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Faith and Fitness: Take Care of the Temple
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October 2, 2023I have recently started exploring things to do, to stretch and strengthen my aching muscles, joints, and bones. Yes, friends, it’s happening; stiffness and pain are setting in. I don’t view myself as a particularly old person, but in the years since CoVid, I have become very sedentary and it has caught up with me.
Some months ago, I discovered an exercise instructor on YouTube. She had a very gentle approach to stretching that I liked, but as the days progressed and I watched more videos, it was clear that she was not Christian and did not keep her religion to herself. During a standard 15 minute stretching routine, she talked a lot about Zen. While I respect Buddhists, I honestly don’t want to be one, or stretch and meditate like one, so I moved on.
Recently, I found out a nearby church was offering yoga classes. I considered getting into yoga some years ago, but while researching it I came across Johnette Benkovic-Williams book, New Age Counterfeit, and articles by Sue Brinkman. Sue Brinkman has done extensive research and has become an expert on New Age spirituality. She recently penned her own book, The Learn to Discern Compendium. The authors make a very compelling argument against Christians adopting this Hindu prayer form as exercise. Yoga positions are prayers to different Hindu deities. This is very serious to me. I am trying to improve my relationship with Jesus, I don’t see how making prank calls to Brahma, Vishnu, or Shiva is going to help.
Interestingly, according to Fr. Mitch Pacwa’s book, Catholics in the New Age, Hindus did not devise yoga to be fitness exercises at all, “the positions are all meant for the practitioner to pay homage to different Hindu gods and to lead the practitioner to enlightenment,” he writes.
Then there is the First Commandment one has to take into account: “You shall not have other gods besides me... you shall not bow down before them or worship them. For I, the LORD, your God, am a jealous God,” from Exodus 20:3-5. That seems pretty straightforward. Again, while I respect adherents of Hinduism, I don’t want to be Hindu or pray like one.
That begs the question, are there forms of exercise that are good for the body and the Catholic soul? The answer is yes! Not too long ago, I learned about SoulCore. SoulCore is an exercise and prayer form that combines core strengthening, stretching, with the prayers of the Holy Rosary. I learned about SoulCore from Simone Key of Stella Maris Center-Coppell, who has a SoulCore instructor on her team. Tamara Baril offered SoulCore at Sunrise during our Stella Maris Island retreat for married couples on Galveston Island in April. (Pictured above)
Tamara explains she discovered SoulCore during a major family transition. “I had just started being a stay at home mom and was looking for a way to include prayer and fitness into my busy schedule,” says Tamara. “My grandmother had just recently passed away and I received her rosary beads. I thought maybe I’d find a way to incorporate the rosary with my exercise. I found SoulCore! It was a perfect fit,” she says
Closer to home, SoulCore instructor Aimee Kindle teaches her fitness classes at Mary Queen Catholic Church in Friendswood, Texas. She says there are definite physical and spiritual benefits to it.
“I have found that through taking and leading SoulCore classes, it not only deepens my prayer but also (meets) my physical needs,” says Aimee. “It is a great opportunity to grow and strengthen your core and flexibility. I have also discovered that it is a beautiful time of prayer and reflection on the mysteries of the Rosary and Jesus’ life,” she adds.
Taking care of the body God gave to us, the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit, corresponds beautifully to our Catholic beliefs that the human person is corporeal and spiritual. Human beings are integrated beings, mind, body and soul.
“It’s all connected,” says Aimee. “You can’t take the body out of the spiritual experience. God created us as whole beings. To not take care of yourself wouldn’t be respecting what God created, so I think it is a beautiful way of incorporating all three,” says Aimee.
“Faith and fitness go hand in hand. When the mind is at its best, the body can perform its best, and vice versa, when the body is at its best the mind is at its most clear and healthful - and I would argue the soul is the third piece of that puzzle and can be transformed when the earthly pieces of the puzzle are cared for,” says Tamara.
To find out more about Aimee Kindle’s SoulCore classes at Mary Queen Catholic Church in Friendswood, Texas, click the link. Tamara’s SoulCore classes at Stella Maris Center-Coppell resume in January of 2024 and will be available live in person and will be accessible online as well. To find out more about Tamara Baril's SoulCore classes at St. Jude Catholic Church in Allen, TX, click on her link.
