Find Focus With Your Inner Y'Chi

The next time you're out running or walking, focus your eyes on a distant object or spot on the horizon and then run or walk toward that object without ever breaking your gaze.  Or, choose a point 50 to 100 meters in front of you. If you're on a curvy trail, just choose something that is as far in front of you as you can. Play with the distance.

Focus on that spot intensely, with your eyes. Don't break visual connection.

If you are in the early stages of practicing ChiRunning, keep in mind your good posture and leveling your pelvis. But, as you master the technique, you'll want to Body Sense your whole body being aligned and all of that focused energy coming out of your eyes toward your goal. Your y'chi will help you naturally fall into greater alignment. Your whole body will follow the direction of your eyes.

Feel yourself being pulled forward by your y'chi, like a giant bungee cord.

Think of Spiderman shooting a strand of spider web out from his hand. He sends it out to stick to the building in front of him and then allows the strand to pull him forward through the air. It's a neat trick, but you can do the same thing with your eyes and without having to wear a silly costume.

The bottom line is that your eyes are directing the movement. Chi is the energy that circulates through your body and supports your movement. Y is the ability to direct your chi towards a visual "goal" through the use of your eyes. So, y'chi is the skill of directing all of the energies and movement in your body through the focus of your eyes.

Y'chi is all about combining your knowledge of what needs to happen with your intention and using your eyes to direct all that energy in the direction your body's heading. To add even more power to this, visualize your body filled with energy coursing through every part of it. Then, gather all that energy along with your own intent, and direct it out through your eyes and send it forward to a point or object in the distance, without ever breaking your visual connection.

Practicing your y'chi will always leave you feeling energized and clear-headed because your mind becomes so focused on your goal. When you can maintain unbroken visual contact with an object or goal, it leaves little room for your mind to be doing any of its normal antics of following every thought that comes into your consciousness.

Y'chi happens when everything is aligned your body, your vision, your forward movement, your mind and your heart.