The Whirling Dance of the Dervish

Spinning.  I googled it, and after the Official Spinning Site (registered trademark and all), I came across a dictionary entry that referred to the "whirling dance of the dervish".  So now you are going to wonder how I am going to link my morning fitness to this sufi ritual of which the purpose is to reach religious ecstasy, right?  Well, rest assured, the spinning class at my wellness center is no where near ecstacy of any type.

How did I end up in a 5:15 AM spinning class?  It's the only class at 5:15 AM, and that's the only time I can guarantee I won't schedule something else instead of working out.  While I was at Hilton Head Health, I took every class that was available at least once.  I did things I never considered doing.  So when I decided I would have to work out at 5:15 in the morning, I didn't question what the class was.  It was whatever it was.  And that "was" is spinning. 

So what is my take on spinning?  Well, humans created a simple machine called a bike wheel, then made the bike not go anywhere.  And instead of the difficulty of the ride being determined by the trail

it is instead determined by a red knob below the handlebars.  We are then told to pedal across non-existent flats and over non-existent hills, and to then purposefully make our journey more difficult.  We've made going nowhere really hard to do.

It produces great magnitudes of sweat, and after 40 minutes, I miraculously feel better than I did before I started.  Well almost.  One part of my body feels worse, or if I am lucky, it just feels numb.

So, no I do not feel like a whirling dervish as I spin, and I have not yet experienced religious ecstacy on my Spinner bike.  However, the word dervish comes from the word for door and it may be that this spinning is a way in which a door will be opened.  I just wish the triangular torture device, a.k.a. the seat, was more comfortable...