fitbody PRAYER WORKOUTS
A PROGRAM THAT TRANSFORMS EXERCISE INTO A PLATFORM FOR SPIRITUAL GROWTH
by April Thompson I
t’s a butt-kicking boot camp. It’s a doorway to God. It’s community. It’s caritas, the Christian virtue of
charity. It’s ActivPrayer, a fitness pro- gram integrating mind, body and soul, pioneered by a fitness-loving believer in Las Vegas, Nevada.
“People have different ways to go about it, but people all over the world are looking for ways to have a more liv- ing faith, to integrate spirituality in their daily lives,” says Luke Burgis, founder of ActivPrayer and a member of the Catholic Church. “I was also looking to get more out of fitness, so I experi- mented with different ways to infuse my workouts with a spiritual element.” After successfully training an entertainment executive turned priest, using his “soul fitness” concept, Burgis recruited participants from various area churches to try out his spiritual boot camps in parks and open gyms. They drew significant interest and in Janu- ary 2010, ActivPrayer was officially launched.
Off and Running
ActivPrayer’s group exercise classes begin with a guided prayer that varies based on the belief system that orients a particular class. The opening prayer is followed by declaring intentions—a chance for individuals to dedicate their workouts to a loved one, a person in need or a spiritual goal.
Then, the class is literally off and running, with women and men of all ages doing pushups, sprints, shadow- boxing or other high-intensity move- ments in minute-long bursts, followed by extended rests, for up to 18 cycles. The self-paced intervals, as opposed to
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a strictly choreographed routine, enable ActivPrayer’s diverse members to par- ticipate according to their own workout levels. The rest periods are more than a time for bodily recovery, however; instructors use them to refocus par- ticipants on the day’s intention and meditate on the topic of the day. Every class concludes in prayer, with individuals offered as much time as they want to rest in prayer or medi- tation before returning to the hustle of daily life. “I go to church every week, but I have a hard time focusing on prayer; I need structure,” explains Jenn DiNenna, a Las Vegas high school teacher. “I know if I go to this class, I will do my prayer and think about the things that matter.”
Enlarged Perspectives
While everyone is encour- aged to set specific physi- cal fitness goals, the greater results are often intangible: people changing attitudes, tak- ing up a prayer life or, in some cases, contributing to community services for the first time. Commu- nity service is a key component of ActivPrayer, as participants col- laborate on organized projects with local nonprofits at least once a week. Members earn one free workout for every five hours of service; in one re- cent month, 80 percent of ActivPrayer’s members participated in its service programs.
“Before coming to ActivPrayer, I wouldn’t have thought to volunteer, and some of the places we’ve gone I would have been scared to go on my
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own,” says DiNenna. She now regular- ly volunteers with the Special Olympics and says, “It’s all opened my eyes and helped me to grow as a person.” Because charity begins at home,
Burgis is putting the principles he preaches into practice in his own busi- ness. ActivPrayer is helping to create free wellness programs for churches,
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