Peace, calm, tranquil, untroubled - these are just a few of the terms used to define serenity.  They also describe a state of being, one which encompasses and transcends the mind-body-spirit connection, that a unique and innovative program, Heal Your Heart, Free Your Soul, attempts to create within its participants.  The Heal Your Heart, Free Your Soul program was created by William Beaumont Hospital cardiologists, Kavitha Chinnaiyan, M.D., F.A.C.C., Program Director of Advanced Cardiac Imaging Education; and, Ginette Gomez, D.O., F.A.C.C..  Both cardiologists are certified in Cardiac Yoga, a method that incorporates yogic principles into modern day medical treatment, management, and prevention of cardiovascular disease.

Dr. Chinnaiyan states that the Heal Your Heart Program is designed to heal your heart on multiple levels.  It addresses the complexity of the human being, attempting to bring balance between the mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual aspects of who we are.  Our modern culture, explains Dr Chinnaiyan, "tends to treat just the 'condition' [that ails the patient], but not the person as a whole."  She elaborates, "if someone has high cholesterol, they are prescribed a cholesterol lowering medication.  [The focus] is placed on the physical heart, not the person as a whole.  We are much more than our bodies," states Dr. Chinnaiyan.  "We are mind, intellect, emotion, spirituality - you cannot treat one without the other."

The Heal Your Heart program is designed to dissipate stress, a cardiovascular disease risk factor - and one that affects many in our current fast paced society.  Although modern day medicine is of great value in preventing and treating heart disease, it cannot offset the ill effects of chronic, unmanaged stress.  Stress creates disharmony within the individual.  Research has indicated that yoga can reduce stress, as well as, reverse and prevent heart disease.

The Heal Your Heart, Free Your Soul program addresses the prevention and management of heart disease using a seven-prong approach that entails the following:

• Cardiac Risk and Compliance:  This prong is devoted to increasing your awareness of your cardiac risk factors (e.g., high blood pressure, overweight, diabetes, etc.,) and to assume personal responsibility for their management by making healthy lifestyle changes and following any physician instructions given to control their effects.
• Heal Your Heart Diet Program: This prong promotes a plant-based diet, which is the only diet that has been consistently proven through research to treat and reverse heart disease.
• Heal Your Heart Exercise Program: This prong incorporates the use of various asanas (yoga postures) chosen to meet your individual needs based on your risk for cardiovascular disease (low, moderate, or high).  The protocol also promotes adherence to a regular exercise regimen that entails at least 30 minutes of aerobic activity per day, such as walking or swimming.
• Breathing Techniques (pranayama): This prong is devoted to helping you develop a breathing pattern that consists of deep, slow, and regular breathing which has been shown to have a calming effect, which in turn, reduces cortisol levels.  Chronic elevated levels of cortisol can damage internal organs, including the heart.
• Meditation: This prong helps you to "quiet your mind, helping you to become calm and centered even in the midst of chaos," explains Dr. Chinnaiyan.
• Service: This prong entails engaging in "selfless service."  That is, performing acts without the expectation of getting recognition in return, by so doing it will foster internal joy.
• Conscious Living:  This prong is devoted to increasing your awareness of your environment and the impact your actions and behaviors have on it.  Our daily acts should help to create a sustainable planet.  "Taking care of the environment will help us to heal our hearts," states Dr. Chinnaiyan.

The Heal Your Heart, Free Your Soul program is designed to be a supplement to, not a replacement of, modern medicine.  By reuniting the "whole being" by creating a balance between the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual, the Heal Your Heart program helps you to achieve optimal well-being and lifelong happiness.  For more information regarding the Heal Your Heart, Free Your Soul program visit the website at www.healyourheartfreeyoursoul.com/.