How To Get Spiritual In Your Workout

Dripping sweat, I ran across the street with my backpack slung over my shoulder. My heart pounding as I ran through the door. I walked up and looked at the front desk expectantly. I was two minutes late for my workout class and I couldn’t get in. Furious, I walked back out the door and into the street. I knew I was not getting in my workout today and my head buzzed with anger, frustration, and guilt for missing it. I beat myself up all the way home on the subway.

This was my behavior before I added spirituality into my workout. Back when the goal was the workout itself – how many calories I could burn or how much weight I could lose. The problem was I didn’t pay attention to my thoughts & how they were sabotaging my health. I didn’t just lash out at the front desk staff at my go-to workout studio. This seeped into every area of my life. I was anxious, stressed out, and on edge most of the time.

And then I found spirituality – meditation, reiki, crystals. And everything changed. I meditated. I healed. I journaled. It took a lot of my time to do all these practices but I felt incredible.

Then I realized something. I could add some of these spiritual practices into my workout. This was OMG-blow-my-mind-amazing. Instead of checking out during my workout, I checked in. I was less anxious and stressed. I became the most positive person on my team at work. The best part, it took less time because I was getting sweaty and spiritual every day.

So I wanted to share my experience with you here! These are my three tips to incorporate sweat & spirituality.

SEE ALSO: 4 Keys To Starting Over On The Path To Inner Success

1) Set an intention

If you’re a yogi, you know that most classes set intentions at the beginning of class. Don’t skip this! It allows you to connect your mind and soul to your body at the start of class. This can be done in any workout class you do – HIIT, Pilates, running, yoga, you name it. Decide how you want to feel for the next hour and what feelings you want to take when you leave.

2) Check-in with your breath and heartbeat

There is nothing like putting your hand on your heart after you’ve raised your heart rate. It’s the reminder that you did that. You showed up and put in the effort to make your heart beat faster. To heavy your breath. It allows you to tap into the miracle that is you and be grateful for all your body allows you to do.

You can also have gratitude for all the steps that led you to this moment and to be able to experience this feeling. The mix of endorphins euphoria with the mindfulness of noticing can turn this moment from “where’s the water? I’m so tired” to “wow what a miracle it is for me to be here in this moment”.

3) Connect to something bigger

For me, this is bringing reiki into my workout to connect with an energy outside of myself. You can experience this yourself with the 7-Day Free Trial of The Sweat Method Online for cardio yoga & reiki workouts. By connecting to an energy outside of ourselves, we can connect the mind, body, & soul and release what is not serving us.

You can make any workouts spiritual so it is not only for your body but also your mind. By adding in these tips, you’ll feel like you just arrived on vacation or are laughing with a best friend right all while building strength, tone, and endurance in your body. It’s so efficient!