CatholicFIT Coach | Module 3/5
What is a Coach?
(Module 1/5)
What does it mean to be a coach? How do we facilitate growth and lead by example? We discuss our role as a coach and disciple, while setting goals in our Goal Setting Workshop.
Understanding Identity.
(Module 2/5)
Why is developing a unique and personal faith and fitness identity so important? What questions can we ask to help our students develop this identity?
What is Health?
(Module 3/5)
How can we teach a tangible, workable definition of spiritual and physical health? CatholicFIT health units and more are in development.
What is Fitness?
(Module 4/5)
What are the fitness skills we use every day? How do we define fitness, and ensure we are using our fitness for good? What connects our faith to our fitness?
Pillars & Principles
(Module 5/5)
There are 3 foundational pillars and 7 principles that comprise the CatholicFIT curriculum. Learn about these and more as we prepare to begin the 8 week program.
Defining Health (Module 3 of 5)
So what exactly is health? Understanding a practical idea for health is fundamental for teaching physical literacy. People often think of health as simply an absence of disease or symptoms. “If I am not sick or injured, I am apparently healthy.” This is under selling personal health. Plus, if we embrace wellness as living in a state where more health is always possible, then we can continually do little things to improve our health above and beyond the absence of symptoms.
Before digging deeper into that, let’s put health in the context of our bigger fitness and longevity continuum. Here is my quick mock up for how this flows and builds from one stage to the next. In Matthew 16:18, Jesus tells us, “upon this rock I will build my Church …” As the continuum suggests below, we first want to build a rock of health and physical durability before practicing fitness and performance.
Connecting Faith & Fitness. Each phase of the continuum includes a bridge, or connection between our personal faith and our fitness.
- Health – Silence. Silence connects our physical and spiritual health, as it can only result in unplugging from our mobile devices, social media, and the noise of daily stresses and busy-ness. Practiced silence is necessary for physical health. Unplugged silence also leads us to prayer, meditation and contemplation, all key ingredients for spiritual health.
- Movement – Mindfulness. Mindfulness and movement go hand in hand. Injuries often occur when we are not mindful of our movement. When we are not in the moment with our bodies and our health, we can mistake hard work and to do lists for productivity and fruitfulness. We want to be mindful movers in both faith and fitness.
- Fitness – Purpose. Fitness goals and healthy lifestyles last when driven by purpose. Faith grants us purpose. In other words, faith gives us purpose, our fitness allows us to live that purpose.
- Performance – Mission. Fitness is useless if it is not used and tested. Staying in shape is great, but developing fitness with purpose means to go out and test, express and use your fitness. Fitness can be defined as your ability to perform a task, and when that task is stewardship, we can live a Christian life full of and fulfilled by our mission to serve others.
- Longevity – Discipleship. The lifelong journey through the stages of discipleship grant us longevity in all things faith and fitness. To become a student over and over again, to follow in the foot steps of Christ, the Saints and the doctors of the Church, to become a messenger to your students, and finally to multiply your faith and fitness through your story and your example. This is what being a disciple is all about – this is what we hope to introduce in CatholicFIT.
So let’s being then with health. I love this example of the tree diagram below — understanding the “seeds” that produce the “fruits” of a healthy tree. Talk to your students about the seeds and other factors a tree needs to grow and stay healthy.
What do we do if we see a brown leaf on a tree, or dried out bark, or drooping branches? Do we simply block those “symptoms” from our view (pain killer anyone?) or pick off the brown leaves? No, we revisit the seeds, check the soil and water the tree.
Now before we look at physical health using this metaphor of the tree, let’s define health.
“Health is the independent, sustainable, and developmental way to continually heal.” – Gray Cook. If you are healthy, you are healing. The healthier you are, the more you can sustain it daily, and the more independent you are from the need for medical intervention (ie blood pressure medications.)
That is the best definition of health I have learned and teach others. Let’s put that in the context of other “fruits of health”, along with the seeds required to develop and maintain it.
You can talk to your students about the seeds below being habits and behaviors, (many of which are represented in the 7 CatholicFIT Principles.), The fruits are feelings, energy levels, and measurable signs you would assess, for example, during a physical at the doctor’s office.
If and when you are NOT experiencing all of the fruits of physical health, the key is to consider whether your first thought is to call the doctor or pop a pain killer, or to revisit and practice the fundamental, foundational principles of health:
- drinking enough water,
- getting 8-10 hours of sleep every night,
- unplugging from technology 60+ minutes every day,
- working on intimate relationships in our life,
- eating “God-made” food, and more.
Key point: It’s not to say medical intervention is absolutely necessary sometimes, as God has blessed with amazing medial technology in the 20th century – but when we are thinking Iboprofen over hydration and unplugging an hour before bed time each time we get a migraine, maybe our own physical literacy could use a refresher.
Health precedes fitness. We cannot properly teach the CatholicFIT exercises until we begin practicing the seeds of physical health. Our health is our rock upon which we will build our fitness. Attempting to burn calories through exercise, perform on an athletic field, or run around in gym class (all fitness stuff) without first practicing the universal health principles will lead to a break down of mind (motivation) and body (injury).
Are you experiencing the fruits of physical health? Do you see these fruits in others? Now keep in mind an adult having diabetes or a child with Cerebral Palsy is not what I am describing with the “absence of disease or symptoms”, but rather irritable bowels, stress induced headaches, orthopedic aches and pains, and other preventable problems. Do you have a feeling of well being and vitality? Is your heart pumping, your stomach digesting, and your kidneys filtering? Do you have mental clarity and feel you can successfully manage your weight?
Health is the prerequisite to fitness. No matter a person’s fitness goals – to lose weight, perform on the athletic field, or rehab a hip replacement surgery, we begin with the foundational seeds and behaviors of health. When these seeds are sown, our bodies can develop a sustainable, independent ability to heal.
CatholicFIT merely introduces these ideas to our physical literacy curriculum so all of our students and families can begin to understand how to get and stay healthy.
Let’s now depict spiritual health in a similar way.
This is one of many ways to look at Spiritual Health from a Catholic perspective. The 7 Pillars, as described by Matthew Kelly, included here, are a nice way to simplify the spiritual seeds, though there are others.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church lists 12 fruits, (CCC #1832). In St. Paul’s letter to the Galatians, we learn 9 fruits of the Holy Spirit. (Gal 5:22-23) Modesty, chastity, and charity are the three added by the Church in modern times.
I understand spiritual health as the state of the connection, openness and readiness to witness, hear and receive God’s calling. As a Catholic, I believe that if we are experiencing the gifts of the Holy Spirit, we are following God’s path and living our purpose. When I am not experiencing these gifts, which is more often than I care to admit, I revisit and practice the seeds above to nurture my spiritual self. This is what living the Christian journey looks like for me. How have you read about or defined spiritual health in your studies?
So what seeds of health are you planting daily?
Now consider the answers you gave for “what does it mean to be Catholic and fit” from the last page about Identity, and reflect on what you have read here. Are you experiencing the fruits of physical and spiritual health? Are you practicing the seeds? Do you get ahead of yourself with your fitness goals and behaviors without first building your rock of health?
Daily physical health seeds:
It is time to think about these questions yourself, to be able to share with your students. What daily seeds of physical health could you improve or practice more often? Drink a little more water? Eat more God-made food? Unplug? Wind down a bit better before bed time?
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Daily spiritual health seeds:
What does spiritual health mean to you? What fruits of spiritual health are you experiencing or missing from your life? What spiritual seeds and practices could you benefit from adding to your daily routine?
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God bless you! And stay tuned for Part 3 of 4, when we discuss lesson planning and defining fitness.
For more, here is an excellent video by Bishop Robert Barron, a favorite speaker and spiritual mentor of mine discussing spiritual health, knowing you are on the right path, and the fruits of the Holy Spirit.
