Spiritual Fitness: An Essential Component of Human Performance Optimization

Spirituality is a key interweaving and interacting domain, and an integral component for maintaining Special Operations Forces readiness; however, it remains an under-researched and likely one of the most poorly understood domains of Preservation of the Force and Family and Total Force Fitness initiatives. Although there are numerous factors that contribute to spiritual performance or spiritual fitness, core values and value-directed living are essential. An initial step toward spiritual performance or fitness is developing core values and identity, followed by a second step toward spiritual performance or fitness, which is developing an increased awareness and deeper understanding of those values. This process of developing core values and identity, and building awareness can be enhanced through cognitive flexibility and agility (psychological performance domain). This article explains the importance of "spirituality" as a component of Special Operations Forces performance and describes approaches to enhancing performance through various spiritual activities, including mindfulness, meditation, and prayer. These three practices can be adapted and modified to be more vertical or more horizontal in their application.