University Mental Health Day Lunchtime Talk - The Consolation of Solitary Sports: Running and Mental Health
Date and time
Location
Edmond Safra Lecture Theatre
Saïd Business School Park End St University of Oxford OX1 1HP United KingdomDescription
University Mental Health Day Lunchtime Talk
The Consolation of Solitary Sports: Running and Mental Health
The University Mental Health Day talk will be delivered by Dan Holloway. Dan has had bipolar disorder since he was a teenager and took up running two years ago. 9 months later he ran his first ultramarathon at a distance of 100 kilometres. Within the long distance and trail running community there is a real awareness of mental illness. Many of the sport's leading figures such as Anna Frost and Tim Olsen have been incredibly open about their battles with mental ill health and the role running has played in helping them to manage their conditions.
Drawing on his personal experience, Dan will explore the benefits he has found of solitary activity for his own positive mental health, and in particular how the solitude and the simple repetitive action of the mechanics of running, and the increasingly popular sport of parkour, can bring a state of beautiful, mindful solitude. This will also be an opportunity for Dan to showcase the wonderful places in Oxford where it is possible to exercise alone with your thoughts in a positive way. Dan believes that when exercise is done in this way it is about more than something on a jobs list, or losing weight, or even fitness. It is about a new way of seeing, and being in, the world around you.
Dan has spoken widely on mental health, including at the University Disability Lecture, the UAS conference, and most recently at Canary Wharf for the launch of a new report from the Money and Mental Health Policy Institute. For more information, please visit his blog.
This event is free, and aimed at staff and students at the University of Oxford.
Doors open at 12.15.
It will also be live-streamed and lecture-captured for those unable to attend. For further information about this event and/or University Mental Health Day, please contact Dr Fiona Whelan, fiona.whelan@admin.ox.ac.uk.