A. Stand with the band secured under your left foot. Grasp an end of the band in each hand and gather up the excess until the band is taut. Lift your right leg slightly, bringing the inner edge of your right foot against the band.

B. Cross the band in front of you. Exhale as you press your right foot into the band and bring it to the left. Inhale as you return to the starting position. Repeat up to 12 times and then switch legs.

Leg Circles with Band

Back Exercises

Strengthens your lower back

Improves coordination

Doing reciprocal reaches on the ball helps keep your pelvis properly aligned, preventing the lower back from arching. It also will challenge your balance as you lift and reach with your opposite arm and leg.

A. Lie with your tummy on the ball. Extend your legs and rest the balls of your feet against the floor. Extend both arms and place both palms against the floor, under your chest.

B. Exhale as you lift and extend your right arm and left leg. Inhale as you lower them. Exhale as you lift and extend your left arm and right leg. Inhale as you lower them. Continue to alternate sides for 12 repetitions on each side.

Back Stretch

Opens your chest

Relaxes your abdomen

Elongates your spine

I like to do this stretch periodically during my abdominal routines to give my tummy a little break.

A. Sit on the ball with your knees bent and feet on the floor. Walk your feet forward as you slide your torso down the ball until your lower and mid back press into the ball, as shown. Exhale as you raise your arms overhead.

B. Continue to exhale as you lean back over the ball, allowing the ball to support the arch in your spine. Reach your fingertips toward the floor and fully extend your legs, as shown. Then inhale as you return to the starting position, lying back on the ball with your arms down. Stretch back over the ball two more times

Lower Belly Workout

working below the belly button.

A. Lie on your back with your arms down near your sides, palms facing down. Grasp the ball between your feet with your legs extended at a 90-degree angle to your torso. You'll really feel it in your inner thighs.

B. Exhale as you curl your lower belly toward your upper belly, lifting the ball up and in. Inhale as you lower. Continue to lift and lower the ball up to 12 times.

Bent Arm Lateral Raise

Stand holding a pair of dumbbells at your sides, palms facing in. Bend your elbows 90 degrees and your knees slightly.

Raise your elbows in a wide, arcing motion until your arms are nearly parallel to the floor, keeping your elbows just below shoulder level. Pause, then slowly lower.

Tired of that spare tire? Sick of your love handles? You can increase your body’s fat-burning power by eating more foods that strengthen your liver (your body’s main fat-metabolizing organ) to burn fat better. The result? A leaner you! There are many great liver boosting foods, but here are some of my favorites:

Leafy Greens: Spinach, spring mix, mustard greens, and other dark leafy greens are good sources of fibre and powerhouses of nutrition. Research demonstrates that their high concentration of vitamins and antioxidants helps prevent hunger while protecting you from heart disease, cancer, cataracts, and memory loss.

Beans and Legumes: Legumes are the best source of fiber of any foods. They help to stabilize blood sugar while keeping you regular. They are also high in potassium, a critical mineral that reduces dehydration and the risk of high blood pressure and stroke.

Garlic and Onions: This dynamic duo of foods contains phytochemicals that break down fatty deposits in the body, while also breaking down cholesterol; killing viruses, bacteria, and fungi; and protecting against heart disease. With a little help from garlic and onions, you can burn fat while warding off illness.

Cayenne: This hot spice lessens the risk of excess insulin in the body by speeding metabolism and lowering blood glucose (sugar) levels, before the excess insulin can result in fat stores. Spice up your next meal with cayenne and lessen those love handles.

Turmeric: The popular spice used primarily in Indian cooking is one of the highest known sources of beta carotene, the antioxidant that helps protect the liver from free radical damage. Turmeric also helps strengthen your liver while helping your body metabolize fats by decreasing the fat storage rate in liver cells. Add a teaspoon of turmeric into your next curry dish to help your body fight fat.

Cinnamon: Researchers at the United States Department of Agriculture showed that a quarter to one teaspoon of cinnamon with food helps metabolize sugar up to twenty times better than food not eaten with cinnamon. Excess sugar in the blood can lead to fat storage. Before you sip that chai tea latte or eat your oatmeal, sprinkle on the cinnamon.

Flax Seeds and Flax Seed Oil: These seeds and oil attract oil-soluble toxins that become lodged in the fatty tissues of the body. Once attracted, they help to escort fat-soluble toxins out. That spells fewer fat stores and a trimmer you.

Human touch is almost as necessary to life as air, water and food. Some people might argue that it is as important. We need to be held by our parents or a caregiver when we are newborns and as children we look for hugs when we fall and scrape our knees. As adults, we still need to be touched–in appropriate and healthy ways, of course.

Perhaps that’s why many hospitals worldwide have started incorporating therapeutic touch, Reiki, and other forms of healing touch into hospice care. As an example, the The Portsmouth Regional Hospital in New Hampshire has provided well over 8,000 Reiki treatments to patients since 1995. Reiki (pronounced “ray-key”) is a Japanese healing art that involves laying-on of hands to channel universal healing energy through the practitioner to the recipient. The word “Reiki” is Japanese for “universal life energy.”

The highly successful Reiki program, started by Patricia Alandydy, BSN, RN, offers Reiki treatments in every department of the hospital. Now, patients can have Reiki alongside more conventional surgeries, radiation, and other treatments.

And research is documenting the positive healing effects of Reiki and healing touch on diseases like cancer, heart disease, endocrine disorders, immune disorders, orthopedic conditions and injuries, pain, post-operative recovery, and psychological disorders. In one study at St. Clare’s Center for Complementary Medicine, Memorial Sloan Kettering Oncology Complementary Medicine Pilot Porgram, complementary therapies of meditation, healing touch, reflexology, Reiki, massage, and acupuncture were administered to outpatients. Patients who received Reiki or healing touch showed an average reduction in pain by 48 percent.

In a study of 48 patients who had total knee replacement surgery, along with pain and mobility impairment, those who experienced healing touch showed 30.6 percent greater mobility only 2 days after the surgery than those who had only conventional therapy, and 27 percent greater mobility than those people who experienced a placebo-type version of healing touch therapy.

The power of touch to heal is immense. In a world driven primarily by work and responsibilities, touch therapy has the capacity to help us slow down, experience the compassion of another human being, and heal our bodies, minds, and spirits.

Ready to Try Healing Touch?

Here are some tips to help you get the most from your healing touch session.

1. Speak to the therapeutic touch, Reiki, or other type of healing touch practitioner before going for a session. Ask for insight into the practitioner’s background, approach, and what the session will entail. You want to be sure that you are comfortable with the person.

2. Ask what approach the practitioner takes (hands on or off the body, whether he or she incorporates music, chanting or silence) and decide whether you are comfortable with that approach.

3. Reiki treatments are carried out with the client fully clothed. You may want to ask for a blanket before starting the session, though, because it is common to feel cooler while experiencing these types of therapies.

4. For some people, healing touch evokes an emotional response. If so, do not suppress it. Most practitioners realize that a person may be moved to tears during a session.

5. Go slowly when your session is finished. Take some time to integrate the therapy.

6. Drink plenty of water afterward. Most healing touch practitioners feel that the body needs more water than usual after the session to assist with detoxification and integration.