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Mystical Miles: Running Living Beaming is a marvellous book about the deeper experiences life has to offer. And sure, it's about running, about the fullness of what it is like to run. Not quite a training guide though with lots practical tips, it goes further and through running explores the shimmering brilliance of life
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ProcessMystical Miles is also about the process underlying running which leads to ever-deepening, ever-enriching experiences. The process is one shared with many activities from mountain climbing and martial arts to gardening, weaving and music, to yoga and hiking. The activity part of process involves the constant repetition of small, easily repeatable activities, the accumulation and mastery of which enables more to be done. It's a process that begins with stumbling and fumbling and which builds itself into an irresistible force by doing little more than constantly repeating what can be done, being aware of what one is doing and allowing the awareness to refine the activity. Over time, and through constant repetition, skill and ability grow. The marvel of is that any stage is a culmination of all that has gone before, that what can be done now couldn't have been achieved without all that went before - thereby justifying and giving value and meaning to all that has been done before. And because the process continues, continues to grow and improve, the future is exciting. It's ever perfecting ever improving and the experience it brings are deeper and richer. The book recounts unfolding of this for the author from the the early physical and emotional healing to the development of robustness and awareness. The process described in the book leads to the early stages of spiritual development - and promises more to come. The underlying process is shared with many other activities ... one fingered piano playing that leads to being able to play music, developing a garden, building a boat. The appeal of runningWhat's special about running is that it is easily accessible to all - no expensive equipment is needed, no special talent. All one needs to run is a comfortable pair of shoes and determination. Running can happen anywhere at anytime and it is one of the few sports in which just about everywhere is accessible for its practice. And, the practice of most other sports will benefit from the strength, health and the aerobic base running builds. Anyway, like breathing and beating ones heart, running is a quintessential human activity. The real contentBesides the big issues, Mystical Miles is about running - being out on roads, trails, along mountain streams, in sunrises and sunsets, in rain, wind and boiling sunshine. It's about racing any from 1 or 5 km to ever-varying Comrades Marathon distance of around 90 km, and further. It's about the successes and failures of running, the injuries, the people, the glory of small achievements. It's about lining up at the start line, feeling a faster heart beat. Its about lying panting, exhausted - and rapidly recovering - after a race run hard. And about talking about running, sharing, joking, describing and learning from and enhancing the experiences of others, who also run. The "unreal" contentThe "unreal" or conceptual content of Mystical Miles occurs on different levels:
And then ...Mystical Miles is a book to be read again and again. Each time it is read the experiences it talks about deepens and become richer. From the Preface - The world will spread around me, the sky will be my limit. Beyond bliss, I'll be running. |
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