Opening the heart

By James Windell, Special to The Daily Oakland Press 10/02/03


Yoga instructor Janice Bahura (left) of Rochester Hills assists Zeno Zembruski of Sterling Heights during a basic yoga class at William Beaumont Hospital in Troy. Oakland Press photo/CHARLIE CORTEZ

October 2, 2003
He had all the expected trappings of success. He was a young, up-and-coming cardiologist. There was the beautiful home, the gorgeous wife and the two wonderful kids. He was going to have it all.

All he had to do was continue to work hard and everything he always wanted would be his.
"I thought if a 12-hour day was good, then a 14-hour day was two hours better," says Dr. Michael Dangovian, medical director of Cardiac Rehabilitation and Wellness located at William Beaumont Hospital-Troy.
However, a funny thing happened on the way to the good life.
"I wasn't happy," he says. "All of my dreams were coming true, but I wasn't having any fun."
Dangovian knew he had to change. He just didn't know how to do it.
"I started to make changes in my life when I was a practicing cardiologist," says Dangovian, who is, as far as he knows, the only cardiologist in the metro Detroit area who runs patient support groups.
Dangovian, now a trim, relaxed 130-pound model of good health, used to lead an unhealthy lifestyle. Drinking bottled water at a Birmingham coffee shop, he eagerly describes his transformation.
"I smoked cigarettes in high school and college," Dangovian says. "As far back as my early twenties I knew something had to be done, but I didn't know what to do. I became frustrated when I visited my internist, because he had nothing to offer, unless I had a specific complaint."
Medical mystery
When he attended medical school at the University of Osteopathic Medicines and Health Sciences in Des Moines, Iowa, he thought he would learn more about healthy living. He didn't.
"I became more confused," he says. "Nutrition was nothing more than a biochemistry course. I was taught a disease-oriented approach without any meaningful discussion of wellness. They could tell me what was wrong, but they couldn't tell me how to enhance what was right."
As a young cardiologist, he was chronically exhausted and stressed.
"I knew that if this was how I was going to feel, I was in big trouble," he says. Then discovered approaches to health that made sense. It came about by accident.
"Ten years ago I was asked by several people to lead a cardiac support group," Dangovian recalls. "The woman who organized the group had attended the Dean Ornish program in California and wanted something like it here."
Ornish, a cardiologist, wrote the best-selling book "Dr. Dean Ornish's Program for Reversing Heart Disease" and other books that spawned programs based on healthy lifestyles to reverse heart disease.
"Initially, a psychologist was going to participate, but she quickly realized that she was not going to be able to make the commitment," Dangovian remembers. "She led a progressive relaxation session at the first meeting. When we met the following week, I simply repeated what she had done the previous week."
He has been leading a cardiac support group at William Beaumont-Troy for almost nine years now. "This was the most fascinating thing I ever got involved with," he says.

The two-hour group meets every Monday afternoon. Dangovian's groups are free to his patients as well as to participants in the Cardiac Rehabilitation Program at William Beaumont Hospitals.
"Many of the participants' lives had been significantly altered because of their heart disease - even when there was only a mild heart attack," Dangovian says.
He emphasizes that some of the cardiac patients were afraid to return to work. Others quit traveling because they feared they would be too far from a hospital.
"After the third session," he says, "I noticed a dramatic improvement in some of the patients. I had no idea that relaxation exercises and a one-hour discussion would be so effective."
Since starting the support group in 1994, Dangovian has been on a mission to learn as much as possible to change the lives of cardiac patients. Whatever he learns he teaches.
Henry Kudla, 77, of Troy is one of his regulars.
"Before I started Dr. Dangovian's group, I was going into the hospital once a year because of my heart" Kudla says. "Now ... even my arthritis is less painful. I haven't entered a hospital since I started the class."
John Dryer, 72, of Clarkston says the physical changes he has experienced are amazing.
"A little more than three years ago," Dryer says, "I had a narrowing in one of my heart passages. It was likely to have led to a heart attack.."
Six weeks ago, after his latest tests, Dryer was told the narrowing in his blood vessels had opened up.
"It's the application of the yoga exercises and learning how to breathe," Dryer says confidently.
Catch your breath
Catch the weekly Monday class at William Beaumont Hospital-Troy and you'll see Dangovian sitting on one leg, sandals kicked off, wearing a long-sleeved black polo shirt and comfortable slacks. He begins promptly at 4 p.m. with a discussion.
"What we're really doing here," he begins, "is talking about changing our perception about health. We need to be our own healer because your doctor can't do it for you."
He talks about emerging medications, then gives direction to the group.
"Breathing," he says, "allows us to relax and deal with stressors. Sit on the edge of your chair and exhale. Let your breath settle down through your body ... inhale slowly."
Every person in the room follows his instructions. Many have their eyes closed as they begin the relaxation exercise. Dangovian's voice is soothing as he leads the group through a relaxation and positive visualization experience.
Dangovian stands and instructs the group to lean forward in their chairs, pull their stomachs in and slowly rise to a standing position. Once everyone is on their feet, Dangovian carefully guides them through several yoga positions with a constant emphasis on proper breathing techniques and bodily alignment. He frequently reminds them to honor their bodies and not push too hard.
After an hour, the participants welcome the opportunity to sit again.
Before they get too comfortable, Dangovian asks them to "turn inside" and feel the effects of what they just have done. He reminds them that they can reproduce this sense of well-being whenever they want if they practice at home.
Holistic approach

Each two-hour session includes discussion about diet and health news, relaxation and breathing, then practice of traditional yoga postures.
Yoga is led by Dangovian and Janice Bahura, a volunteer yoga instructor. Everyone participates in these simple yoga positions while Bahura, a certified yoga instructor, walks around the circle assisting people.
Finally, the participants share their feelings.
"In the group support when we express feelings that we normally don't talk about," Dangovian says, "a metaphorical 'opening of the heart' occurs. This promotes healing and has been proven effective in reversing heart disease."
"Before starting Dr. Dangovian's classes two years ago, I often went to the emergency room with pain," says Joan Hill of Bloomfield Hills. "I knew it was due to stress, which I couldn't manage.
"We learn that we can determine how we feel by using meditation, yoga and relaxation."
More importantly, "I had read about what I should have been doing for years, but I wasn't practicing it." Now Hill, 73, takes another weekly yoga class.
"The biggest change in my life," Kudla says, "is that if I now have a problem I discuss it with my wife. I never did that before coming to the class. I'd say the biggest benefit of the class has been making it possible for me to express my feelings. Always before I'd keep things to myself, rather than talk about them."
Not only have Dangovian's groups changed the lives of his patients, they've changed his life, too.
"It wasn't until I began to integrate a yoga practice into my personal and professional life that I learned what I had originally set out to learn," Dangovian says. "The most profound changes in my life have come about because of what I've learned from my patients."

To know more

Call Dr. Michael Dangovian's office at (248) 740-3580.