My Day of Health and Discovery

The tenth annual Women’s Health and Fitness Expo, held at a former IBM office building in Kingston, New York, featured two floors of exhibitor booths and a full schedule of workshops, fitness and cooking demonstrations, health screenings and spa treatments. This is the second year I’ve attended, and each time I’ve learned something new about physical and mental health.

Unfortunately, yet again, I arrived too late to get on the schedule for a massage or a facial (gotta work on getting out of bed earlier next year.) But I did wander in just in time for an eye-opening workshop on the Emotional Freedom Technique.

This is not the first time I’d heard mention of this unusual type of mind-body therapy. EFT combines a sequence of tapping on specific points on the body, and repeating a set phrase (a detailed mantra you develop that’s related to what you’d like to improve), in order to gain freedom from emotional and physical pain, reduce stress, and generally improve your well-being. My rheumatologist recommended it last year, for the fibromyalgia, because he had a patient who tried it and is now “fibro free.” Well, hell, I thought, I’m for that. I took all the info from him, and a business card of a therapist he knew, but never did anything with it.

Now the universe is telling me to pursue this further, I thought, as I passed the therapist’s booth and learned that his workshop was minutes away.

I try to go into things like this with no preconceived notions, and with an open mind and an open heart. Licensed psychotherapist Jeff Schneider has an easy, engaging manner, which made that task much easier. He described EFT, and what it has done for people to improve their emotional and physical well-being. Then he did a demonstration. We were asked to take a full breath and let it out. Then we rated, out of ten, what we felt to be the depth of our breathing. He led us through the tapping technique and the repetition of a “set phrase,” which is basically what we want to release. For example, while tapping, he asked us to repeat something like (I’m paraphrasing), “Even though my breathing feels constricted and the muscles are tight, I can imagine them softening and imagine my breathing opening up.” He asked us to take another deep breath. I noticed that I’d gone from about 80% capacity before to about 90-95% of capacity. Interesting. I also felt much more relaxed.

He did another demonstration using a workshop participant, who said she wanted freedom from the stiffness in her hands because it made her feel old and she didn’t want to be dependent upon anyone as she grew older. This helped me see, mirrored through someone else’s experience, what I already knew: that a pain isn’t just a pain. It’s tied to a whole set of emotions about the pain. Which is something I can relate to. Dr Schneider developed a set phrase she could use, which touched not only on the pain but how the pain made her feel: afraid of dependency, afraid of her condition worsening, anger at her body. And we went through all the tapping and mantra-repeating along with them. I was surprised (or maybe I wasn’t) that I had a strong emotional response around his mention of fear. Fear is a HUGE component of pain, as in:

“Will I be stuck with this forever?”

“What will this mean for the future?”

“Will I eventually need someone to take care of me?”

“Does the pain mean something even bigger is wrong with me?”

And you could go on forever.

Dr. Schneider is offering a three-hour workshop in a couple of weeks, and I may give it a whirl. I’ll report back with my findings if I go.

I missed a couple of the headlining acts, including Ed Brantley and Heba Salama, season 6 husband-and-wife winners of “The Biggest Loser,” who talked about how the show and the weight loss changed their lives. Diane Henderiks, also known as “Dietitian in the Kitchen,” frequent “Good Morning America” contributor and author of several cookbooks was there, talking about the keys to healthier eating.

Fortunately I did get to see the third headliner, Ethan Zohn, 2002 winner of “Survivor,” who gave an inspirational and honest talk about the importance of taking care of your body. He seems like a pretty amazing guy (and yes, he's still with Jenna). He was raised in a macrobiotic household, was always into mental and physical fitness, and kicked it on the soccer team. After winning “Survivor,” he used his million-dollar prize to start a foundation to train professional soccer players to teach African children…about soccer and HIV/AIDS prevention. He’s also worked with other motivational and charitable organization, including involvement with Lance Armstrong’s “Livestrong” movement.

“And my reward for that,” he joked, “was cancer.” True. After ignoring a few early symptoms, he discovered a swollen lymph node under his collarbone, and was diagnosed in April 2009 with Hodgkins Lymphoma. He’s made an amazing recovery, and even though the chemo dragged him out (and made him lose his trademark ‘do), he forced himself to exercise at least thirty minutes a day. “Even on days when I couldn’t,” he said, “I’d just go to the gym and sit on the bike. Just to keep the habit up.”

I took some time between workshops to get a free bone density test and prowl through the exhibitor booths, seeing if I could learn anything new (and, yes, collect some swag.) I had a long conversation with a sleep specialist, who suggested changes in my medication. My favorite pain buddies, the Topricin people (excellent all-natural topical pain reliever), were exhibitors this year, although I couldn’t talk them into giving me a free tube (guess everyone’s having a tough time.) I enjoyed speaking with some dedicated ladies from Planned Parenthood, and I was heartened to hear that kids really want information about STDs and condom use…and, as I imagined, the biggest resistance PP faces is getting into the schools. The local Vegetarian Society had a booth and a charming representative, who is vegan. One thing I’d always wondered about was why honey is not part of a vegan’s diet. She told me that often, after the honey-producing season, beekeepers kill their bees. Feh!

My favorite part of the day was bonding with some of the lovely ladies of the Hudson Valley Horrors, a local roller derby team. (Come on…secretly, don’t you want to be one of those rockin’ roller derby queens?) I am now an honorary member. This comes with a kick-ass t-shirt, which I wore around the expo (after changing in the parking lot…jeez, like nobody’s ever seen a bra before.)

I’m looking forward to next year’s expo. Maybe I’ll even get a massage. Or become a roller derby babe.