Saunas have always struck me as a place of indulgence for the rich and retired. I was of the opinion that my usual workout routine contained plenty of sweating without having to malinger in a hot box with naked strangers. I had always preferred to spend every precious moment I had at the gym sweating on the Stairmaster, pushing around heavy weights or begrudgingly stretching.

Then I got laid off from my day job and my schedule went from externally frantic and impacted to internally frantic and wide open. I used some of my freed up time and energy to set new fitness goals, develop more targeted workouts and explore aspects of the gym I had previously ignored, including the sauna. One day after riding the bike and working the heck out of my lower body, instead of heading straight for the showers I detoured into the sauna. I put down my towel, laid myself out and waited for something to happen.

At first it felt odd to be lying down and doing nothing at the gym, usually such a physically busy place. I stared up at the criss-crossed boards that made up the ceiling and tried to relax. After a moment, I could feel the heat beginning to penetrate my body, causing my skin to tingle and flush. I could feel the heat like a persistent lover determinedly making its way inward, working its way toward my tired muscles. I became hyper aware of the feel of my skin and the interesting feeling of my body interacting with the hotness. Another woman was having her own sauna experience on a bench across from me, but we did not speak. The heat and quiet wrapped themselves around me and I closed my eyes.

In this busy, fast paced world who doesn’t appreciate a little help to enter into a calmer state of mind? The sauna can be a meditative shoehorn to ease you into a more relaxed place and like the labyrinth, (see November 9th entry) is another useful tool. There are no reading materials, I PODS, computers or idle chatter in the sauna and we are relieved of the modern stimulates that keep us wired and given a rare opportunity to tune into our physical selves at rest. So often at the gym, and in life, its push!, push!, push! We feel the burn and then do five more reps, come to the point of mild discomfort and then hold the stretch, force out ten more minutes of aching lungs on the treadmill. No wonder so many people consider the gym a house of horrors.

The sauna does not allow pushing or competing and is great for balancing the more active parts of a workout. Spending time in the sauna can be a great transition from the charged effort of a workout to a more mellow post workout state of being. The process is cleansing for the entire body and a great relaxation technique.

On my way home that first day I experienced a warm, full-body glow. My skin seemed to be breathing on its own and I felt light from the inside out. Ahhh…the relaxers high! I am now a dedicated sauna convert and it has become my reward at the end of every workout.

The sauna is a five to ten minute gift of mental and physical health that you can easily give yourself. Don’t wait until you’re old, well married or unemployed to reap the rewards that the sauna has to offer. You could be a few minutes away from heaven in your own body.

The benefits of meditation are remarkable and continue to be documented. The practice has been shown to reverse heart disease, enhance the immune system, reduce pain and create feelings of calm and general grooviness. The problem is that sitting meditation requires the ability to sit still; which for many people can be a real obstacle to success. If you are stressed out and haven’t found a regular relaxation practice that works for you, perhaps a journey into the labyrinth is just what you need.

I had my first labyrinth experience on a breezy afternoon in San Francisco’s Duboce Park, making sure I was nice and pre-stressed by illegally parking to get there. Labyrinths have been used as a meditative tool by many cultures including Celtic, Mayan, Greek and Native American since prehistoric times. I already felt more connected to humankind as I thought about the mega stresses that people were dealing with thousands of years ago and was impressed that such varied cultures had caught onto this practice.

Labyrinths are often confused with mazes, but there are a couple of key differences. A labyrinth has only one winding path, you can’t get lost (physically anyway) and there are no minotaurs waiting to eat you. Also, labyrinths are flat and the path is never concealed. They can be made of almost any material but the most common are stone, masonry, tile or canvas. The labyrinth at Duboce Park is sandblasted into the concrete and includes a table-top finger labyrinth for the vision impaired. The typical practice is to walk from the outside to the center, pause for contemplation and then retrace the path back to the beginning.

The labyrinth adds some action to the quiet and focus of meditation and asks you to observe yourself on the journey. There are lots of different ways to approach the process of walking a labyrinth, from focusing on your breath, the feel of your feet (bare or not) on the path, your God or something else in your life that needs attention. You can see the labyrinth as a metaphor for the many journeys of life and also as adding some helpful structure to your meditative practice.

After my walk I felt calmer, more connected to my own body and more in the moment. I wonder what that the labyrinth has in store for you?

All stressed out with no where to go? To find a labyrinth near you visit the world wide labyrinth location.

http://wwll.veriditas.labyrinthsociety.org/

More information on walking Meditation (no labyrinth required)

www.wildmind.org/walking/introduction.com

Online labyrinth tool (no walking required)

http://www.gracecathedral.org/labyrinth/interactions/index.shtml#

The Downsides of Passion

Are you lucky enough to have found your soul-sport? A soul-sport is the activity that you would choose before any other and that you feel good, strong and confident doing. Other signs of a soul sport is thinking about it when you aren’t doing it, lusting after the latest equipment and irritating other people with your devotion.Finding a soul-sport, much like finding a soul-mate, is a wonderful thing; but you should be aware of potential problems that can be created by your devotion.

Too Much Lovin’

We all agree that exercise is a good and healthy pursuit. It strengthens our bodies, clears our minds and gets us out of the house. Troubles can sneak into paradise though, when we focus exclusively on a single activity. Too much of anything can lead to muscle imbalances, chronic and degenerative injuries and mental exhaustion. The sports kingdom is full of examples of fitness passions gone wrong; runners with wrecked knees and frustrated doctors who won’t stop running or strong backed swimmers with brittle shoulders. Any activity practiced exclusively without a counter balancing strength and flexibility program can lead to bodily breakdown.

But You Said Forever!

A soul-sport, just like a mate, can leave us at anytime. Aging, injuries or unforeseen circumstances can take away the sport that you love. Then what? If a person loves one sport to the exclusion of all others and it is taken away their sporty heart will be broken and their daily spirits crushed.That’s why it is important to diversity your fitness life before its too late. Learn to swim, even though you love to run. Try out rollerblading even though rugby makes your heart race. Diversify your fitness portfolio so that if your soul sports get wrenched from you bosom you will have something to fall back on.A Happy EndingIts time to face the reality that the sports we love change our bodies for the better and the worse. With a little research or the help of a good trainer you can learn to balance and injury proof your physique and keep enjoying your favorite activity for as long as possible. Cross training is the best way to create balance and ensure that your fitness life can survive any circumstance that life throws your way.What a Cute Couple!Here are a few examples of sports that compliment each other and help to create balance.Yoga or Tai Chi with just about any other sport
Running/Swimming
Running/Rowing
Cycling/Swimming
Tennis/Aqua Aerobics
Volleyball/Rowing

1. Exercise is almost always more fun then work, but often times less glamorous then the multitude of tempting after work activities. If you take care of your workout at lunch you won’t be tempted to skip it later.

2. Working out at lunch breaks your day into two manageable chunks.

3. A noon time workout will give you a blast of energy that will carry you through the mid-afternoon doldrums. Don’t listen to what your jealous, back-biting, self hating co-workers say about you actually taking a lunch. You will be more productive, and sexier, in the afternoon. Remember, you get paid for what you produce, not for holding down your chair.

4. If you don’t feel particularly competent or appreciated at your day job, a workout can be just the thing. The burst of endorphins will help prop up you flagging self-esteem and if you do something you enjoy eventually you will be good at it. I don’t care what your boss, girlfriend and mother say, you can do something right.

5. You only have about an hour so your workout will be intense and efficient. A great use of your valuable time.

6. Having a workout planned is a great excuse not to go to lunch with annoying co-workers.

7. You’ll be so hungry after you workout that even a healthy, fiber rich, tasteless lunch will taste great.

8. Working out in the early morning (especially if you are over 30) can be a creaky and uncomfortable experience. By midday the body is warm and ready for action.

9. Because you’ve got to get out of the office. Stretch your muscles, feel the sunlight on your pasty skin, get some perspective.

10. You will have your evenings free. Learn a language, go to the ballet, tame of herd of wild guinea pigs. The world is your oyster!

I think there are two primary reasons why we don’t achieve our fitness goals; we are either lazy or scared. The trick is figuring out which diabolical force is driving us and then treating it accordingly.

A lazy person needs discipline, encouragement, honest assessment, perhaps a good, stern talking to and other forms of legal, adult paddling. A scared person need something else entirely (though encouragment helps for both conditions).

Say Ned is a runner. He likes to run, has the equipment, time carved out of his schedule and feels good about his running ability. Still Ned has not been running. Why? Ned has found an activity that he likes to do, has a plan and schedule for doing it and a feeling of basic competence about his chosen activity. Still his sneakers gather dust. Perhpas Ned is lazy and needs a swift kick to the backside of his running togs. After a good pep talk and 16 high fives Ned is glazed over and non-responsive. Maybe its fear then and not laziness?

Treating fear is a little more tricky, especially in those who fancy themselves athletic. From the youngest of ages athletic sorts are trained to ignore and deny weakness and fear, to play through pain and to dream very big. Limits, aging, losing and other awful realities are pushed aside in favor of stronger, more muscular ones. Maybe Ned’s knees felt a little kinky the last time he ran. He’s afraid there might be something wrong with them, but he hasn’t told anyone. And he certainly hasn’t gone to the doctor to find out for sure. What if they told him he shouldn’t be running or that his only fitness option was now aqua aerobics. No, that would be bad. He would rather not know and so he doesn’t run and he because he hasn’t been totally honest with himself he doesn’t really know why. After a few days of this Ned feels bad and lazy, but he’s not.

He’s scared.

Martha joined a gym three months ago and has been exactly once since then. On that occasion she spent the entire time on the exercise bike watching all the other people walk around like they had been born of muscle gods and felt awful. Then she couldn’t figure out how to set the program on the bike which made her feel stupid. She can’t get herself to go back and keeps paying the monthly membership and berating herself for being wasteful. Martha too is scared, not lazy.

So before you beat yourself up about what you are not doing to get healthy, take some time to figure out if you are scared or lazy. Because berating yourself for being lazy when you are really scared is like kicking a puppy, it doesn’t help anybody.

Then once you figure out what’s scaring you get help. If you feel stupid at the gym hire a trainer. Worried about your knees, buck up and go to the doctor. Afraid someone will see your big butt in the locker room, change at home until you get more comfortable with your butt. If you are afraid you won’t be able to perform like you did when you were younger find people to workout with that are of similar ages and ability levels.

But ifyou’re just lazy get your ass off the couch. I’m coming over and you better be ready!

Philosopher, pacifist and all around mighty thinker Bertrand Russell believed that within each of us lives a savage. According to Uncle Bert this savage must find expression through some means compatible with everyday life or things are going to get ugly. He suggested sports and other forms of physical activity as the best way to express the savage without getting thrown in jail. Problem is most workout plans are anything but savage; they are tame, civilized and stuffy as Babbit on a Monday morning.

Recognizing your inner savage isn’t difficult. She’s the one that wants to guzzle red Gatorade till it gushes down her naked chest or get exceedingly dirty tearing through muddy fields. This is the beastie that would rather tip over a Stairmaster then step on it. She can’t count and doesn’t know a set from a rep. She never follows directions or stresses about getting in twenty minutes of moderate cardiovascular exercise three times a week. This beast would rather chase the surgeon general around his desk then listen to his recommendations for longevity.

It is very difficult to exercise your beast and do a savage workout in most gyms. Gyms are highly civilized places. Some rules are posted on the wall but there is an even longer list that is invisible. These are rules like don’t make loud noises, don’t do an interpretive dance with your workout towel in the stretching area and don’t pull out every single weight from the rack to build Iron Henge. People stare at you if make the wrong kind of noises at the gym. They expect you to do standard movements that don’t frighten them. They get uncomfortable with too much jumping, chasing, crawling or cartwheeling. Basically gyms have all the rules and repression of the average work place, but you have to pay to be there. Don’t get me wrong, gyms serve a useful purpose and have there place; but sometimes you gotta get out.

Here are a few tips for injecting some rabid into your physical life:

Free at last!
For heavens sake get out of the gym (see above)! Most have a strong anti-savage vibe. They want to pack as many rule following, dues paying suckers into the smallest space possible. Get outside, go home or find another space that will let you run around and raise a ruckus.

Exercise naked
This works best at home, but if you live some place rural you could also do it outside (don’t forget the sun-block). I personally love to weight lift topless. If you have never had a drop of sweat run from your brow all the way down to your toes you are missing out.

Get loud
I had to practice screaming at the top of my lungs several times before I could actually do it. The first time is especially difficult. We are taught from a very young age to shut the heck up and this training runs deep. Of course, choose your location wisely for this one. If primal screaming isn’t your bag try grunting, groaning or growling. Pretending to be different animals can be helpful and entertaining. If you are too embarrassed to try this even by yourself, then you should definitely do it anyway.

Get prehistoric
If you are a gym-goer try to get through an entire workout without counting or tracking time, sets or reps. Instead of counting concentrate on how your body feels. You may wonder how you will know that you have completed your workout without any counting. Good question!

Fire is fun!
If you have been doing a particular workout for a while write it down nice and neatly on a piece of paper. Then burn it. Imagine what a fire starting savage would do instead. Then do it.