New Spady Programs Improve Wellness by Combining Chinese Medicine, Health Literacy and Hip-Hop

Dr. George Love

Dr. George Love is on a self-proclaimed crusade to help local residents improve their health literacy. He’s beginning by helping his clients dance, laugh and relax.

Starting Tuesday, August 20, Dr. Love will offer Community group Acupuncture sessions from 6 – 7 p.m. (by appointment only), on Tuesdays and Thursdays and “Hip Hop Meets Qi-Gong” classes from 7 – 8 p.m., also on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Both offerings will be held at the Cottage adjacent to the Spady Cultural Heritage Museum, 170 NW 5th Avenue (www.spadymuseum.com).

The new programs are designed to ease people into a better state of wellness using traditional Chinese Medicine. A practicing exercise physiology trainer, herbalist, massage therapist and dance fitness instructor, Dr. Love was the first African American acupuncturist in Florida and has helped clients across the country improve their health and well-being for more than 44 years.

He sought out the Spady Museum in order to reach more people of color, who he believes can benefit from increasing their health literacy – or knowledge of how their bodies function to prevent chronic and degenerative disease.

“I had an office in Boca Raton, where the majority of my clients are white, and I felt the Black American audiences were being underserved. I approached the Spady Museum about two years ago and established a relationship,” said Dr. Love, who has since moved his offices to west Delray Beach.

Through “Hip Hop Meets Qi-Gong,” participants learn the Chinese exercise and healing technique that involves meditation, controlled breathing and movement, but paired with hip-hop music and rhythms, which makes it upbeat and fun. Dr. Love creates eight-count, guided choreography that feels familiar to clients who love to dance.

“Once you’ve learned all the moves and we turn off the music, you’ve learned Qi-Gong (pronounced “chee-gong”). Without the music, you do the moves in silence, and it becomes meditative,” he said.

The Community Acupuncture sessions welcome clients to learn more about this traditional Chinese medicine in a group setting with Dr. Love answering specific questions about health. Acupuncture is a technique for balancing the flow of energy or life force – also known as chi or Qi – believed to flow through pathways (meridians) in the body. By inserting pins, electric stim, cupping or using magnets along these meridians, Chinese medicine practitioners believe that energy flow will re-balance.

“For those who have an issue with needles, I use magnets,” Dr. Love said. “Once we’re in session, I have a captive audience that is more receptive about other ways – beyond acupuncture – to improve their health, be it better nutrition, exercise or stress management skills. I ask them about heart disease, stroke and obesity and how emotions, such as fear, anger, grief and worry, are affecting their health. This is when improving health literacy takes place.”

 

About Carma Henry 24481 Articles
Carma Lynn Henry Westside Gazette Newspaper 545 N.W. 7th Terrace, Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33311 Office: (954) 525-1489 Fax: (954) 525-1861

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