Running On Purpose

This is the final episode in our “apophatic” series, where we tackle the topic of No Lies. An overarching theme is my personal experience around the toxicity of modern Western culture & how it creates many challenges for runners. 

In he fourth episode in our "apophatic" series, we cover no assumptions. Godspeed, my friends, godspeed. 

In the 6th installment of the "Kobe & Steve Show", which I call The Innerwork Dialogues, we start in a more contemplative mood & take our time in getting around to our planned discussion topic of No Assumptions. In fact, we realized about an hour in that we'd really not specifically addressed the topic but instead spent our time reflecting on the initial two topics, while at the same time looking forward to the next two topics. We consider the differences between contemplation & mindfulness, between full engagement & the observing witness position. I argue that considering space as our natural state is more useful for Westerners - & runners especially - than the idea of emptiness. Running allows for skillful means for working somatically - with the nervous system as our guide - with attention & awareness. Kobe & I discuss a specific coaching situation & try to unpack why some athletes are not appropriate for the kind of coaching methods we utilize.  So much is considered here, as usual in these conversations, but we didn't really hit on No Assumptions & we plan to approach that next time we talk.  

• Back finally with another solo episode. As I mentioned recently, I have been working on a new series for this podcast that I’ll be announcing very soon. This series will fold in with the Innerwork Dialogues I have been doing with Kobe over at In The Zone & continued posts around the Endorphin Book Club - more on that below - & continued reflections around training the body mind & soul as inspiration ensues. I already have outlines for the following topics: The Felt-Sense; Three Intelligences (the head, the heart & the gut); The Essential Skills of Attention & Awareness; a deep dive into the energy systems introduced in the Keep Going podcast (see Episode 22) with a special focus on the esoteric aspects, & many more topics. 
• If you’ve got a topic you’d like me to cover, please feel free to reach out to me at sisson at telos running dot com & I promised I’ll consider it. 
• Today’s episode has been long in the incubation, if rather short in the execution. I announced the Endorphin Book Club in Season 2-Episode 12 & we had about a dozen folks start reading Peter Ralston’s The Art of Mastery together. It was a bit of rocky going as I was facilitating my first book club & didn’t really understand what a book club should be & the nature of Ralston’s book made discussion initially very challenging. After four meetings, we finally got through the book & our last two discussions were really fruitful. If you are interested in joining the EBC, simply send me an email & I’ll invite you to the club. It’s free, we meet 1-2 times a month for an hour or so & discuss a portion of the book we are reading. We end with a final wrap-up meeting. We are currently voting for our next selection this week. If you want to vote, be sure to reach out. Voting is closing on Sunday evening, May 5th. 
• The books we are voting on are 
  • Shambhala by Chogyam Trungpa
  • Open Focus Life by Les Fehmi, Susan Shor Fehmi & Mark Beauregard
  • Free Play by Stephen Nachmanovich

• The EBC’s schtick is it's a book club for runners reading books not specifically about running but useful for unpacking & relating to in a running context.  

The Art of Mastery by Peter Ralston

Initial Overview:
If I have ever read a more complex book that uses conventional English language, I can’t remember it. I read a lot in the subjects of philosophy, psychology & spirituality & self-help, but rarely have I read a more challenging book written in what I call “plain-speak”. It’s not the language Ralston uses that is challenging, it's the concepts & the way he asks the reader to consider these concepts in really radical, non-intuitive & non-traditional ways. Because of this, the book makes for some heavy sledding. Perhaps this is the reason our book club shed engaged readers over the three months we wrestled with the text. 
But before you decide that it’s not for you, please hear me out. There are so many diamonds in this book for practical application, for challenging assumptions, habits & even our conception of reality. But Ralston does so without relying on philosophical language. He keeps it really real. 

In this episode I am going to cover the book’s format, it’s core concept & a few very practical takeaways that I believe will be really helpful to enhance a runner’s training & racing experience. Some of these are coming from our EBC discussions, & some are simply my personal points of resonance. I hope this review will help you in determining if you’d like to read further into this work & potentially into other works by Ralston. 

Who Is Peter Ralston?
I found Peter Ralston’s work over a dozen years ago as I was researching different approaches to body awareness & the inner experience of physical skill & mastery. I came across his book, Zen Body Being, which I devoured immediately. I loved the book so much that I recommended it incessantly, bought copies for others or loaned my copy out without expectation of having it returned. As I transitioned from Rogue to Telos, I found Ralston’s approach to somatic skill permeating into much of my coaching work. I found myself using his principles in a variety of different contexts: physically, mentally & foundationally as in worldview exploration. I bean reading his more philosophical work around what he calls consciousness work & found in it even more resonance & challenge. I even considered taking an extended visit at his retreat center outside San Antonio, near Bandera. But the amount of commitment that Ralston required in terms of time away from family & work, was too much for me to accept. SO I continued reading & watching videos from his YouTube channel. If you watch these you’ll realize he is a bit cantankerous & aloof. Eventually, I moved away from his work in consciousness & just settled on Zen Body Being. 

The second episode in our series on the running's apophatic path: no expectations. 

In a another of our Innnerwork Dialogues, Kobe & I unpack a key concept from an early In The Zone episode more fully. We discuss the hazards of judgement. Please join us 

Happy Vernal Equinox 2024. Last night at 10pm we shifted seasons. This marks the scientific & mythic transition from winter into spring. It’s associated with Easter & the death burial & resurrection of Christ & the temporary return of Persphone, goddess of Spring,  from her enslavement in the underworld with Hades for the rejuvenation of the crops & cycle of agriculture. 
For many runners, it marks the final preparations for the annual pilgrimage to Hopkinton & the most desired starting line experience on the planet, the Boston Marathon. It marks for HSers the beginning of outdoor season, cut grass & the taste of blood at the finish of track races. 

I want to use this opportunity to highlight the importance of cycles & rhythms in a  runner’s life. For so many athletes I see a disregard for the season & cycles of life that make a significant impact on our bodies, minds & souls. 

I am back with Kobe of the In The Zone podcast, where we are primarily focused on the inner game of running. What are the varieties of inner experience, that some may call spiritual, & how to they impact our training & racing. In this specific episode we explore the concept of "goallessness" or framing one's running experience without the typical overriding focus on goals & outcomes. Using Kobe's recent training focus away from outcomes & toward process, we dive really deep into som of my very favorite topics: the importance to have varied racing & training experiences to become a more complete runner, how process can open up much greater fitness, how running ins a path with heart, & various other modes of appreciating how limiting goals & expectations can be in our training & racing experiences. I hope you enjoy this episode I call On "Goallessness" & Process. Godspeed my friends, godspeed. 

Where I announce the Endorphin Book Club, a community for runners who read or readers who run. If you are interested in joining us please reach out to me directly via email at sisson at telosrunning dot com. 

In this essential episode, I walk through the single most important protocol one can implement this year & in the future for vastly improving their performance in training & racing. There is a ton of very important information here. It can be distilled as follows: 

The Mission Protocol. 

The Brief is the Vision. The intention is the Seed. Training is the water/ground/conditions.  Rest & recovery are the Harvest. The Debrief is the Full Belly & Story/Map for future Vision. 

As mentioned in the episode, please see the Google Document entitled THE MISSION PROTOCOL for tracking the content of this episode & future reference.