Church Health Center's Hope and Healing Center Caring for the whole person is the goal of one of Memphis' newest "spas." by MARY ALLISON CATES How sweet are the benefits of exercise? Just ask anyone in local fitness spas where shiny spandex stretches mercilessly over bulging muscles, halter tops give way to washboard abs, and thong leotards proudly display the result of countless lunges. Such gear are the badges of honor reserved only for those able to manipulate their bodies into icons of discipline. The rest of us are left to grip the handlebars of our stationary bicycles as we pedal our way toward lofty physical standards. But creators of the Church Health Center's Hope and Healing Center know that exercise alone covers the whole person about as well as a painted-on tank top. The new "sanctuary for health" is located in the former Baptist Healthplex at 1115 Union, and opened in January after private donors and local congregations funded a $7 million renovation. The result is an 80,000-square-foot building that reflects the center's mission of providing mental, physical, and spiritual nourishment to its patrons, complete with a modest dress code. Its glass facade and state-of-the-art equipment are a far cry from the center's humble beginnings three years ago in a 5,000-square-foot house at the corner of Peabody and Bellevue next to the Church Health Center. Lisa Vasser, director of the Hope and Healing Center, explains that the idea for the facility grew out of the fact that the majority of the Church Health Center's 30,000 patients suffer from preventable illnesses. "It's the responsibility of the faith community to address physical and spiritual needs of its members when they are well and when they are sick," she says. That's why the Memphis and Shelby County Medical Society and the Bluff City Medical Society occupy offices in the center. There, med students and residents learn how to administer "prescriptions for health," by adding counseling, exercise, meditation, chapel services, and the like to patrons' health regimes. Art commissioned from painters, sculptors, and designers all over the United States relays the center's philosophy. Colorful banners bearing the virtues outlined in Colossians 3:12 (gentleness, kindness, compassion, humility, patience, and love) hang from the ceiling while a giant wall sculpture and fountain resembling a growing tree greets members at the door with a message of healing and nurture. "Hope and healing is not a concept people understand easily," Vasser points out. "By incorporating art we can create a spiritual environment without having to open our mouths." She describes the center's membership as a potpourri of black, white, rich, poor, adults, and children. "In Memphis that's pretty incredible," says the Seattle-born director who says she came to the Mid-South because she was "seduced by the potential of the city." During January, 880 people toured the Hope and Healing Center and more than 75 percent of them joined. Members pay monthly dues based on a sliding income scale. The full fee is $25 per month. The center offers an array of worship services in its ecumenical chapel, including the singing prayer of the French Taize community, guided meditation, jazz music, and stretching prayer, a mode of worship that engages both the body and the spirit. Full-time Hope and Healing chaplains lead these opportunities in addition to acting as resources to fellow staff members. A meditation chapel complete with a kaleidoscope light image projected on the pale wooden floor is available for those who appreciate the language of silence. Courses on freedom from smoking, stress management, coping with depression, images of God, and other topics are open to members, non-members, and Church Health Center patients. The facility even includes a kitchen for healthy cooking classes. Athletic types enjoy the basketball and racquetball courts, an aerobics room without mirrored walls, a therapeutic swimming pool, stack weights, free weights, treadmills, bikes, stair climbers, and a walking track. All the exercise equipment is the latest on the market. While members enjoy the center, so too can their children in the building's creative learning centers for both infants and youth. The Church Health Center was not the first to ponder the relationship between the mind, body, and soul. The human struggle with its multileveled existence is inherent in ancient philosophy and even in Paul's letters to the church at Corinth. We are always pitting aspects of ourselves against the others, valuing appearances over inner content, defeating our body's cry for rest with the will to exercise, denying our spirits the gifts of our senses. The Hope and Healing Center calls for an end to this self-defeating competition. It is only when all aspects of our nature are in harmony that we can truly know the benefits of exercise, and I'll venture to guess that among them is not a single stitch of spandex. Mary Allison Cates is coordinator for church-related ministry at Rhodes College. You can e-mail her at letters@memphisflyer.com.