some exercises and creative techniques that will give you an understanding of what it takes to begin to make changes in your structure, movement and form. I will be helping people to understand the principles from the ground up necessary to teach proper body alignment and the basic principles of movement (how to put your body through a proper range of motion). These principles will help you identify and manifest the basic qualities of good running form such as directed arm swing, optimal body lean, integration of upper and lower body, and utilization of the powerful core muscles of the hips and pelvis.

Skillful use of these principles is central to fluid, efficient movement and provides the foundation for continued improvement. On the psychological end, these movement principles can help one generate the kinetic component of the zone, a heightened state and expansion of consciousness, the sense of pure joy, peace, unity, and acute mental clarity that we strive for with our running or anything that we do.

Hope to see you there!!! Be sure to let your friends know, it should be fun.

Janet

Eggs (over easy or scrambled) 2 per serving

Ground or powdered Kelp

Tamari or soy sauce

Butter (to fry eggs in)

Cooking oil (we use canola oil or peanut oil)

Directions:

Add enough cooking oil to cover the bottom of a skillet. Add sesame seeds and cook on medium heat until toasted. (Watch them carefully or they’ll burn!) When the seeds are a golden brown, turn up the heat to medium high and refry the rice, stirring constantly with a spatula until the mixture is hot and well mixed. Dish into bowls.

While the pan is still hot, scrape it clean with the spatula and cook the eggs in butter. They’re best cooked over-easy, but kids love them scrambled. When the eggs are done immediately put them on top of the rice and sesame seeds.

Sprinkle kelp liberally over the eggs until they look like they’ve been heavily peppered. Then randomly splash the top of everything with tamari or soy sauce.

Enjoy!

Eggs (over easy or scrambled) 2 per serving

Ground or powdered Kelp

Tamari or soy sauce

Butter (to fry eggs in)

Cooking oil (we use canola oil or peanut oil)

Directions:

Add enough cooking oil to cover the bottom of a skillet. Add sesame seeds and cook on medium heat until toasted. (Watch them carefully or they’ll burn!) When the seeds are a golden brown, turn up the heat to medium high and refry the rice, stirring constantly with a spatula until the mixture is hot and well mixed. Dish into bowls.

While the pan is still hot, scrape it clean with the spatula and cook the eggs in butter. They’re best cooked over-easy, but kids love them scrambled. When the eggs are done immediately put them on top of the rice and sesame seeds.

Sprinkle kelp liberally over the eggs until they look like they’ve been heavily peppered. Kelp is great for your adrenals.  Then randomly splash the top of everything with tamari or soy sauce.

Enjoy!