Posted April 29, 2012
When you ask doctors what makes them feel healthy, they might say time with family or vacationing with a spouse.
“They do not say ‘Cutting bacon out of my diet,’ ” said Tanya Abreu, a motivational speaker and a leader of a healthy heart initiative in which St. Joseph Medical Center participates.
While speaking at a recent Women2Women event sponsored by the hospital, Abreu was illustrating how unconventional methods have been proven to improve health.
The HeartCaring initiative is run by Abreu’s company, Spirit Health Group, Boca Raton, Fla., and is used by St. Joseph and 39 other hospitals across the country to educate women about heart health.
Abreu’s talk at the Inn at Reading, Wyomissing, was titled “10 exercises guaranteed to lighten up your heart, health and life (in order of difficulty).”
“While I do manage to go to the gym once per year,” Abreu joked, “I do these exercises daily.”
1. Practice Namaste hands. Abreu said it’s been shown that this gesture, which is when someone presses hands together as if praying, can lower blood pressure and reduce stress.
2. Rock yourself to calm. When people think of adults rocking back and forth, many people think of mental patients, Abreu said. But rocking a baby is one of the most natural ways to soothe an infant, she said, and adults can benefit from it, too, by rocking from side to side or back and forth to reduce stress.
3. Love yourself to lightness. If people accept themselves for who they are, they will feel better mentally and physically, she said.
4. Look inside yourself and others. Take a moment to look in a mirror and see the beauty in you, she said. Also, when speaking with a spouse, child or loved one, really look at the person, she said. That’s been shown to release oxytocin, a hormone associated with sexual arousal and bonding, she said.
5. Touch someone in need. “We all know about the power of touch to heal,” Abreu said. Some hospitals now employ massage therapists, she said. Touch releases endorphins, which are associated with a sense of well-being, she said. Abreu said when she sees someone who is upset, she will often gently touch the person’s forearm and say, “I know you’re hurting but I hope you get the help you need.” She said it makes her feel better and that she hopes it can slightly improve the other person’s mood. Also, she said, hold — not just hug — your children and loved ones no matter what their age.
6. Be sassy and stylin’. When a person smiles, the body believes the person is happy whether they really are or not, Abreu said. In response, the body releases hormones that make a person feel good.
7. Be bold. At this point in her presentation, Abreu made all of the 50 or so women in the audience stand, stick out a hip and slap it with their hands. They all laughed. “It makes you feel good and it makes you laugh,” she said. “Be bold. Fake it till you make it.”
8. Practice grace and balance. Once when in China, Abreu saw a group of elderly people in a park moving slowly about in a synchronized manner. She asked a translator if the people were performing Tai Chi, which is a martial art that many perform for health benefits. The translator replied: “That’s an exercise that slows down time and makes you live longer.”
9. Stub your way to living in the moment. Abreu said when someone is in pain, that is the one and only thing he or she can think about. Your life and health will improve, she said, if you can stub your toe mentally and concentrate on only one thing instead of worrying about several things at once.
10. Approve of yourself unconditionally. That can be done by literally patting yourself on the back, which Abreu said has been shown to make people feel better.
“If you choose to practice just one of these a day, it will improve your life,” Abreu promised.
Contact Jason Brudereck: 610-371-5044 or jbrudereck@readingeagle.com.
©2012 the Reading Eagle (Reading, Pa.)
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