I live in this apartment building. When I emerge from the elevator with my kid, she takes off running down the hallway because she wants to hide and then scare the heck out of me when I turn the corner.
Just recently, I can’t help but study her running.
Her torso is very still and relaxed. It does not sway from side to side. Her arms pump easily as she takes off down the hallway. They move backwards and forwards and do not waste in side to side motion. She runs a natural Pose Method, completely on the balls of her feet and I watch her legs kick in perfect form backward, and no wasted side motion at all, on each stride.
This is the way kids run. They have an instinctive way of moving and it is very economical and efficient. Somehow, they just know how to do this. There is no learning, just doing. It is the way that we, as adults, apparently are trying to learn again, and we call this the Pose Method, or any one of many names we can call the perfect running form.
I marvel at what we’ve lost as we grow to be adults. Ever watch other people run? You see people’s torsos bent over like the Hunchback of Notre Dame. You see arms sway back and forth across their bodies, like they’re doing the watusi. Their legs churn, but yet they heel strike or have some weird foot flopping as the leg kicks backward on each stride. Watch other people run and see. Then do something really radical like videotaping yourself and…shudder….
As we grow older, we’ve lost that instinctive way of running in the most efficient and effective way. We learn new habits like sitting on couches and watching TV and doing that REALLY WELL. We forget what it’s like to be a kid anymore, in more ways than one. Whether it’s running or being creative, or being silly, or just laughing your heart out, we’ve lost the kids in ourselves.
People always say we have a lot to learn from our kids, and athletics is no exception.