In this issue -
American Heart Month
Let the Sun Shine
Heart Reflections
Heart Benefits of Massage
Have a Heart
Chocolate Does a Heart Good
Quotations
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American Heart Month
This is American Heart Month. Cardiovascular diseases, including stroke, are our nation's No. 1 killer.
February 5 was National Wear Red Day, a day when Americans wore red to show their support for
The Heart Truth, a National Awareness Campaign for Women about Heart Disease.
"Heart Disease Doesn't Care What You Wear — It's the #1 Killer of Women."
American Heart Associationor copy and paste into your web browser:
www.americanheart.org/
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Let the Sun Shine
Here's a trend that will do your heart good - the Days Are Getting Longer. Sunrise is getting earlier and sunset is moving later.
The day will be an hour and a half longer at the end of this month than at the beginning.
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Heart Reflections
The heart is the center of love and compassion. It is the fourth chakra, center of the system of seven power centers in the body.
Green is the color of the heart chakra, healing green, the color of nature.
We cross our heart when we make a promise, and our heart swells with love or pride. When someone special comes hear, our heart goes pit-a-pat. Grief can literally cause pain in the chest, leading to expressions like heartache and broken heart. If someone is cruel or unfeeling, we call them heartless or hard-hearted. Someone especially kind-hearted has a heart of gold.
The heart is a muscle that pumps blood throughout the body. Blood provides your body with needed oxygen and nutrients and carries away waste. It takes less than a minute to pump blood to every cell in your body. Your heart works continuously from before birth until the end of life. It needs regular exercise, a healthy diet, and a peaceful mind to stay healthy.
Click for more
Heart Notesor copy and paste into your web browser:
http://www.sueredding.com/newsletter/2008/april_2008.html
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Heart Benefits of Massage
In addition to pain management and relaxation, massage therapy relieves mental and physical stress, improves circulation, and lowers blood pressure. Reduced stress decreases the risk of heart disease. Lower blood pressure can lower the odds of having a heart attack, a stroke, or kidney failure.
Massage therapy is one effective way to prevent high blood pressure and lower stress. Several long term studies have shown that making massage a consistent part of your health-care regime can
- lower your heart rate,
- lower your blood pressure,
- lower your stress-hormone levels,
- reduce anxiety, depression, and hostility.
It's hard to feel stressed or angry when you feel so good!
For more info:
Benefits of Massageor copy and paste into your web browser:
www.SueRedding.com/benefits.htm
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Have a Heart
Wouldn't you love for your heart throb to be happy and healthy?
Would you like to warm her heart with great relaxation and stress-relief?
Want to give him a heartfelt gift to lower his blood pressure and improve his health?
Give your Valentine a gift of heart-health enhancing massage.
Great gifts for birthdays, anniversaries, thank you's, too.
Below is a list of available services and special gift prices.
Services & Special Gift Rates:
1 Hour Swedish Massage $60. ($50 for new clients.)
1 ½ Hour Swedish Massage $85. ($75 for new clients.)
1 Hour Reiki session $60. ($50 for new clients.)
1 Hour Private Yoga Lesson $60. ($50 for new clients.)
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Chocolate Does a Heart Good
Did you know that chocolate is full of antioxidants that help reduce risk of stroke or heart attack?
Best are imported and organic dark chocolates low in sugar with few added ingredients.
By Lara Evans Bracciante
Originally published in Massage & Bodywork magazine, February/March 2004.
Copyright 2003. Associated Bodywork and Massage Professionals. All rights reserved.
A box of chocolates for that special valentine may touch your loved one's heart -- literally. Chocolate is full of antioxidants called proanthocyanidins, the same compounds believed to be responsible for red wine's heart-health properties. Proanthocyanidins have been shown to help reduce excess blood platelet aggregation, which can damage blood vessel walls and lead to stroke or heart attack.
Furthermore, the proanthocyanidins in chocolate may curb an overactive immune system, which can cause chronic inflammation (indicative of heart disease), as well as arthritis, eczema, cancer and carpal tunnel syndrome. They also enhance the efficacy of the antioxidant-rich vitamins C and E, as well as beta-carotene.
Bear in mind, not all chocolates are created equal. To get the most health benefits from your cocoa fix, choose dark or semi-sweet chocolate low in sugar with few added ingredients and no hydrogenated fats or oils. For these reasons, imported and organic varieties make the best box o' chocolates when posing that age-old question, "Will you be mine?"
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Quotations
"What now seems to you opaque, you will make transparent with your blazing heart."
- R. M. Rilke
(Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 – 1926) Bohemian-Austrian poet, novelist, and art critic.)
"Give us a pure heart that we may see thee, a humble heart that we may hear thee,
a heart of love that we may serve thee, a heart of faith that we may live thee."
- Dag Hammarskjöld
"Shatter my heart that another room may be made for limitless love."
- Sufi prayer
"Look at every path closely and deliberately. Try it as many times as you feel necessary, and ask yourself, and yourself alone, one question: Does this path have a heart? If it does, it is good. If it doesn't, it is of no use."
- Carlos Castaneda
"I am certain of nothing but the holiness of the heart's affections and the truth of the imagination."
- John Keats
"If I keep a green bough in my heart, the singing bird will come."
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Content of this newsletter is for information only and is not intended as medical advice. Please consult your health care practitioner.
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