With recent tax increases, the average cost of a cigarette pack in NY is now $9.20!  In one week of smoking one pack per day, that’s $64.40.  The cost of the habit continued over a month is $276!  That’s a car payment.  The yearly cost is $3,358- that’s a trip overseas to stay in really nice hotels while you see the world!  So instead of paying for the privelege of inhaling carcinogenic and poisonous chemicals, people across New York are calling it quits.  Congratulations to all of you who have made the transition! 
 
To all of you who are still on the fence, remember what Ben Franklin said: “A penny saved is a penny earned.”  For every day you don’t smoke, add that up- that’s yours!  At the end of the week, take that $65 and treat yourself to a really nice dinner, a massage or an addition to your wardrobe.  That’s about a massage every week, something we could all really use!  Or make plans for that money, add it up every day and see how much closer you’re getting to that trip to Australia.
 
If that’s not enough, consider using hypnosis and acupuncture to help you through the withdrawal stages of quitting.  The choice to quit has to come from within, but now there are more reasons than ever to put them down and walk away with that change clinking in your pocket.  We’d love to hear of your success stories- or maybe you could send us a postcard!

Coffee has been found to have many health benefits that include a decrease risk of Parkinson’s disease, heart disease, colon cancer, and liver cirrhosis. Coffee can also improve exercise and athletic performance and is often used to prevent headaches. Now there is increasing evidence that coffee consumption can decrease risk for developing type 2 diabetes.

A recent study published in the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry demonstrated in mice that coffee reduces the risk of type 2 diabetes. Mice were fed either water or coffee, and scientists found that mice drinking coffee prevented the development of high blood sugar and increased insulin sensitivity. It is thought that this is mostly due to the caffeine content in coffee, but it is not exactly known. In another study, those drinking decaf coffee still had lower risk of developing diabetes, but by only half as much as those drinking the caffeinated versions.

Most of the health benefits from coffee come from caffeine. But coffee also contains large amounts of antioxidants. These antioxidants are more beneficial for heart health and cancer prevention.

Too much coffee can lead to jitteriness, nervousness, heart palpitations, and insomnia, and some are more affected by caffeine than others. Drinking unfiltered coffee, as with French press or espresso drinks, can raise cholesterol levels, specifically LDL levels. Caffeine can also raise blood pressure. Caffeine also inhibits anti-diuretic hormone, or ADH, which causes an increase in urination. If drinking coffee, increase the amount of your daily water intake.  Most studies use black coffee, and health benefits are diminished when adding milk and sugar or drinking sweetened espresso drinks.

I have heard from a number of people since I wrote my first blog about this on how hard it is to change from being a stomach sleeper to being comfortable in any other position, even though sleeping on their stomach causes pain.  I understand because I was a stomach-sleeper till I was in my teens.  Then my neck cramped up big time and I couldn’t do that any more.  It was a tough transition but I had no choice and eventually succeeded.

I heard a great idea from a client the other day and wanted to pas it on.  This client has been able to remain comfortable sleeping on her stomach her entire life, but she now uses a pillow under her stomach for even greater comfort.  I tried that last night and it actually helps.  You can have the pillow in whatever position is most comfortable for you – just under your stomach or under your chest and stomach.  What it does is let your spine rest in a more natural curve.  Your face is always facing to the side and I do feel you need part of another pillow under just the back of your head so that your face is tilting down towards the mattress as opposed to lying flat to the side.  That relieves some of the stress off your neck.  Like I said – I tried this and it wasn’t bad.  I didn’t sleep that way but it was pretty comfortable – lots more so that just lying flat.
For you stomach sleepers in pain out there, give this a try. Sleeping on your stomach is still the most challenging position for comfort but this may help some of you.

Qi gong is roughly translated as “skill and understanding of qi through practice and work.”  Qi itself is difficult to define, but can be thought of as the movement of life: from the movement of breath, to kissing a child goodnight.  It is both esoteric and obvious. In the narrow understanding of the term, qi gong refers specifically to movements, breath and intent that move and cultivate our vitality.  In traditional qi gong, human beings are to follow the greater movements of nature, to keep in tune with the natural order of things and gain insight into the best way to live.  We are now moving into a time of expansion and upward growth, the Spring.  Our physical and emotional movement should reach up and out to meet the world around us to explore and make new connections.

Getting into the Spirit of Spring

Try the following simple exercise, and see if it helps get you get into the spirit of Spring.  Dressed appropriately for the weather, stand with feet shoulder width apart and knees bent in front of a tree that is beginning to blossom new leaves.  Hold your palms open and relaxed towards a few inches from the tree with your elbows bent at about 130 degrees (180 degrees would be a straight line).  Breathe by expanding and flattening your abdomen, and feel the breath moving between your feet and the earth, becoming aware of the openness between you and the deep earth.  Once you are grounded in this way, extend your awareness to the tree.  Become aware of the presence of life in and around the tree, and allow yourself to explore it from root to branch.  Let your mind’s eye travel through it.  Meditating with a tree is a very cleansing practice, and can go to great lengths to cleanse the smudges and tangles in our own vitality, but is also a way to learn from our environment how to be rooted, and how a natural life moves.  When you close the meditation, withdraw yourself slowly and respectfully, returning your focus to your own breath and abdomen until it is firmly fixed there. 

You may become a little more serious about conservation and recycling after this sort of experience.  As your awareness develops, take a walk through the ancient mountains of New York, and get ready for a whole new experience of nature!  Next, pat yourself on the back: you are now an official tree hugger!

Many of my clients have already been taught qi gong exercises to help in their own effort to be well.  If it’s an area you would like to explore, I’m happy to share what I know and work to develop exercises that would be of benefit to you.

I found a wonderful article about Reiki in the May 2010 issue of Body and Soul magazine (Touch of Grace by Lynn Darling, page 72-75).  It very poignantly describes the anger that a woman experiences as she undergoes radiation treatment for her breast cancer.  Her descriptions are so very personal and vivid.  She is not a woman who puts much faith in alternative therapies but decides to see if Reiki can help her release some of her anger.  She describes what she experiences during her first Reiki session, and how it really did allow her to let the anger go, finding more peace and freedom and comfort than she had felt in a long time.   In her words “whatever Reiki is, and whether or not, by any quantifiable measure, it works, it works for me.”  I found the article to be very moving.  It shows how taking a chance and trying something new in times of great challenges can give you such gifts and tools to help you on your way.  A sidebar in this article also explains that New York’s Beth Israel Medical Center has “recently launched a program that includes Reiki as one of 5 interventions used to create an optimal healing environment on the cancer floor”.  Reiki is becoming more accepted and used by major medical centers all the time.  I have been working with Reiki for 14 years and can attest to its ability to bring peace and comfort, to relieve pain and stress, and to encourage healing, as well as to maintain your health.  It is a wonderful tool to explore, and you can learn to use it for yourself very easily.  Reiki started me, many years ago, on my path to healing myself to, now, helping others to find their own healing through working at the Center.   It is a powerful and profound tool of healing and transformation, and yet is so simple.  If you so desire, see where it can take you.

We often think of Spring as being associated with house cleaning, but it is also important to cleanse the body. Removing environmental, processed food, and everyday accumulated toxins is important for maintaining overall health.  Detoxing can help speed recovery and keep our systems in good working order.  Fasting is an excellent method for detoxing.

While most of us eat 3 square meals a day, limiting our intake can start to take toxins out of our systems and increase energy.  A weekly fast can be helpful for cleansing on a regular basis.  It may seem impossible to do, but going slowly can ease you into a routine.  Here are some ways you can work a weekly fast into your routine:

WEEK 1:  Pick one day of the week and skip one meal.

WEEK 2:  On the same day, skip two meals.  You can replace the meals with fruit or juice.  Drink  lots of water to flush impurities out of your system.

WEEK 3:  Skip all meals for the day only,  replacing meals with juice or fruit.

WEEK 4:  Leave out the fruit and simply have juice or water for that day.

It is essential to try not to jump in to the whole fast at once, rushing in has been the cause of many failed diets and cleansing routines.

If you get cravings, drink liquids; water, cranberry juice, or a naturally sweetened fruit juice. Coffee should be avoided as it can cause cravings, as well as deplete the body of nutrients.  Green tea is a good coffee substitute.

Let your body adjust to going without a meal before moving to the next level. It may take several weeks, and several stops and starts to get into a positive fasting routine, but the benefits can be well worth the work.

The day after fasting you will wake up energized, you will be able to deal with the temptation of snacking and resist foods your body naturally knows are not healthy. The brain/thoughts will be clearer and the senses heightened.

A cleansing fast helps to maintain or lose weight, and keeps the body running like a fine tuned engine, burning fuel efficiently.

There are many ways and types of fasting/cleansing methods you can use for different results. The practitioners here at the center can help you to choose a cleansing method that works for you. If you are on any medications or special dietary restrictions always consult your physician before starting a fast.

Recently there was a study published in JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) that concluded that women need to exercise 1 hour per day 7 days per week  to MAINTAIN weight, let alone lose weight. I have since heard on multiple T.V. and radio broadcasts about the study, and the reaction from women has not been positive, for obvious reasons. Women lead very busy lives and finding the time for 1 hour of exercise every day sounds more like burden than anything else.  So I’m writing this blog to shed some light on this study, and to clarify what the study actually concluded.

The study was published by the Department of Medicine in Brigham and Women’s Hospital at Harvard Medical School. The group was comprised of 34,079 women with an average age of 54 years old over a 15 year period. The diet was described as a “usual” diet. Three groups were followed, those exercising less than 2.5 hours per week, those exercising 2.5 to 7 hours per week, and those exercising over 7 hours per week. The exercise was defined as moderate-intensity activity.

The study concluded that all women in the group gained an average of 5.7 pounds over a 15 year period. There were only slight differences in weight gain among the groups taken in 3 year intervals, about ¼ pound. And activity level correlated with successfully maintaining weight only for those with a Body Mass Index, or BMI, of less than 25, but not for those with a BMI of greater than 25 or 30.

 So what does all of this mean? There does not seem to be large enough differences in weight gain between the different exercise groups. And the only group who actually maintained weight, defined as <5 pounds over 15 years, were those who already had a normal BMI of less than 25.

 As far as exercise is concerned, some activity is better than no activity. So don’t feel that you need to exercise 1 hour per day every day to maintain your weight. Plus in this study moderate-intensity activity was defined as brisk walking, dancing, or gardening. Higher intensity exercises typically require less time, because they burn more calories. And we all know that the more weight loss equals calories in minus calories out. What I have found is that many of us are not exercising with enough intensity, and eating too many high calorie foods. So my recommendation is to find an activity you like to do (it doesn’t always mean going to the gym) like hiking, swimming, kayaking, golfing, biking, running, etc. and do it often. The more you enjoy your activity, the more likely you will actually do it