Bulgarian athlete runs for 15 days for charity/Reuters
Galit (pseudonym, but a completely real case), unmarried in her twenties, was sexually assaulted in the past, which affected the entire course of her life.
She realized that in order to get out of her situation, she had to take care of herself, and looked for treatment that would help her avoid diving into depression, which she used to experience especially during the winter.
She remembered that at a younger age sports helped her in difficult times and something inside her wanted to run.
Her dream was to run for half an hour straight.
This connection of love for running and poor mental state, led Galit to look for a solution in therapy through running.
Running therapy uses the act of running to promote and encourage mental and emotional change processes.
The main goal here is soul care.
In recent times, since the events of October 7, there has been a significant increase in our need for emotional or psychological treatments and, in general, a strong desire to unburden ourselves.
Running therapy may help in a wide variety of situations, including depression, anxiety, trauma, attention deficit disorder, low self-esteem, and crisis or trauma situations.
The treatment is carried out through dyadic work (therapist and patient) on three levels:
On the physical level: the treatment seeks to observe the patient's physical health condition, in order to understand in depth what his abilities, limitations and level of physical fitness are.
On the interpersonal level: the treatment looks at the patient's social relationships, his attachment patterns and his ability to maintain existing relationships and create new relationships with the environment.
On the spiritual-mental level: the treatment focuses on the patient's inner world and aims to examine his worldview, beliefs and aspirations.
Running brings up many patterns from our daily lives.
Treatment by Jogging/ShutterStock
Running as a metaphor for life itself
The therapeutic work is carried out through these centers, that is, if one of the centers is missing in the treatment or significantly weaker, the structure lacks stability.
One of the tasks of the running therapist is to identify the weak point and the strong point in each patient and accordingly, to create a space where the patient will learn to better balance his forces.
The treatment is carried out while moving, and unlike normal treatment on the psychologist's couch, it takes place outside the clinic, which allows the patient a real opportunity to make a difference.
Running brings up many patterns from our daily lives.
For example, people who have patterns of anxiety in their personality will feel it with every change that occurs during running training, and this will be a good opportunity to deal with the anxiety in real time, to find out its origin - if it is a fear of unexpected things or uncertainty?
Unlike other types of treatment, during which it takes time for things to arise and float, in running you can actually notice problems and treat them when they arise.
When the therapist and the patient run together at the same pace and feel the breaths, it is a very connecting thing and openness is created very quickly.
Within a session or two you start to feel the results.
The special thing about running therapy is that it comes from the inside out.
Less emphasis is placed on parameters such as running at a certain pace and achievement, and more focus is placed on the goal, which is to treat what hurts here and now.
"Like pregnancy and rebirth"
Back to Galit.
In the first meetings with her, her mobilization to face the difficulties of running was evident, but it was also evident that her body bears the evidence of the trauma she experienced in the past.
The feelings of heaviness, the hesitant and slow running steps, the rigid body, and outside only the sounds of breathing and the contact of the feet with the ground are heard.
The difficulty in starting to move and talk and the clear need for silence stood out especially for her.
These strongly reflected the feeling of depression and detachment that I felt Galit was carrying within her.
I expressed to her my appreciation for the great efforts she makes to run.
I told her that I feel that her effort in running is like a person running with weights on his feet.
In response she nodded and said nothing, tears covered her eyes.
"Me and Galit had 40 meetings, which looking back seem to me like 40 weeks of pregnancy and rebirth"
Galit's great determination to run, I also experienced as a strong wish for an experience of self-coherence.
While the traumatic injury creates fissures and disconnections in a person, running, when the whole body mobilizes to move at a uniform and organized pace, creates connections that promote self-cohesion.
I tried to create for Galit a supportive and inclusive experience in therapy.
I changed the location of the runs and we got closer to her living area.
I delayed our meeting time, at her request, I waited when she was late and tried to survive her lack of devotion.
These difficulties in front of her were an accurate reflection of her life.
Now it was also easier to talk to her about these difficulties and find solutions.
Galit and I had 40 meetings, which looking back seem to me like 40 weeks of pregnancy and rebirth.
The concept of "rebirth" was expressed by Galit herself, when the treatment was over.
For me, as a caregiver, this was the greatest compliment I could receive.
When "the brain's natural heroin" is released
The very treatment while running also has natural physiological benefits.
During a run that lasts at least 20 minutes (up to an hour), endorphins are released, also known as "the brain's natural heroin", which improve the mood and have an anti-anxiety effect.
Other neurotransmitters secreted while running are serotonin and dopamine.
Serotonin stabilizes the mood, helps with overactivity and an out-of-control reaction.
Dopamine supports attention and concentration, elevates the mood and is essential for movement.
It also motivates and instills a feeling of optimism and pleasure.
People who keep running for years enjoy an increase in these substances.
Running for a long time also serves as protection for parts of the brain such as the cortex and hippocampus and during physical activity, especially during running that involves cardiopulmonary endurance, flows oxygen-rich blood to the muscles and brain that encourage the production of new blood vessels.
Also, the hippocampus produces new neurons that increase the volume of long-term memory.
In conclusion, running therapy encourages us to make running an integral part of our daily routine, as a tool for regulating and dealing with difficulty and improving our sense of ability, which for many of us may be a significant step out of our comfort zone and experience new challenges in running and even marathon running, which apart from being a very significant physical challenge, it is An inner symbolic victory and the person feels that he is reborn.
And if we mentioned marathons, in preparation for the upcoming marathon season, the Winner Jerusalem Marathon will take place this year tomorrow, Friday March 8th.
The author is the coordinator and initiator of the running therapy course at the Levinsky-Wingate Academic Center
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