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The Heart of Yoga
A 5,000-year-old approach to a healthy cardiovascular system.

By Susan Weiner, Energy Times

Can the calming rhythms of yoga help your heart the same way as an energetic 30-minute walk? The answer for many with cardiac disease is a resounding “yes.”

“I would call it a lifesaver,” says John Periolat, 76, of Charlottesville, Virginia, who attended Cardiac Yoga classes at the University of Virginia following a massive heart attack 14 years ago. “But I don’t think it’s widespread enough.”

A modified form of yoga focusing on cardiac patients, yoga for heart disease reduces heart rate and blood pressure in addition to calming the nervous system. It also increases exercise capacity and lowers inflammation levels, as shown by an ever-growing number of research studies. Patients use mats, pillows and chairs to ensure comfort while they perform yoga’s gentle exercises; although it may sound like barely enough motion to break a sweat, the positive effects of cardiovascular yoga are measurable.

Eight weeks of yoga helped to safely improve overall quality of life in 19 heart failure patients, even reducing markers of inflammation associated with heart failure, according to a November 2007 study by researchers at the Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta. Meanwhile adults with metabolic syndrome, a cluster of conditions that significantly raises cardiovascular risk, were able to reduce their waist circumference, blood pressure, blood sugar and triglycerides after practicing yoga for just three months (Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice 12/07).

“Cardiac Yoga changed my life,” says the now-retired Periolat, a self-described former type A personality who lives at a more relaxed pace and spends his time volunteering—a far cry from his days as a Navy captain flying F-4 Phantom fighters. Periolat studied with Mala Cunningham, PhD, counseling psychologist and founding director of the Cardiac Yoga Program in Charlottesville. “I was in a hole so deep, I couldn’t see any light,” Periolat says. “Dr. Cunningham’s Cardiac Yoga classes yanked me out of it and put me on my feet again.”

Heart-Friendly Hospitals
The clinical documentation behind yoga’s considerable medical benefits is recognized at hospitals throughout the country, from New York Presbyterian in New York City to Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles, where Cunningham’s Cardiac Yoga and other yoga programs are available to heart patients. “Cardiac Medical Yoga is a gentle program designed for individuals who have limited mobility,” says Cunningham, author of Medical Yoga (www.cardiacyoga.com). “It’s been completely modified and looked over by a cardiologist and an exercise physiologist to address the needs of cardiac patients.” Cunningham, who certifies other Cardiac Yoga instructors, uses the acronym BREAD to define what Cardiac Yoga is all about: Breathing (known in yoga as pranayama), Relaxation, Exercise/Yoga (through poses known as asanas), Attitude and Diet.

Yoga’s relaxing, meditative component may help stabilize the lining of the blood vessels and lower stress hormones, triggering a chain of events that minimize the risk of heart attack or stroke. In a 2004 Yale University School of Medicine study, people who meditated and did yoga three times a week experienced a dramatically reduced risk of cardiovascular problems.

Yoga helps to ease anxiety, which has been linked with increased heart attack risk in older men (Journal of the American College of Cardiology 1/15/08). In addition, “it helps to activate the parasympathetic response, which helps the body relax,” explains Cunningham. She adds that this makes yoga helpful for not only heart patients but for anyone who wants to avoid cardiac problems in the first place.

A Larger Heart
Some yoga teachers believe this ancient practice can also bring healing on a larger scale. Mahamandaleshwar Paramhans Swami Maheshwarananda, known simply as Swamiji, says that yoga’s benefits extend beyond better heart health; he thinks it is a pathway to individual balance that can lead to improved relationships and, ultimately, a stable society. Swamiji travels the globe teaching Yoga in Daily Life (www.yogaindailylife.org), which is taught in a step-by-step method, making it accessible to intellectualized Western thinking. Yoga in Daily Life can be practiced by people of all ages and in all states of health, but can be especially helpful for those with heart disease or high blood pressure.

“Stress is considered to be a major contributing factor to heart disease,” says Swamiji. “Yoga emphasizes relaxation through breathing, asanas and meditation, which makes it an extremely effective method for reducing stress and the associated health problems, as well as a great way to improve circulation.” His recommendations for a healthier heart include eating organic foods, reducing dietary fats and sugars, drinking plenty of pure water and taking 30-minute walks, in addition to practicing yoga postures at home and attending a yoga class at least once a week. And Swamiji reminds us that there’s more to having a healthy heart than perfecting postures, breathing and meditation: “Laugh every day because it will make your heart light.”

Whether you’re looking to improve an existing cardiac condition or simply keep your heart healthy, yoga provides a gentle, yet powerful, approach to well-being.

Barbeque Blues
Pollution and cancer hazards mar a staple of summertime living.

By Susan Weiner, Energy Times

When it comes to grilling meat over an open fire, early humans beat us to the punch some 30,000 years ago. But present-day folks indulging in chicken and cheeseburgers face concerns prehistoric man never envisioned: air pollutants and cancer-causing compounds.

Researchers have confirmed that grilling meats creates not one, but two types of compounds that can lead to cancer. What’s more, both briquettes and lump charcoal burn “dirty,” spewing hydrocarbons and soot particles that hasten global warming and contribute to health problems. Still, few among us can resist the pungent bouquet of barbecue. So instead of dodging crispy beef kabobs, learn to grill without the guilt and fewer health risks.

Grills Kill
Barbecue emissions rank well below those from motor vehicles and industry but the environmental effects are just as harmful, given that burning charcoal contributes to smog and, ultimately, global warming. Further, lump charcoal is made from charred wood, a factor in deforestation. A 2005 study from the University of California at Berkeley reports that just the emission-generating production of charcoal is harmful.

“It can be compared to fuels we use in furnaces and water heaters, including oil, gas and wood,” says Joseph Laquatra, PhD, Hazel E. Reed Human Ecology Extension Professor in Family Policy at Cornell University. “Like other fuels, charcoal produces respirable particles, or soot, when it is burned. These particles are air pollutants and microscopic solids that are inhaled and deposited in the lungs.” Particle pollution has been linked to asthma, strokes, heart attacks, lung cancer and reduced life expectancy.

When the Fat Hits the Grill
When animal fat drips onto the flame of either a charcoal or a gas grill it triggers carcinogenic compounds known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) that rise with the smoke and deposit on the meat. Other harmful chemicals, heterocyclic amines (HCAs), are formed on the food as it chars. The more time a hamburger, let’s say, spends on the grill, the more HCAs are created. These compounds do not form on vegetables—it’s the reaction with animal-based foods that generates them. However, over-charred food of any kind contains other types of cancer-causing substances.

“Grilling is simply a method of cooking that adds to the formation and deposit of cancer-causing substances on meat,” explains Michael Thun, MD, vice president, Epidemi­ology and Surveillance Research for the American Cancer Society. “Both substances are undesirable. They are both carcinogenic.”

The high heat of grill cooking produces more HCAs than, say, oven roasting or baking at lower temperatures, which create negligible amounts. But burgers, beef and chicken must be cooked at temperatures high enough to destroy E. coli and other illness-producing bugs.

So what’s a backyard barbecue enthusiast to do? “Cancer risk is influenced much more by long-term patterns than occasional patterns,” says Thun. “The goal is to have a diet that balances calories you take in with calories you put out, and to eat a diet rich in fruits and vegetables.”

Grill Tricks
Since animal production is the largest source of the greenhouse gas methane and contributes to deforestation, grilling less meat and more vegetables reduces pollution on many levels. Additionally, vegetarian sources of protein, such as tofu, veggie burgers and mock meats, contain few or no HCAs when grilled. For those summer days when you can’t resist barbecue, forgo traditional charcoal for so-called “natural charcoal,” made from environmentally friendly wood sources and low-emission plant wastes such as coconut shells. All-natural charcoals should be chemical-free and derived from private farms, not clear-cut forests.

To minimize cancerous compounds on the grill, Karen Collins, MS, RD, CDN, with the American Institute for Cancer Research, says to cook at lower temperatures and flip the meat every one to two minutes. Marinating meat, poultry and seafood or precooking it in a microwave for two minutes also reduces HCA compounds. To lessen PAH formation, grill lower-fat meats with fewer fat drippings.

“Limit the animal protein portion and make vegetables and grains a larger part of the meal,” says Collins. “By this one simple step you minimize the carcinogens from the grilled meat and maximize a whole array of cancer-protective vitamins and natural compounds from the plant foods.”

Americans are about as likely to renounce barbecue as they are baseball—no one really expects you to say no to Uncle Joe’s char-cooked steak. So sit back, fire up some natural charcoal and enjoy some broccoli with that marinated burger. Your body, and the earth, will thank you.

A Different Needle
Facial acupuncture offers a natural alternative to Botox injections.

By Susan Weiner, Energy Times

When the slender needle pierces the furrowed brow between my eyes, the pinprick quickly gives way to a calming, almost euphoric sense. Waves of pleasure surge from my forehead into my brain before traveling down my shoulders and along my spine. I feel completely and oddly at peace.

“That point is called Yintang and it is a point to calm and balance the shen, or spirit,” explains Neil Weinberg, LAc, DiplOM. He is the acupuncturist I’ve visited to learn about facial rejuvenation acupuncture, a practice reputed to reduce puffiness, wrinkles, fine lines and dark spots. “What you were feeling is called the ‘qi response,’ which is sometimes experienced as a profound sense of balance, relaxation or harmony,” he adds.

The idea that a virtually painless acupuncture procedure could induce such a joyous state while visibly reducing wrinkles seemed too good to be true. Considering that nearly 11.5 million cosmetic surgical and non-surgical procedures were performed in the US in 2006—a 446% increase since 1997—laugh lines are clearly no laughing matter. Maturing women and men are increasingly willing to endure the dangerous risks associated with surgery, chemical injections and harsh peels. In fact, the most frequently performed procedure, reports the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS), is injection with Botox, or purified botulinum toxin. Botox can reduce wrinkling by paralyzing facial muscles, but it requires repeated injections and can cause such side effects as headaches, difficulty swallowing and upper respiratory infections.

Promoted as an alternative to such risky and expensive procedures, facial rejuvenation acupuncture, also known as cosmetic acupuncture, has been practiced as far back as 960 AD, when the royalty of China’s Sung Dynasty used it to engender beauty and good health. Practitioners claim it helps the whole body look and feel younger by addressing the physical, mental and emotional patterns that contribute to aging. Moreover, facial rejuvenation acupuncture is reported to improve muscle tone, increase collagen production, tighten pores and boost circulation and moisture in the skin. These kind of results have attracted high-profile attention; ardent fans of this procedure are said to include Madonna, Gwyneth Paltrow and Cher.

“They call it facial rejuvenation, but the whole body undergoes some rejuvenation and revitalization every time you get acupuncture,” says Weinberg, who treats numerous clients with facial acupuncture at the Integrative Medicine Center in Ithaca, New York, and at Complementary Medicine and Healing Arts in nearby Vestal. “The treatment is to basically reduce aging and maximize health. Different people are going to get different points in the body and the face.”

Weinberg asks detailed questions, palpates pulses, examines the tongue and determines the skin quality, facial traits and body type of a client before beginning treatment. He offers them a choice: facial needles only a quarter-inch long or a needle-free, micro-current option called an Acutron. Chinese herbs are an important part of the facial rejuvenation protocol, with formulas customized to balance the individual’s constitution while helping to continue the effects of the acupuncture between treatments.

More Than Skin Deep?

The theory behind facial acupuncture contends that thin needles inserted into wrinkles and frown lines stimulate energy and relax the muscles as blood rushes to the surface. The muscles then tighten, which decreases sagging of the facial skin. The needles also stimulate the cells to create new collagen fibers, filling in fine lines and wrinkles.

Though there is nothing new or trendy about facial rejuvenation—the Chinese have practiced the healing art for more than 5,000 years—little formal research has been conducted. One large-scale study, published in the International Journal of Clinical Acupuncture in 1996, revealed that of 300 individuals receiving facial acupuncture, 90% saw marked results after their first course of treatment. A treatment typically runs 10 to 15 sessions with periodic follow-up sessions.

In a society that clamors for immediate gratification, facial rejuvenation acupuncture offers less risk, expense and recovery time than medical alternatives, since the only real side effect of facial acupuncture may be bruising. But can the treatment offer the same results as more invasive—and far riskier—procedures? Quite possibly, according to Ronit Gesundheit, MS, LAc, at the Healing Arts of Marin in Novato, California.

“Facial rejuvenation is a non-toxic alternative to surgery and other chemical procedures,” says Gesundheit. “A reduction in wrinkles as well as improvement with droopy eyelids, sagginess and age spots are all among the results that can be expected from a series of treatments. But the benefits go beyond the surface.”

The face can be looked at as a microcosm of the whole body, so wrinkles, lines and age spots are clues that tell the acupuncturist what needs to be balanced internally, says Gesundheit. “In this way, facial acupuncture treatments help to fade both the wrinkles and other symptoms, commonly issues relating to stress, sleep, hormones and digestion. Treatments are relaxing and have the added benefit of a radiant glow that comes from a balanced system, inside and out.”

Facial rejuvenation acupuncture just may be an aging girl’s (or guy’s) new best friend. While the treatment can’t reshape a nose or a chin, it may take years off a face, safely and naturally. “It’s not going to be as pronounced as a facelift,” says Weinberg. “On the other hand, you’re not going to look like a Stepford wife.”