There is no such thing as a new way of running.
After several decades of highly structured running footwear and questionable running form advice, the recent resurgence of barefoot running and minimalist footwear has begun a movement to rediscover how our species evolved to run.
When our discoveries are correct, we realize they have been hiding in plain sight all along. We see them when children run, when athletes from other sports run, and when traditional peoples from all over the world run.
Natural running connects humans of all ages around the world with our ancient ancestors, and also connects the activity of running to how we do other things – insight into how running works also touches on how we crawl, walk, bend, lift, pull, throw and so forth.
As a Feldenkrais practitioner, I’ve been fortunate to have access to a method that allows me to make these connections, see what hides in plain sight, and thus access our biological inheritance. I’ve been able to learn how running works not by comparing runners to each other but by helping hundreds of runners find how to make their running feel easier and thus compare them to themselves.
From that experience I’ve been able to distill a set of guidelines I call the Keys to Becoming a Balanced Runner. There are six key form guidelines plus four strategy guidelines – ten Keys in all – that work for runners of all levels.