If you’re wondering “what in the world is ‘mindfulness in Christ?'”, I recommend starting with last week’s video: Exercising Mindfulness in Christ: some Why’s and How’s”. In that video, I try to anticipate and answer several questions, but we only begin to touch on the central issue of emotions as our God-given but short-circuited alarm system.
In the video below, we’ll explore the power and purpose of emotions as our bodily experience (emotions) about God’s Word and our bodily expression (actions) in the Body of Christ and in other relationships. Again, God willing, in the following weeks I will provide several other videos on mindfulness: an example of mindfulness from Romans 7, exercising a biblical theology of fear, anger, grief, and joy, and more.
If you haven’t seen the introductory video, “How to use Physical Exercise for Small Group Bible study and Fellowship: 1 Goal, 2 Tools, and 3 Questions in 4 Venues“, you may want to start there. But it’s not necessary. Even if you’ve already seen that video and its references to safety, I’ve provided some of additional notes on below. If you find this video helpful, you might also check out, “12 Tips to Set-up for W.A.I.T. Training”.
On the subject of safety, again, always exercise with others around who can help you or who can at least call for help if necessary. So ensure that at least one of you has a cellphone with good reception and a charged battery. The venues described in the video are simple and easily modified to fit any ability level, but accidents can still happen.
Regarding spiritual safety, we must also guard against temptations within us and around us. For example, if we wrongly focus too much on physical fitness, we could start from a foundation of inner fear of “I’m too fat” (or skinny) or pride that “I’m great, but I’m here to become awesome!” And if we’re not intentional, we could also invite a foundation of outward lust. Even mature believers like Job recognized the reality of visual temptations (Job 31:1). So if your group has males and females exercising in the same place, I recommend that no one wears cologne or perfume, and all wear loose-fitting clothes that cover the arms, neckline, waist, and legs of both genders. But the clothing should also breathe. Heavy and non-porous clothing hold heat and, therefore, will raise heartrates. If our physical intensity is too much we won’t be able to have meaningful conversations. Talk among your group to agree on what’s honorable and helpful in the Body of Christ.
As you might imagine, you could use “W.A.I.T. Training” in many ways: an aquatic exercise group, a series of spin classes using the dozens of Christian music videos on “Music Mondays“, a yoga-like group that fills our minds with Scripture by mediating on the 24 images of spiritual fitness (instead of emptying our minds like some eastern religions and worldly philosophies), a traditional class discussion using the free book, “W.A.I.T. Training”, and more.
The program is designed for broad use through through a variety of supports: training videos, devotional thoughts, Christian music videos, 8×10 color posters, free t-shirt designs, and more can be used for your personal devotions or small group Bible studies. The downloadable PDF below suggests Scriptures on all 24 principles of W.A.I.T. Training by truths, commands, and promises (TPCs in the PDF below).
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