Episode 143: Jae Gruenke Feldenkrais Practioner
Collaborative Episode with Cherie Turner, producer of Women’s Running Stories

March 9, 2023
In this special collaboration with Women’s Running Stories, we talk to Jae Gruenke, a Feldenkrais practitioner and running form expert, and founder of The Balance Runner.  

Both Cherie Turner (host of Women’s Running Stories) and Elizabeth Emery (host of Hear Her Sports) have experience working with Jae, especially in her online running form camp. But Feldenkrais and Jae’s approach to running form work is different and feels almost mysterious. Elizabeth and Cherie wanted to learn more, and get a greater understanding of what makes this work so powerful and also challenging, especially for runners and others who focus on working harder and putting in more effort to get results. 

About Jae Gruenke
Jae Gruenke is known as “the wise woman of running” and has helped runners from beginner to Olympian relieve pain and improve their performance; she specializes in helping runners whose problems have persisted despite medical treatment.

Jae’s interest in running technique was sparked when, as a professional dancer, she was asked to perform choreography that included sustained running in large, outdoor environments. Frustrated by how difficult and uncomfortable running felt, she began to study running technique and use the Feldenkrais Professional Training Program she was enrolled in as a laboratory to discover how to coordinate her movements so that running felt comfortable, easy, and enjoyable.

Eventually, realizing she’d come to prefer running to dancing, and also that the changes in movement that had made the difference to her running were not being taught, discussed, or researched elsewhere, she retired from dancing and launched The Balanced Runner.

Jae has been a member of the Feldenkrais Guild of North America since 1999 and the United Kingdom since 2011, and was an ACE-certified personal trainer from 1999-2012. 

She graduated from Williams College in 1992 where she majored in literary studies and cross-enrolled at Bennington College to study modern dance. Working as a professional dancer from 1992-2003, she performed with a number of New York City-based companies, and at the time of her retirement from dance in 2003 she was a senior company member of Sarah Skaggs Dance.

Jae’s The Balanced Runner website
The Balanced Runner 6-week online camp that Cherie and I did
Find Jae on IG at @the_balanced_runner
Find all episodes of Women’s Running Stories at https://womensrunningstories.com/
On IG @womensrunningstories and Twitter @WomenRunStories