This morning, I was eating breakfast with one of the yoga instructors from my Hawaiian retreat at Kalani. We were talking about exercise, and how people can really use their time at the gym to connect with their bodies, life and their inner radiance.
For some people, going to the gym can be frustrating. Their mantra might be, “I hate being fat, I hate being fat, I hate being fat.” And as they exercise, they marinate themselves and their bodies in this negative energy.
But going the gym can also be a much deeper, more glorious experience. Through the breath and present moment awareness, working out can be an expression of your glory. I often joke that the gym is “gay church” – but in some ways, it really can be a house of worship. It can be a time where we go within and connect and ground ourselves to the source. By seeing exercise in this new light, we infuse our entire body with positive energy.
The next time you honor your body with the gift of exercise, I invite you to make the experience more loving and more radiant through your thoughts, words and actions.
Correct me if I’m wrong but… I have noticed that myself, when I am working hard at the gym, I take a good time out to have a quick look at the other guys there with nice bodies. It helps me in a lot of ways, one it gives me a break so that im not thinking so much about how hard I am trying. But my 2nd and most important is that when i see a nice shaped and well built body, It pushes me further because all I can think is “someday, soon enough, I will be like that. But it’s not gonna happen if I don’t keep it up”.
Just thought that can be seen as a bit perverted xD.
Michael Silvester you took from my fingers the exact idea I were about to write → But my 2nd and most important is that when i see a nice shaped and well built body, It pushes me further because all I can think is “someday, soon enough, I will be like that. But it’s not gonna happen if I don’t keep it up”.
I 100% agree with you!!! ☺
I totally agree Davey Wavey — the more we all can use exercise/movement of some form as a meditative, uplifting and energizing pursuit versus a place to judge ourselves (or each other) poorly, the stronger we’ll be as a community. The gym has certainly been my “gay church” for quite some time as is hiking in nature.
In a place of worship people come together to be in presence of the devine.
In the gym i get confused as there are so many Gods ‘want to be’ i wouldn’t know where to look for the devine.
I will take on your advice. Maybe i will find the devine within.
I actually found an alternative. A synagogue… its called Prada and it is in Via Montenapoleone 6, Milan evey time I enter i make a prayer and Miuccia my Rabbi is always there.
See, If you can’t sculpt a greek God body in the gym you can always cover it with Italian luxury goods and get away at least until the morning after…
Lots of love david Mack Milan, Capital of fashion
so true! i love what you said about the “expression of your glory.” i use the aero dance now to move from my inner body, to move to the rhythm, and i enjoy it so much! before the exercise or during breaks, i ask for the light to flow through me and heal me as i move. i think of my movements as healing, and so do them fully, and in a way that gives me the greatest pleasure (this usually means no shirking; being sure to really move the hips or hands all the way around) – out of respect for the healing dance that i am doing. and you are right, it is a divine experience. i can feel my soul glorying in the abilities and strength of my physical body, and it is this inner sense that corrects my movements, lifting my hands, straightening my back, and making the movements feel more “right,” and utterly pleasurable. this is “church” in the best sense!
I loved this article, AMEN! I go to the gym to lose weight but also it’s part of being proud of what I am doing and who I am! I take the time to relax and de-stress. Plus, I need to add Davey is soooo wise and dead on with the drop dead gorgeous guys, that guy is by far the hottest guys I have seen on this blog!
i definitely said “oh god” when i saw that picture. and yes, going to the gym is probably more of a spiritual experience than i ever had in a church, and it’s probably the place where i can best meditate, especially when on the treadmill.