ChiRunning – Ideal for perfecting barefoot form

I’ll admit it, I’m in love with ChiRunning.  It feels like a formalization of how my form was progressing naturally while barefooting. The book presents physical exercises, thought exercises, and sequential lessons to progress you along.

ChiRunning focuses exactly where barefooting does, “Body Sensing”, which in essence is simply telling you to observe your body, feel what’s happening, and adjust accordingly — barefeet are perfect for that!  The book also stresses being absolutely relaxed. All of the mantra’s line up perfectly for how I’d like to be able to run barefoot.

Here are the key points which match well with shodless running:

1. Pick up your feet instead of pushing off. You are propelled forward by a slight lean (1″ – 4″) depending on your desired speed.  When running barefoot you obviously don’t want to be apply extra friction on the bottoms of your feet by pushing off.

2. Keep your cadence at 180 steps per minute regardless of your desired speed.

3. To increase speed, increase your lean forward and your stride length.

4. Stay absolutely relaxed and observe your body.

5. Gradual progress — you don’t just start trying to be a Chi Running master, you ease your way there through a series of exercises, over months.

Does anyone else have any experience with this? Thoughts? I’d love to hear them. Interested in picking up the book, it’s $10 on Amazon: ChiRunning: A Revolutionary Approach to Effortless, Injury-Free Running