This semester, I decided to take a fencing class because I felt like it. So, Tuesday and Thursday in lieu of lunch, I sneak away while someone teaches me how to use a sword. I do it for balance and for finesse and as a bucket list item, but it has made me aware of a muscular weakness and changed my perspective on other things in my life. Fencing as many other random physical activities points out weaknesses in you of which you may not be aware.
As a youth, I enjoyed the Mel Ferrer adaptation of Sabatini's Scaramouche. When Scaramouche goes to Doutreval of Dijon for training, Doutreval instructs him that fencing is from the wrist. He warns Scaramouche to handle the sword in a specific manner with these words: "Clutch it too tightly and you choke it. Too lightly, and it flies away". In my own fencing lessons I have seen the same thing, and I learned that despite racquetball my wrists were weak. Using a rapier/epee is one thing, but if you want to hold or wield any other kind of blade, the wrist takes the beating, and very few people exercise their wrists well enough to support that kind of endeavor. It made me wonder this weekend just how strong the arms of crusaders must have been in order to swing their huge swords! Consequently, I changed my weightlifting last month to accommodate this new need, and in addition to my ability to hold a sword at 90 degrees to my body, I have noticed a change on the racquetball court as well. Many of the regulars are amazed at my control and at my power.
Many people discover muscles they didn't know they had when they start to exercise or modify their regimen. I chose the triathlon type exercises on purpose to this end because it gave me what I thought constituted a whole-body fitness program. Fencing taught me that I missed some major muscle sets, not because of their size but because of what they might enable me to do. Small nuances change your capabilities a great deal. Even my piano playing strengthens my hands, which I did not previously realize.
Likewise with exercise, we frequently ignore small nuances to our full body wellness. While young, we know we can recover from prolonged and protracted overindulgences such as sleep deprivation, stimulant use, and extreme physical exertion. However, at the micro level, these load up our bodies with toxins, microfractures, and chemical imbalances that impact us later. Most people skate through life reliant on good favor. They party and revel and think nothing of tomorrow because they don't realize as I didn't at that age either that if your life endures you'll want to live well when you are old. Whereas once we could eat and go and withstand what we pleased, our bodies break down in the twilight years, and too many of us turn foolishly to drugs once more as an avoidance mechanism rather than a solution. I wish I could go back and convince my younger self to keep up an athletic regimen, because it's harder to do it now than it would have been if I already had those habits when my metabolism slowed down at 26. Many other people rely on genetics and youth to compensate for their bad habits. We quickly lose our health later because we abused our bodies when we were young.
Whole heath consists not only in avoiding danger but in setting good habits. As soon as we set exercise, sleep, and nutrition schedules that promote good health, we find it easier to keep habits. The people who gorge themselves on narcotics and alcohol and junk food find it hard if not impossible to change their diets once atheroschlerosis confines them to a hospital suite. Whole wellness begins there however as the psychological, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual facets of wellness beckon our attention as well. I know it can seem overwhelming, but setting small habits when young helps a great deal.
When I was young, I took good care of facets beyond the physical. As a youth, I retired early so that I could arise before my early morning religious seminary class to pray and read. While sometimes I fell asleep again during prayers, the habits continue to this present day. Morning is my most productive time, as I arise, pray, read, meditate, exercise, and prepare for the day all before some of my coworkers rouse themselves from their beds. Franklin Covey taught me principles of prioritization and planning, and I made sure I did things that mattered to me. I know that it promotes my wellness, because I haven't seen a doctor beyond regular checkups mandated by the state health program for almost a decade.
Our bodies and souls consist of amazing parts. As in life, some of the most amazing parts of our bodies might be some of the smallest and simplest of things. I can feel as I type this that I exercised my wrists today, because they are tired, but I know that it will enable me to do things that other people can't and that they can't change because they don't know how to get better at them. We do often only what we know, and so we are kept from the truth because we know not where to find it. In my class, I give a series of tips, which I will reproduce in a subsequent blog, because they are simple first steps to changing your life in a powerful way. Once you start the basics, you can improve your life dramatically by paying attention to small things like your wrists that will enable you to do things others can only dream.
As we work on our bodies, it behooves us to work on our minds and souls as well. Since they work in concert, your body's health ultimately pairs up with the health of your mind and spirit. For this reason, education and meditation and morality matter so much. If you put garbage into your mind or soul, even if you eat perfectly, you will still get garbage out. You have heard that inner ugliness eventually works its way outside; inner immorality eventually appears on the countenance as well. You cannot live a debauched life and continue to benefit from good looks and good health. A quick glance at recent photos shows that Charlie Sheen is finally reaping what he sowed. Even little things can wear away gradually at us and discomfit our wellness just as the pea disturbed the sleep of the princess in fable.
In essence, what we nourish gets strengthened. As we nourish major muscles, they improve in capacity. As we nourish our souls, they help us withstand challenges of character. As we nourish our minds, they help us solve problems. There are minor nuances that make a huge difference in whether or not we can accomplish things we undertake to achieve. Just as you have a physical wrist, there are mental and spiritual wrists on which your ability to wield words and principles may rely. By strengthening them you can increase your control and power in other facets of life as well.
1 comment:
So you are the knight in the dinged armor and a sword!
I’m from a knight’s family too ☺ My father used to teach fencing when he was younger, but he still participates (at least was a few years ago) in competitions of the “state” level. I don’t know how he stays in shape for that as that’s not what he does for living anymore for a long time.
It’s great to have good habits. I wanted to learn how to meditate, properly, but it’s still on my bucket list, as well as many other things. I wish I could exercise but right now time is so limited; when there is any chance I prefer to get some more sleep instead. I started to do squats to keep some strength and get max benefits in the minimum of time, as squatting was good for many areas, like legs, buttocks, and abdomen, and, as I’ve read it recently, even for perineum for women who want to give birth.
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