Interview With Kavi Jezzie Hockaday

Kavi, my Running Conscious Columnist and writer for 'Healthy eating options' section, talks to us here about his love of running, and how it all began...! 

 'I have not looked back since I turned into a runner at the age of thirty seven....

I had stopped all exercise up until that point from when I was about fourteen years old, primarily due to the collapse of my family into a toxic implosion and subsequent divorce of my parents. Exercise was low down on my list of priorities back then, and it remained that way until I became a runner...! .

I was unwell and extremely out of shape, to the point of illness. I drank too much, and ate a terrible diet and I looked bloated.

When I began to do something about my life, out of desperation, my body collapsed into major disease (Inflammatory Bowel Disease) and my life totally changed. I decided to take full responsibility for my healing and went on a ling path to heal body, mind and soul. That involved changing diet, and of course introducing activity and movement for the tired and stiff body.

I have not looked back since I started to run, though I run only for pleasure and body fitness, not in competition. I also rebound, do core strength and high intensity training.

These days I am a transformational coach inspiring others to take the plunge into themselves and do whatever it takes to heal. And I am also a musician.

When I did start running it took me ages to be able to run for half an hour, experiencing shin splints, torn muscles and all kinds of aggravations.

I persisted and got pretty good, running 10k for pleasure. I was not interested in competition running, I always ran for the feeling of freedom, runners high and the wonderful effect on the body.

These days I tend to run wherever I am, I like to do high intensity training, once every three days, and a half hour hour jog each day, on the days between.

I do love running!

I believe that my qualities are that I always like to stay inspired, motivated, enthusiastic, challenging and supportive and that I try to see the highest good in everything and everyone, as well as the fact that I feel best when I am in service to others, creates the life I lead and informs my philosophy that life is a river, heading to the ocean. I don't take life too personally and accept what happens.

I have discovered that the best thing is to simply Persist and keep practicing and run for pleasure and freedom.

My friends think I am Inspired and motivated, courageous and maybe slightly crazy! And when you first meet me, I expect you would find me quite intense but friendly and enthusiastic! I believe it is all these qualities help me coach my clients, who I believe see me as Inspiring and supportive too...

Amoda my wife has been pivotal in my transformation and ‘success'.  She has inspired me, helped me research, challenged me to become more real, and held me in love while I went to the depths of my being. She is my muse and my karmic companion in this life.

Last year during summer I went out for a lunchtime run and suddenly found myself going way beyond my normal limit. The mixture of heat, boundless energy and sheer joy meant I forgot my body and found myself in no time and no space, just putting one foot in front of the other endlessly. I ran for and hour and a half (well over my limit) and returned home like I had been in some other world. Incredible.

Everything is part of the same thing, so it's hard to say anything about certain practices that help my mind. I don’t ‘meditate’ as in sitting down on a cushion and closing my eyes and try to think of nothing. Life itself IS meditation, a meditation of being at peace with things. So running, rebounding, push ups, whatever it is, becomes a part of the living meditation. Its just life living itself through me.

Truthfully I no longer live my life, seeing things as success or failure. This, to me, is living in duality, and over the years of continual spiritual growth, duality has become less and less real, and been replaced by an overriding awareness that there is only life being lived. The ups and downs of this experience are what give it colour and texture, but I gave up being attached to outcome. Life is easier when its lived with fluidity, with no fighting against what is.

Of course I'm in no way perfect and things happen sometimes, but I aim my arrow at equanimity.

I might have an initial sulk if I am ill or injured, but then I get on with it, accept that it has happened, look to other ways to exercise and get patient!

It helps I believe, that I see my strengths as having dogged persistence, loyalty, and that I am committed to giving 100%, presence.

Amoda would say the same I think and from this place my friends then see my power of transformation and my humour.

I have learnt that beliefs themselves are probably our greatest limitation. I have found that the most profound spiritual teachings show us inner states that are beyond believing one thing or another, but are actually about knowing and experiencing truth. Belief itself is of the mind, and can change. Awareness is like the sky or the ocean. I have found through my own experiences of believing something to be true and real, only to find out it is not true or real, that it is unreliable as a path to freedom.

So I went beyond beliefs straight to the freedom of awareness and openness.

Having said all that I do, in my deepest heart, believe that life is evolution and that love is at the core of being.

But, I have suffered from limiting beliefs in my life, hence my search for freedom from all beliefs! I used to search for perfection in myself and would sabotage creativity because it didn’t match up to my idea of perfection.

I carried a belief that I was not good enough.

I believed that money was somehow bad.

All these beliefs are wounds that get carried in our families and are easily passed down through ancestral dysfunctionality. They tend to be impersonal, but taken personally.

I made it my mission to not take things personally!

I can’t easily answer what my greatest sporting success is as I tend to see that my relationship to exercise itself IS Success! When I consider how sick I was in my 20s and 30s and most of my 40s, to be able to do what I do now, like high intensity training, push ups, running, rebounding, is itself a major success.

Thats all the motivation I need.

Health is my success story. Turning my life around so completely is my success.There is nothing more successful than transformation, and I am constantly refining my exercise and focusing on what really works.

I am constantly researching optimum diet and optimum exercise. I am learning how to effectively build muscle and get stronger at the core level.

I am 56 years old and never felt healthier. I have more energy than a lot of guys half my age, and I intend to look after myself as I grow into older age. It is my insurance policy!

I learned persistence and patience through running.

Persistence has shown that, sometimes you just need to get out of the door, even though there is a voice inside your head saying ‘Don’t bother, its too cold or wet or hot etc etc.’ Sometimes you have got to overrule all voices and show them who is boss!

Patience is a necessary part of getting fit. If you push too fast too early, you risk injury and then you are heading backwards. So you need to develop some mastery and understanding of the process. It is a journey, like life, so get with the program.

Whenever I get home after a long run, particularly if I didn’t really feel much like going out, but I do it anyway, and then I feel great afterwards, I give myself a big slap on the back (metaphorically!) and say, ’SEE, thats why its worth it!'

I don't really use any methods to clear my mind as I am pretty clear and motivated anyway, and since I don’t do competition it doesn’t bother me.

The same in music. My mind tends to be clear, and if its not then it becomes clear once the energy starts to flow.

The only goal I have right now is to build strength, hydration and power at the core level.

I have just competed a twenty one day water fast and the body is still slightly weak, but apparently the long term effects are greater strength at the cellular level.

Thats what excited me now, and how that cellular power might convert into stronger muscles and overall fitness.

I am naturally motivated to train

I do arms, legs, core strength every other day wherever I am. We are often travelling so I have to have some flexibility. I don’t go to the gym any more, and I only use body strength exercises.

Once every 3 days I do high intensity running, mostly 30 seconds full sprint followed by 90 seconds jog, and do that combination 8 times.

I try to run for at least thirty mins each day, but after high intensity training I listen to what my body wants - I also do jumping jacks each day.

That's pretty much it at the moment, I'm still building back after the fast, but Here is an article I recently wrote about running in California:, just before we left to go to Vosta Rica and it expresses that quite simply...

I love to run...