Stretching...Body, Mind And Spirit

Exercises of various kinds


This week was long, interesting, and in some ways, painful.  I began the week by going to an exercise class with my gorgeous cousin, Judy, who had guest passes at her health club and shared the morning with me.  The class is called Body Flow, and it is a blend of yoga, Pilates and Tai Chi.  It lasted one hour and, while it stretched and challenged my body, I made it through the whole class without stopping and/or dying!  I consider that a victory.  I experienced some soreness for a couple of days afterward, but I expected to be sore so it wasn't a surprise.  This was much different from my normal routine of walking and resistance bands, after all.

A word about Christians and yoga.  I am only speaking for myself here.  I know many Christians think that  yoga is not appropriate for us because of its Eastern origins and emphasis on meditation.  My experience with yoga is limited, but what I enjoyed about it was the physical stretching it provided for my muscles and the improvement in flexibility I felt for days afterward as a result.  My personal meditations during the yoga classes I went to were prayers that Jesus would help me get through the class, that my body would benefit and, ultimately, that I could improve my health and serve Him better.  So judge me if you must, but yoga, if I approach it in this manner, might be the best exercise I can do.

After class, we enjoyed a healthy lunch and some much-needed girl time and conversation.  Sharing time like this with friends and family is so important, because so many areas of life pinch us into tiny corners of existence, spaces that are uncomfortable in many ways, limiting how we live our lives and express ourselves. Human beings need the spiritual, emotional and physical room to stretch, to enlarge ourselves...even as I try to reduce the size of my body I am aware of this paradox.  I need to stretch in order to shrink!

Every night this week my chorus rehearsed late for our performances with the city's symphony orchestra of Giuseppe Verdi's Requiem.  A standard of classical repertoire and one of the most demanding works in all of choral literature, the Verdi is something I had somehow never rehearsed or performed.  I am proud to say that I have survived my first experience with this work and my voice is intact!  One of the rehearsals almost did me in, however.  My back has been bothering me and I had a muscle cramp in between my ribs and a major dip in my blood sugar.  A blood sugar crash is one of the most unpleasant experiences one can imagine.  I began to feel faint, to sweat heavily and then to feel as though I might throw up.  So before the first half of rehearsal was done, I left the stage for some air, a chance to stretch my back, and a protein bar.  Not that I have a lot of color in my face to begin with, but looking in the backstage mirror was a shock because I had never seen myself that pale.  After resting and eating a bite, I was able to return for the second half and got through the remainder of practice fine, thanks in part to my friend Ronda's willingness to trade seats with me and let me move back to the second row.  I figured if I needed to sit, it would be less noticeable there, and she was gracious to let me switch seats with her.  On performance day I made sure that I ate enough throughout the day and immediately before the concert, and aside from the risers being uncomfortable (which they always are) I got through the concert feeling really good.  Singing a work that was brand-new to me was a wonderful exercise, musically, intellectually and emotionally...and singing is actually a pretty physical activity as well!

This concert concludes my chorus's spring season and we begin our summer break, so my Monday nights will be open for a few months.  I hope to find an exercise/yoga class over the summer that I can do during that time to get my body and mind stretched, limbered up and supple.  If not, my friend Sarah recommended that I start with beginning yoga DVDs, and that might be a great option at home.  I need to work on balance and flexibility in both my body and the rest of my life.

I think most of us do, if we are being honest.  So during the time on Monday nights when I am usually "gettin' my scream on!"  I will hope to start "gettin' my stretch on!".  My body, mind and spirit are a constant work in progress, and different kinds of exercise can only benefit me as I continue my journey with weight loss and spiritual growth.