FAQ

The three questions people most frequently ask Jae, with her answers:

Is this like coaching? Is it like Pilates?
Is this like ChiRunning, The Pose Technique, or Evolution Running?
I’m recovering from an injury. Will this help me get back to running?

Is this like coaching? Is it like Pilates?
Our work is quite different from coaching, Pilates, and most other methods, but it complements them well. A computer metaphor illustrates the difference. If you want your computer to do something better, you can change the hardware -- buying more memory, installing a new hard drive, or maybe getting a new mouse. Or you can change the software – the information and processes your computer uses to do things. Though it’s a bit of an oversimplification, basically a coach, a yoga or Pilates teacher, a physical therapist, and even a surgeon provide hardware solutions to your problem, acting directly on your body. Hardware solutions can be absolutely essential to solving some problems, but they don’t solve all problems.

We work with you to develop software solutions, clarifying and improving what your brain knows about how to coordinate your whole body to do things. This kind of information is not primarily conscious, and so the work we do with you will help you run better without having to think about it all the time. It’s just like when a computer starts running exactly the program you need to get the job done -- the program itself runs invisibly inside the machine and you are able to do exactly what you want.

You do get something from working with us that you don’t get from buying a new operating system for your computer, though. You’ll develop a greater awareness and control over how you’re moving. Instead of having just one way of running that you can’t seem to change even when you’d like to, you’ll be able to access a range of options and a freedom to choose among them. People who have a series of Feldenkrais® lessons bring more versatility, responsiveness, and self-awareness to their coaching, Pilates sessions, or yoga classes and get more out of them.


Is this like ChiRunning, The Pose Technique, or Evolution Running?
Yes and no. The Balanced Runner is not a running technique, it's a process for learning how to run better. ChiRunning, the Pose Technique, and Evolution Running are, in our view, based on sound ideas. We respect the work their developers have done in creating them and helping spread the word that there is a healthy way to run and you can learn it. Our approach is different because we start by looking at how you run and then create a step-by-step process tailor-made for you that will help you improve safely in every session. We not only teach general principles of healthy running, we also help you sort out the consequences of that broken collarbone you got in high school, the poor ergonomics you have at work, and quirky movement habits you've had as long as you can remember. If you're hurting, we start by getting you out of pain. Then we help you fully grasp and internalize a fundamentally healthy form. And then we help you take it one step further to versatility, so you'll be extremely adaptable to running on different surfaces, at different speeds and have an arsenal of techniques for dealing with fatigue. And if, god forbid, you step in a pothole and twist your ankle sometime down the line, come back to us and we'll get you good as new again. And if you've tried ChiRunning, Pose, or Evolution Running and struggled to "get it," we'll help you figure out what's getting in your way and remove the obstacle.


I’m recovering from an injury. Will this help me get back to running?
If your acute injury is healed enough to resume physical activity, or if running is aggravating an overuse injury such as tendonitis, we can help you.

Most injuries develop from movement habits that work at cross-purposes to the main thing you were trying to do. Furthermore, whenever you’re in pain you naturally change the way you move to avoid doing the things that hurt. After you’ve recovered from the specific injury, you’ll likely keep those patterns of avoidance without realizing it, making your running slower and more effortful and increasing the likelihood of future injury.

We help people change their movement habits and instinctively coordinate themselves in the healthiest and most effective way for running. You’ll leave behind the movement patterns involved in your injury as well as the compensations to pain that will become unsuitable movement habits down the road. Since this approach is more subtle, precise, and personal than the generic instructions on good running form, it changes the deep, unconscious movement habits related to pain very effectively. This helps you rediscover how to run powerfully and pain-free.

However, we're not doctors or physical therapists. If you have recently and acutely hurt yourself you should go to your doctor. When you’re thinking about returning to physical activity, that’s when we can help.