Mountain Views News          Saturday, January 24, 2015

9

HEALTHY LIFESTYLES

Mountain Views-News Saturday, January 24, 2015 


THE JOY OF YOGA

LOS ANGELES SHOWS MIXED GRADES IN LUNG 
ASSOCIATION “STATE OF TOBACCO CONTROL 
2015” REPORT; CALLS ON REGION TO INCREASE 
EFFORTS TO ELIMINATE TOBACCO-CAUSED 
DEATH AND DISEASE

BEING A STUDENT FIRST

There’s a term 
thrown around 
sometimes 
--”Being 
teachable”. I love 
this. It refers to the fluidity around learning new 
information, taking suggestions of those we respect 
and openness in seeing a different perspective. 

 I have to make a conscious effort to work at it, 
constantly opening up to possibility. Staying open-
minded and receptive. However, I instinctively 
want to balk at something new or God forbid, 
don’t tell me what to do. 

 On the flip side, I love having a teacher. I need to 
have a guide. I need to have some lineage to draw 
from. It cannot just be the alignment of Ardha 
Chandrasana. There has to more, an unending 
path of learning rich in wisdom. 

 I have loved my yoga trainings and studies. 
Even in these studies, I make a resolve at the 
beginning of each new period of time. I resolve to 
set aside everything I think I know, and to have 
a new experience. It’s mostly my old preconceived 
ideas that limit my absorption of the new. Even 
something as simple as taking a class with a new 
teacher draws on this principle of being teachable. 
Taking on a new course of study or giving 
meditation another shot may just provide the shift 
needed to create change. I love the students that 
first come to yoga later in life! Or oh my gosh, how 
about the teenagers studying yoga? 

 What I know for sure, is that there is a lot to 
learn! There is no graduation from our practice, 
nor self study. This doesn’t mean letting go of my 
intuition or inner teacher, but it means staying 
open minded and doing what’s asked. Then, the 
results that follow are purely meant to be. I’m in 
the right place. And I can get the most out of my 
experiences. 

See you in class! 

Namaste, 

Keely Totten 

Yoga Madre 

American Lung Association in California report grades all 
California cities and counties on tobacco control policies;

Officials must take steps to achieve bold lifesaving goals, 
California coalition urges tobacco tax effort 

 Progress in the fight against tobacco use is at a standstill 
in California and in most cities in Los Angeles as advances 
in statewide and local tobacco control policies have 
stagnated. These were the findings of the American Lung 
Association State of Tobacco Control 2015 report released 
today. The State of Tobacco Control 2015 report tracks 
yearly progress on key tobacco control policies at the 
federal and state levels, assigning grades based on whether 
laws are adequately protecting citizens from the enormous 
toll tobacco use takes on lives and the economy. In 
conjunction with the national report, the American Lung 
Association in California released its State of Tobacco 
Control 2015 – California Local Grades report, which 
issues grades for all 482 cities and 58 counties in California 
on local tobacco control policies. To view the complete 
California report, visit www.lung.org/california 

 Locally, several municipalities in Los Angeles lead the 
state with strong tobacco control policies. Baldwin Park, 
Compton, Glendale, Huntington Park, Pasadena and 
Santa Monica all received the highest grades in the state 
with an overall tobacco control grade of an A. Los Angeles 
and Long Beach, the two most populous cities in the 
region, received an overall C grade for their tobacco control 
efforts. Grades were mixed throughout highlighting 
the need for local officials to better protect residents 
from tobacco-related death and disease. In addition, ten 
cities in Los Angeles County (Bellflower, Beverly Hills, 
Carson, Cerritos, Duarte, Long Beach, Manhattan Beach, 
Monterey Park, Norwalk and Santa Monica) have taken 
steps to regulate the sale and use of electronic cigarettes 
(e-cigarettes) in their areas. 

 “Despite improvements, more still needs to be done in 
Los Angeles to better protect residents from the harmful 
effects of smoking,” says Daniel Oh, MD, Keck Medical 
Center of USC and Chair, American Lung Association in 
California – Los Angeles Leadership Board. “We have a 
lot of work to do to safeguard public health from tobacco-
related illnesses. Tobacco use continues to be the leading 
cause of preventable death and illness in the U.S., and we 
must take the necessary steps to ensure a tobacco-free 
environment for our community.” 

 Once a proactive leader in tobacco control efforts, 
California now falls behind in protecting residents from 
tobacco. This year’s report shows that while California 
earned a B for its smokefree air policies, the state received 
an F for its low tobacco taxes, an F for failing to sufficiently 
fund tobacco prevention and control programs, and a D 
for poor coverage of smoking cessation and treatment 
services. 

 In 2014, the Lung Association and its partners called 
for immediate action on tobacco use by all levels of 
government to achieve three bold goals: reduce smoking 
rates currently at about 18 percent to less than 10 percent 
by 2024; protect all Americans from secondhand smoke 
by 2019 and; ultimately eliminate the death and disease 
caused by tobacco use. 

 “The American Lung Association is urging the federal, 
states, and local governments to take needed steps to 
achieve these bold goals,” says Olivia J. Gertz, President 
and CEO, American Lung Association in California. “It’s 
no secret that to reduce tobacco use in the United States, 
our leaders need to muster the political will to implement 
proven policies. We cannot afford the health or financial 
consequences of their continued failure to act.” 

California’s weakened position on tobacco prevention is 
due to the fact that the state has not increased its tobacco 
tax since 1999 and now ranks 33rd in the country at 87 
cents per pack, far behind states like New York, Illinois, 
Texas, Florida, Oregon and Washington. 

 “Increasing the tobacco tax has been proven to reduce 
tobacco use,” says Gertz. “This is why the American 
Lung Association in California is standing with Save 
Lives California, a broad coalition dedicated to passing 
a lifesaving $2 per pack tobacco tax – either through the 
legislature or by ballot measure – by the end of 2016. By 
passing this measure, we will not only save the lives of 
about 100,000 people, we also will save taxpayers billions 
in health care costs.”

 Tobacco-related deaths are the single, most preventable 
cause of death in California. More than 21,300 kids 
start smoking each year in the state, and tobacco costs 
California $18 billion – a tremendous burden that the state 
cannot afford. 

 Save Lives California will generate revenue to expand 
treatment services for Medi-Cal patients with tobacco-
related and other illnesses, support existing statewide 
programs to prevent youth from using tobacco, stop illegal 
sales of tobacco, increase funding for medical research 
into new treatments and cures for deadly diseases such as 
cancer and lung disease, and restore California’s leadership 
in tobacco control efforts. 

 In 2014, the federal government took small steps to 
protect citizens from the harmful effects of tobacco, but 
still fell short in important areas such as tobacco taxes 
and finalizing its regulatory authority over all tobacco 
products. In April, the Food and Drug Administration 
(FDA) proposed to assert authority over all tobacco 
products including e-cigarettes, little cigars and other 
tobacco products. The American Lung Association 
also expressed strong opposition to the Obama 
Administration’s proposal to exempt certain cigars 
from basic FDA oversight and that it failed to finalize 
the proposal by the end of 2014. 

 “We must increase our efforts in stopping tobacco from 
robbing another generation of their health,” says Gertz. “I 
urge everyone to join the American Lung Association in 
California and Save Lives California, and help us tell our 
leaders to take action now to save lives.”

 This year’s State of Tobacco Control report features 
new methodology to reflect the updated 2014 Centers for 
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Best Practices 
for Comprehensive Tobacco Control Programs as 
communities adopt stronger, more health-protective 
policies to improve public health and eliminate tobacco-
caused death and disease. It incorporates also other 
tobacco product taxes and tobacco cessation coverage 
under Medicaid expansion into the grades. Due to 
revisions in the methodology, all grades from the State of 
Tobacco Control 2015 report cannot be directly compared 
to grades from State of Tobacco Control 2014 or earlier 
reports.

About the American Lung Association in California

Now in its second century, the American Lung Association 
is the leading organization working to save lives by 
improving lung health and preventing lung disease. With 
your generous support, the American Lung Association 
is “Fighting For Air” through research, education and 
advocacy. For more information about the American 
Lung Association or to support the work it does, call 
1-800-LUNG-USA (1-800-586-4872) or visit www.lung.
org/california