LONG ISLAND WEEKLY DESK

LONG ISLAND JOURNAL; The Spiritual Life Adds Some Body Toning

By MARCELLE S. FISCHLER (NYT) 1483 words

In the center of the room at the Queen of the Rosary Motherhouse in Amityville, Debbie Eisenstadt Mandel, a stress reduction specialist and personal trainer from Lawrence, was teaching nuns to take care of their bodies as well as their spirits.

''It's a physical affirmation,'' Ms. Mandel said.

She instructed the nuns to do a bicep curl, lowering and raising their arms from the elbow.

''Feel what you lift in life,'' Ms. Mandel told the 16 nuns.

For the last several months, Ms. Mandel, 52, a sassy, energetic former high school and college English teacher, has been running mind-body wellness workshops with nuns at the motherhouse, the Siena Center in Water Mill and the Health Resource Center at St. Gregory's convent in Bellerose.

''What happens to this spiritual, intellectual community of women parallels all women,'' Ms. Mandel said. Despite their image, with fewer women dedicated to religious ministries, an aging population and scandals rocking the church, the sisters feel overburdened.

''If you think a convent is contentment and 'The Bells of St. Mary,' forget it,'' said Ms. Mandel, who is Jewish, the daughter of Holocaust survivors and was born in a convent in Rome. ''They are stressed.''

The classes started after Ms. Mandel self-published a book, ''Your Inner Light: Fitness for Body, Mind and Soul,'' linking physical fitness tips with spirituality to prevent disease and reduce stress. She teamed up with Sister Peggy Tully, 60, the pastoral associate at Cure of Ars Roman Catholic Church in Merrick, to teach nuns to unwind by strengthening their bodies.

''We're temples of the Holy Spirit, our bodies are mediators of grace,'' said Sister Peggy, one of the few sisters who works out at a gym. Dressed in a T-shirt, gym shorts and sneakers, she led the nuns in a meditation.

''As nuns we are caregivers but neglect to take care of ourselves,'' Sister Peggy said. ''We need to recharge ourselves. We certainly do that with prayer.''

Like other women, the nuns, who ranged from their 50's to their 80's, have troubles with obesity, diabetes, osteoporosis and heart disease. Before working on their abdominal muscles, Ms. Mandel dispensed diet tips and homespun advice, suggesting that pain in the shoulder might mean they are ''shouldering too much responsibility.''

Ms. Mandel's recipe for living is that well-being is achieved by being in balance physically, emotionally, intellectually and spiritually.

With the nuns, she had one less aspect to worry about.

''I am here to address the physical room,'' Ms. Mandel told the sisters. ''I leave the spiritual to you.''

Exercise, Ms. Mandel said, was truly a blessing, a way to experience greater awareness and joy.

''It's like lifting weights and lifting your spirits,'' Ms. Mandel said.

She had the nuns do lunges to strengthen the muscles for genuflection. The wobbly balance pod was a metaphor for being able to function anywhere on the ground, ''because life has its instability,'' she said.

Ms. Mandel is using her work with the nuns as material for a book, ''Changing Habits: The Sisters' Workout,'' later this year.

''If you take care of your body, which is the repository of your soul, you can live longer, be stronger and perpetuate goodness,'' Ms. Mandel said.

At the front of the room, four nuns leaned like ladders with hands against the wall, rhythmically bowing forward. Prayers were not in order: the sisters were doing wall push-ups.

''So many years we concentrated on the spiritual,'' Sister Rita Clair, 79, said. ''We realized we have to have healthy minds and bodies.''

Following Ms. Mandel's instructions, the nuns turned and did leg lifts. Sister Rita joked that she had a new calling.

''I feel like a Rockette almost,'' Sister Rita said. ''We're doing Radio City after this.''

Sister Peggy Igoe, 64, a coordinator for the nuns' assisted living unit, said the classes made her feel relaxed.

''If this was part of our routine, we would put it in, like prayers,'' Sister Peggy Igoe said. ''You never think of taking care of yourself.''

Sister Kathleen Steadman, 65, is the vocation director for the community.

''We tend to forget ourselves in terms of health,'' said Sister Kathleen, admitting she had gained a lot of weight over the decades in the religious order. ''If we went out for a walk, it was a stroll.''

After high school at the former Queen of the Rosary Academy, now the Dominican Village in Amityville, where many of the elderly sisters reside, Sister Kathleen said exercise just stopped.

''We got out of the habit,'' Sister Kathleen said, feeling invigorated when the class ended. ''We'll get back into the habit.''