Between thirty and forty minutes, many people begin to feel more "open"—their breathing begins to come more freely, and their whole system seems to work more smoothly and with less effort. This can be a wonderful feeling.
After you have been running for forty minutes, the first alterations in your consciousness may begin. Your senses begin to feel more alert, more alive. Things seem more vivid—the colors of leaves, the song of a bird, the freshness of the air. Runners who have experienced this say that this natural, vivid, fresh sense of perception is unique; to some extent it may resemble the experience that comes from meditation, biofeedback, or drugs. This experience seems not to occur before forty minutes of running. It may be an experience of mild euphoria, or you may feel it as a marked increase in aesthetic sensitivity or as a sense of growing inner serenity.
APPLICATIONS OF EXERCISE AS PSYCHOTHERAPY
I'm sure that these experiences are closely related to meditation. The clearing of consciousness, the ability to find a central focus within, the delight of a clear mind, the sense of refreshment of the soul are reported both by those who practice meditation and by long-distance runners. The difference between the two techniques is in the physical effects of the running. It is as if those who meditate have found one half of the picture. The runners who just compete and do not reach for the psychological aspects have found the other half. The runners who are able to slow down and search for the psychic aspects will have both—the soul and the body.
Thaddeus Kostrubala, The Joy of Running
Even though aerobic exercise such as slow long-distance running can produce a feeling of moderate depression during the first thirty minutes, people who have moderate, lingering depressions in daily life often find that, as described above, depression disappears after about forty minutes. Anger and hostility also seem to be much reduced after about thirty minutes of running.
The repetitive rhythm and sustained exertion of slow long-distance running appear to tire the conscious mind. Many anxieties, tensions, worries, feelings of guilt, anger, and depression lift. The easily distracted, constantly nervous and shifting focus of everyday consciousness gives way to a sense of integration, of being one with yourself and the activity of running.
O chestnut tree, great rooted blossomer,
Are you the leaf, the blossom or the bole?
O body swayed to music, O brightening glance,
How can we know the dancer from the dance?
W. B. Yeats, Among School Children
The therapeutic use of running appears to offer the following benefits:
* increases mental energy, acuity, and concentration