Ted Cibik's Inner Strength

QiGong, Exercise and Cancer

Cancer and your QiGong Workout

 

I have been a proponent for QiGong as a therapeutic modality for cancer patients for over 10 years now and I would like to offer some tips on your QiGong practice for those teaching QiGong and exercise in general for cancer patients regardless of the phase of cancer they are in.

 

The American Cancer Society states that at least 30 minutes a day of dedicated exercise above and beyond the usual activities of daily life on five or more days a week is needed to really reduce your cancer risk.  Most of us could use more activity in our day and QiGong is another way to provide that daily recommended dosage. So whether you have cancer, want to prevent cancer or just want to add another aspect your workout these tips and ideas are for you!

 

Recent research has found that exercise is more effective at combating cancer-related fatigue than the usual care provided to patients. I have a special program called QiGong Exercise Specialisttm that teaches QiGong for cancer as well as other autoimmune diseases. The Exercise Specialist program teaches all of the below tips plus much much more on movements that could be contraindicated in cancer patients (and other diseases) and how to adapt the movements for safety and actually make them more effective saving time, energy and risk of injury.

 

If you have had a lot of vomiting or diarrhea from your chemotherapy, for example, – this could lead to the level of minerals in your blood, such as sodium and potassium, not being balanced. So, ask your doctor about your blood tests. If it is ok with your doctor (hopefully he/she is a progressive thinker), drink plenty of fluids before during and after exercise – mostly just water with a little fresh-squeezed lemon juice in it (it has an alkalizing effect). Think sips – not gulps.

 

If you are very tired and don't feel up to exercising for your normal length of time  -cut the exercise session in half or a third of what you plan to do that day.

 

If you still have a catheter (tube that goes into your body), avoid swimming in pools, lakes and wading in the ocean etc as this could cause the site to become infected. Additionally, certain resistance training that uses muscles in the area of the catheter may dislodge it, so make sure you talk with a professional prior to just “trying” something.

 

If you have had radiation therapy, don't expose skin that has had radiation to the chlorine in swimming pools and be careful about exposure times to the sun as well.

 

If you have cancer that has spread to the bone, perform only weight bearing exercises and avoid machines, barbells and dumbbells that could put too much stress on the bones and potentially break them. In reality, I like bodyweight exercises as a preferred method of fitness even for those without cancer for the quickest results (more on this in another Blog).

 

And of course, if you notice swelling, pain, dizziness, or blurred vision, or bleeding (from blood thinners or otherwise) call your doctor right away.

 

Buy a heart rate monitor and have a fitness professional set up a routine for you. It will be your best friend and will, without prejudice, show you if you are exercising too much or too little.

 

Any questions please email me at ted@inner-strength.com.

See our website at www.inner-strength.org for private training on becoming a QiGong Exercise Specialist.

 

 

 

Circle of Life

Part of the marvelous experience of taking some time off from work, is to relax and (hopefully) let events slow down enough so that you can enjoy some of what are called life's simple pleasures. Me, I am the observer. I like to watch and then dissect and contemplate about what I had just witnessed, as though I were seeing it from some else’s mind or perspective.

 

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Ignorance and Wisdom



Excerpts from Dr. Ted Cibik’s ongoing Taoist Lecture series at Inner Strength
Retreat Center in Leechburg, PA on Wisdom and Ignorance



Two of the greatest detriments to our sanity, peace and
happiness are Ignorance, and through Ignorance, the inability to manifest our
Wisdom. This creates, what I like to call, being off-center.



As His Holiness the Dalai Lama Stated, ”…..I believe that
all suffering is caused by ignorance. People inflict pain on others in the
selfish pursuit of their happiness or satisfaction.”



In this regard, Ignorance causes reality of situations to
become distorted – especially in ...<< MORE >>

Simplicity

The following is an excerpt from Dr. Ted Cibik's classes on Formless
Taoism which are held the third Saturday of every month here at Inner Strength in
Leechburg PA. Previouse topics have included Fear, The Warrior and the Priest,
and Being in Center. Some of these are recorded and can be found at www.inner-strength.org





One of the special features of true Taoism is that is
support the value of simplicity. As we become more technologically advanced
with nanobots and Richard Branson (founder of Virgin records) speaking of
building a team to inhabite Mars (yes, the ...<< MORE >>

Death and Transition

It has been a very sobering week for me as I have had 4 people I cared about - die within 5 days. Like most deaths, these were sudden, out of the blue, that leaves you shocked and at a loss for words. My training (mind) tells me that we are all born to die - however my human-ess (heart) feels the pain of loss. No matter how well read you are, how versed in your particular faith and its practice, I believe we all feel this pain when the person who passes on is close enough to you to affect your heart. Yes, dying is a part of life – I understand, but it does cause you to reflect on the things that are non-tangible and omnipotent - Love, Compassion for the living, and Spirit.

As we open our hearts more in our practice, it also allows us to become more vulnerable in a sense to feeling pain. First, we feel the pain of those around us - those we are closest to. Later, as we go deeper into practice, we begin to feel what the world would call strangers. We begin to realize that all human beings share this understanding of death and loss - and in a strange way perhaps – it makes us all connected. As we come together in loss, we feel the love that each individual had for the departed, and through this unification find compassion for each other.

I believe that this unification is the final and greatest gift offered by the one who has transcended the confusion between the left and the right brain. Let me explain. The left brain is the about the worry and predictions of the future. It is the brain that sorts the details out and itemizes them into categories of time. Our left hemisphere thinks in language - that ongoing brain chatter we Taoists call monkey mind. It is also the side that causes us to be that individual that says I need to do this and that and I should be doing this or wonders how other people perceive us.The right brain is about the present moment. The right side thinks in pictures and kinesthetic movement like when you fall in love and the whole world feels right in that moment - with love and connectedness for everyone. 

I am not unfamiliar with dying, or even death. As a child and teenager, I was “pronounced dead” twice in hospitals respectively, and had my last rites (Catholic) performed twice. The first experience was written up in JAMA and the Lancet, two very prestigious medical magazines. According to records, I was “dead” almost 14 minutes before “Coming back to life.” This intrigued so many physicians, psychologists and clergy that my case was followed for almost 10 years thereafter – becoming one of the leading case studies for Near Death Experiences – Only, I argue that I was not near dead – I was dead. You can read more about this in my book “Air Passages Surviving Asthma Naturally.” I do not, however, write anything in the book about what I seen after death or what happens to you when you die – as the book is about what I did to survive, when all the physicians were in agreement that I could not live.

Once people hear my story they ask, what happens after you die? What you see after you die? What is heaven like? Are your pets and loved ones there etc.?Many have also asked, so why don’t you go public about this, write a book and become famous like so many others who reported their experiences?

The truth is, I answer these questions privately, as death or dying is a solitary act in itself – very sacred. As a Taoist priest, I believe in affinity, that those who need to speak with me - will find me. Patients, who come to me with MS, ALS or phase IV cancer for example, always ask these questions and we have lengthy conversations and how to prepare for the inevitable (We all die – but for each person it is different). 

I will tell you this – That I do not fear death – as I have been to the “Valley of Death” and back. Upon returning, is when I knew I was to become a healer – but I had to heal myself first – and most of my youth was figuring out how –this was the greatest education that I could ever hope for - and it was all self-directed.In retrospect, it is always the living that has to heal and have to suffer. And so, my real compassion at the funerals - were for the people who were living.

QiGong Exercise Specialist

I caught a news report the other day that made me
shake my head. A recent report spoke about how a Chicago High School improved
students grades from C’s to A’s by just including exercise before the acedemic
day. By providing exercise before classes, the students added one year of
reading level and a twenty percent increase in math scores! Although extremely
news worthy, doesn’t this just make common sense to those of us in the exercise
world?



So young and not so ...<< MORE >>

MRSA, Taoism and the Earth

I often think about nature, its relationship to me, my mood,thoughts, my being and my state of mind and body. How can we separate ourselvesfrom it? Even in drinking of water and consuming my oatmeal, nature is patientlythere reminding us of a delicate balance between its health and ours.

Henry David Thoreau wrote in the 19th century,“In wilderness is the preservation of the world.” That line is to me like aline from the Tao Te Ching – timeless. It speaks on so many levels withprofound acuracy, but for most of us little contemplation on the depth of itsmeaning.

Yes, this might sound like a philosophical beginning forthis blog, but snap back into the reality of the world, and you begin torealize that even MRSA – the superbug that devours flesh – may have its humblebeginnings in our ravaged streams and soil. Scientists have found that MRSA maybe a part of what they call genes for antibiotic resistance – DNA Pollution!Our soil and our water all contain bacteria that interact with what we feed ourlivestock and poultry (antibiotics) which then transfer into their droppings -that transports the antibiotics into the soil and into our groundwater. Now thesoil and groundwater’s bacteria have a chance to mutate and adapt to whateverwe throw at them (think of what we grow in our soil also). But what about allthe antibiotics our impatient human population takes, excretes, pumpes intosewage treatment plants and then is made into fertilizer? Guess where thefertilizer goes? We already know that certain excessive bacteria can cause cancersuch as Helicobacter pylori –  but what happens when it mutates?

If this concerns you, read the March 2008 issue of Discovermagazine called “Superbugged”. In the same issue, George Schaller, fieldBiologist, asks a question that moved me so much that it made my heart ache. Hesaid, “ Can you put a value on a river -  On the cry of an animal?  Unless you can convince people of the spiritual value of theenvironment, the cause is lost.”

Many people poke fun at environmentalists, until their childgets cancer from benzidine, a chemical found incertain dyes or Tetrachlorethylene produced since the early 1900s mostlyfor dry cleaning, textile processing, rubber coatings, printing inks, adhesivesand glues. Drinking water, contaminated bytetrachlorethylene runoff from manufacturing, that then that seeps into thegroundwater, can be absorbed by inhaling while bathing or showering. Moreover,aggresive infections that do not respond to traditional treatments orcancers begin to spread in towns where there was known nuclear dumping etc. Sooften we play russian roulette with our actions regarding the environment,without being truly responsible for future generations. People laughed atenvironmentalists concept of global warming 15 years ago, now it is front pagenews and on all the science shows on TV. Watch the National Geographic showabout what just a three to six degree climb in Earths’ temperature will do. Theamazon rainforest will be gone, and parts of Europe, India and South America willbe uninhabitable due to to barren wastleland.

So now we believe we are knowledable enough to clone animalsfor their meat and milk. The FDA recently paved the way by approving themarketing of meat and milk from cloned cows, pigs, and goats in the UnitedStates. The FDA does not plan to require manufacturers to make any declarationof cloned content on labels! How are we as consumers able to opt out of clonedproducts? Morover, what about animal welfare? What about the ethical andenvironmental implications of cloning? Do we really know what we are doing? 

If we look at history, nature is the strongest force on theplanet and it will overcome the reckless alterations that we have set forth. However,it might just cost us our ability to live here as well.

 

Medical QiGong Certification with Dr. Ted Cibik

Oprah is talking about it. Dr. Oz thinks it is the perfect proactive
wellness tool. Incredible, positive western research is pouring in. The
Wall Street Journal, where Dr. Ted Cibik was interviewed states: “It is
rumored that Tiger Woods practices Qigong.” Two guests on the Oprah
show stated: “We used Qigong to change our lives.” 
There
is a shortage of thoroughly educated Qigong teachers, Medical QiGong
Therapists and Chinese Health Practitioners. Roger Janke states:
“Within 2 years Qigong and Tai Chi will be in every school, university,
social service agency, military base, hospital, fitness center, YMCA,
prison, faith ministry and spa in the world”.Imagine being established
as a certified teacher ...
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Arthritis, Pain and QiGong

For people who
are otherwise exercise compromised, Tai Chi / QiGong can improve posture
control while stretching, toning and relaxing the body in a cumulative way that
no other form of exercise can achieve (American Journal of Occupational
Therapy).



Not only that,
but QiGong is the lowest weight bearing exercise that can be
performed with benefit, and modified forms can be suitable for even arthritis
sufferers with minimal discomfort (American Journal of Physical Medicine and
Rehabilitation).



Okay, now you
are sold on the virtues of QiGong - So off to find an instructor!



Here are some
tips from being in the sport medicine field ...<< MORE >>

Medical QiGong in the 21st Century

PODCAST: Listen to Ted's lecture at a Cleveland Health and Welness expo on the benefits of Medical QiGong as a health modality as we move into the 21st century.<< MORE >>