Why does sport give us benefits, not only physical, but also mental? Have you ever asked it to yourself?
Because it helps us transcend us, that is, to surpass ours limits, to broaden the boundaries of our person, both on an external level (shaping ours the body), which at the level mental, training ourselves to withstand the fatigue that necessarily involves a valid training.
To understand this, we must take a step back, and try to outline the characteristics of thesporting attitude. It is a lifestyle.
Index
Physical activity and mental well-being: the concept of "exercise"
At the base of the sportsman's lifestyle is theexercise. It seems obvious, but if we go to the etymological roots of this term, we will discover its various facets and all the richness it contains.
The word derives, in fact, from the Greek áskēsis, which immediately brings ascetics to mind. Who are the ascetics?
Those who choose life practices on the edge of the norm, who try to overcome their inner limits for transcend, to overcome, putting himself to the test.
The stylite monks who spent their lives on a column are an example of this, anchorites who reduced their livelihood to a minimum in order to seek contact with an intangible reality.
Or let's think of another term that comes from áskēsis, or rather ascent. The ascent is a strenuous climb that tests, to reach a summit.
Here, these examples bring us back to the profound meaning inherent in the word "exercise": training to overcome. It indicated theathletic training e military, but also the practice of virtue, that is, following a series of interior norms and intentions, in order to reach the desired goal.
This shows how, during the exercise, both thewhole person to be at stake, not only his body, precisely because - to obtain results - one must also be tempered on a mental level.
Consequently, it is clear that well-being is also mental. When we train, without perhaps being aware of it, we bring into play some inner characteristics, attitudes that we confirm and that we develop more and more: dedication, perseverance, sacrifice, planning are the fundamental ingredients of a good exercise.
Sport allows us to discover these inner characteristics, which are the basis of the possibility of training profitably. Not everyone, especially at the beginning, is capable of accepting these ingredients, but - if we hold on tight - we find ourselves capable of things that were unthinkable until recently.
And this gratifies us, because it makes us see in a new light, from which inner well-being springs.
Exceed your limits
Whenever we train, embrace the exercise lifestyle, let's redefine our borders. Without knowing it we are gods agonists, not because we compete, but because we are competing with ourselves, in a constant attempt to exceed our limits, to test ourselves.
"Agonism", on the other hand, derives from agon, which means "fight", "race". Being in competition with ourselves is the motive of continuous improvement which is the basis of the project of the sportsman, who wishes to improve himself more and more. And how gratifying it is to go beyond ourselves, to see ourselves grow, to perceive ourselves as evolving with respect to ourselves.
Sport, gym of life
We also think about the place where we train. There gym. It was originally the rectangle of sand in which the wrestling was practiced, and was part of the gymnasium (from which, coincidentally, the term "gymnastics" derives), that is, of the school in which the ancient Greeks formed, physically and mentally, young people.
The philosopher Plato trained here and few know that his real name was Aristocles; he was called Plato - which means “broad-shouldered - precisely because he excelled in the fight.
All this makes us understand how physical activity, since its birth, went hand in hand with mental activity: we trained in body and soul, to guarantee a comprehensive care towards the person, considering his every need.
That is why the mental well-being that arises from physical activity that is not just one fatigue gym aimed at perfecting the body, but also one gym of life, which allows each of us to flourish in every aspect, exterior and interior.
Here's what you might also be interested in:Mind and Body article, a fundamental collaboration for sportsmen.
Dr. Annarita Dibenedetto
Graduated in philosophy, she soon discovers that her vocation was to actively listen to others and take care of people.
Enrolled in the Three-year Master of Philosophical Counseling and since 2014 she has been active as a freelancer, tutor and teacher at the ISFiPP
Find out more about the philosophical counselor on the site Bene philosophy, by Doctor Annarita Dibenedetto.