Harvey, LA Health and Fitness

Dr. David Edwards and Dr. Sean Lamy co-captain Source Chiropractic and Rehab, skillfully treating the spine and its neighboring musculature—Dr. Edwards even travels with the New Orleans Saints as their go-to sideline aligner. Upon arrival at Source, as a new patient you will be asked to fill out paperwork about your medical history and disconcerting condition, which will be followed by a consultation with one of the doctors. Combining the information gathered during a one-on-one chat about present physical ailments and concerns and the results from standard neurological, orthopedic, postural, and physical examinations (testing your reflexes and mobility), your doctor will begin to determine the best course of treatment.

A visit to the Harvey dental practice promises a friendly staff that will make you feel more at home than the unfriendly staff at your current home. After a visual examination of your teeth, a full cosmetic consultation with the friendly doctor will mimic 12th-grade visits to the guidance counselor with a chat about your pie-hole's potential. The doc will present you with a variety of available options to direct you on the right path toward a Daytime Emmy Award–winning smile. You'll be sent home with a week's worth of Nite White do-it-yourself teeth-whitening products to administer before bed for 5–7 nights. As you slumber, Nite White's mild solution of teeth-bleaching peroxides will labor like a camp of miniature Zambonis to scrub away food, coffee, tobacco, and syrup stains, leaving your smile embrightened and betwinkled.

It may seem counterintuitive to some, but Affirm Fitness’s head fitness trainer, Lauren Leitner, also owns a biscotti-making business. Of course, all of the desserts she doles out are low in fat, making them tasty complements to the healthy lifestyle that she hopes to impart upon her students at Affirm Fitness. There, she and fellow trainers lead exercisers of all stripes through boot camps that are either traditional or tailored to new moms. Cardio-and-sculpt boot camp shows exercisers how to have fun as they transition between drills in agility, interval training, and body-weight resistance. In baby-friendly Bootie Camp, participants push strollers a little bit faster than usual for a cardio workout that allows them to spend time with little ones while they improve themselves. Moms can even spend a little time sculpting muscles with hand weights or by lifting diaper bags filled with bricks. Affirm Fitness’s class schedule also includes dance-inspired Zumba cardio workouts, relaxing yoga, and TRX suspension training.

In 1959, Robert Trent Jones Sr. completed work on Timberlane's 7100-yard, par-72 golf course near the west bank of the Mississippi, and it still stands as a friendly, challenging round in a pleasant, private setting. Mature oaks line the sides of each Bermuda-grass fairway, and in 2007, Timberlane re-surfaced its expansive greens with Tif Eagle turf, giving putts a new zip and helicopter pilots a new view. Before hitting the links, sharpen up your chipping, putting, pitching, pitch-shifting, and Super Bowl Shuffling on the all-grass practice range and putting green, or try the driving range nearby. When you're ready, hop in your provided golf cart to match wits with the labyrinthine course, which features four sets of tee areas per hole, 17 water hazards, 80 sand bunkers, and 13 mechanical yetis. If he's around, see if you can snag a tip from resident PGA pro Tim Brown, who was named by Golf Digest as the #1 Best Teacher in Louisiana in 2009.

The licensed massage therapists at Ready2Relax send calming ripples across muscles with comforting bodywork. Contended sighs drift across the studio as the medium pressure of flowing Swedish strokes tempers aches. The therapists are also trained in deep-tissue pressure or reflexology, which can help to access pain situated deeper in tissue. Volcanic rocks soak up warmth, letting them slip across tense musculature to improve mobility after working out or smashing all the cinder blocks at a rival karate dojo.

Yogi Michele Baker began teaching yoga at a New Orleans athletic club in 1998. Ten years later, after Hurricane Katrina forced Baker to evacuate her home, she started writing a yoga-instruction training manual. She soon put it to use, using it as a guide to lead her staff at Swan River Yoga, which she opened with business partner Keith Porteous. Today, the yoga center helps pupils practice yoga and guides aspiring instructors as they hone their craft and nurture the third eye that sprouts from their forehead.

Yoga classes are suitable for a variety of skill levels, and range from prenatal and beginners’ yoga to Anusara yoga—a class that focuses on flowing movements and proper alignment. Swan River Yoga also provides holistic services such as massage, reiki, and acupuncture.