Meditation in Motion: PUMA India puts Buddhist monks in running shoes to visualise the focus behind high-altitude racing

Ahead of the 13th Ladakh Marathon, PUMA India has brought two seemingly different practices together: long-distance running and Buddhist meditation.

Titled “Meditation in Motion,” the campaign features 40 Buddhist monks photographed at Thiksey Monastery in Ladakh. Dressed in their traditional maroon robes and wearing PUMA Deviate PURE NITRO running shoes, the monks move through monastery pathways and the surrounding Himalayan landscape.

The resulting six-frame photographic series explores the mental qualities shared by running and meditation, including patience, discipline, endurance, concentration and the ability to remain present.

Meditation and running meet through focus

Running is normally presented through speed, competition and physical effort. PUMA’s campaign looks at a less visible part of the sport: what happens inside a runner’s mind when the distance becomes difficult.

Meditation and endurance running both involve repeatedly returning attention to the present moment. A runner may focus on breathing, pace or the next step, just as a person meditating learns to observe distractions and gently bring the mind back.

This shared mental process forms the campaign’s central idea. Movement and stillness appear different from the outside, but both can demand the same control, awareness and persistence.

Rather than showing professional athletes racing through Ladakh, the images use the monks to represent the calm mindset that high-altitude runners need to develop.

Forty monks create the campaign’s visual contrast

The campaign was photographed at Thiksey Monastery, a 15th-century Tibetan Buddhist monastery near Leh. Its historic architecture, mountain setting and spiritual significance give the images a strong sense of place.

Against this environment, the modern running shoes create an immediate visual contrast. Traditional robes flow around technical footwear, bringing together centuries-old contemplative practice and contemporary sports technology.

The campaign’s first hero image shows the monks arranged across the monastery steps. Other photographs place them along pathways and within Ladakh’s vast natural landscape.

The combination is unexpected enough to attract attention, but it also supports the campaign’s message. The shoes are not inserted simply as a visual joke. They become the point where physical movement and mental discipline meet.

The footwear connects the idea to performance

The monks wear the PUMA Deviate PURE NITRO, a lightweight running shoe created for speed and responsive movement.

The shoe weighs approximately 220 grams and uses an evolved version of PUMA’s NITROFOAM cushioning. It also features an engineered mesh upper and PUMAGRIP traction. Unlike several modern performance shoes, the model does not rely on a carbon plate.

Those details matter in the context of Ladakh, where runners must deal with uneven surfaces, steep climbs and changing conditions. The product therefore has a practical relationship with the environment shown in the campaign.

However, the photography avoids turning into a technical product demonstration. The shoe remains clearly visible, while the larger story stays focused on the mental preparation required to keep moving.

The Ladakh Marathon tests more than speed

The campaign was released before the 13th Ladakh Marathon, scheduled from September 10 to 13, 2026.

More than 6,600 runners from 30 countries were expected to participate across the event’s different race categories. The marathon is recognised as the world’s highest AIMS-certified race, making altitude one of its defining challenges.

Its most demanding category is the 122-kilometre Silk Route Ultra. The course begins in Nubra Valley at approximately 10,700 feet and climbs towards Khardung La Pass, which reaches 17,618 feet. That is higher than Everest Base Camp.

At such elevations, runners cannot depend on speed alone. Reduced oxygen, difficult terrain and long periods of physical isolation make patience and mental control essential.

As Ladakh Marathon founder and race director Chewang Motup Goba has explained, runners cannot fight the mountain. They have to understand and embrace it. “Meditation in Motion” translates that philosophy into a visual campaign.

PUMA makes its sponsorship specific to Ladakh

PUMA India is entering its third year as the exclusive sportswear partner of the Ladakh Marathon.

For the 2026 edition, the company is providing Race Day T-shirts across the event’s categories. Participants in the Silk Route Ultra are also receiving performance equipment that includes jackets, thermals, arm sleeves, beanies and caps.

“​​Meditation in Motion” gives this partnership a story that belongs specifically to Ladakh. It uses the region’s landscape, cultural setting and extreme racing conditions instead of relying on a generic message about determination.

The campaign was conceived and photographed entirely by PUMA India’s in-house team, working with the Ladakh Marathon organisers and the participating monks. This close collaboration helped connect the brand’s performance credentials with the character of the event.

Cultural collaboration carries the campaign

Using Buddhist monks in branded footwear could easily have become a superficial visual device. The campaign works best when understood through its local collaboration and the genuine connection it draws between meditative discipline and endurance sport.

The monks are not presented as athletes chasing records. Instead, they embody a state of mind that runners often spend years trying to develop: calm attention under pressure.

The restraint of the photographic format also helps. There is no complicated narrative or exaggerated display of athleticism. The robes, shoes, monastery and landscape are allowed to carry the idea.

With the campaign launching only days before the marathon, performance results, audience response figures and wider business impact have not yet been announced. Its immediate achievement is conceptual: it turns sports sponsorship into a visually memorable reflection on how difficult movement often begins with a disciplined mind.

Credits

“​​Meditation in Motion” was created and photographed in-house by PUMA India in collaboration with the Ladakh Marathon team and the participating Buddhist monks at Thiksey Monastery in Leh, Ladakh. Ramprasad Sridharan is Managing Director of PUMA India, while Chewang Motup Goba is the founder and race director of the Ladakh Marathon.