Prioritize Your Body, Train Your Mind and Welcome Spirit

Spiritual Fitness is about Body, Mind, Spirit–but what does that look like in your daily life?

—

After my workout yesterday, I became inspired to write about my experience in the physical and how I brought spirituality into my workouts. Also, I’m motivated to help train a younger generation, as no one showed me the ropes–heck, the level of community and wellness healthy, spiritual men are creating didn’t exist–until now.

Yesterday I was doing a High Intensity Training (“HIT”) with a young 24-year-old guy and my new trainer who is 33. Until recently, I always did this type of training alone with my own trainer. However, I’ve started training in groups to see how that works for me personally.

“I’m here to train.” I instructed, “When I walk in I’ll do my five minute warm up, then it’s time we get to work. Once the workout is done, we can chat.”

This has been going on for a few weeks now. As we were getting towards the end of the workout, the 24-year-old’s back was acting up, and he didn’t want to finish. The end is the most important part of the HIT workout. As I’m sprinting on the bike, I hear the two them talking about his back and what he should do, yadda, yadda, yadda. I immediately blocked it out and focused at the task at hand–my workout. Because of my previous training, someone else’s moment of pain didn’t affect my focus at all. When I finished the guys said they were rooting me on but I didn’t even notice. THAT is the power of focused discipline, and a result of training my mind to serve my body over the years.

◊♦◊

I discovered HIT training at age 37, after having spent a decade focusing on swimming and running. I incorporated HIT with my running, and it was perfect. One problem I had with my trainer was that he was talkative, like, “How was your weekend?” that type of stuff. Nice guy, very good trainer–so, I easily broke the news to him, “I’m here to train.” I instructed, “When I walk in I’ll do my five minute warm up, then it’s time we get to work. Once the workout is done, we can chat.”

What I was doing was putting my self first, my body first, my mind first. These were tough full-body workouts: 40 minutes with 30 -45 seconds between reps. During my rest periods I would just walk, concentrate on my breath, and get focused to do the next thing. What I haven’t shared until now is that during those rest periods I always felt, and still feel, a sense of peace–just like when I run. Exercise is a form of movement meditation. It is difficult to do if you’re chatting with someone, listening to music, whatever.

◊♦◊

It was my prayer time. Remember: I’m wearing no headphones, no gadgets, just listening, breathing, and being.

In my late 20s, I started to notice that I really enjoyed working out alone. I didn’t realize it at the time, but exercise was a form of meditation. I didn’t listen to music, watch TV, talk to other people–I just took care of my body. I lifted weights, spun (on a bike), ran, and swam. Swimming especially helped me out through a time of high stress with my company. Moving this way, in the water, seemed to soothe my mind, body, and spirit at once.

It was like my body was calling for the water, and once I began, my mind would be at ease. I swam for a whole year. I didn’t do any other forms of exercise that year–I swam 1 mile a day, that’s it. That’s what my body was telling me to do, and I listened.

Then it happened that when I turned 34, all I did was run. We had moved to southwest MI and were living right on Lake Michigan. During the summer months I would run and then jump in the lake, so I still got my water fix. It was wonderful. What was happening during these runs was so peaceful, it truly was a form of meditation. But what else was starting to happen was that I was forming a renewed relationship with God.

It was my prayer time. Remember: I’m wearing no headphones, no gadgets, just listening, breathing, and being. At times during my runs I would hear the voice, and it was so profound that I thought I might be going crazy–the voice one can call intuition, God, Universe, I call Jesus. As you’ll read in a later blog, that voice ended up helping me through some of my rock bottom moments, and we are still connected today. And it’s all good.

◊♦◊

I kept training for several years with an amazing new trainer. Then wham! Boom! My marriage and business and everything around me started falling apart. I could no longer do the HIT/boxing workout, but I still kept running a priority. It was a grounding place I could return to, over and over, to come back to myself. It’s always important during any crisis or time of major shift that we take care of ourselves physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.

Right before I turned 44, my heel starting bothering me while I was running. One may call it Plantar Fasciitis. In fact, I bought into the diagnosis for a bit. However, my inner knowingness, my body, my mind, and my spirit were calling for yoga… I kept hearing that this is where I would go to heal.

It’s never too late to make your body a priority and to bring the spiritual side in as well.

Someone had introduced me to yoga six years prior, and I walked out–I wasn’t ready. Now, almost 1.5 years after beginning my yoga practice, I’m in the best physical shape of my life. More significantly, I’ve grown spiritually along the way. Yoga helped get me through some of the darkest days of my life. More importantly, I found the ultimate spiritual/physical workout. All my prior training had gotten me prepared for this practice.

My 33-year-old trainer is now experimenting with boxing and yoga to teach his body new ways of moving. I get that, because I’ve been there–our bodies are smart and guide us to change when we’ve exhausted a certain workout or movement pattern for a specific time.

I’ll end by stating I was a smoker for twenty years, and successfully quit cold turkey at 39. Now, I do yoga daily, and mix in a HIT training and a run once a week. My body has evolved; it can adjust to anything, anytime. It’s never too late to make your body a priority and to bring the spiritual side in as well.

This article was originally published on The Humble Warrior. Read the original here.