Finding Faith in Fitness

When I was pursuing my degree in Exercise and Sport Science at Oregon State University, I had the privilege of attending a lecture series about the Psychosocial Dimensions of Fitness and Sports. No other class in all those four long years excited me more, because the professor finally highlighted a truth I was raised to believe: That our heart, souls, minds and strengths are all connected in the pursuit of something greater than ourselves.

The professor divided wellness into six categories: physical, emotional, spiritual, environmental, social, and mental fitness. Each affects the other. If one is out of balance, the inevitable will happen and the others will slowly lose balance as well. If one domino falls, the others also fall. 

Of course, just as people pursue physical fitness in different ways such as running, skiing, swimming or doing Yoga and Pilates, so do people pursue spiritual fitness and mental fitness. I have friends that do crossword puzzles or attend workshops to keep their minds sharp. Likewise, some of my friends pursue the divine in church while others find the sacred in the outdoors or in music. 

The important thing is not that we all do any of these categories of fitness in the same way. We aren’t the same, so how would that work anyway? The important thing is that we ARE PURSUING truth and fulfillment in all of those areas, that we are pursuing social wellness, environmental wellness and spiritual wellness, that we never shut our hearts and minds to the discussion of tricep dips or the Divine or dancing. 

I sometimes get flack for offering heart meditations at the end or in the middle of my teaching sessions. But I cannot help myself! For me, the elements of wellness are so interwoven, that exercise makes my heart overflow with images of the earth and the spiritual and my family, hopes, fears and dreams … Perhaps this is because exercise makes us breathe deeper. When we breathe deeper, we get more oxygen which stimulates our brains and hormonal glands. We think deeper thoughts when we breathe deeper. It’s all connected…