Oldal 322 [322]
JOHANNA DOMOKOS
endurance, when pushing ourselves to the limit, we can achieve harmony, unity of
mind and body, peace. Every serious runner has gleaned an inkling of this natural
miracle, the stride of a mystic.’
NEUROBIOLOGY AND CULTURAL TRADITIONS OF ENDURANCE RUNNING
According to the endurance running hypothesis, long-distance running played
a major role in human evolution, though many details of this process remain
uncertain.” Yet there is no doubt that endurance running is a longstanding
cross-cultural phenomenon, and one of its most ancient forms, that of
persistence hunting, can be still found in many cultures across the globe:
e.g. the Kalahari Bushmen of Botswana, the indigenous Sami of Europe,
the Aborigines of Australia, the Maasai of Kenya, or the Rardmuri /
Tarahumara people in Mexico. Moreover, the oral traditions and older written
texts of these cultures include poems and stories on the topic of the running
hunt, in addition to religious traditions featuring rituals in which running
allows an individual to attain unity with the transcendental.*
As a sport, long-distance running or endurance running is a form of
continuous running over distances of at least three kilometres. Throughout
human history, people have engaged in it as a means of travel, for economic
reasons, for various cultural, mental or religious reasons, and, most recently,
for physical exercise. In ancient times, for example, foot messengers would
run to deliver information to distant locations. Running has also long been
a part of religious traditions or ceremonies, and it still serves this purpose
today, among e.g. the Hopi and Raramuri / Tarahumara people and different
Buddhist groups in Tibet and Japan.*
A large body of research has demonstrated that the neurobiological effects
of physical exercise are plentiful and implicate a wide range of interrelated
neuropsychological changes. A daily 30-minute run can contribute to
increased neuron growth and neurological activity, improved ability to cope
with stress, and structural and functional improvements in brain structures
Jari Ehrnrooth, Jari, Kaipaava askel / The Yearning Stride, in: Leevi Haapala, Kati T. Kivinen, Mika
Taanila (ed.), Time Machines. A Museum of Contemporary Art Publication 140/2013, 77-88.
Dennis Bramble — Daniel Lieberman, Endurance Running and the Evolution of Homo,
Nature 432, 2004, 345-52.
3 Johan Turi, An Account of the Sami (orig. Muitalus Sdmiid birra, 1910), trans. by Thomas A.
DuBois, Chicago, Nordic Studies Press, 2011. Alexandra David-Neel, Magic and Mystery in
Tibet, London, Souvenir Press, 1965.
Peter Nabokov, Indian Running: Native American History and Tradition, Santa Fe, Ancient
City Press, 1987. Catherine Ludvik, In the Service of the Kaihogy6 Practitioners of Mt. Hiei:
The Stopping-Obstacles Confraternity (Sokushö kö) of Kyoto, Japanese Journal of Religious
Studies 33/1, 2006, 115-142. Christopher McDougall, Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe,
Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen, New York, Knop, 2009.
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