This blog is about sharing ideas on ‘getting back to nature’ in all areas of our lives to enable greater overall health, fitness and well-being.
We are all creatures of nature, and when we take ourselves outside of our natural environment or try to move, eat or exist against the principles of nature … we will likely find it more difficult to stay in balance and live our lives to the fullest. Some simple changes to our fitness programs, our diet and our physical environment can have far-reaching effects to our overall health.
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The content is created by David Stretanski, fitness coach and wellness consultant based in Monmouth County, NJ.
As a Certified ChiRunning®/ChiWalking® Instructor and fitness coach, David specializes in posture fitness and running/walking technique to dramatically improve energy efficiency and prevent discomfort, aches/pains and injury. ChiRunning®/ChiWalking® are the combination of the principles and inner focus of T’ai Chi with running/walking to create a mindful ‘practice’ in motion similar to Yoga or T’ai Chi. The result is postural alignment and motion based on the body’s design, simple principles of nature and laws of physics. The benefit is a safe and effective lifelong fitness program.
- http://www.eChiFitness.com
As a Nikken® Independent Wellness (Environment) Consultant, David recommends concepts and resources in returning your personal environment to a more natural state in support of your overall health and well-being. These concepts and resources promote better environmental (ie. home, air, water, sleep, magnetic, skin care), nutritional (ie. whole food, bone health, pH balancing, digestive aids) and lifestyle choices. Nikken is also an excellent ‘plan B’ business opportunity to support your ‘plan A’ passion for helping others with their health and wellness goals.
- http://www.nikken.com/echifitness
Enjoy, David.
David Stretanski
Fitness Coach, ChiRunning®/ChiWalking® Certified Instructor
Wellness Environment Consultant
Email: info@eChiFitness.com
Website: http://www.eChiFitness.com
Blog: http://blog.eChiFitness.com
Phone: 908-930-8878
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Below is a brief history of how I realized the importance of ‘getting back to nature’ through my approach to fitness …
From the ChiLiving, Inc. May 2008 Newsletter …ChiLiving Inc. Newsletter Signup Page
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Certified Instructor of the Month, May 2008
Meet David Stretanski:
At the beginning of the ChiRunning book one of my favorite concepts is introduced: “Your biography becomes your biology” [1]. We all have a biography that shapes our present moment, both physically and mentally. The good news is that “with a little patience and perseverance” we have the ability to add new choices and habits to our biography, providing far-reaching benefits to our health, fitness and well-being.
I was a very active kid and enjoyed a lot of different sports and activities. But as a teenager, running was one activity I did not enjoy. It was only a necessary means of conditioning for other high school sports. In my 20s, my biography presented itself in the form of significant postural mis-alignment and imbalance. Challenged to enjoy almost any physical activity without the fear of the resulting aches and pains, I was fortunate to be introduced to a posture therapy approach called The Egoscue Method in my early 30s. The method uses simple exercises to gradually re-align a person’s posture into a functional state. In a relatively short period of time I was pain-free and enjoying more and more physical activity.
Running eventually entered the picture as a way to engage my improving mobility, and to release the stress of a type A personality and challenging career. My running quickly developed into over-training and then over-racing. After ignoring my body’s warning signs, I sustained nagging injuries and had a hard time running consistently. Two years later, a fellow runner said a few magical words to me: “Oh, you are an injured runner? You have to get this book….” The pages turned themselves as I absorbed common sense principles that provided the answers I was looking for – not only for my running form but also for my running philosophy.
By applying the ChiRunning principles, I have run injury-free with significantly less effort ever since. But there is always a new challenge that turns each run into an enjoyable adventure. The concept of a running practice maintains a focus on consistent gradual progress. This big picture view is now much more important to me than any mile marker or split time. Most incredibly, I can run farther and faster than I could before with minimal recovery time. And the addition of ChiWalking provides its own unique challenges. It provides a slower motion practice and also the opportunity to be conscious of my movement with every step I take.
ChiRunning and ChiWalking also teach me as much about myself and my life as they do about how to move my body. Interestingly, I have learned to mentally push/pull/force less, to cooperate more and oppose less, to be more aware of staying in balance, and to act based on what is truly important and stay flexible about everything else. The simple skill of being able to focus my mind supports increasingly bigger and better decisions in many areas of my life. Developing a better connection between my mind and my body creates a sense of awareness and coordination, adding to the much needed concept of balance.
My website is www.eChiFitness.com. Catchy? Maybe. It is an abbreviation for EnerChi Fitness, the name of my company. But there is a deeper meaning behind this website name. “eChi” (pronounced ee-chi and more traditionally spelled y’chi, [2]) is a term that means “the combination of a focused mind and a responsive body.” It is the primary state from which we find ourselves moving without effort, both physically and mentally. Wherever you are in your biography, there is no doubt that “a little patience and perseverance” can move you in the direction of y’chi with far-reaching benefits to your biology.
As a ChiRunning/ChiWalking Instructor, I am humbled by the opportunity to share and to facilitate choices that can have a dramatic effect on the health, fitness and well-being of people’s lives. I continue to experience the effects first hand, and every day I look forward to learning from and being energized by what is possible for all of us.
David Stretanski
David’s contact information and workshop schedule can be found here
[1] ChiRunning, A Revolutionary Approach to Effortless, Injury-free Running, page 2 (quote attributed to Carolyn Myss, Anatomy of the Spirit).
[2] ChiRunning, A Revolutionary Approach to Effortless, Injury-free Running, page 44.
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