healthy heart quiz from the AHA

Healthy Heart Workout Quiz

1. Regular physical activity is an important step toward a healthy heart. What other steps can you take to reduce your risk of heart attack?
   1. stop smoking
   2. reduce high blood pressure
   3. maintain proper blood cholesterol levels

2. If running marathons is not your idea of regular exercise, you can work up a heart-healthy sweat in your everyday life in a lot of ways. What are some of them?
   1. sitting in a sauna
   2. walking
   3. vigorous vacuuming
   4. mowing lawn with push mower
   5. gardening
   6. baking brownies
   7. raking leaves
   8. dancing

3. Children are more physically fit today than they were a generation ago.

   • True
   • False

4. What is the most common excuse for not engaging in physical activity?

5. Besides being an important way to get ready for bathing suit season, regular physical activity can also benefit your health and well-being by improving which of the following?:
   1. blood cholesterol
   2. high blood pressure
   3. energy level
   4. sleeping patterns
   5. weight

6. A heart-healthy schedule should involve at least 30 minutes of physical activity on most days of the week.
   • True
   • False

7. A complete physical fitness program should involve activities that promote endurance, strength and flexibility.
   • True
   • False

8. What should you do first before starting a vigorous exercise program if you're middle-aged or older, have been sedentary, are overweight or have a serious medical condition?

9. What form of physical activity has the lowest dropout rate?

Check your answers with the answer key!

I am back!!!! Todays Post- quote-inspiritation

The hope that is left after all your hopes are gone -- that is pure hope, rooted in the heart.

David Steindl-Rast
Gratefulness, the Heart of Prayer

Hi! I am back from a short hiatus! Missed blogging...but I am back!!!!
Heart Blessings~
Desiree

Jing- One of the 3 treasures!

Jing

Jing energy, also called "essence", is the primordial energy unique to an individual that is passed to them at conception. Jing is received from one's parents and has no "material form". Its closest Western counterpart is DNA (our genetic material). This energy governs the developmental growth processes in the body and the rate and degree of determination of the body. Chinese Medicine teaches that Jing can be strengthened through diet, life-style and herbal treatments.

To get the complete picture...read the two prior posts!

Qi (Chi) Energy

Qi

Qi is the most dynamic and immediate energy of the body. This unique energy results from the interaction of yin and yang. It has been called "energy", "vital energy", "primal energy" and "life force". A healthy body is a wellspring of constant circulating Qi which moves around the body, in and out of the body, up and down within the body. Vibrant Qi has warming properties that bring about a sense of complete harmony and wellness.

Qi in the body�s functioning is like an electric current. Qi animates our being. Our meridians and organs are like the hardware: wires, transformers, power plants through which the electrical current (qi) moves and gets amped, stored, and routed. Every living being has qi, yet each of us is unique in our particular quality of qi. Qigong practices assist qi circulation and flow, storage, and regeneration. Our qi circulation and flow is dependent on how much and what kind of qi we received at birth from our ancestors, diet and nutrition, and overall lifestyle. Practices can transform qi into shen or jing and healing energy. In the old character for qi, there is an image of steam rising from a pot of rice on a fire. If the fire is continuous and appropriate to the proportion of rice to water, energy will show up as steam. If the fire gets too hot, the water dries up and not only the rice burns but eventually the container as well.

When the qi flow is disrupted, we accumulate the residue of incomplete vital process. This is the foundation of many illnesses. In the beginning of this disruption, there is stagnation. If the residue accumulates over time, we eventually lose the capacity to suspend them, and they are expressed as overt disease.

When Jing, Shen and Qi are interacting harmoniously, individuals live life at peak capacity. Everything seems to "click ". Our body, mind and soul are fully engaged.

THE 3 TREASURES~Qi, Shen, Jing

There are three treasures in the human body. These are known as Jing, Qi and Shen. Of these three, only Qi has received some recognition in the West so far. Qi is but one of the Three Treasures---the other two are equally wondrous.

Today we will talk about Shen, the third treasure. Shen energy is similar to the English meaning of the words 'Mind' and 'Spirit.' It is developed by the combination of Jing and Qi energy. When these two treasures are in balance, the mind is strong, the spirit is great, the emotions are under control, and the body is strong and healthy. But it is very difficult to expect a sound mind to be cultivated without sound Jing and Qi. An old proverb says that 'a sound mind lives in a sound body.' When cultivated, Shen will bring peace of mind.

Shen is the guiding Spirit which directs Qi. This is ultimately the most important of the Three Treasures because it reflects our higher nature as human beings. Chinese masters say that Shen is the all-embracing love that resides in our Heart. Shen is the spiritual radiance of a human being and is the ultimate and most refined level of energetics in the universe. Shen is not considered to be an emotion, or even a state of mind. It presides over the emotions and manifests as all-encompassing compassion, and non-discriminating, non-judgemental awareness. Shen is expressed as love, compassion, kindness, generosity, acceptance, forgiveness and
tolerance.

Even though nature manifests dualistically and cyclically, often obscuring our vision and creating illusion, Shen is our higher knowledge that everything is one. It manifests as our wisdom and our ability to see all sides of all issues, our ability to rise above the world of right and wrong, good and bad, yours and mine, high and low, etc.

Tomorrow we will cover Qi (Chi) the second treasure and it is the energy flow, the vitality and the action of Yin and Yang.

Heart Blessings~
Desiree

May~ Blood Pressure Awareness Month~

What is blood pressure?

Blood pressure is the pressure of the blood against the walls of the arteries.

Blood pressure results from two forces. One is created by the heart as it pumps blood into the arteries and through the circulatory system. The other is the force of the arteries as they resist the blood flow.

What do blood pressure numbers indicate?

• The higher (systolic) number represents the pressure while the heart contracts to pump blood to the body.
• The lower (diastolic) number represents the pressure when the heart relaxes between beats.

The systolic pressure is always stated first. For example: 118/76 (118 over 76); systolic = 118, diastolic = 76.

Blood pressure below 120 over 80 mmHg (millimeters of mercury) is considered optimal for adults. A systolic pressure of 120 to 139 mmHg or a diastolic pressure of 80 to 89 mmHg is considered "prehypertension" and needs to be watched carefully. A blood pressure reading of 140 over 90 or higher is considered elevated (high).

source of information: American Heart Association www.americanheart.org

Peace in My Heart

~Peace In My Heart~

With peace in my heart
Love will have no boundaries
Like wings set on fire~

~Desiree

Senryu 5/7/5 emotion/nature !!