Living With Heart

by Candace A. Croft

Workout for Heart  

            “How about lunch?”

            “I really need a workout.  Come with me.  We can grab a couple of salads afterward.”

            Most of us would probably view that conversation as fairly common in today’s workplace.  Maintaining physical fitness requires planning and effort, focus and commitment.  Juggling business meetings, corporate demands, commuter timetables, day care arrangements, spouses, dinners, and aerobic class schedules—whew!—we somehow manage to integrate exercise into our daily lives. 

Practicality is the watchword.  Designer suits smartly accessorized with cross-training shoes and athletic socks ease commutes.  We carry briefcases in hand and workout bags over the shoulder filled with enough provisions to see a person through a heart-pumping, muscle-toning, stress-reducing regimen—or an Army bivouac exercise.  Offices sport playthings to decrease tension, normalize blood pressure, curb headaches, and relieve anxiety.  All this is done to attain a healthy body and mind functioning at peak capacity for as long as we can beat the odds.  I’m surprised we don’t drop dead from the sheer exhaustion of it all.

            We expend the effort in an attempt to squeeze as much life as possible from our lives which won’t be worth beans when we ultimately and inevitably pass on because, as my grandmother would say in reference to those physiques, “You can’t take it with you.”  She lived before the no-fat, low-cholesterol, reduced-carbohydrate, high-protein years and what held true then, holds true now.

            Of course, we would be foolish to neglect physical fitness.  Without question, the investment of a few minutes each week nets some great benefits.  Better well-being.  Tight muscles.  Improved concentration.  Increased confidence.  Yet, if we are willing to expend energy for something only valuable while on the material plane, why do we ignore that which we will carry with us into the next dimension?  Why not work to strengthen what remains with us always?  Training firms our physical shells, true, but when did we last condition our cores to keep them finely tuned?  We swallow spring water and recommended requirements of vitamins and minerals to keep from drying-out.  When did we last take a dose of spirituality to keep our souls young, refreshed, and full of the juice of life?  Perhaps we overlook the essentials because of a mistaken belief that what cannot be seen and touched, we need not worry about.

            The women at the beginning of this piece subscribe to nurturing spiritmindbody in its entirety.  What they discussed was not a physical workout, but a 20-minute romp of a spiritual nature, a quiet talk with their inner selves.

            The weft of spiritual fabric is improved when we weave soul-reviving activities into our schedules.  Lose the idea that physical inactivity is akin to laziness.  Close the door to distractions.  Activate the voice mail on your phone.  Remove the capital “S” from your chest.  Relax.  Meditate.  Forget the no-pain, no-gain rule and treat yourself to an aromatherapy massage or scented bath.  Stand on your head and gain a new perspective.  Let champagne tickle your nose for no good reason. Needlepoint, paint by numbers, write poetry.  Whistle or hum a happy song.  Couldn’t carry a tune with a crane?  Listen to soothing music performed by someone else.  Be a pretzel and bend into various positions of the Kama Sutra sans partner in a yoga class.  The possibilities are as infinite as your imagination.

            Don’t know how to meditate or do yoga?  Don’t have access to massage and baths in the middle of your day?  Your boss specifically prohibits joyous tunes?  Well, you’re not off the hook. Step outdoors and release the child inside.  Observe the clouds, your mind floating as free as those balls of evolving fluff.  Stroll through a park.  Watch the ducks.  Be mesmerized by water.  Walk barefoot.  Run through a sprinkler.  Whirl like a helicopter blade until you fall to the ground, seeing stars.  Blow soap bubbles and chase them through the air.  Skip down the street in beat with your spirit.  Bend like a tree in the wind.  Notice the crazy things others do, then you won’t feel alone.

            Stormy day?  Aren’t we full of excuses!  Unearth a palette of watercolors or box of crayons—preferably one with a sharpener on the back and a host of colors that lets you express all the tints and shadings of your true self—and doodle or color in a coloring book.  It is a therapy so basic and tried-and-true, it isn’t even third-party reimbursable.

            Whatever approach you choose, remember to begin and end your spiritual workout with three deep breaths.  Without a transition, you might experience the equivalent of muscle cramps when your boss rudely pushes your spirit out of the way to inquire about a project or feel the bends when your spouse or children come crashing back into your life.

            Souls require spirited exercise to stay in shape.  They demand stretching to provide wise guidance and creative energy and need flexing to guard against negative daily intrusions that come in the form of harsh criticisms, put-downs, humiliations, doubts, and fears.

Store the excuses.  Incorporating spiritual conditioning into your routine might be easier than you think.  It takes no more time than physical exercise, usually less.  It requires no gym.  No special equipment.  No joining fees or membership dues.  No sweat.  No shortness of breath.  No muscle exhaustion.  Best of all, you can get out of bed the next day.  Give it a try.  It’s a great way to—