Last Saturday, I popped in an at-home workout DVD and quickly realized that wasn’t what my body or soul wanted at the time. For whatever reason, I just preferred to stretch in a really gentle nature. So, I tried another DVD. That wasn’t it, either. I then put the DVD idea down and did my own thing, realizing that what I was seeking was to stretch in SILENCE and LISTEN closely to God and my unique stretching needs. As a result, a deep sense of peace overcame me, and I even encountered some new warm-up ideas to share at the ZoeHygiea “Stretch, Strengthen & Relax” classes I teach.
While resting in some of the stretches on my exercise mat, I quietly incorporated a little reading about the history of the ancient Ethiopian Orthodox Church (EOC), an Apostolic Church of which I am a member. I also prayed a few prayers from the EOC Liturgy. My body and soul lined up with just what they needed at the time: simple stretching blended with concentrated time with God, inwardly and outwardly. How quickly I went from feeling restless to that of calm! It was as if I tuned in to a crystal-clear radio station. The light breeze blowing through the sliding door added to the experience. God is here. I can feel His Peaceful Presence, I noted.
It was at the moment I turned off the external sound and began gently stretching my body that I became more aligned with God’s quiet Presence around and within me. It OFTEN works that way for me, and that’s why I love a blend of the two: physical and spiritual exercises. In fact, quite frankly, I consistently crave this combo.
“That is how it should work: body and soul in harmony with its Maker,” says Etta Hornsteiner, author of The Ten Guiding Lights to Health and Wholeness. “However, for many, the body and soul oppose each other. An easy example to see this disharmony is in an addict. The two will only work together when they both surrender to the will of God. Then, they can both be instruments in the Hand of God. This is what we need to do, and you’re using stretching as a metaphor to show us this harmony between body and soul. I feel you’re showing a powerful connection between movement and the Spirit/Word. It’s like moving in the Spirit.”
What is it about physical exercise that has the potential to pull us deeply into the Presence of God?
In The Body in Orthodox Theology by His Eminence Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou and translated by John Sanidopoulos, Saint John of Damascus, “a leading theologian of the Orthodox Church,” says:
“The creation of man consisting of soul and body took place simultaneously… Body and soul were formed at one and the same time, not first the one and then the other.”
And, as stated in Genesis 2:7:
“Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.”
Also explained in The Body in Orthodox Theology: “There is a close unity between soul and body and they cannot be separate from each other. The rational soul uses the body as an instrument and provides it life, growth and generation.”
“Because the soul is united with the body,” it’s quite natural that they would work together. “The characteristic attributes of the soul are piety (devotion, reverence) and cognition (perception, understanding), but because the soul is united with the body, that is why the virtues are ‘common to soul and body.’ And that is precisely the reason the soul uses the body as an instrument.”
Selah (pause)!
Take a moment to really chew on this statement: “The soul uses the body as an instrument.” Think about what this means for you! I’m loving this way of looking at it, because it helps me more deeply connect the dots for why it seems so natural for me to physically stretch my body and seek God at the same time.
Bottom line: My soul is using my body as an instrument; my soul is using my body as a vehicle (stretching) to assist me in seeking God on an intimate level. Do you have a specific way that your soul uses your body as an instrument for intimately connecting with God?
