Wellness Week in Harlem

Wellness Week in Harlem

Saturday April 25^th will be the first day of Harlem Holistic Wellness Week; the seven day Harlem Wellness initiative will end on Saturday May 2^nd.  This will be the third year for this annual Harlem holistic wellness marketing intuitive. Each year I have seen an increasing number of natural health and wellness focused businesses choosing to make the Greater Harlem Area their main base of operation. Harlem has always been a unique leader in urban revitalization concepts. We moved our Ki Energy wellness center to Harlem a few years ago.

Just as the human body has the ability to self-heal if there is a balance in the mind, body and spirit; the same is true with the healing process of any community urban or rural. Over the years I have been blessed to learn how important it is to understand the importance of bring balance to both self and community. In 1974 I was a part a wonderful group of people who created an event to celebrate the mind, body and spirit of a community that was not well, how could it have been, it was in a city that was not well. Harlem Day was the event. Today Harlem Week is the largest urban cultural/economic development festival in America.

I truly believe that developing a platform for the growing number of wellness related organizations and businesses can have a similar effect on the urban holistic wellness movement as Harlem Week has had on the growth in cultural and urban development initiatives in Harlem and other urban communities throughout the country over the past 40 years.

Strategic planning, marketing and timing are why urban initiatives like Harlem Week succeed. The timing is right for Harlem to become a leader in promoting natural and holistic health options in urban communities. The strategic planning and marketing is still a work in process but Harlem Holistic Wellness Week is an excellent vehicle. Next week’s issue of Harlem Community News will have a listing of wellness organizations plus a calendar of events and activities that will be part of this year’s Harlem wellness week.Residents and visitors to the Harlem community will have the opportunity to explore different natural wellness methods that can be used to address their health. For further information call 646329-6727.

Healing and the Martial Arts

Healing and the Martial Arts

 Most people are not aware of the healing aspects of the martial arts thanks to Hollywood, when people think of the martial arts they only think of kicking and punching.  If you study the history of the martial arts you will find that the foundation of the martial arts was and is healing and wellness. True martial artists most understand how to bring balance to mind, body and spirit in themselves and others. 

When I was training in the mountains of South Korea to become a Taoist Kido master I learned how the same striking points that I studied in my Goju karate training to bring stress to the body could also be used to empower the body’s immune system to assist in healing. Many of the same pressure points we use at the Harlem Ki Center to reduce stress.

During this year’s Harlem Holistic Wellness Week (April 25^th – May 2^nd) Tuesday April 28^th will focus on Harlem Martial Arts programs  like New Breed Life Arts and The Harlem Goju Karate Association www.harlemgojuassociation.org   who will welcome visitors that are looking for more than just learning how to kick and punch. I am a disciple of Grand Master Leon Major Wallace, the founder of The Harlem Goju karate school. My close friend for more than 40 years, Grand Master Sam McGee became the head master when master Wallace past away many years ago.  Sam and I learned a great deal from Master Wallace who tough young men and women martial arts for free to keep them out of trouble. While he created great fighters he created better human beings.   

New Breed Life Arts is another martial arts school that will be features during this year’s Harlem Holistic Wellness Week. Grand Master Lamarr Thornton founder of New Breed, tough me how to use martial arts systems like Kendo and Tai Chi to self-heal during a very difficult period in my life. Over the years Kushinda Thornton has used his concept of “Education through the Martial Arts” to also help hundreds of young men and women to becoming better human beings.

 Kushinda Thornton's new book “Reverse Knockout Strategy for The Victim” which will include a 60 year pictorial history of the martial arts movement in Harlem this years Harlem Holistic Week initiative.

Ki Treatments and Training

Ki Treatments and Training

Saturday April 25^th to Saturday May 2^nd are the dates for Harlem Holistic Wellness Week 2015. This annual event provides a marketing platform for practitioners, organizations and businesses to promote their services to a growing number of individuals who are searching for natural wellness strategies to address their health proactively and if necessary reactively.

Participating natural wellness focused businesses and organizations located in the Greater Harlem area will have special activities and programs that will introduce their services to a targeted market.  The Harlem Ki Energy Center will have two events during HHWW2015. The theme for Wednesday April 29^th will be “Energy Movement and Healing Day” The Ki Energy Center will give introductory Ki treatment and training workshops that day.

Ki training and treatments can reduce stress and bring balance to one’s internal vital energy called Ki also known as Chi. Research studies in the American Journal of Chinese Medicine has shown that Ki training and treatments can modulate the brain’s alpha wave activity, release beta-endorphin to the blood stream and stimulate a faster immune response to infections. On April 29^th you will have the opportunity to learn and experience what this means at the Ki Centers special introductory workshops that I will give.

The theme for April 30^th will be “Women’s Health Naturally Day”. The Ki Center will have a workshop focused on natural wellness options for women conducted by Laura Abadsantos (master Ji) director of the Harlem Ki Center. Each day of this year’s Harlem wellness week will focus on different options for those interested in natural ways to improve their quality of life.

Spring the Season for Detoxifying

Spring the Season for Detoxifying

The Five Elements (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water) are the foundation for Taoist healing strategies. Each element has a different energy vibration and frequency in relationship to vital organs, planets, directions, seasons, taste, color and a host of other relationships that ancient Taoist sages connected to each of the five elements in order to better understand the human body.  Wood is the element related to spring.

The two vital organs connected to the Wood element are the Liver (yin) and the Gall Bladder (yang). Jupiter is the planet and east is the direction. Spring is the season; sour is the taste and green is the color. Wood is the element of infancy. We often relate to spring as a time to clean and make new. Spring is an important time for detoxifying the Liver and Gall Bladder the Wood organs.

The Gall Bladder is a pear shaped sack located in a depression under the liver on your right side.  The function of the, Gall Bladder is to store and concentrate bile until it is needed in the small intestine for digestion. The bile breaks down fats in food.  If the Gall Bladder gets congested with bile salts or bacteria; the bile will isolate it and form a pearl-like stone around it.  You do not want this to happen. Irritability and uptightness can weaken the Gall Bladder in the spring.

The Liver stores large quantities of blood, minerals, and vitamins. The liver produces bile salts which are distributed by the Gall Bladder into the small intestine to absorb fats from the food that we eat. The Liver also stores all the toxins, poisons, chemicals, and drugs that the body takes in. The Liver then breaks down poisons chemically into less toxic compounds that can be easily eliminated. Toxins stay in the liver a long time. If the amount of toxic becomes too high gallstones can develop. Anger and frustration can weaken the liver in the spring.

You can visit the Ki Energy Center for a Chunsoo Ki Energy massage treatment which will help detoxify the Liver and Gall Bladder. Call me at 646 329-6727 to make an appointment.  Spring is the season of the Wood element; it is the time for detoxing. If you visit www.theway2wellness.nyc , you will find information on natural products that will also help in your spring detox program.