Does Enlightenment Make Bodybuilding Easier?

[Himanshu]

Just the way Meditation(and ultimately enlightenment) make thinking(using the mind) way easier and efficient, does disidentification from the body make it easier to work upon?

 

Someone not wanting to work out anymore after enlightenment is an entirely another discussion. 

 

// Don't tell me you didn't saw this coming.

[Michael569]

no, it will still hurt like hell.

[Siim Land]

It wouldn't be enlightenment that made it easier. It would be a shift in perception and the way you associate lifting weights with what you want to accomplish.

We're hardwired to move away from pain and towards pleasure. However, both of them are purely subjective. Physical trauma is still painful, but it's ultimately the way you interpret the training and muscle burn that's going to determine whether or not you go through it or stop before it starts to hurt. 

Arnold Schwarzenegger used to say:  “All I would say is that I find joy in the gym because every rep and every set is getting me one step closer to my goal.” 

Now, Arnie here worked out hard for 3 intense hours every day for years. And being a professional bodybuilder, he went where the pain is. However, he associated the pain with his future success thanks to his clear vision. Paradoxically, the pain brought him more pleasure.

[Richard Alpert]

Arnold is a one fucking wierd dude

[pluto]

If you recently had an enlightening experience bodybuilding will be the least of your focus/concern lol

Instead you workout to become energized and alive instead of the backwards approach. You feel stronger and more powerful than ever, so powerful that you become humbled and very peaceful by it.

Now having a shift of perspective and connecting more to your higher consciousness is a different story but Enlightenment is a whole different ball game. Spirit and Non-physical phenomena will be more in your presence.

Edited August 10, 2017 by pluto

[Siim Land]

@pluto I actually disagree to a degree. Bodybuilding isn't just pumping iron or chugging protein shakes. Of course, the vast majority of people at the gym are random meat heads who work out for girls and abs.

Bodybuilding is like any other form of self-actualization - it's a sport, an art form, a means of personal development, and a way of life.

I mean, bodybuilders are living like monks at a zen monastery - working out, eating meticulously, sleeping right, other forms of recovery, studying, constantly sacrificing a lot for their goal. Whether or not they should be pursuing those goals in the first place is a whole nother story. The idea is that bodybuilding has many avenues for some consciousness work.

Arnold is, of course, one of the greats in this. But today the most artistic and deep bodybuilders is Kai Greene. The man has so much more depth to him than an ordinary lifter. He certainly has some unsolved problems and past issues but ultimately they're what have helped him to create his story.

 

 

[Himanshu]

@Siim Land Interesting. On his Wikipedia page, I found this:

 

Greene is an avid artist who often creates self-portraits to help himself build and maintain his ideal physique. In August 2011, he exhibited some of his work to the public; at the exhibition, he stated, "As a professional bodybuilder, I'm a master sculptor. The art show made me realize that I've always been an artist: my medium the human physique. My life is what I make it, just like the art I've produced on canvas and on stage. This art show makes this statement. I'm celebrating some personal accomplishments and my own artistic expression."

A heavy use of visualization, it seems!

 

[Siim Land]

@Himanshu Ye, Kai is like an artist in a bodybuilder's body. He paints, takes acting classes and man, his posing routines are amazing. I admire him not because of his lifting career but because of all the other creative things he does.