The Balanced Runner System™ Online Camp

Remember that perfect run you once had, when everything felt smooth and free and like you could run forever?

You can feel that way again.

In fact, you can make it your usual way of running.

You may be currently struggling with an injury, or just a “niggle” or regular ache.

Or you may feel fine when running but have a stiff knee or achilles afterwards.

Or you may be frustrated that no matter how hard you train, you still feel like you’re struggling along while other runners sail past you. And you wonder how come training doesn’t make you the kind of runner who seems to sail.

Imagine instead that when you run your body feels smooth, flowing, and free of unwanted tension.

Imagine you feel equally comfortable post-run, easily able to break into a jog to catch a bus or play with your children, comfortable moving and at rest, and also comfortable when you get out of bed the next morning.

And imagine a way of running faster that doesn’t take much extra work — in fact it feels nearly effortless, as if you always have a tailwind.

Those runners who seem to sail, those “gazelles” who make it look graceful and effortless, do know something special, and you can learn it too.

For more than fifteen years I’ve been helping runners from beginner to Olympian learn to work with their bodies so that running feels the way it was meant to.

I’ve distilled that experience into The Balanced Runner System™ Online Camp, which uses the Feldenkrais Method of Movement Education® to help you not only understand what you need to do to run well, but actually feel how to do it.

Whether you're a beginning runner or a world-class professional, a parkrun regular or an ultramarathoner, a masters runner or a high-schooler on a cross-country team, you'll feel your running significantly improve.

Many of the features of modern life — particularly how much we sit in chairs and work on computers — directly interfere with the movement capacities needed to run. Growing up wearing shoes that interfere with natural foot function for running and daily life, recovering incompletely from accidents and injuries, and perhaps not having had as much physical play and exploration as we needed through our childhoods all make it very common to have difficulty running well, comfortably, and fast.

You’re not alone!

The problem is, even if you read every issue of Runners’ World, you won’t find what I’m teaching there. The most important things about running technique are rarely mentioned in the mainstream running press.

And when they are, they’re either explained incoherently or dismissed as wrong.

Even if you’re a big running biomechanics junkie who reads all the books and research studies and has had video analysis from multiple experts, having an intellectual knowledge of how to run and being able to actually feel how to do it are two entirely different things… as you’ve probably already discovered.

As a Feldenkrais practitioner, I’m trained in how to create learning experiences that activate our natural ability to learn. Have you ever envied how quickly a child picks up a new skill? The Feldenkrais Method allows you to access that ability.

Why You’re Having Trouble with your Running

Years ago, when I tried to learn how to run and found little help in the mainstream running press or from the sports science community, I was inspired to create The Balanced Runner System™ to share correct information via an effective teaching methodology. And that, refined by 15 years of professional practice, is what you’ll find in this camp.

A runner could closely observe their own running, read a lot about running technique and biomechanics, and do a lot of general-purpose Feldenkrais lessons, and their running would get better and better over the course of years.

In a way, that’s what I did. It took quite awhile, however, which is why I’ve created this very targeted camp — to give you exactly what you need, in a tested sequence, with my expert support.

It will take 6 weeks from beginning to end, and that may seem like a long time. But most runners are injured at some point in every year and lose running/training time to the injury and recovery — often much more than six weeks! And at the end of that process they find themselves still just struggling to get back to where they were before they got injured.

Whereas the time you invest in this camp will start paying off in the very first week and continue moving you forward for the forseeable future.

The Balanced Runner System™ Online Camp is built around recorded audio Feldenkrais lessons released weekly so you can have an immersive learning experience that fits your schedule. The lessons move you in a structured way through all the key elements of running technique so by the end you have mastered them. I’ve tested these lessons and sequences for more than a decade and made sure they work for every runner. Here’s what you’ll learn week-by-week:

Week 1: Learn how to use healthy core action–the specific actions of your pelvis, abdominals, back, and upper body essential for running–and how it helps your legs work better and reduces stress. This lesson usually is enough all by itself to relieve runners’ knee, or patellofemoral syndrome.

Week 2: Learn how to use your obliques and gluteus medius together with your shoulders and head to relieve IT band stress and resolve any difficulties with your footstrike. This lesson usually puts an end to the stresses that cause IT band syndrome.

Week 3: Learn how to use gravity to make your running easier rather than uncomfortable and damaging by harnessing the energy of ground reaction force. You’ll discover how to take the stress off your feet, calves, and knees by using the little-known relationship between your head and your glutes so the right muscles work when you run. This helps people with plantar fasciitis, achilles tendon problems, hamstring problems, and back problems.

Week 4: Learn to use the connection between your arms and your hips to more easily control your speed, reduce your impact, get rid of shoulder tension, and further improve your legs and back.

Week 5: This week brings the preceding four together and gives you a really practical way to set yourself up for a good run every time you go out.

Week 6: This week we take all the improvements you’ve made to the next level by working on something runners generally fail to prioritize: the armswing, upper spine, and head. In all my professional experience, I’ve learned that the biggest improvements in how a runner feels and performs come from the improvements they make in their technique high up in their bodies–counterintuitive but true!

In addition to the Feldenkrais lessons, the camp includes webinars covering:

• an in-depth explanation of how running works from the perspective of human gait
• key shifts you can make in your approach to running and your body to be a healthier and better runner for the rest of your life
• how to handle warming up, cooling down, and cross-training
• what you need to know about stride rate, breathing, and footwear

There are regular live Q&A calls and a community forum where you can share your questions and get answers from me.

For an additional charge there’s also an option to have a video running form analysis, individual coaching, and personal email support from me.

Do You Need This Camp?

How It All Works

If you yearn for running that feels smooth, comfortable, and healthy, The Balanced Runner System™ Online Camp is perfect for you. Here’s what you’ll get:

• 7 foundational audio Feldenkrais lessons covering the essential coordination patterns required for healthy running
  
  
• 7 audio “refresher” lessons you can use when you’re short on time to help you review what you’ve learned, deepen your learning, and give you a movement tune-up for pre-race, post-travel, and other challenging situations
  
  
• A special bonus lesson for achilles problems
  
  
• 6 webinars with in-depth explanation of the movement changes you’re experiencing, how to recognize better movement and facilitate it, and covering all the critical knowledge a runner needs today
  
  
• A special bonus guide for children (ages 12 and up)
  
  
• A special bonus guide for walkers
  
  
• Opportunity to ask questions, get advice, and interact with me and the other students in live Q&A calls and the discussion forum

This camp will work for you if you can currently walk fairly comfortably, even if you can’t currently run. (I used to say it was only for runners who feel they’re constantly dealing with one niggle or another but don’t have an outright injury that currently prevents them from running. However I’ve had so many runners complete the camp who couldn’t run at the beginning and were back to running comfortably at the end that I’ve changed my recommendation.)

The camp is set up so you don’t have to worry about being available at specific times for lessons. All the materials are pre-recorded except for the live Q&A calls so you can do them at whatever time is most convenient. The Q&A calls are at varying times so people from different time zones can participate, and are generally on Thursdays. If you can’t attend live you can submit your question ahead of time and listen to the recording after the call is over.

For further information on injuries, schedule, time commitment, and more, feel free to email jae@balancedrunner.com.

What I’m offering in this camp is outside the box for runners. Way outside the box. Even though it’s well within our current state of scientific knowledge. While it’s more comfortable, in a way, to stay in the mainstream, the fact you’ve made it to the bottom of this page suggests you really want something new, something that can help your running feel the way you know in your heart it should.

How many miles will you run in the coming year if you're healthy? 500? 2500? More? You deserve to be able to run those miles feeling good!

Here's What You'll Get

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$50/month for 6 months

$300

GUARANTEE: I realize you have probably already spent a lot of money trying to solve your running problems, so I won’t ask you to risk losing any more. If you complete The Balanced Runner System™ Online Camp and are not happy with how your running feels, contact me within 90 days of your purchase and I’ll give you a full refund. (If only your doctor offered that, right?)

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