Harlem Resident Working To Bring Healthy Lifestyle To Neighborhood
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When it comes to raising awareness about heart disease prevention, one Harlem resident is working hard to make sure her neighbors get the message. NY1 Health & Fitness reporter Kafi Drexel filed the following report. If you want to get your heart in the right place, the philosophy in Harlem these days is that you may want to seek out Terri Kennedy.
The life coach has been featured everywhere from Essence to Oprah's "O" Magazine. She's also an author of the book "40 Days to Power Living."
"The urban community is in the midst of a health crisis, heart disease, cancer, diabetes, hypertension," said Kennedy, president of Power Living Enterprises. "We have disparities in terms of these diseases in our community and many of them can be prevented through lifestyle changes."
Also the founder of one Harlem's first yoga studios, Kennedy is spreading her "power living" message to Harlem residents through the power of warrior poses and sun salutations.
Participants say there's a reason why her small studio is often packed wall-to-wall.
"I think it is great what Terri is doing here in the community," said resident Sherri Holman. "It is actually an activity our community is not used to. And so for her to bring yoga into Harlem I think it is a great thing."
Harlem resident Vickie Powell says she was borderline hypertensive before picking up Kennedy's book and heading to her studio.
"I started about a year ago and, I guess, after doing yoga for about four months, my pressure normalized," she said. "I've been coming about once a week."
Kennedy says the goal is to really create a movement to make a whole community healthier.
Newly-named a national spokesperson for the American Heart Association, Kennedy recently received a $5,000 grant that she gave right back to support more healthy-lifestyle programming in Harlem.
"Thirty-two percent of all deaths within the African American community have to do with cardiovascular disease and statistics have shown we don't know the risk factors, warning signs," she said. "So a lot of it is about health literacy – offering that information and also making it culturally accessible."
Kennedy offers some yoga classes for free through the city's Shape UpNew York program. She's also a frequent fixture not just in the yoga studio, but at health fairs and nutrition workshops around the city.
For more information, go to Kennedy's website at TA-Life.com.