Spinning for the heart

Every February, the Heart Foundation of Jamaica stations themselves at Shakti for one week of screening tests (ECG, cholesterol, blood sugar and blood pressure) for our clients and the public. At the end of the week, we do a charity spin to raise funds for this incredible 40-year-old institution that is committed to saving lives in Jamaica.

This is just one event designed to create awareness about the importance of heart health. We also host other events, including a master spin instructor from Miami, Scott Schlesinger, for a spin certification course. Scrapbooking for the heart is a creative workshop where we will gather photos, memories and words of people in our lives that we love and honour them by making a collage with these images. This is just another way we learn to use not just the physical heart but the spiritual heart as well.

Use a monitor

We believe that if you are truly serious about weight loss, fitness and heart health, you should exercise with a heart-rate monitor. Bob Burke, marketing director for polar heart-rate monitors, will be here to show us how to make sure that we are working our hearts properly when we exercise.

Like any muscle, the heart needs to be exercised and serves as a barometer for the rest of the body by telling you how hard you are working. By staying in the right zone, we can reduce our chance of injury, prevent overtraining and most important, stay in the fat-burning zone if we are trying to lose weight.

So we are busy this month at Shakti because we care about your heart and you should too. Start by finding out how healthy your heart is, your body-fat percentage, if you need to lose weight - then commit to doing it. Whether it is three vanity pounds or some serious weight you need to lose, February is the month to do it. If you don't take care of your health, who will?

Sharon McConnell-Feanny is a certified yoga instructor and co-owner of Shakti Mind Body Fitness in Kingston. She has more than 25 years' experience in health and fitness; email: yourhealth@gleanerjm.com.