Fwd: [Yoga-With-Nancy-SoFla] Yoga and Heart Disease

[Guest guest]

I thought this was interesting...

Misty

http://www..com

 

 

Yoga and Heart Disease

 

http://www.bagheerayoga.com/articles/desease.html

 

In the summer of 1991, I took Nischala Joy Devi's Cardiac teacher

training on " Yoga of the Heart " . I now know that 50 percent of

Americans have heart disease. Many of my family members are included

in that group. As a result, I'm a little sensitive regarding heart

disease. So often people like my father- say, " I'm genetically

predisposed to heart disease. I'll just eat what I want and if my

doctor requires it, I'll take some medication for it. " Given our busy

lives that sounds like a reasonable course of action. It is what most

people do, if they are not first forced to have surgery.

 

Beyond genetic predisposition, the causes of heart disease are a

litany of modern life problems: stress, poor diet, lack of exercise,

being totally self-focused. As a friend says " It's hard to get off

the hamster wheel. " But, as with so many health issues,

predisposition may be the loaded gun, but behavior is what sets the

bullet to fly.

 

There is good news. Heart Disease is preventable and reversible. The

Lifestyle Heart Trial (commonly known as the work of cardiologist,

Dr. Dean Ornish and his team) has proven that a diet of low-fat

(vegetarian) foods, moderate exercise, support groups (sharing of

feelings) and yoga will reverse heart disease (See Program for

Reversing Heart Disease, Ballantine Books, New York, 1990 & Journal

of American Medical Association, December 17, 1998).

 

The bottom line is that surgery and drugs are band-aids. They don't

heal the heart and the systems of veins and arteries that support it.

Only changing one's lifestyle can create a healthier heart. After one

year, Dr. Ornish's study found that people had 93% decrease in Angina

(heart pain); after 5 years, the study's angiographic findings

indicated 5% opening of artery passages.

 

All the things that are the hardest for people with heart disease to

do are the ones that they must do: talking about feelings, giving up

all those luscious fats (ice cream, burgers, steaks, etc.), taking

the time to exercise (and focus on that alone) and being open to

one's true self (the path of yoga). Yoga may be the easiest

introduction to healthy living for these folks. Once they try it for

a while they get hooked. As I tell my new students all the time " Yoga

is good stuff " .

 

Yoga of the Heart is about healing and wholeness. That " Good Stuff "

is getting down to the essential of who we are, learning to be

present and learning to open ourselves to value and care for

ourselves and others. The five essential parts of this yoga practice

are: yoga postures, deep relaxation, breathing exercises, healing

imagery & meditation. These five should be combined in a yoga

practice session for an hour every day.

 

I usually think of the heart as the energy that joins the earth

elements to the passageway of breathe energy, mind energy and spirit.

What a difficult role that must be. Physically, the heart is a muscle

that is active the entire time that you live. We allow it to rest

sometimes, but we hope that it never stops. In our fear that it will

stop, we wrongly think we need to protect and shield it. But, like

any muscle in our bodies the heart needs to be used and then rested.

Most of all, the heart must kept as open as possible to allow blood,

air, energy and love to flow.

 

When I first began acupuncture treatments, my practitioner was always

treating my " Heart Protector " . I asked her once what the " Heart

Protector " did; she told me that it was like a door in a passage that

would open and close to allow emotion to move appropriately through

my being. I understand now that the heart as it functions, is a very

real reflection of that emotional passageway. It must open allowing a

strong current of blood to flow through and it must take comfortable

pauses in its work. I now know that a strong yoga practice is also a

" Heart Protector " . The combination of asana, pranayama, deep

relaxation, imagery, and meditation allow my entire being to become

more whole and function in a healthier manner. It allows me at times

to experience the timelessness, the dance, the peace and the play of

living. Stresses and fears of the world we live in will continue

around me, but my practice brings me back away from fear, to my true

self.

 

Many people manifest their bottled up emotions through the body with

heart disease; others will self-medicate to deaden the mind and the

heart; others may become compulsive, trying to make the world right

by restraining their breathe and heart, etc. They have indeed sought

to lock up the heart from feelings of pain, sorrow, grief or love.

 

Too often people live rough, lonely and diseased lives while they

could be enjoying and truly feeling the dance, the play and the

tragedies of being spirits on a human plane of experience. As more

people benefit from programs like Dr. Ornish's and trainings like

Nicholas Joy Devi's we will begin to know people who have not only

reversed their heart disease but who have also become Yogis along the

way. This can only have a Tran formative role in our culture. I feel

very hopeful that as more people practice yoga, they will return to

themselves. Finding some place of peace within themselves they will

bring peace to the people and environment around them.

Wishing for you a season, which strengthens and opens your heart.

And wishing many moments of peace and gentle rest.

 

=====

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Others May Simply Live

 

 

 

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[Guest guest]

Good Morning Misty, and All,

 

What a beautifully written and interesting article! I so enjoyed

reading it this Sunday morning!

 

I am acutely aware of an imbalance in my life, and that is not

getting enough exercise. I have a tendency to find the most cutting

edge health products, which truly are wonderful, but I neglect a very

big part of the puzzle, MOVING my body. Duh!

 

I did yoga in the 70's in California, then again in the early 80's in

NYC, way before there was a studio in every neighborhood. I need/want

to begin again! What is stopping me? I have yoga videos, and have yet

to put them in the VCR. I would love to take a beginner series of

classes, as I need support and guidance.

 

I am starting a new business, which will bring more abundance and

prosperity into my life, and I'll be able to take time and money for

myself and buy some classes. Wish me luck, please!

 

Have a wonderful Sunday everyone,

 

Kathleen in CT