Do you have practices for your physical health?  Not that you’re perfect, or perfectly disciplined, but do you keep trying?  I try to do some calisthenic-type things first thing, before I have my coffee and I walk with Nordic Walking Poles (yes I do, and I love it. It fits all my criteria: requires minimal gear, is outside, there is no membership fee and I can leave right from my front door).

But I felt sick this morning and so I bypassed my exercises to wrap myself in a blanket with a cup of tea.  It got me thinking about whether one could call spiritual practices, ‘calisthenics for the soul’ — not the mind, which is quite a different sort of practice, but the soul. How would they differ from physical practices? How would I describe my own?  So, while I’m not saying these are complete, or right for everyone, I practice them often enough that for me they are calisthenics that keep my soul heading toward healthy and vigorous *. There’s an irony here of course that pokes at the heart of spiritual practices: doing and being.  So tell me, what do your ‘calisthenics for the soul’ look like?

Calisthenics for the Soul

Sit and breathe
in, out; awakening
your body – participate
and connect.

Stop just doing,
resist tomorrow’s lure
let yesterday close;
everything is here.

Release it –
whatever it is
return to the word
return to The Word

And enter
the spaciousness
of the Mercy
that holds you.

© 2016 – Laurel Archer

* Calisthenics are defined as: gymnastic exercises designed to develop physical health and vigor, usually performed with little or no special apparatus.  

Photo – John doing ‘vacation soul calisthenics’ somewhere on the Oregon/California coastline.