Chapter 2

Why Body Sculpting for “The Creative and Spiritually Minded”?

There are two key words that were considered for the title of this book: "Spirit" and "Create".

Let's look at the definition of Create first: "To bring into existence."

This book is for the "creative minded" because you're here to create something in your life. As you read the next couple chapters, I'd like to ask you to decide on what you wish to create in the next 30 days. You might wish to create a career, a love life, or you might literally want to create a work of art like a book, screenplay, or a sculpture. 

As of this writing, I’m still wrestling with a dilemma about what to title this book. I’ve considered the title Body Sculpting for Creative People which seemed to fit as we will incorporate many emotional exercises that will stretch your creativity. Body Sculpting for Sensitive People also seemed to apply as well. After all, half of this book is dedicated to the emotional part of life in addition to the physical. There are certainly provided advantages to those who wish to get in touch with their feelings as it definitely pays off to be somewhat of a “sensitive soul” when working through this program. When I considered Body Sculpting for Spiritual People at first I thought, “Nah. It’s too ‘religious’ sounding. People will be turned off by the title right off the bat.” But then again, only one in five people now claim to not follow any religious orientation, yet a spiritual one wasn’t specified in the study. Maybe if I word it that the content is for the Spiritually Minded, that could work!

Let's consider the definition of "Spirit" apart from any religious association: "An animating or vital principle held to give life to physical organisms."

Please heed this advisory: If you have no interest in spirituality, or if exploring the presumptuous notion that your life might have deeper meaning beyond the mundane might seem absurd to you, then please skip this chapter. The physical workouts paired with the emotional exercises offered in this book will still work for you. If you’ve gotten this far in reading then I don’t want to put you off your physical fitness program by talking spirituality if this is of no interest personally to you. 

For those who wish to read on, I will offer some of my own personal beliefs and how they fit in with the theme and exercises in this book. Always take the opportunity to accept, reject, or modify anything offered in these pages if these beliefs don't make sense to you.

The moment these words are being written, I have to tell you, my own life circumstances are not easy. Writing a book about anything, let alone one so bold as to help people with their health and lives, sometimes seems like a futile task. Beyond the ambition of writing a full volume it’s scary to think about how some casual friends would verbally tear me to shreds if they knew I was writing a book with a spiritual element involved. Add in some overwhelming financial obligations while dealing with my own life transitions, the idea of writing a book sometimes seems ludicrous and self-indulgent. There are days I can’t even think straight let alone try to clarify my thoughts and jot the ideas down on a written page.

But I really want to do this! Writing this book is something my soul yearns for!

And this is where a 30 day quest begins - by getting in touch with what your “soul yearns for”.

While working out earlier today my exercises were fueled by anger - Anger at not having enough money for up-keeping my car! Anger at not having enough to have my trainer’s certification renewed! Anger at not even having enough to pay for my fiancée’s engagement ring! I’m very angry at all of this! This wasn’t the frame of mind for any one to be in considering the title of this book is Body Sculpting for the Creative and SPIRITUALLY Minded!

There’s a lot to be said for taking a break from the frustrations of life and asking God, or Source (or whatever label you want to put on an omnipotent presence) and asking “How do I know what to even ask for?”

So I had no choice but to surrender. How often have religious people said, “Just give your troubles to God and let Him take care of it?”

I had no choice but to do that today.

While working at my personal training job at a well known “chain” gym, I greeted my first afternoon appointment. The day had been a rough one. My attitude just before meeting with this client was to request this from Source after a frustrating morning, “Okay. Whatever You want for me, whoever You want me to be, just let it be. I need to let go of this and let You take over.”

The past few weeks I had been feeling anxiety. I had taken a two month hiatus from my training job to teach theater camps which have always supplemented my income since the chain gym had never compensated their trainers very well. Upon my return some of my clients chose to stay with other trainers who had filled in for me during my absence. This contributed to a lot of doubt in my mind and continued to depress me, deterring me further from writing this book. I didn’t feel worthy of writing this.

“Okay. Whatever You want for me, whatever You want me to be, just let it be. I need to let go of this and let You take over.”

My next client graciously paid me a much needed compliment. “I’ve worked with six trainers over the last twenty years. You’re the best!” After only having trained her three times, and knowing there had been many wonderful trainers at that gym who had worked with her before, I took this as an answer to my prayer.

The answer was, “Yes. WE are supposed to write this book and I intend to have fun with it!” The answer was clear to me: The ego on its own accomplishes nothing but having Source filling you up gives you all the emotional fuel to actively pursue your heart's desire.

This was the push I needed to get this book rolling once again.  

It really comes down to this: Every choice is made by either listening to the ego or choosing to tune into your true Self. The ego doesn’t want you to be happy. In fact it succeeds by your constantly pursuing something, ANYTHING, and never finding it. Your true Self, or your spirit, is already happy and at peace. It wants only to share and give. Anything created from your true Self is going to succeed because it promises fulfillment because it IS fulfillment. Anything created from the ego is going to fail because the ego wants you to chase, not to find. More on that during the Quest.

So why should we bother perfecting the human body if this is the case? Why bother sculpting a chiseled set of abs, building a better butt, or perfecting those pecs if it’s going to be under the ground decaying someday when the spirit is no longer needing your finely tuned physique?


Know Thyself

So let me make one thing clear: I am not a religious person. Whether your faith is invested in Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism or whatever, please feel free to apply your personal faith to this program while exploring your highest potential as a spiritual being.
 
It has often been said that your body is a temple. It houses what we know of as the eternal soul.

Consider for a moment that we are a vessel for Source, we are a piece of “God”. The body is a vessel, a conduit, for communicating divine information to the world. When you surrender your ego, as I experienced in my earlier description, things are supposed to happen with greater ease and more joy. Even working out your body!

Allow the gym to become your place of discovery. I won’t go far as to say “your place of worship” but allow the gym to be a sacred place where you build and reshape the temple which houses your soul. This might be difficult in modern times, where gyms are now fashioned with bright, distracting colors and loud music. But, hey, if this atmosphere inspires you then let it inspire you! By the end of this 30 day program, you will condition your mind to see the gym, whether it be a public one or one in the privacy of your home, as a place for physical development AND for perfecting the spirit.

First you have to know yourself.

Do workouts seem laborious or boring to you? SpiriSculpt will provide mental stimulation to your physical workouts. If you are mentally engaged you’ll experience better quality workouts, plain and simple. You will be encouraged to develop a healthy relationship with yourself, a relationship where you will learn how to ask powerful questions from your true Self.

Part of this relationship will require you to “tune into” yourself, asking “What am I feeling at this moment? Am I feeling good? Am I feeling just ‘blah’? Or am I downright feeling a mess today?” You will be asked to become aware of these feelings on a conscious level everyday. Eventually you will be asked to be specific with what emotion you are feeling at the beginning of your workouts. When this happens - BE HONEST. Don’t feel you have an obligation to come to the gym “pumped up” or “psyched up” or “all ready to go”. Just be honest with yourself and this honesty will provide deeper insight and better physical results. If you’re feeling overwhelmed or sluggish, that’s perfectly all right. There truly will be better results in being honest with your emotions rather than trying to manipulate yourself into believing that you’re feeling “the hype” when in all honesty you might be feeling lost or uncertain. There is power in being able to identify the SPECIFIC emotion to what you're experiencing.

Have you ever seen this demonstration?

It’s called “Muscle Testing”. A self-help guru or chiropractor will ask you to hold your right arm out. He’ll put some object in your left hand and when this happens your extended right arm grows weaker. The guru is easily able to force your extended right arm down. A moment later he puts another small object in your hand but this time your extended right arm remains firm. It is later revealed that in the first attempt, he gave you a packet of artificial sweetener while in the second instance you were handed a package of “Pure” sugar.

It’s the same thing when a holistic health practitioner will check your chakras, or energy centers, to find out what might be wrong with you. They’ll tune into your “Head Chakra” and when they push down your arm stays firm. Your “Heart Chakra” then is tested next and, once again, your arm stays firm when pressed on. Then she’ll test your “Center Chakra” or your Solar Plexus. Ah ha! This time your arm goes limp like a wet noodle.  The diagnosis - there may be something wrong with your digestive system!

Or something like that…

The book Power Vs. Force also discussed this phenomena, called Emotional Calibrations, and took it to another level. Written by Dr. David Hawking, Power Vs. Force broke down individual emotions and actually placed them on a hierarchical chart. Feelings like Guilt and Shame were at the bottom of the spectrum while emotions like Love, Joy, Peace and Enlightenment were placed at the top. Hawking’s book even claims that emotions can be mathematically measured by the amount of power being generated by each emotion. Emotions such as Love, for instance, are exponentially more powerful than the lower emotions like Fear or even Desire.

I’m not sure how much I understand the science behind Power Vs. Force, but I do believe in the power of belief systems. The emotional content of your belief system can drive your body to swift action. Spiritual seeking and understanding can filter your conscious thoughts oftentimes for the better. This book will address this cycle on different levels that include your spiritual understanding on one tier, your thought process on another, your experience of emotional content, your physical habits, and finally on a grand level, the new person you’re creating physically and emotionally.

My interest in this work lies in how we can use this understanding to achieve better quality workouts in the gym and consistently leave a workout feeling better than when we first arrived. For instance, when you come into a workout feeling “lousy” or fearful, as Terri had, then you actually become weaker if you try to trick your mind into thinking it’s feeling “great” or “all psyched up!” My theory is that the subconscious mind in these instances is saying “BULLSHIT” and, like the chiropractor’s muscle testing, will make the body go limp. It seems more  productive to be honest and acknowledge your feelings so that your subconscious mind, and therefore your physical reactions, will be stronger because it is centered on truth instead of a subconscious manipulation.

Accessing Higher Emotions = Greater Spiritual Insight

It goes without saying that “lower, heavier” emotions can block clarity of thought as well as the ability to get a quality workout. This program will address deeply rooted feelings of guilt, shame, fear, apathy and how these emotions do cause subconscious sabotage to the would-be gym dweller. Even if you make it to the gym regularly, that’s not to guarantee your mental frame of mind will support a top quality workout. Yet, these feelings are not to be ignored. In fact, if these are your true feelings they will provide a productive starting point for each and every day of your workout.

The most important thing is to show up! By acknowledging your true feelings, whether they are “negative” or “positive” emotions, you’ll be stronger for your ability to tune in to these emotions and your ability to honestly identify them. Your body will react to this honesty and be stronger in response to the truthful acknowledgement of an emotion such as “fear” than it would by lying to yourself, falsely believing you’re feeling a higher emotion such as “pride” or "joy". Your body won’t lie to you! You will feel stronger the more honest you are with yourself. The more honest you are with yourself, the greater capacity you have to move up the “emotional hierarchy” within a short amount of time and be able to leave your workout feeling “pride”, or “love”, or “peace”.

Stick with it and show up! By DAY 9 or 10 of this program you’ll begin a track record of going in feeling one way and leaving feeling a greater sense of exuberance. Even if you come in to the gym feeling great (which is my hope that you will be feeling great on a day-to-day basis) you’ll be able to leave in an even higher state. One might even call these states “blissful” or “radiant”. It will be these feelings that help you access the spiritual mind where you express yourself from your highest intentions. It’s where you want to be if the title Body Sculpting for the Spiritually Minded calls out to you.

You’ll be experiencing feelings of truthful love, joy, peace, and enlightenment halfway through your Quest. When you make it through your first 30 day Quest you will be encouraged to take another one and deepen your experience of these “higher” emotions. These emotions spill into all areas of your life and effect the way you communicate with other people. A strong body and heightened emotions will help you connect spiritually with others because YOU have changed in mind, body, and spirit. Like attracts like, a spiritual being will attract spiritual experiences.

Remember, we’re spiritual beings living a human experience.

On Dreaming
   
Here’s another wild suggestion - record your dreams during the next 30 days.

Why?

Let’s assume for a moment that your dreams are a communication from your higher Self, the part of you which is always connected to spirit. At the very least, consider that your dreams are a connection to your Creative Genius! (Hence the subtitle - Body Sculpting for the Creative Minded.) Let’s further assume that dreams will give you messages about how to make the most out of these next 30 days.

Your dreams will tell you if there’s any latent fear in re-creating your body and your self. They will also encourage you when you’ve hit upon a nugget of truth. By journaling dreams you’ll be engaging in a relationship with your subconscious. Your belief and faith in this relationship will provide answers, insight, emotional support, and ultimately, physical strength. As long as are able to know the difference between what the ego wants and what the spirit wants (and this will take time and training), your dreams will support your growth.

Dreams can help you face your fears when you realize in the middle of the adventure that you’re dreaming. Sometimes you can even control what happens to you in the dream!

Consider that this might even work the same way in your waking life. That’s why journaling is important because conscious observation of your life is like "waking up" in the middle of it. The more you make a habit of remembering and recording dreams, the more your conscious mind begins to intercede. The more your conscious mind assists you in your dreaming process, the more it can begin to intercede in your real life too. This is how your true Self can interrupt the ego spinning it's wheels and keeping you stuck. Part of this 30 day fitness Quest is becoming conscious of your thoughts, habits, and intentions. This in turn will lead to greater willpower to sculpt the body of your dreams. It’s all connected.

Sometimes you catch glimpses of the future or relive moments from the past in the dream time. You might even see and feel the end results of your body after following through on this fitness program. Either way, embrace your desired outcomes and let your dreams illustrate these desires for you, putting them into a three dimensional experience that will make it feel more real. Likewise, face your fears if you happen to be anxious about a workout program. I promise you there’s nothing in these pages that you’re not ready for or can’t handle.


The Unconscious Becomes Conscious

This is how you develop a relationship with the spiritual, becoming conscious of what might have once been unconscious. Sounds like an oxymoron, no? Yet it is possible. Your dreams, your emotions, the subtle sensations in your body, they are all messages beckoning you to understand yourself on a spiritual level. With clarity about your deeper levels of truth comes clarity of who you are and what you’re here to do. With clarity comes speed, action, and motivation. This is where you will find the physical energy to perform optimally in the gym.

It all begins with consciousness. Everything in this book is designed with the intention of making everything conscious to you. You will “wake up” in the dream that is your life and start creating a better body. You’ll read in the pages to follow the steps taken to go from Unconsciously Incompetent, a state of virtually complete unawareness, to Consciously Incompetent which is the natural struggle or challenge of getting good at anything. The difference here is that you’re consciously aware of this Conscious Incompetence phase which will bring you to the state of becoming Consciously Competent. The Consciously Competent are those who are able to manage and skillfully direct their emotions to higher expressions, communicating from their spiritual intentions, and produce the physical results desired from a fitness regimen. Our hope ultimately is therefore then to become Unconsciously Competent, where the mind, body, and spirit become effortlessly one and these habits have crafted our being into its highest ideal, which will also be constantly shifting.


What Difference Does Having a Spiritual Outcome Have on the Physical Body?

Another one of my favorite books is Journey of Souls by Dr. Michael Newton which presents case studies of subjects under hypnosis describing what the afterlife is like. Last night I read about a woman who relived a past life as a man. According to the subjects' accounts, souls are inherently neither masculine nor feminine but choose to express themselves as one or the other (or both) based on the life lesson needed to be learned. In the “spirit world” we are more ethereal, having the apparent ability to morph into different images at will. These personal images may or may not be influenced by how we appeared in our former life, or ‘lives’, if you choose to believe in such things.

Which brings me to a question: Why bother perfecting our physical form if we are truly spiritual in nature?

If we are spiritual beings living a human experience, what difference does a strong, healthy body truly make?

Simply stated: There is no separation between mind, body, and spirit. To believe in separation is to take the ego's lead. To believe in Oneness, of Wholeness, is to listen to Spirit.

A strong body can communicate thoughts with greater ease and clarity. I’ve noticed this in the theater where a flexible body can convey emotions more clearly through the physical expression of an emotion. This feeling of a fluid body can help communicate greater feelings of joy and be more effective in transferring these feelings to others. When you feel better you communicate better. When you communicate better, your quality of life is optimized.

What about your confidence level? A strong body can aid your ability in opening up to someone with your thoughts if you believe that someone has already accepted you. Unfortunately in our society we’re judged first on our looks before the spirit can introduce itself to a new liaison. A strong, beautiful body created by your own healthy standards might just give you a psychological advantage.

Also, seeing that we’re “spiritual beings living a human experience”, I think it’s our intention to master the human body. Why else would an infinite spirit chose to incarnate in something so fragile? Our bodies create so many strenuous, yet beautiful, challenges to our everyday lives. These challenges include things like complicated brain chemistry, muscle fatigue, and not to mention the qualities of aging! To leave our world, our physical existence, having mastered our human body is a testament to who we are as a spiritual being. But, first and foremost, we must consider ourselves as spirit communication through a body. In my personal opinion I think we ally ourselves with the ego if we think of ourselves as a body.

Let’s stretch your imagination a bit. I’ll quote Journey of Souls which addresses the phenomenon of life between lives and reincarnation.

“Souls are created (with) such love and wisdom that when a soul starts to come to a planet like Earth and join the physical beings who have evolved from such a primitive state, the violence is a shock. Humans have raw, negative emotions of anger and hate as an outgrowth of their fear and pain connected with survival going back to the Stone Age. Both positive and negative emotions are mixed between soul and host for their mutual benefit. If a soul only knew love and peace, it would gain no insight and never truly appreciate the value of these positive feelings. The test for reincarnation of a soul coming to Earth is the conquering of fear in a human body. A soul grows by trying to overcome all negative emotions connected to fear through perseverance in many lifetimes.”

Whether you believe in reincarnation or not, I will ask you to consider the duality experienced between mind and body which is mediated by your emotions. If it is true that life is about “overcoming fear associated with the human body” then the physical workout is the perfect medium to meet this fear head on.

I loved once hearing the stories of Morihei Ueshiba, the father of the martial art Aikido. There were student testimonies of how this elderly man was on his death bed yet would rise every evening to teach his very physically intense martial art lessons. When he was finished teaching, he would return to his slumber. Talk about using the body to communicate!

These accounts remind us that there is a life force which is accessible when you experience truth. I believe that "truth" is that YOU are an unique expression of God! The deeper your awareness is of this Truth the more your body can be sculpted through the fire of your will. I invite you to know this truth in the deepest recesses of your Being. A true spiritual Quest (and by "true" I mean the one that’s personal for you and one free of seeking approval from other people) will drive your body to greater fitness levels.

In these next 30 days you will have a story to tell behind every one of your perfected muscle fibers. Each bench press or leg squat is layered with a unique insight about who you are as a divine spirit.

Make this quest personal. Ask any questions you have about anything. Let go and allow Source to craft you into the highest expression of yourself.

Spirituality is an act of creation. We create our relationship with Spirit - which is the deepest layers of our being and our motivations. Through this creation of our bodies and Selves we seek to know the mind of the Great Creator. When this relationship is made true and authentic, there is no greater motivation that can enter your world.

This is the difference spirituality makes in something as seemingly hedonistic as today’s American fitness mentality...

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