Are we having fun yet?
Sabino Canyon in Tucson, Arizona shelters a perennial stream between steep rock walls spiked with giant saguaro cactus, making it a beautiful spot for enjoying nature. Easily accessible off a main road in Tucson, Arizona, the canyon is a magnet for hundreds of people who come to walk, run, or bike each morning and evening.
Are these crowds drawn here by the allure of a secluded riparian corridor in a desert setting? Some are, but many of them choose this spot simply because it has four paved miles of road that is free of automobile traffic and shaded from the scorching desert sun along more than half it’s length. There are mile markers, bathrooms along the way, and faucets for refilling your water bottle. Because of these amenities, it’s regarded as an ideal place for "getting some exercise."
Exercise is exercise according to health authorities. There are no statistics showing that people who run while admiring the natural environment live longer than those who run on treadmills. There is nothing that indicates that walking while crowned with a headset tuned to talk radio is less health promoting than walking with the wind and birdsong in your ears.
That’s because exercise the American way is not about enjoying yourself. It’s about following the rules to ward off fat and disease. Having fun is not the point. We’re doing this so we can stay healthy!
This letter-of-the-law approach to exercise was illustrated in Sabino Canyon one morning by a woman who had succeeded in transplanting the treadmill mentality into the natural setting. She marched forward diligently, headset clamped on her ears, reading a book, noticing nothing about where she was. Was this exercise benefiting her health? She probably hoped it was, but the mind-body approach begs to differ.
"…The reason that you exercise is actually more important than the exercise that you perform. The reason can promote your good health or actually impede it," says the metaphysical teacher, Seth. The reason most people in America exercise is fear -- fear of trusting their bodies to stay healthy without strict supervision. The mind-body approach tells us that fear is never a good foundation for health.
Fear is a favorite motivator, though, while pleasure is almost always seen as a distraction. Jim Fixx, known as one of the "fathers of the American fitness revolution," wrote a best-selling book on running in the 1970s. Fixx died of a heart attack at the age of 52 while running. Was he having a good time on that last run? Running for the sheer joy of it? Or was he running from ill health? If he was typical of most exercisers, Fixx was fixated on an unhealthily driven approach to exercise and to life.
Health authorities often advise choosing exercise that you enjoy. This isn’t because they think enjoyment is good, but because it is assumed that you will be more likely to stick with the burdensome task of flogging yourself to better health if exercise doesn’t seem so much like drudgery.
The mind-body approach advises making enjoyment of physical activity an end in itself. This means the aim of exercise—having more fun—should be contained in doing it. Exercise is recommended for improving mood. Think of how much better you’ll feel if you exercise expressly to enjoy yourself.
Moving through the world on foot or bicycle gives you a chance to reorient yourself to being present to the world around you. Instead of mulling over problems or thinking about what’s next on your schedule, make a meditation out of taking in the scenery, relaxing and refreshing yourself as you reflect on nature in it’s many forms—trees and birds, a suburban montage, or a bustling cityscape.
Or participate in sports for companionable competition with others—adding those health promoting social ties to the mix. Practice a physical skill just to see how good you can get. Use formal programs of exercise to explore how your mental focus affects your body’s strength, speed, flexibility, and balance.
Whatever way you choose to take your body out for a romp, remember that the mind-body approach to exercise omits calorie counting, pulse monitoring, and the other dull rituals of the forced hustle toward a dubious goal of health by the numbers. For exercise to be truly health promoting, enjoyment is not optional. It’s the goal.
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