Bishops Ban Reiki

Well in an interesting turn of events, people have reported that the Pope has banned Reiki practice as being "unscientific". Its actually a Council of Bishops.

An articles on Jeff Ollson's blog links to the real article published by the Guardian. Actually, if people actually read the real press release by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops they might get a more balanced understanding of the Bishops position... but its still a crock of poop.

Ok that's personal opinion there.

Reiki is a wonderful therapy option, and in many cases it constitutes the sole spiritual practice for people. Reiki is not of Christian origin (there were stories that its creator, Usui Mikao was a Christian minister or learned from a Christian school, but he wasn't and he didn't). The press release explains that the US branch of the Church doesn't believe Reiki should be a treatment in "Christian institutions". Oh and Usui wasn't a doctor either... I hate when people write that.

We have to be fair here. If we want people to let us have our own beliefs then we have to be willing to let other people have their beliefs. There are certainly Christian reiki practitioners who feel that reiki has no conflict with their belief system. Reiki is of course a different belief system, or more properly a set of beliefs. With reiki (as with everything else) people will hold on to whatever they feel is important to them, and let go of the rest.

Reiki is not a religion, but it is spiritual. I suppose the Council of Bishops feel that their religion should be the only spiritual path of its adherents.

It is unfortunate that the Council of Bishops choose to see reiki in this light. Why can't they see the use of reiki as a gift from God? There are definitely those who believe Jesus healed using Reiki (of course he didn't... the system of Reiki was created in the 1920's but energy healing of course is much older than that).

Of course the spiritual aspects could be removed from Reiki, but its not particularly something I'd be interested in practicing. Or actually maybe it would... I'll blog about reiki and energy healing in the future.

My Reiki teacher first sent an email about this.

For a good resource on Reiki, check out The Reiki Sourcebook by Franz and Bronwen Stein. I also have a small (but soon to grow!) collection of recommended Reiki books at my Amazon Reiki store. If you are interested, you check out my Facebook group I created AGES ago called Non-Fluffy Reiki. BTW: There is only a small number of Reiki books I recommend on my site because there are only a small number of REALLY GOOD reiki books out there.

Resources:
Reiki for Christians

That's another 21K on my shoes

Greetings everyone! I made through another week of running. I have logged a total of 21 Km this week since Sunday. Today after work, but before dinner, my wife and I put in a good 3K to give ourselves a bit of a break.

Actually, some money came in yesterday from income tax returns and some health benefit reimbursement, so I decided to splurge and go out for all you can eat sushi. And we ate too much! We felt pretty rough afterward, but what we ate last night definitely had an impact on our performance today. Note to self... stay away from that much sushi for a long time.

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The good news is we seem to handling the running pretty well. I have a mild fear of over-training but I think we are taking everything in a good stride and not pushing too far. We're still doing 10 and 1's during our 6K runs but next Friday we may attempt to do a straight 3K of solid running.

Last week running Tuesday and Wednesday made for very sore quads on Thursday, but this week the muscle stiffness seemed to be negligible, but we definitely feel more tired. Going to sleep in tomorrow and get lots of rest this weekend.

And by rest, I mean sleeping in Saturday since Sunday at 8:30am we have to run 6Km again :)

Peace and good running to you,
Rick

PS: Just for interest, check out the runner blogs and the article on massage and running at iRun.ca. Ok not just for fun, but I'll explain in a later post ;)

I started a 10K clinic

I started a 10K clinic this week. I've decided I want to blog about it. Therefore I've decided to limit blog posts to once a week.

My wife and I planned to get into running again this spring so we went to the Running Room to sign up. There was a 5K clinic on Friday's but Friday's are pretty busy. The other option was Tuesday... a 10K clinic. We decided to sign for it with a bit of reservation, when were asked if we wanted to take part in a research study through Wilfrid Laurier University. We said sure. They said if you get accepted, they'll pay for your clinic fees and race fees! Woo hoo!

So last week we had our first fitness apprasial and there will be one 4 times over the 10 week training period. The study is to "assess the effectiveness of a regular individualized massage therapy program in diminishing indicies of muscle damage/soreness and training discomfort in novice runners progression toward completion of their first 10km road race". Its a mouthful, but those are the words or a real medical study.

Our first run night was Tuesday: 6km and supposed to be steady run...no 10 and 1's which is the typical Running Room program (in the 5K clinic you build gently up to running 10 minutes and walking for 1 minute as a rest). I gathered a group of people who wanted to run 10 and 1s. You can build to a steady 6k run if you are careful with it but for some people, this was their first clinic!

On Wednesday we ran 5K and we still maintained 10and1s. This was our first time ever running two days in a row. We were supposed to run today as well but due to scheduling we skipped it and run Saturday. Besides I have 1 hour of kung fu (wing chun) on Saturday anyway and my wife has belly-dance class practice Friday and Saturday for a recital on Sunday. Besides... I had a lot of blogging to get done!

Next we'll try running up to 4 times a week. According to the schedule by week 4 we'll actually be running 5 times a week. I'll try and keep you posted on my kilometers per week. During the last clinic I didn't miss any runs and I probably made between 12 - 15 km per week.

So far this week I have completed 11Km in just two days!

We're supposed to also keep track of any aches and pains we feel, and if we do any "therapy" to over come it. Usually I'm sore the second day after running, but even with running two days in a row, the pain was much lower then expected. I had sore quads the day of the second run and the run started being a bit difficult because of it, and the next day I did have trouble walking down stairs because of my quads, but now I am pretty much pain free!

Tomorrow we'll try and get in a slow 3K if we can. Hopefully I can also get some stretching or yoga in as well as kung fu... but the weather should be nice enough to ... grrr! clean up the yard!

Another 3 KM down...

Another 3KM down and many more to go!

My wife and I just got back from our first run of the season. We thought we could continue running into the fall, but since our last running clinic ended in late summer we just didn't make it back out with the group. Running without a running group is just not possible for us it seems... although this summer we'll try a bit harder!

The challenge now is that we are going to sign up for an upcoming 10K clinic. I'm a little nervous about it, although my last 5K race ended in good condition with me hitting a time of under 32 minutes. I had intended to continue to build more of a base by doing another 5K clinic but we'll see how this goes. The 10K just fits into our schedule a bit better.

So tonight we did many laps around our local rec centre. We just learned two weeks ago (while attending a Yoga For Home yoga-thon) that the Rec Centre was open for public running. I never thought about it before, but a running track has its own specific rules, including running the other direction on alternate days (to avoid injury).

I found it was rough going almost immediately. I had a minor stitch pretty much the whole time, and my left knee started hurting so I slowed it down. All day my right knee had been acting up but its fine now! Luckily I'm off to the chiro tomorrow.

Today's tip: When running indoors, always make sure you have enough water. Many people bring water whenever they run and I'm sure there is nothing wrong with that, but in general if you are exercising for under 30 minutes having more water during the exertion would not normally be necessary.

It was hard at first, but now I feel good about ourselves that we pushed to make it out tonight. The wife has just come off her cold and we had put it off far too long already. Besides, the new clinic starts in one week!

Canadians might ban BPA... Maybe

News on the BPA front again. It looks like the Canadian government has agreed to label the cehemical "toxic", but has not yet agreed to ban it. In an unusual twist, people who make plastic think its safe.

http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2008/10/17/bpa-toxic.html

CIBC Run For the Cure Results

Well the race is over... and now I'm taking a week off of running! I did however, make a personal best time for 5Km of 31minutes and 15 seconds!

The race on Sunday was actually quite exciting. There were what we expected to be hundreds of people, but later learned that more than 2600 people attended the race in Kitchener at Bingeman Park alone! We ran into some people we know from the RunningRoom, and also two friends of ours that were part of the Manulife Team. My wife and I did very good times on the full 5K circuit which included hills and trail running. 

It was a good setup for the race. There was a 1Km loop, and there were actually two 5Km loops: one was flat and paved, for those people with strollers or wheelchairs and the other 5Km loop was the hilly, trail run. And the hills were pretty challenging. In fact, the first hill was the worst and was part of all the loops. A friend who has a history of shin splints was already in pain after the first hill which affected the rest of his run. Hopefully I can convince him to take it slower and build up a solid base (like the Running Room program) before getting seriously injured.

I pushed myself pretty hard to make 5K in 31minutes. My goal had been to be under 33, so I met my goal and nicely surpassed it, but I paid for it later. I felt I had a quick recovery time thanks to a strong cardio system, but within an hour of the race I was moving like an old man :) However the next day I was virtually pain-free except for some quad muscles (which could be from extra, new martial arts training the day before) and today, which is when I typically show signs of muscle soreness I feel virtually none.

My wife is already excited for finding the next race. There is a Resolution Run that happens on New Year's Day here in KW, but also on New Year's Eve up in Sudbury where my parents live. So there is a possibility that we arrange our holiday travel in order to make it for a 5K run on New Year's Eve. The great thing about the Resolution Run is the free running jacket! (Well, there is an entry fee but hey, can't complain about the jacket. Except, I just bought a jacket, but this one is cooler.)

We were supposed to attend our goal race which is actually the Okoberfest Run, but that weekend we will be at a friend's wedding in Ingersoll, so we won't be going out for a run the next day :)

Help support the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation: I'm running for the Cure!

My wife and I are taking part in this years CBCF Run For the Cure! It happens in a week and a half, and I'd love your support to raise money for breast cancer.

I ran the Run for the Cure in 2006 and did a time just over 37 minutes I believe. I didn't know much about racing, and it was first race ever! And also the first time I had really done any running. The race was difficult, I almost threw up afterwards, I was completely out of breath, and I was in pain for a few days after that. :) It was the goal race at the end of my first "Learn to Run" clinic with the Running Room.

In January of this year I went back to running in a 5K clinic at the Running Room in Waterloo. The clinics there are fantastic, and I highly recommend it as a place to learn about running at all levels, from walking clinics, 5K, 10K, and all the way up to marathon training!

In March I ran the St. Patrick's Day race in Hamilton, starting at the top of hill of the Niagara Escarpment in Hamilton and straight down, ending at Slainte pub where a free pint and a bowl of Irish Stew awaited us. Given that it was the day of one of the worse storms of the season, my time of just over 33 minutes was even more incredible!

In 9 days I will be running in the Run For The Cure again, this time with my wife. We have been taking the 5K clinic at the Running Room together this time... which is going in to its 9th week on Friday! Last Friday we ran a full 5Km and my time was about 34m44 seconds, and that was not at my fastest race pace. This time I have not missed a run yet (running 3 times a week for 25 - 35 minutes each) whereas just before my last race I didn't always make it out 3 times per week.

So I expect I should be able to beat my personal best time on October 5. My goal is to run in under 33 minutes. I have a longer term goal of being able to run 5K in under 30 minutes, but for now I feel I need to continue to build a strong base. They recommend having a full year of running experience before going any further than 5K really. There is plenty of anectodal evidence from our clinic's leaders as well as others, that people who take a 5K clinic once and then move directly to a 10K clinic right after have a higher risk of injury while training for or running 10 kilometers (which is 6.2 miles).

I am also raising donations for this race. Please consider donating to the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation through my donation page.