"Mind and Body"   

Travels from: Springfield, Illinois

Kevin Vost, Psy.D. (born 1961) is the author of Memorize the Faith! (And Most Anything Else): Using the Methods of the Great Catholic Medieval Memory Masters (Sophia Institute Press, July, 2006) and of Fit for Eternal Life: A Catholic Approach to Working Out, Eating Right, and Building the Virtues of Fitness Within Your Soul (Sophia, December, 2007).

An advocate of the “sound mind in a healthy body” credo so dear to the classical pagan philosophers, Dr. Vost, psychologist and physical fitness expert, seeks to share with Catholic audiences how we can heed Christ’s call to “be perfect” in mind, body, and soul.

Memorize the Faith! has revived an ancient art of memory improvement unknown to most modern Catholics. It is an invaluable, but forgotten part of our own rich tradition that was developed, endorsed, and practiced by two of the most profound Doctors of the Church (and the greatest minds in the history of Christianity) – St. Albert the Great and St. Thomas Aquinas, the patron saints of scientists and scholars.

Dr. Vost practiced and honed these techniques with his own college students, medical school patients, and research subjects. (His intervention with one individual was presented as a case study at a national conference on the cognitive rehabilitation of brain injury.) He also used these memory techniques himself to obtain the highest score in the state on the national psychology licensing examination (also setting his school’s record.)

Now, Dr. Vost seeks to help his audiences learn and apply these simple, time-tested memory techniques during the course of live audience-participation demonstrations. The techniques are applied to catechetical materials, such as the 10 Commandments, the 20 Mysteries of the Rosary, 21 great figures in Church history, the 46 books of the Old Testament, the 27 books of the New Testament, and much more. Those who attend his interactive demonstrations will learn such material literally forward and backward, and will learn to apply the memory systems to other catechetical material, to apologetic material, to academic subject matter, or to virtually anything else – even their grocery lists (if they should get hungry during the demonstration).

Moving from mind to body, Dr. Vost has nearly 40 years experience in the fitness field as a weightlifting instructor, competitive power lifter, Olympic-style weightlifter, bodybuilder, Highland Games Heavy Events competitor, team tug-of-war competitor, distance runner, and fitness writer for the International Association of Resistance Trainers, an organization that certifies personal trainers.

In Fit for Eternal Life he provides a simple, practical and comprehensive program of high intensity strength training, aerobic training, and proper eating. Further, this program is founded upon Catholic perspectives of mind and body hylomorphic unity, upon the biblical injunction to treat the body as the Temple of the Holy Spirit, and upon Jesus Christ’s call to “be perfect.” Dr. Vost also proposes a revolutionary understanding of fitness as virtue, so that as we build our physical strength, we build our moral virtue, and vice-versa – a theology of bodybuilding, if you will.

Dr. Vost has taught psychology and gerontology at Lincoln Land Community College, Mac Murray College, and the University of Illinois at Springfield. He has served as a Research Review Committee Member for American Mensa, the High IQ society. He has expounded Memorize the Faith! on Relevant Radio, Ave Maria Radio, and Sirius Satellite’s Catholic Channel. Catholic Familyland TV has filmed demonstrations of the material in 10 chapters for use in their Catholic Family Hour Programs. Programs based on Memorize the Faith! have been used for adult religious education classes and in Catholic schoolrooms through the country.

Dr. Vost resides with his lovely wife Kathy and his strapping sons Eric and Kyle in Springfield, Illinois. He is a parishioner and lector at St. Agnes Church. He welcomes the opportunity to tailor his talks and demonstrations to your audience and your needs.

Speaker Topics:

Recalling the Forgotten Catholic Art of Memory Improvement

A Catholic Approach to High Intensity Strength Training and Total Physical Fitness: A Theology of Body Building

The Call to “Be Perfect”: Body, Mind, and Soul

The Relationship between Fitness and the Virtues

Physical and Spiritual Fitness Concerns for:

• Men’s Groups -- Holy He-Men? On becoming Spiritual (and Physical) Role Models
• High School and College Students -- Potential Fitness Pitfalls: Exercise, Diet, and Anabolic Steroids
• Seniors Groups -- Use it or Lose it! Making the Most of your Mental and Physical Capacities as Time Marches On
• Women’s Groups -- Hold the Massive Muscles Please: Strength Training for Catholic moms
• Junior High through College Students -- Potential Fitness Pitfalls: Exercise, Diet, and Anabolic Steroids

Making the Most of Ourselves: The Psychology and Ethics of St. Thomas Aquinas

What Catholics can learn from the Classical Philosophers (and what they could have learned form us!)

Purchase Kevin's Books Now ... 

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