SCH 105 Discover the Spiritual Self-Care Benefits of Getting Enough Exercise

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 9:41 — 8.9MB) | Embed

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | Email | Deezer | RSS | More

Who would have thought exercise has spiritual self-care benefits? Listen to this episode to discover the details.

Exercise has Spiritual Self-Care Benefits, Too!

“Wake up,” Pedro whispered and nudged me gently.

“I’m not asleep,” I mumbled. “I’m thinking.”

The pastor droned in the background to my musings. I opened my eyes and immediately noticed a grammatical error on the screen where he illustrated his sermon points. Shifting uncomfortably on the hard wooden pew, I tried to train my mind on the sermon.

When a loud snore erupted from the back row, I couldn’t help but justify my almost-falling-asleep incident. Ha! Other people had problems staying awake in church, too. Although, I confess sitting for more than 20 minutes just about anywhere puts me to sleep. Unless I have a book in my hands.

I can’t blame my fall-asleep-when-I-sit problem entirely on having Hashimoto’s Disease (low thyroid). Nor can I blame it on not getting enough exercise (I get 10K or more steps a day). What would happen if all the congregants sat on yoga balls, I wondered.

I stifled a giggle as I imagined parishioners bouncing quietly during during the sermon. Standing and kneeling would pose a problem, because the balls tend to roll off. I know, because my students all sit on yoga balls. But not a single student has fallen asleep in my classes since I bought yoga balls.

Maybe we could all break out in dance mid-sermon? I almost laughed out loud at the thought of the conservative souls busting out their dance moves (if they even had any).

“Join me in singing the closing hymn,” the pastor said.

My musings came to an abrupt halt. I’d missed most of the sermon again. despite my good intentions when I settled into my pew.

Worshipping together plays a role in a well-rounded spiritual life, but falling asleep during the sermon probably doesn’t. I embarked on a quest to discover whether or not exercise (or movement) has any spiritual self-care benefits. I’ll share what I found in today’s podcast.

Show Notes

Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain by Dr. John Ratey

Sign-Chi-Do Exercises

FREE Self-Care Checklist to help you find your why.

Lubricate your brain with this simple exercise.

If you’ve never heard of the Blue Zones project, you can learn more about it here.

Dance along to this song by Matthew West:

Come Back Next Week

For the month of July I’ll feature bonus episodes from previous seasons of the Self-Care Hacks podcast! I look forward to spending time with family (and working on the condo remodeling project).

• Welcome to the Inspire Me Monday Community! The link-up opens Sundays at 4 pm, Arizona time.
• Link up your family-friendly inspirational posts (no more than two, please).
• Visit the person who links up BOTH before you and after you and leave a comment. This helps keep our community vibrant!