Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Affordances - Spirituality Blog 3/6

There are three main affordances that I have mindfully constructed around this activity I do. These include spirituality, aesthetics and physical affordances. These will be discussed over the next three blogs.

Spirituality. "Recreation must not be neglected. You well know the power for good and evil the mind has over the body" (Stables, 2006, p. 18). There is room to feel connected with the universe through exercise, and especially be connected with your internal spirituality. This quote by Gordon Stables (2006) depicts this well. Exercise for me is about connecting the mind and the body.

The bead of sweat I talked about? It was the beginning of many that day. The only reason there were so many was as a result of the communication going on inside my head. "Keep going, earn your break!" and with that I was able to break the barrier and keep going. There is always a constant battle of voices going on in my head when it comes to doing cardio. Sometimes I think to myself if all this effort is worth it. However, I remind myself by going to the gym and achieving my goals it gives me a resound sense of meaning. It reminds me to be at peace with myself, and denote all the stress that is happening in my life. Exercise can also be a celebratory event for me, especially when I achieve something I didn’t think I could. This is a valid measure of my internal spirituality.

I had initially thought that spirituality had to be something religious but when you take the inspiration and motivation one receives from partaking in exercise, it is evident that exercise becomes part of the person. The activity gifts the person a sense of meaning, it gifts them the ability to be at peace with not only themselves, but the world around them. I consider myself very spiritual.

Stables, G. (2006). Health and beauty the natural way. New Jersey: Home Farm Books.

4 comments:

  1. LUCY ! love this post, it fully brings together the meaning of spirituality for not only your chosen activity but for much more than this. The only thing i could pick up on is word count :) but allowances for 10% under or over, i think youll be fine.
    well done

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  2. Thanks Jessie! I'm about to cut some words so watch this space. I agree, I feel very spiritual when doing my activity. :)

    Thanks!

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  3. Hi Lucy,

    I really enjoyed reading about spirituality in the aspect of your activity! I can really relate well with your comment regarding exercise being a celebratory event. Have you ever thought about the possible ethics around exercising? For example the burden of finding the time and energy to do it amongst your busy life as a student?

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  4. Hi Alex,

    I often struggle with the burden of time. Its the bane of my life at the moment but I often find it can be a positive too. Finding the time, even if it is for a 30minute walk can often increase my ability to perform as a student, make me more focused and motivated to achieve and often is used as a stress release.. other burdens include the $$ associated with exercise, however, its by choice I go to a gym.

    Overall I think when it comes to ethics the good outweighs the bad when it comes to exercise.

    Cheers Alex.

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