Exercise is for the Body, Mind and Spirit
by Daniel O’Rourke • Cassadaga, NY

When we think of exercise, most of us consider only physical activity. The word conjures up images of treadmills, rowing machines and jogging tracks, but that’s only part of it. Exercise has come to mean much more.

Exercise is both verb and noun. It’s the action and the activity. It’s the act of doing and something done. I can exercise my body playing tennis, my mind by reading serious books, or my spirit with yoga. But the tennis, the reading and the yoga are themselves exercises. The bottom line, however, is that human beings are wired to move their bodies, minds and spirits. The quality of our living depends on it.

Physiologist Frank Booth, Ph. D. , at the University of Missouri has written about the “sedentary death syndrome.” According to Booth, a lack of physical exercise characteristic of the increasingly common couch-potato lifestyle actually shortens lives in the United States. In an interview in “Men’s Fitness,” Booth points out that three major causes of death: colon cancer, coronary artery disease and type-two diabetes would be preventable if people were not so sedentary. Of course, diet is extremely important, but exercise is imperative. It also helps with stress reduction.

The exercises Booth recommends are not earth moving or life shaking. He suggests people start walking, gardening or playing outdoors with their children. Don’t just watch the children play; play with them. They’ll get us moving and it’s movement we need.

Susan Tannen reminds us in her article “Mental Fitness – Exercises for the Brain,” that just as physical exercise maintains body-tone, strength, and endurance, mental exercise also provides positive conditioning. “Not surprisingly,” she says, “The same advice we follow to achieve physical fitness applies to mental fitness -- "use it or lose it." Just as daily weight repetitions in the gym or jogging strengthen certain muscle groups, mental exercises will, over time, strengthen and enhance cognitive functions.”

Major studies on aging in both Europe and this country conclude that mental decline with aging is not inevitable. That’s good news for seniors, but it also confirms the need for mental exercise for all age groups.

Monique Le Poncin, founder of the French National Institute for Research on the Prevention of Cerebral Aging and author of the book “Brain Fitness” offers practical advice. Play games. All games entail some sort of logical thinking. Play them with children or friends. They force us to think. Play card games such as pinochle or bridge, or board games like chess or checkers. Vary the games so your brain doesn’t slip into mental and neurological ruts. Once in a while play hearts instead of gin rummy. Do anagrams instead of crosswords. Work with jigsaw puzzles. Exercise your mind.

Then there are spiritual exercises; ironically for many, spirituality means only silence, calmness and solitude. It’s that but much more. It’s also coming down from mountaintop meditations into the market place. It’s feeding the hungry, visiting the sick and consoling the grieving. The silent spiritual exercises sear the values into the soul that later bear fruit in activity.

Yoga and meditation entail silence as they lead us to mindfulness and self -knowledge. They deepen our sense of self and at the same time lift us beyond self. They are exercises for the spirit, but all spiritual exercises aren’t quiet and calm. Working at soup kitchens, going to AA meetings or attending church are also spiritual exercises. Church and AA can give us serenity, courage, wisdom and grace. These too reduce stress and anger making it possible to live spiritually.

The distinctions, however, between physical, mental and spiritual exercises can be misleading. The division is not mechanistic. There is great overlap. Physical exercise can clear your mind. By increasing endorphins, it often provides a natural high. Yoga and Tai Chi are both physical and spiritual at the same time. They exercise our bodies and spirits.

In a curious commingling of the mental and spiritual, during World War II the Japanese military trained some officers in Zen, not for the spiritual benefits of the exercise but for its mental ones. The military thought Zen would help its officers to focus and think more clearly.

Nor should we forget exercise’s social implication. Social interaction is extremely important to living fully. Anyone who has ever played cards with friends, walked with a group, competed in tennis with partners, or worked in a soup kitchen knows this well. The exercise brings us together in shared experiences that deepen friendships and build communities. Exercise your body, mind and spirit. Your life will be longer, deeper and richer.

Daniel O’Rourke is a married Catholic priest, retired from the administration at State University of N.Y. at Fredonia and currently a newspaper columnist for The Observer, in Dunkirk, NY. His new book, Spirit at Your Back, ©2007, is a collection of his previous columns. To contact: orourke@netsync.net. (see Book Reviews)