The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum

I know people do it with yogurt and tai chi and a few other things, and was wondering if anyone had some spiritual exercises they wanted to share?

Spiritual connection is so intimate and individual at times, that I think there must be some very different ways that people do this with exercise that I have never considered.

As for me, finding spiritual connection through cycling was something that just happened. I didn't start riding as a spiritual endeavor, but sure enough, the turning of the wheels got me thinking. But it wasn't until I began cycling through woods (we have a great paved trail here constructed over an abandoned train line that runs through the woods off farm fields) that I began to purposefully use that time and movement in a religious kind of way. Seeing the season turn as I make my wheels turn. It's hard to explain the feelings I get.

There are 4-5 months when I cannot ride and then I walk with the same purpose in mind even through snow. It's not as easy on the joints, but I've been addicted for years to both the spiritual connections, but likely the endorphins too (only get that rush with the cycling though).

The original purpose was to get more healthy in body, but it turned out to do wonders for my spirituality and my depression. Though not a cure for the latter, it has helped me as a coping tool sometimes.

I have a friend who does pottery as spiritual exercise. I was surprised at the amount of physicality that went into it from start to finish. And he also has said the spinning wheel was one of the first things that prompted him to think deeply coincidentally. He uses a kick wheel even when the electric ones are available, something about doing that he's said is simultaneously hypnotic and energizing.

Anybody have any exercises they do that have turned out to be or started as spiritual connections?

I know people do it with yogurt .....?

:ange:

Martial arts has in the past been good 'spiritual exercise' for me.  Kicking the crap out of nobody in particular makes for a good meditiative time, believe it or not.  Intense exercise gives the mind time to wander.

Yard work is another 'meditative action' for me, not when I'm behind the lawnmower but when I've got my hands in the dirt.

Ice cream is damn near holy, btw.

Not exactly an exercise, but I find ice cream deeply spiritual.

Absent

 
haaaa! Both of you got me. I have used "yogurt" for yoga since I was little and I have stubbornly refused to change it in speaking, but slipped up in writing.:

And I will agree wholly that ice cream is divine!

 
For me, it's breadmaking, hiking, camping, and doing much of anything in deep water (freediving, boating, bodyboarding). I'd always found the beach to be a really magical place.

Other stuff that isn't nearly as conscious but is seriously fundamental to who I am (and therefore I'd consider spiritual on a different level) is writing and art-making. Something else that I've been doing for a long time and have started looking at through that lens is actually cosplay (impersonating/channeling/becoming culture heroes, etc).

 
Shockingly - knitting!  (everyone now throw things at me.  Preferably yarn).  Though actually, I've just started spinning with a drop spindle - and OH MY GODS it's just meditative.  It's perfect.  I see a LOT of shorn animal in my future.

Being able to take something and transform it into something else is just cool. :

Swimming, for me, is meditative.  I really should do it more often as I end up feeling so connected.

I'll also second Shadow's note about the drop spindle...until the roving breaks, anyway.

 
For me it's when I somehow get my thread unhooked and the spindle goes flying across the room.

mad skillz, I have them.

Shockingly - knitting!  (everyone now throw things at me.  Preferably yarn).  Though actually, I've just started spinning with a drop spindle - and OH MY GODS it's just meditative.  It's perfect.  I see a LOT of shorn animal in my future.

Being able to take something and transform it into something else is just cool. :

I am going to have to look up videos for this.

The transformation, the use of nature like that is inspiring to me.

I am going to have to look up videos for this.

The transformation, the use of nature like that is inspiring to me.

 
There's some awesome videos out there. I'd also suggest checking out Ravelry (fiber social media site) for spinning meet-ups near you: there are a bunch of them about, spinners are generally quite friendly at helping other people get started, and there's a few things that are *much* easier to show in person.

(Spinning: also meditative for everyone else around you: I have been known to silence entire rooms, and quiet screaming toddlers in airports by pulling out the spindle. Though I am now vaguely contemplating a portableish wheel next, now I finally have somewhere to store it.)