Running the Spiritual Path: A Runner's Guide to Breathing, Meditating, and Exploring the Prayerful Dimension of the Sport (Hardcover)

~ Roger Joslin (Author) "It is possible to begin a meditation run simply by stepping onto the pavement and putting one foot in front of the other..." (more)
Key Phrases: meditative runner, running meditation, outward run, Jesus Prayer, Shoal Creek Trail, Town Lake (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Imagine achieving physical fitness and spiritual growth simultaneously. Roger Joslin's step-by-step program is an en-gaging exploration of the truth that spiritual well-being can just as easily be achieved while running along the trails of a favorite park as it can within the more traditional settings of neigh-bor-hood churches, synagogues, or mosques. Through aware-ness, chants, and visualization, and through attention to the most evident aspects of the present moment-the weather, pain, or breathing-the simple run can become the basis for a profound spiritual practice. In Running the Spiritual Path, Joslin combines insights gathered from thirty years of running with a per-sonal spirit-ual journey that is guiding him to the priesthood. While drawing from and exhibiting an abiding respect for the traditions and sacred practices of the world's great religions, Joslin describes a heretofore unexplored method of sacred running, bringing meditation and a prayerful communion to the running trail.

From the Back Cover

"If you're great at lacing up your running shoes, but you can't fold yourself into lotus position, here's the guide to finding a spiritual connection to your favorite physical activity."
- Times-Picayune, New Orleans

"While drawing from and exhibiting an abiding respect for the traditions of the world's great religions, the author describes a heretofore unexplored method of sacred running, of bringing meditation and a prayerful communion to the running trail."
- The New Times

"In this refreshingly cogent and practical work, Joslin reveals the many ways in which a regular run can be turned into a lively and enriching encounter with the Divine."
- Spirituality & Health

"A splendid, new, outside-the-box contribution. . . . At the deepest level, what Joslin has offered us is far more that just an excellent handbook. It is a record of a soul in progress---progress toward integration and harmony."
- The Episcopal New Yorker

"Joslin recounts his profound experiences on reverent runs and offers readers suggestions on how to infuse spiritual growth into their jogs through running mantras, stretches as prayer posters, and more. Incorporate some of his suggestions on your next outing and you'll say I've come this far by faith."
- Heart and Soul magazine

"Joslin inspires us to bring intention and purpose to any activity we do regularly, seeking communion with God whether we are cooking, cleaning the house, or commuting. In other words, you don't have to be a runner to get guidance from this practical book."
- Spirituality and Health
--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press; 1st edition (June 14, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 031230885X
• ISBN-13: 978-0312308858
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #886,067 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  #98 in	Books > Religion & Spirituality > Religious Studies > Theology > Practical Theology

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A rich and thought-provoking book, August 7, 2003

By	April Hutchinson "arhutch" (Greensboro, NC USA) - See all my reviews

If you are a runner, you may have experienced the mental benefits that running provides. You may have also felt a spiritual presence while running, perhaps saying a prayer or working through personal problems while on the trail. In this extraordinary book, Joslin explores this mind/body connection and gives many different ways to experience the spiritual side of the sport. He shares meditative techniques developed over many years and very rich personal experiences with excerpts from his running journal. The book is well thought-out and written with a great deal of humility and care. This is one that I will read again and again. It changed the way I approach running. I also think about this book throughout the day, even when I am not running. A great book!

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars From a Mounain Biker, August 13, 2003

By	Wayne Lankford (Hoover, AL United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

As a mountain biker interested in the spiritual connections associated with my favorite activity, I was intrigued from the outset upon learning that there was a new book out that explored the meditative and spiritual aspects of running. "Running The Spiritual Path" by Roger D. Joslin is highly recommended to anyone who has ever happened along on his or her own path and felt any kind of spiritual pull and might wish to develop it further. This book can help you to go beyond traditional ways of communication with your creator. By using your breath and other methods explored by the author you may very well develop and heighten your own spiritual senses, a most rewarding goal. Personally, I believe that this breakthrough book is tangible evidence of the ongoing process of a kind of spiritual evolution finally being recognized in the world today. Pick up this book and run with it! You'll end up much farther along than the trailhead from where you usually start your own run.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars When You Can't Sit Still for Zazen or Prayer... , June 12, 2007

By	J. A. Geary "JayDownSouthInDixie" (Lakeland, FL USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Running the Spiritual Path: A Runner's Guide to Breathing, Meditating, and Exploring the Prayerful Dimension of the Sport (Paperback)

Austin-based Roger Joslin has written an excellent book for runners who want to bring a new and deeply spiritual dimension not only to their running but to their lives as a whole. My copy is dog-eared, highlighted and annotated to a fare-thee-well. It's a great book.

Although Joslin is an Episcopalian, he brings a number of different spiritual disciplines to the task of "connecting" with (as he calls it) "the Transcendent," the "One" - i.e., God by any other name. Drawing on various practices and techniques of Buddhist meditation, Eastern Orthodox and Islamic chant and prayer, (Western) Christian contemplative practice, Joslin weaves together a practical approach to meditation "on the run" that any spiritually-minded person (even if you're not spiritual in a formal, religious way) can adapt to his or her running program. He breaks runs (especially "out and back" runs) into "stages" that help you prepare for a meditative run, get you into a calm and aware meditative state during the run, and help you extend and enhance the physical and spiritual blessings of a meditative run during cool down when the "running" portion is finished. He draws chiefly on his own experiences, observations and learning, and includes a number of extended passages from his journal that I thought were both interesting and motivating, especially his accounts of runs in New Mexico and rural Texas. Meditative running doesn't shut you off from your surroundings; as Joslin explains (and he's right, in my experience), you connect more to the place and the moment and to a deeper appreciation of your body as you propel yourself through space and time.

If you're looking for a book that will add a new dimension to your running, and that may, perhaps help you realize a deeper and closer relationship with God (assuming you believe in a Supreme Being), "Running the Spiritual Path" will inspire and challenge you.

On the other hand, if you're looking for yet another training manual that will help you run more competitively (faster, farther, longer), don't waste your money. If you're an atheist, an agnostic, a non-deist, or Christopher Hitchens, don't waste your money. If reflections on spirituality, and particularly, Christian spirituality make you uncomfortable, don't waste your money. Likewise, if you're a Christian fundamentalist, you will probably be put off by Joslin's inclusion of prayer and meditation practices from non-Christian paths and any characterization of God as other than the Trinity.

Finally, you might want to read the following books, either as an entrée to Joslin's book or in conjunction with it because they will help you appreciate the "spiritual building blocks" Joslin brings to the subject: Thich Nhat Han's "The Miracle of Mindfulness"; Jon Kabat-Zinn's "Wherever you Go, There You Are"; (Father) Thomas Merton's "New Seeds of Contemplation"; "The Essential Rumi," edited and translated by Coleman Barks; and the Russian classic, "The Way of a Pilgrim" (any recent translation will do). Oh, and don't forget the Bible.