{"id":8760,"date":"2026-03-02T01:34:27","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T01:34:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/?p=8760"},"modified":"2026-03-02T01:34:27","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T01:34:27","slug":"mens-sana-in-corpore-sano","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/2026\/03\/02\/mens-sana-in-corpore-sano\/","title":{"rendered":"Mens sana in corpore sano"},"content":{"rendered":"

This last Saturday, like almost every Saturday, I went to my Pilates class. I\u00b4m proud because I\u00b4ve been keeping this weekly habit for six months now, since back in August when they opened a reformer studio just around the corner from my house, and I, having wanted to try the reformer machines for many years, ran out of excuses not to start going.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I know a single class a week sounds like very little, but to me, considering that I\u00b4m allergic to gyms (mainly because I get really bored in them), and that my motivation when it comes to exercising is generally low, keeping it up for this long and still being excited about it is a great achievement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I actually love the class, among other reasons, because we exercise not only our bodies but also our minds. The movements almost always change from one week to the next, and very often they\u00b4re new, or at least, new to me. So I have no other choice but to concentrate, to get the gist of what\u00b4s happening and be able to perform unfamiliar movements with a good degree of control and precision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And it was precisely during the class that I remembered this well-known quote:\u00a0mens sana in corpore sano<\/strong><\/em>, which is Latin for \"a healthy mind in a healthy body\".<\/span> This is a good reminder of how our physical health is very closely related to our mental health,<\/strong> and how we need to look after both<\/strong>, as an investment in quality of life in the short, medium and long term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ancient Greeks used their gymnasium<\/em> to combine physical training with philosophy and other intellectual pursuits. But interestingly, this quote doesn\u00b4t come from the Greeks as I thought: according to Wikipedia, it appears for the first time in a Satire from the Roman poet Juvenal, in the times of the Roman Empire. It\u00b4s part of a longer poem, and by the way, its original meaning has nothing to do with how we interpret it nowadays: it talks about the necessity of praying in order to have a balanced spirit in a balanced body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whatever the case may be, nowadays we know that a balanced spirit and a balanced body (or rather, a healthy mind and a healthy body) are not things that happen overnight, or by chance,<\/strong>, or needless to say, by magic; instead, we have to build them up little by little, one habit at a time<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So we come back to something I\u00b4ve probably mentioned several times in this blog already: looking for ways to exercise our bodies and minds that truly align with our lifestyle and work well for us, because otherwise, we\u00b4re not going to maintain them.<\/strong> Some people get motivated by team sports, martial arts, or running; in my case, it\u00b4s more about going for walks and practising yoga and Pilates. I could do more, but I could also do less, and now that the weather is improving (or at least I hope so!) and there\u00b4s more of a stretch in the evenings, I know that going out to \"perform photosynthesis\"<\/a>, as my friend Juanjo would say, is going to be hugely helpful in keeping my motivation and energy levels high.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Photo I took yesterday during a walk; it\u00b4s the same tree that appears in this other post<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u00b4s your favourite way to exercise your body? And your mind?<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Este s\u00e1bado pasado, como casi todos los s\u00e1bados, estuve en clase de pilates. Estoy orgullosa porque llevo ya seis meses manteniendo este h\u00e1bito semanal, desde que en agosto abrieron un estudio con m\u00e1quinas reformer al ladito de mi casa, y yo, que siempre hab\u00eda querido probar el pilates con m\u00e1quinas, me qued\u00e9 sin excusas para … Continue reading Mens sana in corpore sano<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":3116429,"featured_media":8759,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","advanced_seo_description":"BinaryWords - Mens sana in corpore sano","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"\u00bfQu\u00e9 has hecho (o vas a hacer) hoy para ejercitar el cuerpo y la mente? \/ What have you done (or are you going to do) today to exercise your body and mind?","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5001,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-palabras-words","category-general","fallback-thumbnail"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/IMG_20260228_133157.jpg?fit=4000%2C3000&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3DPtR-2hi","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8080,"url":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/2025\/11\/03\/haz-que-cuente\/","url_meta":{"origin":8760,"position":0},"title":"Make it count","author":"binarybea","date":"03\/11\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Las ni\u00f1as y yo acabamos de volver de pasar una semanita de vacaciones con la framily (si no sabes lo que es la framily, te lo explico aqu\u00ed), aprovechando que el \u00faltimo lunes de octubre es fiesta en Irlanda y que los colegios lo alargan a una semana entera sin\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Inspiraci\u00f3n"","block_context":{"text":"Inspiraci\u00f3n","link":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/category\/inspiracion-inspiration\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Photo of San Francisco\u00b4s Golden Gate bridge, taken from an end of the bridge itself","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG_20251026_115755.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG_20251026_115755.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG_20251026_115755.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG_20251026_115755.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/IMG_20251026_115755.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8968,"url":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/2026\/04\/13\/palabras-casi-intraducibles-workout\/","url_meta":{"origin":8760,"position":1},"title":"(Almost) untranslatable words: workout","author":"binarybea","date":"13\/04\/2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Como ya sab\u00e9is, de vez en cuando en este blog me gusta hablar de alguna palabra o expresi\u00f3n que me parece especialmente acertada en ingl\u00e9s (o en espa\u00f1ol) y que creo que pierde fuerza y significado al traducirla al espa\u00f1ol (o al ingl\u00e9s, seg\u00fan el caso). 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