diff --git a/tractor/_portal.py b/tractor/_portal.py
index c336e89..6c026f8 100644
--- a/tractor/_portal.py
+++ b/tractor/_portal.py
@@ -120,7 +120,7 @@ class ReceiveStream(trio.abc.ReceiveChannel):
             # NOTE: we're telling the far end actor to cancel a task
             # corresponding to *this actor*. The far end local channel
             # instance is passed to `Actor._cancel_task()` implicitly.
-            await self._portal.run('self', '_cancel_task', cid=cid)
+            await self._portal.run_from_ns('self', '_cancel_task', cid=cid)
 
         if cs.cancelled_caught:
             # XXX: there's no way to know if the remote task was indeed
@@ -212,9 +212,12 @@ class Portal:
         """
         if isinstance(func_or_ns, str):
             warnings.warn(
-                "`Portal.run(namespace: str, funcname: str)` is now deprecated, "
-                "pass a function reference directly instead",
-                DeprecationWarning
+                "`Portal.run(namespace: str, funcname: str)` is now"
+                "deprecated, pass a function reference directly instead\n"
+                "If you still want to run a remote function by name use"
+                "`Portal.run_from_ns()`",
+                DeprecationWarning,
+                stacklevel=2,
             )
             fn_mod_path = func_or_ns
             assert isinstance(fn_name, str)
@@ -228,6 +231,28 @@ class Portal:
             *(await self._submit(fn_mod_path, fn_name, kwargs))
         )
 
+    async def run_from_ns(
+        self,
+        namespace_path: str,
+        function_name: str,
+        **kwargs,
+    ) -> Any:
+        """Run a function from a (remote) namespace in a new task on the far-end actor.
+
+        This is a more explitcit way to run tasks in a remote-process
+        actor using explicit object-path syntax. Hint: this is how
+        `.run()` works underneath.
+
+        Note::
+
+            A special namespace `self` can be used to invoke `Actor`
+            instance methods in the remote runtime. Currently this should only
+            be used for `tractor` internals.
+        """
+        return await self._return_from_resptype(
+            *(await self._submit(namespace_path, function_name, kwargs))
+        )
+
     async def _return_from_resptype(
         self,
         cid: str,
@@ -329,13 +354,16 @@ class Portal:
             # with trio.CancelScope(shield=True) as cancel_scope:
             with trio.move_on_after(0.5) as cancel_scope:
                 cancel_scope.shield = True
-                await self.run('self', 'cancel')
+
+                await self.run_from_ns('self', 'cancel')
                 return True
+
             if cancel_scope.cancelled_caught:
                 log.warning(f"May have failed to cancel {self.channel.uid}")
 
             # if we get here some weird cancellation case happened
             return False
+
         except trio.ClosedResourceError:
             log.warning(
                 f"{self.channel} for {self.channel.uid} was already closed?")
@@ -352,8 +380,10 @@ class LocalPortal:
     actor: 'Actor'  # type: ignore # noqa
     channel: Channel
 
-    async def run(self, ns: str, func_name: str, **kwargs) -> Any:
-        """Run a requested function locally and return it's result.
+    async def run_from_ns(self, ns: str, func_name: str, **kwargs) -> Any:
+        """Run a requested local function from a namespace path and
+        return it's result.
+
         """
         obj = self.actor if ns == 'self' else importlib.import_module(ns)
         func = getattr(obj, func_name)