Balance is Everything.

Mindfulness and Eastern medicine/lifestyles have taken the US by storm in the last ten years, and I couldn't be happier. The power of the mind, or what I like to call the "Placebo Effect," is a vital part of holistic health care. Everyone should be doing some kind of meditation on a regular basis, whether it is sitting, standing, or moving. I have no doubt that the medical community will continue to discover far-reaching health benefits associated with practices like Tai Chi for years to come.

However, these Eastern traditions are not a cure-all. The key to holistic health is balance. Mindfulness has been linked to decreased anxiety and decreased depression symptoms, but if you are taking a medication for either or both of these issues, beginning a Tai Chi or meditation routine does not mean you can suddenly stop the prescription. Supplementing your treatments with mindfulness practice should mean being more involved with your physician about your health, not less.

The goal, of course, can be to wean yourself off of prescriptions. No one wants to take pills every day of their life! But you have to first build a foundation of effective mind-body prescriptions, to give you and your physician enough confidence to decrease your reliance on pharmaceuticals. Don't try moving all of your eggs to another basket at once!

I teach my students from the body first, and gradually, I teach them to add layers of mindfulness and meditation to their stretching and moving. The greatest, and longest lasting health benefits are achieved after the mind and the body are both fully involved.

After all, it is called Mind-Body medicine for a reason!

Hey Rami! Guest Vlog: Larry Lucchino Talks About Rami

This week's vlog stars a guest! As many of my readers have probably seen, Larry Lucchino has been an avid client since he first came to Boston and sought help for his lower back issues. On the home page, you can find an extended testimonial that he gave a little while back.

For those of you who have not heard his testimonial, this quick summary he gave of his experience is definitely worth a watch:

And a quick announcement! We now have two moving meditation classes per week at the Zakim Center! See my Classes & Times page for details.

Health Care Costs and the Elderly

Being elderly (commonly defined as 65+) in the U.S. has changed significantly in the last few decades. The elderly are not on the last leg of their life, but rather just starting the last quarter of their life, as the life expectancy continues to rise. Many of them are staying in the workforce, either because their bodies allow them to, or to support the children that they had (later in life than their parents) through college and other financial hurdles.

This is not an indicator that the elderly are experiencing all-around better health, however. Heart attacks, cancer, and other fatal health events have been pursued with billions of dollars of research funding to increase survival rates as much as possible. But chronic, non-fatal health problems that arise in old age like diabetes, arthritis, joint and muscle pain, etc., are still only see "treatments." 

As the elderly age group grows, everyone has a responsibility to understand the impact on our healthcare system. Does longer life expectancy mean fewer chronic issues, or just more time to have them? At this point, it is latter.

This is why preventative health routines are so important, especially for the elderly. The last thing the elderly want is to be a burden, financial or otherwise, on their children and grandchildren. Learning tai chi and qigong now may mean free arthritis treatment for life.

Hey Rami! What About Strength?

In this week's vlog, the topic of discussion is strength, and how it should fit into your health equation. First up: leg strength for bone density, posture, and balance.

Be sure to keep submitting questions in the comments, on facebook, twitter, or via email!

Can Mindfulness and Internal Martial Arts Cure Obesity?

My team and I have a lot of exciting new things in the works, and there will be more information forthcoming.

Today's post is something I have been working on recently. Is America going about the fight against obesity all wrong? The First Lady has done extensive work to get the weight of America's children to a healthy average. Her "Let's Move" program focuses on eating healthy and getting physical exercise, which are valiant goals. All health professionals agree that children need to eat right and exercise.

But are exercise routines and removing sugary snacks from schools really treating the problem? Or are these initiatives just alleviating the symptoms?

Maybe it's us, the parents, who force "professionally optimized living" on our children. Our children need a good job to make it on their own, and to get one, they'll need a great degree. To get one of those, they need to out-shine the competition when applying to college by having straight A's and a veritable laundry list of extracurricular activities. Most of these "check points" start by the time children are in middle school, ten, eleven, or twelve years old. Do kids have time to be mindful of health when we are already asking them to focus on grades, extracurricular activities, internships, saxophone lessons, and more?

This may seem counter-intuitive, but maybe parents need to slow down, and let their kids slow down too. If kids had time to look for really fulfilling physical activities, and healthy food choices, they probably would. But when they only have 5 minutes of free time, two or three times a day, what is there for a kid to do but watch a quick Youtube video and grab a candy bar?

No one can take care of themselves if they don't have the time or the energy, whether they are a child or an adult. What are you teaching your children to focus on? Health, or wealth?

Hey Rami! What is the Tightest Muscle in the Body?

This week on my vlog, I answer a question about our tightest muscle, and show you three different ways to stretch and relax it. (And I'm much easier to hear this week!)

Thank you for the question, Cliff!

Send in your burning questions in a comment on this page, on my Facebook page, or on Twitter. I'll be sure to answer them in a short video in the next couple weeks. 

(The links to my Facebook and Twitter pages are on the navigation bar near the top of the page, and at the bottom of the page on the left).