I recently completed a 9-week intensive cardiac rehabilitation program (Ornish) following my open-heart surgery. The program was excellent, and I and my fellow participants all showed good to excellent improvement even after such a short time. It is a lifetime lifestyle revision, really, but the effectiveness starts very soon.
The Ornish program comprises four modalities:
- Exercise/Fitness
- Diet
- Communication/Support
- Stress Management
The first three modalities are self-explanatory in terms of health benefits. The fourth, Stress Management, consists of gentle (not the weird aggro-television stuff), focused yoga and meditation, min 30 minutes max 60 minutes per day if possible (
very hard to do even 30). Fortunately there is no "hippie-ness, dream catching, or "ohhhmmmm"-ing" about it at all...just very relaxed but very focused concentration. "Mindfulness", exactly...that is a term they used over and over.
Long-term studies have shown that while of course the other three modalities are critically important, Stress Management has been the component
most responsible for not only cardiac health improvement but actually also
reversal of the original (stress-induced) conditions.
I too was a real skeptic at first, and now instead am a believer in the effectiveness of proper stress management/yoga/meditation. Truly relaxing is critical and extremely helpful; it leads to much more energy, to much better sleep, to a healthier heart and mind, etc.
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