Tuesday, April 10, 2007

iPod, I exercise

I passed my time on the stationary bike at the gym yesterday listening to my iPod. This was actually the first time I had done that, (usually I read a magazine) but the reason I felt it was worth blogging about is not because I've finally done something that a lot of people do routinely, but because I noticed in that activity that I was bringing together two spiritual pursuits very different but both very important to me.

Exercise and physical health are important pathways to the spiritual for me. My most effective prayer time is when I'm taking a long run or bicycle ride. And just being in good physical shape lifts my spirits in many ways. I feel strong. I feel happy. I feel attractive, which makes me more social. I feel more mentally focused, and emotionally balanced.

The music I was listening to was the rehearsal disc for the songs the Gay Men's Chorus will be singing at our concert in two weeks. It's coming down to the wire now and I need to get everything memorized. The Chorus is spiritual for me in two ways. There is the aesthetic beauty of the music, which can be thrilling in not exactly the same way as spiritual ecstasy, but certainly inspiring. And then there's the more directly spiritual aspect of adding my voice, my talent, my particular gift, to the combined gifts of all the other chorus members to create our collective achievment.

I imagined all the Chorus members that afternoon and all during the last two months in all their various ways finding time to study their scores, and work out the parts, practicing, and memorizing, not to mention making sure our tuxes are clean, and building the sets, and selling tickets, and me there, on the bike at the gym, one of them, all arriving together at a moment of fun and beauty, the concert in a week and a half, which is itself a gift to a larger community.

2 comments:

Lizard Eater said...

Plus, there's research showing that those who listen to tunes while exercising will usually work harder and longer. Enjoy!

Rick Hoyt-McDaniels said...

i always ride the bike set to a timed program so I don't think it would make me ride any longer. And as for the rest of the workout I'm stimulated by my own thoughts and talking to the other people. But there is music broadcast in the gym so I suppose I'm exercising to music whether I wear the iPod or not.