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metro

Stressed Out?

A deep breath and a smile really helps.

Presented by

Ronelle Grier
Contributing Writer

'Proved that a great
comedy could also be
a great film... delicate
and unforgettable."

Ltonard

a kin

1 1

"Unmissable!
-7h, No,
f`hlios

"The picture I want to
be remembered by

Chaplin

.

p

icture this: Your husband (or
wife) has already left for work,
you have an important client
meeting in one hour, and your child
wakes up with a 101-degree fever. Or, you
are in a hurry to get the airport, and you
discover your car has a flat tire.
While these situations would cause
skyrocketing stress levels for most peo-
ple, Dr. Gill Heart insists there is another,
better way. In a recent series of work-
shops at The Shul in
West Bloomfield, Heart
taught participants
how to respond to
trying circumstances
rationally instead of
emotionally, using a
program called Mind
in Control.
Gill Heart
The program uses
an unlikely combination of neurological
principles, techniques Heart learned as a
member of the elite Special Forces unit
of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and
from Jewish mysticism.
Heart explained the automatic human
response to stress includes a rise in
blood pressure and other symptoms
that can be harmful both physically and
emotionally. He said the body can take
up to four hours to return to its original
state after a stressful occurrence. He
maintains it is possible to interrupt and
reverse that automatic reaction by using
certain techniques from the Mind in
Control program. He said it is important
to first acknowledge stress in order to
respond differently.

CHARLIE CHAPLIN

"If you know you're stressed, you
can move away from it:' he said during
a workshop held for staff members of
the Michigan Jewish Institute in West
Bloomfield. "Our intuitive response is not
in our best interests. We can change those
neuropathways; switching is the key!'
Heart used the example of an office
employee in the middle of a task when
his concentration is interrupted by a
co-worker who suddenly barges in, sits
down and begins talking. According
to Heart, the natural reaction of the
employee trying to complete his work is
annoyance or even anger if the co-work-
er is habitually disruptive. Heart refers
to this automatic response as a "hijack-
ing" of the amygdala, the portion of the
brain that plays a key role in how human
beings process emotions.
"When that happens, we become emo-
tional; we focus on the interruption, not
on what we were doing:'
Heart suggested that instead of
responding angrily, the employee should
take a deep breath, smile and try to
detach himself emotionally from the
situation. He said the person could then
calmly explain that he is busy and ask
the co-worker to come back at another
time, or simply tune out the unwanted
interruption by nodding and smiling
while still focusing on the work at hand.
Breathing and smiling are simple tech-
niques that go a long way toward reduc-
ing stress and preventing emotional
reactions, according to Heart.
"Taking a deep breath increases the
level of oxygen in the brain, and it's the
opposite of what we automatically do
when we're stressed:' he said.
He said smiling is another way to

cause the brain's neurological pathways
to change direction, using audience
members to demonstrate how a smile
works from the outside in to impose
calmness on the body.
Heart also talked about the
Kabbalistic principles of cleansing and
recharging, which usually occur during
sleep.
"The more stress that occurs during
the day, the more cleansing is required,
which leaves less time for charging:' he
said, adding that people can control the
impact the outside world has on them.
"I learned that you have to breathe and
you have to smile," said MJI staff mem-
ber Judy Z. Lane. "If you go through life
like that, then life will be much better!'
At a Shabbat dinner at The Shul, Heart
talked about some of his experiences in
the IDF and explained how the Mind in
Control techniques used in those kinds
of extreme circumstances also could
apply to everyday situations at home
and in the workplace.
Jerry Beale of West Bloomfield, who
volunteered in a demonstration that
included responding to a barrage of
questions while wearing a blindfold,
found the experience interesting and
informative.
"One of the keys is to become an
observer instead of a player:' said Heart.
Heart, who was born in Israel, earned
a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from
Imperial College, London University. He
also is the founder and manager of sev-
eral medical device start-up companies
based in the United States and Israel.
Additional information on Heart
and his programs can be found at
www.mindincontrol.net .

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18

March 8 • 2012

Evil, Then And Now?

T

he book In the Garden of Beasts:
Love, Terror and an American
Family in Hitler's Berlin by Erik
Larson (Crown, 2011) chronicles the rise
to power of Adolf Hitler in 1933 as seen
through the eyes of American diplomat
William E. Dodd and his family.
This well-referenced, historical
account details the Franklin Delano
Roosevelt administration's doings — in
a not particularly complimentary light
— and the dithering, seemingly ama-
teurish U.S. diplomacy in the hottest spot
in Europe, Nazi Germany.
It reflects also on U.S. Jewish leaders'
behavior while the pending catastrophe
of the Holocaust was overt.
Larson discusses the plight of the
German Jews as the grip of Nazi control
tightened. The star of the book is not the

dry, humorless U.S.
Ambassador Dodd but
his daughter Martha. A
Nazi-sympathetic social
butterfly, she met Hitler
and major Nazi officials.
She was very intimate
with some of them.
Over time, she lost
her respect for the
Nazis and recognized
the upcoming storm.
After leaving Berlin, she wrote the book
Through the Embassy Eyes in 1939. On
page 309, she states, "Hitler's ultimate
object, as I have said, is to wipe the
Jewish people off the map ..."
Thus, this expression was not an
Ahmadinejad original.
Martha Dodd's vision was not a proph-

ecy but intimate knowledge of
what was cooking in Hitler's
kitchen regarding the Jews of
Europe.
Indeed, the book In the
Garden of the Beasts is all that
the title says: love, terror and
horror in Hitler's Berlin. This
book is a must-read for high
school and college students
who need to know what hap-
pened in Nazi Germany so that
it will not happen again.

•

❑

- Isaac Barr, M.D.

Bloomfield Township

The JN welcomes mini-book reviews from our

readers. Send your reviews for consideration
(300 words or less) to Jackie Headapohl at
jheadapohl@renmedia.us .

