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408th Turtle Marathon to be held Sunday

Go on a refreshing morning walk to beat the dampness of the rainy season at the Turtle Marathon at Mt. Nam in central Seoul, Sunday. The Hankook Ilbo, a sister paper of The Korea Times, hosts the monthly event, which has drawn more than 120,000 people since 1978. Unlike an ordinary marathon, participants can walk at their own pace. Choi Chang-sik, head of the Jung Ward office, will lead this month's walkathon and 54 candidates of the 2011 Miss Korea beauty pageant will also attend. After the walk, broadcaster Lee Sang-yong will host an event featuring traditional Korean percussion music group Harang. The Korea Duck Association will offer samples of duck meat to participants. This month’s raffle prizes include a kimchi refrigerator and washing machine as well as a voucher for the Seoul Residence Hotel, newspaper subscription coupons, Merrell trekking shoes, gift sets of assorted duck products, health beverage Damina 909 from Glamy, movie tickets from Interpark, cosmetics and more. Middle and high school students who participate in the cleanup afterwards will receive c

(145) PyeongChang

By Janet Shin PyeongChang has become the most popular keyword for Koreans after the announcement last week at the International Olympic Committee (IOC) session in Durban, South Africa that it will host the 2018 Winter Games. I received several calls asking me how I view the PyeongChang’s winning bid. Well, I understand the prying eyes and ears of the public and it is not odd for me to get inquiries about the destiny of a current president or who will be the next president among the currently noted candidates. I even got an inquiry from an Indian reader asking me to read the saju of a famous Indian actress whom he was fascinated with. However, reading the saju of individuals and reading certain events or the fortune of a year or a country are different. For example, if hundreds of people died in a plane crash, would it mean that the saju of all those victims had the dark shades of death? Likewise, disasters such as great earthquakes must be seen by an appropriate viewpoint of saju. “Will I live long?” is still one of the most frequently asked questions by my clients. O

Some like it raw

By Kelly Frances The raw food diet is based on the belief that the healthiest food for the body is uncooked, unprocessed and natural. In essence, raw foodists believe that cooked, processed, and refined foods lead to illness. In the diet, food may be fermented, dried, or softened through soaking. Heating is acceptable so long as the temperature is below 48 degrees Celsius. “Anything hotter degrades the enzymes naturally present in fresh food-which aid digestion and nutrient absorption,” Chef Jeon Ju-ri said. Jeon has just returned to her homeland after studying at the Living Light Culinary Art Institute in California with a simple but ambitious dream: to popularize the raw food lifestyle among her native countrymen. There are different ways that people follow a raw food diet. Most adherents are vegan, meaning they avoid animal products. Some consume raw goat milk products, sashimi, or carpaccio (raw meat). For most, raw food makes up at least 70 percent of their diet. Raw food advocates adopt the strict diet for many reasons. For Jeon, it was illness that led her to

Are you happy?

By Janet Shin “Are you happy?” is the most important theme when I read a saju or give lectures. It is also one of the most important questions we ask ourselves. When we are at a turning point in our lives or when we have to make an important decision, we look back on our lives to see how we have lived and what will make our lives happy going forward. Some may find their lives satisfactory but even those who figured they are happy also said they feel emptiness sometimes. There was a report that people feel most unhappy when they are 45 years old. The feeling of satisfaction decreases after the age of 20, to hit the lowest point at 45. At 20, people have more hopes than worries for the future. However as they get older and reach middle age, their frustration is being accumulated. Their misfortune is sometimes as deep as they experience being laid off, or lose a loved one. It continues until they reach 50 when they learn to accept life as it is and learn how to be content. Simply, we may assume the golden days are in our 20s but it cannot be compared to the happiness when w

Overcome jet lag in traveling

By Lim Ju-won Traveling between time zones changes the body's sleep-wake cycle; it can lead to some symptoms such as fatigue, insomnia, daytime sleepiness, headaches, difficulty concentrating, nausea and stomach-upsets. The following are some of tips that can help you reduce jet lag. 1. Pre-flight: partially adapt to the destination time zone in advance This is the main way to overcome Jet lag in traveling and quickly adapting to the local time zone. Before traveling, try to rearrange your home schedule to match more closely the schedule at your destination. This requires eating and sleeping at slightly different times (earlier or later, depending on your destination) than you are used to. 2. In-flight: avoid dehydration The dry air in aircraft causes dehydration. Drink plenty of water to avoid dehydration. Water is better than coffee, tea, and soft drinks containing caffeine. Avoid alcohol and caffeine, which can affect sleep, contribute to dehydration and worsen jet-lag symptoms. 3. Upon arrival: get out in the daylight Once you arrive, try to adopt th

Samsung vs. Apple

By Janet Shin Saju may not only read one’s life but also read social phenomena through the mirror of cosmic principle. It is based on how the universe and its energy around us have been defined. If you cognized saju as one of occult practices to read one’s destiny by enumerating incomprehensible foreign letters, broaden your view to see other aspects of your surroundings than one’s personal lives. The theory of the five elements and their co-relationships were originated by how people considered the universe from the ancient times. By applying this theory to human lives, people tried to infer one’s past, present and future. Then, once you begin to pay attention and train yourself to read your surroundings by this theory, you will be able to grasp more truths, how and why certain phenomenon occurred in general. For some time, we have heard about the news of Apple filing a patent infringement suit against Samsung. Why do I bring up this topic, out of the blue? I cannot help laughing when I first heard this. I have already read the saju of Steve Jobs and even wro

Saju and Religion: actor Richard Gere

By Janet Shim A woman asked me to read saju of her daughter on Sunday morning, which is not the usual time for a consultation and she wanted to confirm something urgently. She heard from a shaman that her daughter was going to be a Buddhist nun. Her family was devout Catholic and she regretted having met the shaman. Regardless of one’s religious sincerity, fortune telling is a part of our daily life as if everybody wants to know their future, or even present and past. Someone may take it for reference or just for fun, but for someone else, it may influence their whole life seriously. Becoming a Buddhist nun could have been a least possible calling for a lady from a Catholic family. She was a firefighter and quite happy with her occupation. I read her saju to find that all four branches have earth elements. Saju consists of 10 heavenly stems and 12 terrestrial branches. The stems are considered to be pure and intangible, while the branches are the mixture of these stems. So the branches are the outcome of heavenly energies through the principle of the universe.

Participants in the 407th Turtle Marathon,

Power and women

Recent research showed that high-ranking officials tend to be involved in more cheating scandals. According to the research, there are two reasons. One is the strong tie between power and reliability and the other is a desire of deviation of powerful people. The challenges and pressure from their power generates more cravings to deviate in their inner egos while there is a superficial perception of stability from their seemingly secured position. There was a disclosure of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s double life and deception, having a love child with his former housekeeper, Midred Baena. When pictures of his housekeeper mistress were revealed, people were shocked by her humble appearance. It seems “love” is definitely neither for one’s appearance nor for one’s status or wealth. Although he was quite successful in his career, his wife, Maria Shriver, niece of President John F. Kennedy and an American journalist and author of six best-selling books, was more than he deserved and there was no reason for him to cheat. Having affairs with someone inferior to their wives is only

Early sleeping habit may change body composition for life

By Kelly Frances In any English conversation class, you are likely to hear the question “What is your hobby?” While Western people might list things like soccer, photography, or reading, in Korea one of the most popular answers is "Sleeping." It’s common knowledge that getting too little sleep during childhood can lead to serious health issues. However, new research suggests that the composition of the body ― the ratio of fat, muscle and bone ― could be affected by sleeping patterns of youth, and with lasting effects. According to a recent study published online in the British Medical Journal, young children who do not get enough sleep are at increased risk of obesity and poor muscle development, regardless of lifestyle factors such as diet and genetic predisposition. Such findings are grim for the children of South Korea, who sleep an average of just seven hours and 32 minutes per night, according to Statistics Korea. A nationwide survey found that 75.3 percent of young Koreans do not get the recommended amount of sleep, which is eight hours and 30 minutes per night