So I’ve seen the T-Shirts “Bodybuilding is my Religion and The Gym is My Church” or “I Belong to the Church of Iron” and yeah those are fun but this post is actually about looking for a more serious connection between those of us who spend a considerable amount of time in the gym and spirituality in general.
I talk about Spiritual Health in the Wellness Vectors page on this site. Let’s explore the topic a bit more and see what kinds of interesting associations come up.
According to The National Cancer Institute spirituality is defined as
An individual’s sense of peace, purpose and connection
to others and beliefs about the meaning of life.
and according to Dr. Harold G Koenig, M.D. spirituality is:
A person’s question for understanding answers to ultimate questions about life, about meaning, and about our relationship with the sacred or transcendent.
OK, so how to either of these map to the gym? Well, let’s first look at something that’s a little more obvious, or at least a practice that is more commonly associated with spirituality, yoga. Why is that? Well, yoga promotes meditation through stretching, controlled deep breathing and a calm and quiet atmosphere. It’s essentially a means to promote relaxation or a state of mind and body where one can be “in the moment”. So I submit that any such activity furthers ones own spirituality assuming that the activity promotes this same state of mind and body. People are different (thank goodness) and what works for one person, or group of people, isn’t always going to be what works for another. In fact, according to Health: The Basics:
Training your body to improve your spiritual health doesn’t necessarily require you to engage in a formal practice such as yoga. By energizing your body and sharpening your mental focus, jogging, biking, aerobics, dance, or any other exercise that you do regularly can contribute to your spiritual health.
In my case, and for many others I’m sure, the regular practice of lifting weights (or whatever you do at the gym) provides me with an opportunity to focus. It’s a special time each day that I can count on for certain things:
- Physical activity for stress relief
- Sense of accomplishment both short term and long term (execute my plan for the day and continue to execute on my long term plan for total wellness)
- Music therapy as I like to call it; a good solid dose of whatever I’m in the mood for to take my mind off of whatever challenges are ahead for the day (or were faced during the day)
- Endorphin release – a lifting of my mood whatever it is when I start its better when I finish
- All of the goodness that comes with increased physical health (way too many things to list here)
- Guaranteed time to think
- An opportunity to share a passion/commitment with like minded people
So if the gym is my church, what is my religion?
I’ve read some good stuff here. Definitely worth bookmarking for revisiting. I surprise how much effort you put to make such a wonderful informative website.