Runners and athletes often report a natural “high” when exercising. So, what is the runner’s high? People describe it as a feeling of euphoria, of deep emotion — of happiness. Not everyone experiences this feeling when they run. Science has not really explained this phenomenon. Usually this feeling follows intense exercise, but not always. The question is, what is this feeling? And how do you get it?
What is the runner’s high?
The “high” is the feeling of your mind. Put simply, it’s the emotion of freedom. This phenomenon is real. It exists, and you can experience it when you run, when you intensely exercise, or when you meditate. The feeling occurs when you get out of the thinking of brain function and into mind function. When you feel free — you have just found your mind.
Dr. Daniel Lee on exercise and the mind
Dr. Daniel Lee, clinical professor from the UCSD Medical Center and School of Medicine says, “Exercise is an important part of physical health and helps the body by strengthening its ability to deal with physical stressors. Kelee® meditation is important for mental health and helps the mind by strengthening its ability to deal with mental stressors. Both are important for overall health, but learning to operate from a relaxed state of mind (as opposed to the brain) will give you a feeling of freedom in whatever you do, whether you are exercising or not.”
You might ask…
I’ve felt the runner’s high, yet I don’t meditate. You can drop into the calmness of mind when you intensely exercise. How? Because when you exercise at a high level of exertion, the brain, i.e. the intellect, is so engaged by the intense activity that it allows your conscious awareness to relax into the mind. Brain function and mind function are two different things. Here are some definitions of the two from Kelee meditation to explain it further.
These definitions are taken from a book that teaches medical students about the mind and Kelee meditation:
Brain function: thinks, analyzes, stores intellectual knowledge, and runs the physical body.
Mind function: mentally feels and is synonymous with a relaxed sense of perception, it leads us into deeper states of awareness.
High-performance exercise
Matt Griggs, who trains top athletes both physically and mentally, says, “We feel what is happening and think about what isn’t. If athletes can’t detach from habitual thinking during exercise it ends up compromising performance because it distracts our conscious awareness away from being present and adds unnecessary tension to a system already working hard. Thinking is tension based and synonymous with doing, so doing one thing and thinking about another leads to vast amounts of wasted energy, especially if the thinking triggers fear or anxiety. When the mind is calm and without distraction, athletes access the best of their developed ability. This is the law of mindfulness or what us sports people call the zone. It’s as simple and as hard as learning how to get into mind, which is exactly what KM [Kelee meditation] teaches us to do.” Matt is a high-performance coach and director of the Kelee Foundation in Australia.
However, if you ask any runner, they may say that this feeling is elusive. They don’t always experience a euphoria when they run. They may say it happens sometimes, and sometimes it doesn’t. There’s a reason for this.
How to experience a runner’s high (even without running)
The runner’s high is the emotion of freedom when you get into mind. That feeling of freedom is the flow of the mind. It is a happy feeling, a feeling of calm. Kelee meditation is a practice that shows you how to drop into one still point in your greater Kelee, the entrance to your mind. It takes five minutes to do Kelee meditation.
So, if you take five minutes and do Kelee meditation, then run — that runner’s high will follow. The longer and more consistently (we recommend twice daily) you do Kelee meditation, the easier it is to get out of the brain and into your mind, and stay there. Wouldn’t you like to be in a good state of mind daily?
Meditate, then run
Running and any other exercise is excellent for the physical body. If you do Kelee meditation and learn to drop into your mind, that runner’s high, or feeling of freedom, can become more permanent in your life. It is known that people who meditate are happier. It is known that people who meditate experience less stress, anxiety and depression. Do Kelee meditation today; then run, walk, or exercise for a free mind and a healthy body.
If you want to just learn this ancient practice based on the knowledge of the Kelee, you can download the ebook, Kelee Meditation: Free your Mind. If you want a deeper understanding of the Kelee and Kelee meditation, read The Kelee: The Psychology of Spirituality. Either way, if you do this meditation, you will learn to free your mind and feel happy and healthy.
—Nikki Walsh
©2016 The Kelee Foundation