Dance Party

My recent riffs on the life of the mind lead naturally to the idea of the “whole person” we hear so much about. All my life I’ve met people who are distinctly not whole…they are either hyper-intellectual brains on sticks or hyper-physical, no thought operators. Our Roman friend Juvenal is credited with the famous saying, “mens sana in corpore sano” … a sound mind in a sound body. The saying points the way to the integrated being we all seek to be.

To achieve the integration, certain traits must be in place and the chief factors are intention, discipline and enthusiasm. Unfortunately, our bodies do not usually move without our intention. You have to walk to the freezer to get ice cream and you often have to show up to work to get paid but nothing happens unless you will it so. We make many contracts with ourselves regarding what we will – and will not-do.

Being physically sound requires repetition, a disciplined, recurring effort that leads to results. After 25 years of coaching I find that repetition is at the very bottom of what people see as enjoyable. It is the only path and just be followed with the devotion a disciple grants a prophet. Reps can be spirit killing but there are ways to make them more palatable. I used to tell the athletes that I worked with that I only knew one thing with absolute certainty about people and athletics. It is the fact that if an activity is not fun, we will quit doing it.

A novice runner in one of the classes my wife taught (I assisted) said she couldn’t imagine running long distances over a long period of time. I asked if she ever, “danced all night” with her partner and she shared that she had done so often. Clearly, the high physical demands and repeated steps in one activity were perceived as fun while the other was seen as work…or worse. It is at these times that enthusiasm comes in. You are having too much fun in the action at hand that pain and fatigue are no longer factors. I have seen a few athletes break through to that magical place where no distance is too far.

The other day I read the advice of a personal trainer who suggested that when you embark on a program of physical activity you should write a mission statement to clarify the things we are talking about…your intention, the depths of your discipline and your capacity for fun.

As I get older my mission is maintenance and mind/body integration. I hope to function at a high level for many years and to do it as an integrated, psychosomatic organism. The days of wanting to win the championship or set new personal records has passed but I still retain some discipline and enthusiasm. I am at the point that Albert Einstein described: “Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.”

Sound mind in a sound body…it should help you keep dancing.