Blog > Thoughts > Sean's Thoughts > Mens Sana In Corpore Sano
Mens Sana In Corpore Sano
Written by Sean on Tuesday, September 8, 2009
This morning I went to the gym to work out. This afternoon, I went to the physio for ongoing "fix-me-up". First time at the gym in a long time. But it was good. I’ve never been much into working out. Now, though, I am.
Maybe it’s middle age crisis, I don’t know. But I discovered the pleasure of working out regularly a couple years ago. Yes, it’s a pleasure. It can be a bloody pain in the arse, a real bore, especially when you have to get up before the sun to get to the gym before work. But overall, it gives you many more benefits than negatives.
The romans used to say "Mens sana in corpore sano" (A sane mind in a sane body). They saw exercising the body as an important thing. But they also saw exercising the mind as an important thing. Both go together to be the best you can be. For a long time, I only exercised my mind. But lately, I see exercising both mind and body as an important thing.
The funny thing is, I tend to be much less depressed when I work out regularly. That is good for me.
Another thing that I’m getting to enjoy more is to feel my body be in better shape. After that injury I had on my shoulder, I was hit with the realisation that my body is, really, falling apart. And a lot of that is the result of "decisions" I took over 20 years ago. As a teenager, I desperatly wanted to be prescribed a Milwaukee brace. It never happened, despite my slouching. I continued slouching, less and less aware of it. Even at work. 20 years of slouching have caused my back muscles to be knotted like you wouldn’t believe. Tension. Tightness.
For a while, I went to a massage therapist that helped with trying to relax the back, but my spinal cord itself was out of whack. After the shoulder injury, the physio started manipulating my spinal cord, cracking it here and there. It is good. I’m *far* from fixed-up, but the funny thing is, the more relaxed my back is, the better I feel. And the more I realise how knotted and tense my back is. I didn’t really realise it when it was so tense it was like one big piece of wood. Now, as some of the muscles are starting to be a bit looser, I acutely feel all the tensed up ones!
Between the gym and the physio, I am hoping to increase my level of fitness and health, and reduce the amount of muscle tension I have.
This is NOT to say that I don’t feel the need to be paralysed. All that is within the confines of my BIID. I work out at the gym, yes, but only arms and upper trunk.
BIID really complicates everything in our lives, doesn’t it?
Tags: Back, BIID, Muscle, Physio, Tension
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2 Comments
It is well established that physical exercise can have a major positive effect on depression. It certainly does for me.
The sentence “All that is within the confines of my BIID” hit a nerve. It is frequently in my mind that some of you must think I’m cheating because I continue to hike, whilst spending most of the rest of my life in a wheelchair. For starters it is impossible for me to do a major upper body workout on account of my real physical disability. More importantly, I am treating BIID, not paraplegia. Hiking has a beneficial effect on my BIID because it is the only thing I do which forcibly reminds me that my left leg is already a little bit screwed up.
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1 On 8 September, 2009, Phil said:
Hi Sean,
what you write seems quite familiar to me… With the difference that I am too lazy recently.
“the more relaxed my back is, the better I feel. And the more I realise how knotted and tense my back is. I didn’t really realise it when it was so tense it was like one big piece of wood. Now, as some of the muscles are starting to be a bit looser, I acutely feel all the tensed up ones!”
And that is where my doubts about BIID sneak in. When I am not even aware of the tension of my muscles – am I aware of the (mental) inner tensions, inhibitions etc.?
Maybe there is a way to losen my (mental) grip, to losen my muscles and thus to let my energies flow freely in my body and overcome the barrier in my thighs?
How can I know – given the experience with so many things I had to slowly learn by doing?
Best wishes
Phil