Ugh. I have survived my first two Pilates classes and need to tell someone how proud I am of myself. It’s not much, I know, but it’s a start. A beginning of a new discipline that I hope will strengthen my body and improve my overall health.

“You have to be patient,” said the instructor when I wondered aloud if I was simply “too old and too out of shape” for a new form of exercise, one that demands contorting my body into uncomfortable positions and using something she kept referring to as “abdominal muscles” (do I have those?!). It will take practice, she told the group of beginners who had gathered on a Saturday morning.

Such is the way with other disciplines in our lives. At present, I am trying to make spiritual strengthening part of my daily regimen, something I do regardless of how the rest of my day might go. For me, it can be too easy to let prayer or meditation time slide when I have family obligations and work deadlines. Surely I’ll find time before bed to shout out a few requests to God, maybe even throw in a “thank you.” Maybe I will and maybe I won’t. Although I do start out each day, before getting out of bed, by “checking in” with God, I want to stake out the time for a more in-depth visit each and every day.

If I’ll commit a certain amount of time each day in which I release the trivialities and trappings of the world and instead focus on that which is beyond me, I’ll be more likely to make such a practice part of my routine. I’m talking about practices that require me to settle down, focus, and give myself over to something greater than anything I might comprehend. If I’m willing to stretch my body, surely I can do the same for my soul.