Voices
ies fitter are deeply connected to
the fitness of our inner selves, but
gyms make it hard to feel that connection. They don’t allow for the
kind of solitude and mindfulness
that we can get communing with
nature on an outdoor run. And,
overly muscled pickups aside, they
aren’t very conducive to making any real social connection. A
person watching her own screen
while walking on a treadmill next
to another person watching another screen while walking on a
treadmill is like a metaphor for
our modern life. It’s what we do at
work, at home and at the gym.
This is why Nicholas Miriello, a
senior blog editor at HuffPost, prefers to use his daily run not just for
his body but for his mind. “On the
subway, on the street, in the car between traffic lights, or worse, while
driving, while watching television,
while at work, while lying in bed,
etc., we are glued to our phones, to
our email, to our Twitter and Facebook and Instagram and Pinterest,”
he writes. So for him, running is the
one time he has to disconnect. And
“soon after the moment of disconnect,” he writes, “I find myself actually connected. Connected with my
surroundings, with my thoughts,
with my body, with myself.”
ARIANNA
HUFFINGTON
It’s a hard experience to replicate at an indoor facility. But,
fortunately, that’s beginning to
change. The Guardian’s Nicole
Mowbray writes about the growing
trend of the “calm workout,” which
she describes as “a new breed of
holistic workout that promises to
care for your head as well as your
heart.” For instance, there’s Psycle,
which offers spinning classes in
rooms with low lights and calming
music and features a “free time”
break during the class. According to the company, its philosophy is inspired by the belief that
“your state of mind is key to how
often and how hard you exercise.”
There’s also CardioLates, which
combines spin and Pilates; Third
Space, which offers the services of
“wellness doctors”; and Spynga,
which is part spin, part yoga.
These workouts are part of a
trend driven by the understanding that getting fit doesn’t have to
be so unpleasant. And it’s pretty
simple to see that if we make exercise a more inviting and more
rewarding experience, we’ll do it
more often. If we’re going to redefine success to include well-being,
we also need to redefine getting in
shape to include mental
and soul fitness.
HUFFINGTON
03.16-23.14