Apprentice » DCM 2010 http://apprenticeblog.org "A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher." - Luke 6:40 Wed, 26 May 2010 15:43:48 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 An Holistic Approach http://apprenticeblog.org/2010/02/17/an-holistic-approach/ http://apprenticeblog.org/2010/02/17/an-holistic-approach/#comments Wed, 17 Feb 2010 22:08:08 +0000 John http://apprenticeblog.org/?p=129 They say exercise is good for you in more than just the physical sense, it improves the mood and can ease anxiety and depression. We are holistic creatures after all, and our physical world is not divorced from our mental or emotional world. For instance, it is impossible for me to fly a kite without smiling (I defy anyone to fly a kite without smiling), also it is impossible for me to view this video without laughing:

I’ve exercised on and off for a while now. When I was a child I hated sport, because the only sport offered to me was the terminally boring soccer, which turned my school friends into angry shadows of their normal selves. I mean seriously, it’s just a ball! I didn’t really take up regular physical exercise until I was in my 20s when I started training in Shotokan karate. The karate was great fun and the exercise did improve my mood. Also, it was good to be good at a sport for once, I’d never one a trophy before in my life. I got injured and took some time off and when I got back the lack of full-contact training  seemed to bother me more than it did before and after two years of successful training I gave up.  I still have a soft spot for martial arts and would jump at the chance to give judo but it’s a bit expensive for me right now.

The other form of exercise I’ve enjoyed for a while now is running, but I lack focus when I’m not training for a specific race.  So last Christmas, while carrying a food-baby in my stomach after Christmas dinner, I decided to sign up for the Dublin City Marathon.  It seems like a big step I know, but I’m not aiming for any particular time, I just want to finish it. The training will be the hard part – sticking to a schedule whether I feel like it or not.

I’ve been quite bothered lately at how easily I give in to my moods. I haven’t fasted in ages, I eat what I like when I like, exercise if I feel like it, sleep if I feel like it. My will has atrophied. So I hope to regain some discipline through training for the marathon, improve my moods (I’m not depressed or anything but there’s always room for improvement), and achieve something that most people will never even try. This is supposed to be one of those big life experiences.

I bought a book to help me train and one of the things it suggested was signing up for the marathon and telling people that I’m going to run it. So, I’ve signed up and now you know. I’m looking forward to catching the running bug and seeing what so much regular exercise does to the rest of my life.

]]> http://apprenticeblog.org/2010/02/17/an-holistic-approach/feed/ 0