Still Running: The Art of Meditation in Motion

Learn how to bring the power of stillness into your running practice with meditations, guidance, and inspiration from a long-time runner and Zen practitioner.

Running is more than just exercise. Running is a practice, a moving meditation, that brings the power of stillness to all the activities in our lives. Vanessa Zuisei Goddard combines her experience leading running retreats with her two-decade practice of Zen to offer insight, humor, and practical guidance for grounding our running, or any physical practice, in meditation.

When we see running solely as exercise and focus on improving our times, covering a certain number of miles, or losing weight, we miss the deeper implications of this art. Whether you are a new or experienced runner, you will learn how to be more embodied through thirteen running practices to help improve your focus and running form. Using mantras and visualizations, as well as a range of other exercises, Goddard offers ways to practice running as a moving meditation with an eye toward bringing the power of stillness to all the activities in your life. Ultimately, Still Running is a book about freedom, ease, and the joy of movement; it’s about the power of stillness and learning how to use that power to live wholeheartedly.

VANESSA ZUISEI GODDARD Sensei is an author and lay Zen teacher in the Mountains and Rivers Order (MRO) of Zen Buddhism. In 2018 she received dharma transmission (authorization to teach) from Geoffrey Shugen Arnold Roshi, head of the MRO and abbot of Zen Mountain Monastery. For the last ten years, Zuisei has been leading retreats and workshops to teach running as a form of moving meditation and as a tool to increase focus, awareness, and presence. She can be found at vanessazuiseigoddard.org.