The decade thats knocking on our doors now the 2020s is likely to be a time when science fiction manifests itself in our homes and roads and skies as viable, everyday technologies. Cars that can drive themselves. Meat that is derived from plants. Robots that can be fantastic companions both in bed and outside.

Implanting kidneys that can be 3-D printed using your own biomaterial. Using gene editing to eradicate diseases, increase crop yield or fix genetic disorders in human beings. Inserting a swarm of nanobots that can cruise through your blood stream and monitor parameters or unblock arteries. Zipping between Delhi and New York on a hypersonic jet. All of this is likely to become possible or substantially closer to becoming a reality in the next 10 years.

Ideas that have been the staple of science fiction for decades artificial intelligence, universal translators, sex robots, autonomous cars, gene editing and quantum computing are at the cusp of maturity now. Many are ready to move out of labs and enter the mainstream. Expect the next decade to witness breakout years for the world of technology.

Read on:

The 2020s: A new decade promising miraculous tech innovations

Universal translators: End of language barrier

Climate interventions: Clearing the air from carbon

Personalised learning: Pedagogy gets a reboot with AI

Made in a Printer: 3-D printing going to be a new reality

Digital money: End of cash is near, cashless currencies are in vogue

Singularity: An era where machines will out-think human

Mach militaries: Redefining warfare in the 2020

5G & Beyond: Ushering a truly connected world

Technology: Solving the problem of clean water

Quantum computing : Beyond the power of classical computing

Nanotechnology: From science fiction to reality

Power Saver: Energy-storage may be the key to maximise power generation

Secret code: Gene editing could prove to be a game-changer

Love in the time of Robots: The rise of sexbots and artificial human beings

Wheels of the future: Flying cars, hyperloops and e-highways will transform how people travel

New skies, old fears: The good, bad& ugly of drones

Artificial creativity: Computer programs could soon churn out books, movies and music

Meat alternatives: Alternative meat market is expected to grow 10 times by 2029

Intelligent robots & cyborg warriors will lead the charge in battle

Why we first need to focus on the ethical challenges of artificial intelligence

It's time to reflect honestly on our motivations for innovation

India's vital role in new space age

Plastic waste: Environment-friendly packaging technologies will gain traction

Read more:

20 technologies that could change your life in the next decade - Economic Times

December 30, 2019

University of Rochesteralumna Donna Strickland 89 (PhD), who shared the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physics, has been appointed to theOrder of Canada.

The award recognizes individuals who have made extraordinary contributions to the nation. Strickland was appointed a Companion of the Order, the highest of three levels of the award. There can be no more than 165 living companions at any time.

The professor of physics at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, is being recognized for her contributions to optical physics and for her innovative developments in ultra-fast optical science.

I feel so proud and privileged to be Canadian and I am thrilled to receive this recognition from my country, Strickland toldCBC news. It is an exceptional honor for me to be named a companion of the Order of Canada. This award means a great deal to me.

Strickland and Grard Mourou, former engineering professor and scientist at the University of Rochesters Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE), were together recognized with the 2018 Nobel Prize for revolutionizing the field of high-intensity laser physics.

Mourou was Stricklands PhD advisor during the time they pioneered chirped-pulse amplification. Known as CPA, this work was the basis of Stricklands PhD in optics dissertation.

Today, CPA has applications in corrective eye surgeries and other surgical procedures, data storage, and quantum computing.

Tags: alumni, announcement, Institute of Optics, Laboratory for Laser Energetics, Nobel Prize

Category: University News

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Donna Strickland appointed to Order of Canada - University of Rochester

When Walt Whitman arrived in Washington at the end of 1862 to take up residence in the city and serve as a hospital volunteer, the construction of the Capitol dome was not yet complete. In a dispatch published in the Oct. 4, 1863, edition of The New-York Times, Whitman described this vast eggshell, built of iron and glass, this dome a beauteous bubble that emerges calm and aloft from the hill, out of a dense mass of trees. The poet recounted how a few days ago, poking about there, eastern side he found the yet to be hoisted Statue of Freedom that now crowns the Capitol dome all dismembered, scattered on the ground, by the basement front. In retrospect its a rather on-the-nose metaphor, this personified representation of liberty standing in the mud while the nation immolated itself in civil war, yet still visible to our greatest poet and prophet of democracy, perhaps signifying the incomplete task of the American project.

When the war began, Whitman was despondent, but the violence of those years seemed to strengthen and clarify his faith in democracy, a faith that would take on a transcendent dimension. For the poet, democracy wasnt simply the least bad form of government, it wasnt reducible to dreary policy and endless debate, but it was rather a vital, transformative and regenerative ethos. Even as the survival of what President Abraham Lincoln called the last, best hope of earth was in doubt, Whitmans belief in the philosophical and political foundation of the nation flourished.

If the war against illiberalism takes place on many fronts, including the economic and the cultural, then one domain where the revanchists are clearly gaining power is in the realm of the transcendent. In the delusions of blood and soil there is for many the attraction of a deeper meaning. Authoritarians claim that they offer their nations (or at least a segment of the population) unity and purpose. The 20th-century German philosopher (and victim of the Nazis) Walter Benjamin warned how fascism engages an aestheticization of politics, where spectacle and transcendence provide a type of ecstasy for its adherents. Watch clips of fevered crowds, from today or the past, chanting against enemies of the people; they are malignant scenes, but ones that in no small part mimic religious revivals.

Critics of democracy often claim that it offers no similar sense of transcendence. The 19th-century German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche castigated democracy as a system of quarantine mechanisms for human desires, and as such they are very boring. If the individual unit of democracy is the citizen, authoritarian societies thrill to the bermensch, the superman promising that I alone can fix it. Yet I would argue that all of the hallmarks of authoritarianism the rallies and crowds, the marching and military parades, the shouting demagogue promising his followers that they are superior are wind and hot air. What fascism offers isnt elevation but cheap transcendence, a counterfeit of meaning rather than the real thing.

More:
Why We Will Need Walt Whitman in 2020 - The New York Times

SMILE, THOUGH YOUR HEART IS ACHIN

For years, weve been relying on the work of psychologists with their fancy Ph.D.s to help us understand the human mind, when we could have just listened to noted singer/comedian/ Frosty the Snowman Jimmy Durante, who sang, Youll find that life is still worthwhile if you just smile. Smiling, even if its forced, causes the brain to release dopamine and serotonin, which are mood boosters and stress reducers. A University of Cardiff study found that patients who were physically unable to frown due to Botox injections reported being happier on average than their Botox-free companions.

To quote legendary nihilist Frederick Nietzsche, Without music, life would be a mistake. A Journal of Positive Psychology study found that participants who listened to upbeat music could improve their mood within two weeks. Unfortunately for us Radiohead lovers, the same did not apply when participants listened to sad music.

This one might not be as fun as listening to happy music, but an article in Medical Hypotheses proposed that cold showers can help stave off depressive symptoms. According to the article, cold exposure activates the sympathetic nervous system and releases noradrenaline and endorphins, which help improve mood.

Pet owners, on average, have lower blood pressure and lower cholesterol, and they are less likely to suffer from depression. The physical affection, regular schedule and loving companionship that come with pet ownership all tend to have positive effects on our mental and physical well-being.

RELATED The 'Uber for Snow Removal' Lands in Milwaukee and We're Interested

At this point, everyone has heard that exercise boosts mood and helps fight depression. So Ill just say it again in all caps: EXERCISE BOOSTS MOOD AND HELPS FIGHT DEPRESSION. And guess what? A study from JAMA Psychiatry found that only 15 minutes a day of high-intensity exercise, like running, or even just one hour of moderate-intensity exercise, like a brisk walk, are enough to boost your mood.

The Journal of the American Geriatrics Society found that people who regularly meet with family and friends are roughly half as likely to report symptoms of depression compared with those who dont. Heres the catch: Phone calls and email dont count. Depression symptoms were mitigated only through frequent face-to-face contact.

Fish, my dudes. You gotta get those omega-3 fatty acids. The Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health went through 26 previous studies to see what correlation existed between eating fish and depression, and it found that people who ate lots of fish were less likely to suffer depressive symptoms.

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7 (Semi-Specific) Ways to Beat the Wintertime Blues in Milwaukee - Milwaukee Magazine

BY A.C. GRAYLING PENGUIN PRESS, 2019 704PP.; $35.00

If A.C. Graylings The History of Philosophy were a river, it would be shallow with a strong current. Traveling down it, youd have little to see and little time to see it. Because the water is shallow, your legs would always be bumping up against the debris (a stand-in for academic jargon). Or, to change metaphors, the book is a bullet train rather than a car ride. It offers no moment or incentive to stop, meander, or backtrack, the goal being not to enjoy the journey but to reach the end. Even these metaphors dont really capture the difficulty in reading it. It takes effort. If anything, youre traveling against the rivers current. If anything, youd be working in the trains engine room. A few people will read the book once; I cant imagine anyone will read it twice.

Graylings tome is exactly what it says it is: the history of philosophy. It starts with the pre-Socratic philosophers and ends with todays academic philosophy. Already you can see what the primary dilemma of such a project is: how to make such an expansive history with so many characters orderly in composition yet alive to the reader. Grayling says the book is an invitation and an entrance for the philosophically curious but philosophically ignorant, however, I cant imagine someone vaguely curious about something they vaguely understand as philosophy will get much out of the bookor even get past the first few pages. The writing is encyclopedic rather than engaging. There are a few sections later on that arent badthe ones on Jean Jacques Rousseau, David Hume, and Friedrich Nietzsche, for examplebut the first two hundred pages are flat: uninspired and therefore uninspiring. Many sections read not as summaries of ideas but as summaries of summaries, all with the enthusiasm and lucidity of a morticians report.

The dilemma is that the books intention and its form are at odds. That is, you can either write a book that actually invites and draws people to philosophy (or, more specifically, the philosophical canon; most people are already attracted to philosophy as a practice of deeper thinking) or you can write a history of philosophy that covers all the canonized philosophers (many of whom arent worth covering anyway). Graylings confessed intention is the former, but The History of Philosophy only seems to try for the latter.

To get people interested in the philosophical canon (again, different than philosophy itself), a popularizer would be better off focusing on just a few canonized philosophers (like what Will Durant did in The Story of Philosophy) or taking a subject that almost any reader will be interested in and finding out what the canonized philosophers had to say about it (like what Simon Critchley did with death and dying in The Book of Dead Philosophers). Both these books succeed at being invitations and entrances to the philosophical canon. If neither succeeded at getting anyone to rush out to read Plato and Aristotle, they at least succeeded in getting people excited to think about what Plato and Aristotle thought about.

I dont normally focus on representation, but Im really at a loss trying to understand how Hans-Georg Gadamer and Paul Ricoeur each got their own sections but Hannah Arendt gets just a paragraph, and the only mention of Simone Weil is in a list. I didnt know who Gadamer and Ricoeur were before I read The History of Philosophy and still have no idea why Grayling thinks I should after reading it. And why is Simone de Beauvoir not given her own section but instead relegated to sidekick in Jean Paul Sartres? Why am I told that she liked to have sex with students and colleagues but not whats in The Ethics of Ambiguity?If French existentialism has any masterpieces, that has to be one of them. Why is there a section on feminist philosophy that includes no biography or summary of a single feminist philosopher? Graylings handling of representation is the worst of both worlds: pandering yet still exclusionary.

And this exclusion problem isnt just with female philosophers. The History of Philosophy plays it too safe and too conventional with whom it includes. Where are the radicals, the mystics, the Catholics, the Social Darwinists, the Marxists, the wisdom writers? Where is W.E.B. Du Bois or G.K. Chesterton or Ralph Waldo Emerson or George Santayana? Where are the dead who still speak to the living? Grayling introduces Michel Foucault as indispensable to any understanding of modernity, then devotes two whole paragraphs to him; meanwhile Anaximenes, Anaximander, and Thales all get their own sections for basically the same thing: being pre-Socratic philosophers who based their philosophies on experimentation rather than abstract thinking.

Philosophers like to say that the philosophers people actually read arent really philosophers, and histories of philosophy seem written to codify and reinforce who counts as a philosopher and who doesnt. The history of philosophy, Gilles Deleuze said, has always been the agent of power in philosophyA formidable school of intimidationAn image of thought called philosophy has been formed historically and it effectively stops people from thinking. The dilemma of Graylings The History of Philosophy is that most of the philosophers that draw people to philosophy arent in the philosophical canon. The philosophy that invites and entrances is the philosophy that speaks to the egos cry for understanding rather than the minds cry for clarity. In Will Durants words, its the philosophy that speaks on the problems like good and evil, beauty and ugliness, order and freedom, life and death, not the philosophy that leads to sentences like, The rejection of the analytic-synthetic distinction is a consequence of [Willard Van Orman] Quines extensionalism, because the idea of analyticity essentially turns on the intensional notion of meanings.

The History of Philosophy feels like something Grayling wanted not to write but to have written. There is no authorial impulse to it; no sparks of joy or excitement. There are a few attempts at humor; Grayling, for example, repeats the same jokey aside about St. Augustine as he is known in ecclesiastical circles and St. Aquinas as he is known in religious circles.

Much of the philosophical canon is as dull as that joke, and no one should feel discouraged if they arent completely enthralled by Wilhelm Gottfried Leibnizs Monadology or Martin Heideggers Being and Time. As Deleuze said, the philosophical canon seems designed to be a barrier rather than a doorway. For those who read Graylings The History of Philosophy and feel like giving up on the entire subject, please try one of the alternatives mentioned earlier (or DurantsThe Pleasures of Philosophy). And know that, if the philosophical canon doesnt do it for you, theres still plenty of philosophy outside of it.

Read the rest here:
The History of Philosophy - The Humanist

England were bundled out for 181 by South Africa as they lost control of a Boxing Day Test which accelerated wildly towards a conclusion with 15 wickets on day two.

Responding to the Proteas 284 all out, the tourists found themselves comprehensively outmatched by the inspired seam duo of Kagiso Rabada and Vernon Philander as they conceded a 103-run deficit.

On a Centurion pitch that has strongly favoured the bowlers, and which shows no signs of settling down, that could well prove a decisive margin but Englands pacemen did their best to fight fire with fire.

Stuart Broad and James Anderson both struck early before Jofra Archer picked up two, leaving South Africa 175 ahead on 72 for four at stumps.

Archer was involved in late drama, risking removal from the attack with two high full-tosses at nightwatchman Anrich Nortje only being spared when square-leg umpire Paul Reiffel saw his no-ball signal from square-leg over-ruled by Chris Gaffaney.

The decisive contribution belonged to Philander, who barely breached 80mph but instead relied on exemplary skill and constrictive control to pick up four 16 in 14.2 overs.

Wicketkeeper Quinton to De Kock was on course for a world record behind the stumps when he caught each of his sides first four wickets. Only four men have ever taken seven, a milestone that was briefly under threat as edges kept coming. In the end he was only offered two more chances, both taken, to match the South African record of six jointly held by his new head coach Mark Boucher and AB de Villiers.

Sam Curran carried the England attack at times of day one, despite being its youngest member. After closing with four wickets he signed off his post-play press conference with a hope that he would be celebrating a maiden five-for come the morning. Joe Root did start with the left-armer but he only managed six balls before Stuart Broad took the last

Jos Buttler was spotted on the team balcony reading the book Stillness is the Key early in Englands first innings. A New York Times number one bestseller by Ryan Holiday, which claims to harness the teachings of philosophers including Confucius, Seneca and Nietzsche and advocates slowing down to get ahead in life. Buttler was slow, scoring 12 in almost an hour, but fell tamely.

Englands time in South Africa has been beset by an illness bug that has now affected around half the squad. Mark Wood became the last squad member to be laid low and remained back at the team hotel with Ollie Pope, Chris Woakes and Jack Leach. It is not just the playing staff who have been impacted, with security manager Sam Dickason and digital manager Greg Stobart also confined to their quarters on Friday.

Day three of five, though the game now looks highly unlikely to go the distance. All of Englands energies must now go into keeping the chase as low as possible, then hoping for something special.

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England's batsmen under pressure to improve on day three of Boxing Day Test - Isle of Wight County Press

Norine Knight, left, Neil Chesshir and Christine Price eat lunch on the covered patio at Cafe 180, a non-profit, pay-what-you-can restaurant in Englewood Aug. 25, 2016. (Seth McConnell, The Denver Post)

Life in the city can get expensive, and sometimes people cant afford a little self-care or a fun night out. Fortunately, a growing number of businesses and organizations in Denver and other cities on the Front Range use a pay-what-you-can model so there can be some equity in services and experiences.

We believe it is important for all people to have access to good food, physical and mental well-being and community, said Catherine Clements-Matthews, founder and president of One Good Turn, a non-profit with four different initiatives helping people find housing, jobs, counseling and meals. Caf 180 in Englewood was One Good Turns first enterprise; there, diners who cannot afford a meal can exchange one hour of work.

The pay-what-you-can model allows all walks of life to enter into our spaces and experience something in exchange for their time or in exchange for what they can afford,Clements-Matthews said. It breaks down barriers that typically exist within traditional payment models.

In a given week, about 250 to 300 people dine at Caf 180, and 35% of those are volunteering their time in exchange for a meal.When people volunteer at Caf 180, they can also exchange their time for an hour of professional counseling (the counselors are, in turn, volunteering their time). This program is called Counseling 180.

Clements-Matthews sees the pay-what-you-can model as different than a typical charity.

I started One Good Turn because I wanted to offer a hand up to those in need, she said. Traditionally, charity is focused on those who have giving to those who dont. But I believe that everyone has something to offer. I wanted to create opportunities for dignified exchanges.

Next time youre in a financial pinch or are looking for a socially-conscious business where you can pay it forward check out one of these local organizations.

Caf 180 3315 S. Broadway, Englewood,cafe180.org The restaurant is also available as a special events space, with a rate starting at $200 per hour. The lunch-only menu includes a variety of salads, sandwiches, soup, wraps, pizza and cookies.

SAME Caf 2023 E. Colfax Ave., Denver,soallmayeat.org Denvers first pay-what-you-can restaurant which also has a food truck you may have spotted around town opened in 2006 and is lunch-only. The menu, focused on healthy fare, offers gluten-free, vegetarian and vegan options in salads, soups and sandwiches.

FoCo Caf 225 Maple St., Fort Collins, fococafe.org Also open only for lunch, the Fort Collins restaurant posts a menu on Facebook daily so visitors can learn about that days soup, salad and dessert options. Like similar concepts, FoCo allows visitors to volunteer their time in exchange for meals and also encourages those with plenty to give more as a way to pay it forward.

Shyft at Mile High 1401 Zuni St., Denver, shyftatmilehigh.org An offshoot of One Good Turn, Shyft at Mile High offers meditation and yoga classes. Classes include guided meditation, yoga for people with eating disorders and the LGBTQ+ population, and Guided By Humanity private classes for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The studio is currently pay-what-you-can with a suggested donation of $10 per class.In 2020, Shyft will alter its pricing model to allow paying customers to pay it forward for those who cant afford classes. Those who are unable to pay will never be turned away.

Kindness Yoga Multiple locations in Denver, Aurora and Golden,kindnesscollective.com At Kindness Yoga, all regularly-scheduled adult classes are considered donation-based, but those who can afford to pay are encouraged to do so the teachers and rent need to be paid, after all. There are introductory specials such as $30 for the first 30 days of classes, monthly memberships and bulk class discounts.

Whole Yoga 1735 E. 17th Ave., Denver, wholeyoga.com Students are invited to speak with the owner about creating an individual pay-what-you-can plan so that everyone can take yoga classes, regardless of income.

Yoga Hive 917 Front St., Louisville,yogahivecolorado.com This yoga studio offers aerial yoga and a pay-it-forward program in which prospective students apply for financial assistance. The studio also offers deals such as $33 for 14 days of unlimited yoga.

Cambio Yoga 3326 Austin Bluffs Pkwy., Colorado Springs,cambioyoga.com While donations of $9-15 per class are accepted, this donation-based yoga studio has a give-what-you-can policy for all classes, as well as monthly memberships on a sliding scale.

Buntport Theater 717 Lipan St., Denver,buntport.comDenvers Buntport Theater in the Santa Fe Arts District offers pay-what-you-can nights during the runs of each full-length production. The next pay-what-you-can nights for their forthcoming as-yet-untitled production will be held March 19 and 30. While that seems like a long time to wait, Buntports offers one-off, inexpensive shows that range in price from $0 to 10.

It has always been part of our mission statement to be affordable, said Erin Rollman, a member of Buntports collaborative company. The performing arts are, unfortunately, out of reach for a lot of people. Over our history, our pay-what-you-can nights have always been well attended, so its always seemed like were meeting a need.

Curious Theatre Company 1080 Acoma St., Denver,curioustheatre.org In Denvers Golden Triangle neighborhood, Curious Theatre has a program that allows volunteer ushers to receive complimentary admittance to a show after completing two shifts during a single production.

Dangerous Theatre 2620 W. 2nd Ave., Denver,dangeroustheatre.com This small, cabaret-style space produces original plays and comedies and offers pay-what-you-can non-table seating at every show. The companys current production, Nicks Last Christmas, runs through Dec. 29.

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Pay-what-you-can Denver restaurants, yoga and theater - The Know

Do you have a fitness goal on tap for 2020?

If so, you can lean into your resolution while also enjoying locally brewed beer every Sunday afternoon.

RELATED:Start 2020 off on the right foot: New Years Day walking tour of Peachtree

The bend and beer event kicks off on Jan. 5 at Wild Heaven Beers Avondale Estates location.

Starting at 1 p.m., attendees can enjoy a free, guided class from Innercise Yoga. The upbeat workout is meant to be inclusive for all skill levels.

Afterward, you can cool down with a cold brew on the house.

RELATED: Georgias state parks to host first day hikes to kick off 2020

The brewery,135B Maple St, Avondale Estates, serves up the stretching and suds combo every week.

Attendees should bring their own mat, water bottle and a valid ID, if youd like to indulge in a post-workout beer.

Wild Heaven first opened at their Avondale Estates locationin 2014,after beginning contract brewing in 2010.

Its the brain child of Wild Heaven president Nick Purdy and brewer Eric Johnson.

RELATED:7 meaningful New Year's resolutions for 2020 and how to achieve them

In the years since, the duo behind the brewery makers of the popular Emergency Drinking Beer have added another location. Earlier this year, they opened a 21,600 square-feet shop in the West End.

Purdypreviously told the AJC that in addition to making quality beer, they hope to be atrue asset to the community.

Yes, we want people to drink our beer and use our event space, but at the end of the day, you dont do this type of thing unless want to be good for the community, he said.

For more information on joining the community at Wild Heaven for yoga events, check out thelisting here.

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Stretching and suds: Lean into your New Years resolution with beer yoga - Atlanta Journal Constitution

For much of the past year, Tim Long has crawled out of his sleeping bag in whatever alley he hunkered down in the night before, and headed to one spot in the Tenderloin. Its not a soup kitchen. Its not a welfare office.

Long, 59, goes to this one spot for yoga. And acupuncture. And 12-step addiction recovery meetings. He sometimes gets lunch there, too, but thats not why Long and nearly 200 other homeless and poor people come to the Healing Well in San Francisco every month.

They come to feed their souls. That may sound a bit fuzzy but time after time, thats how the Healing Well is described by those whove been coming to it since it was founded in the heart of the gritty Tenderloin four years ago.

During the holidays, with all the special stress they can bring to those who are already traumatized by living outside or hanging on financially by their fingernails, the Healing Well seems to be needed more than ever.

When youre out there in the street, you think nobody cares about you, and you get to where you dont care about anything but getting loaded, finding a place to sleep, getting money, Long said the other day after attending the centers daily 12-step meeting. But here, theyre honest. Nice. They care. You get to a place like this, with things to do and nice people to talk to, and it takes the place of doing dope.

Its healing, like the name of the place says, said Long, who recently moved into a Navigation Center shelter and is working with case managers to find permanent housing. I need that, especially around this time of year. Lot of memories. Im trying to get things together, and this helps.

Thats exactly what the Healing Well founder and Director Kathy Curran, 56, was aiming for when she started the center at the nearby Faithful Fools Street Ministry headquarters in 2015. Curran was a longtime community organizer and affordable housing specialist, and she said she had an epiphany while walking through the Tenderloin, one of the most impoverished neighborhoods in the city.

I was always looking at homeless people with the thought of what do they need? And how do I respond? she said. And then, instead, I realized we need to look at what peoples strengths are.

She runs the nonprofit center on grants, donations and a few contracts with places like Glide Memorial Church for special classes, and two years ago moved to her present location on Eddy Street. There are only two full-time employees, Curran and an assistant director, and two part-timers.

Yoga, meditation, poetry, tai chi, acupuncture, the 12-step addiction peer group, creative writing all the classes are free, and run almost exclusively by 50 volunteers who are writers, teachers, artists or students whove become proficient at their craft.

Nearly 200 people a month come to the daily sessions, and with about a dozen annual free field trips to parks, the beach, gardens and other locations, the program touches about 500 people a month.

This place works because of the strong community we build here, Curran said. Its about recognizing in each other that we are all more than our needs. We all have talent, passion and dreams, and if we meet one another with our strengths, then we can move forward. Heal. Grow.

John Matsui, 50, lives in nearby supportive housing and said he finds that expressing himself in a weekly poetry session helps him deal with post-traumatic stress from being attacked several years ago. In one gathering led by author and actor Chris Rodgers, he free-wrote: Work hard every day with odd-shaped stone. Toil, boil and trouble defines muscle and bone ... be well, be blessed.

Im a buoyant person, but poverty and disability can drive you down, Matsui said. This place is where I come to be able to find my human voice again.

One typical morning at the center started with a yoga class of five people sitting peacefully in the Healing Wells large meeting room. Everything is designed to calm: Honey-hued wooden floors, soothing green and beige colors all around, and two walls consisting almost entirely of glass.

Outside, a woman screamed at someone over a stolen crack pipe. Nearby, two people argued loudly about something to do with one owing the other money. Sirens tore the air.

But inside, the tumult was barely audible through the centers thick glass windows. Volunteer teacher and frequent class participant Troy Gaspard, 52, led the group through yoga poses and tai chi exercises. For an hour, all that filled the room was his low-toned commands and the soft, even breathing of people feeling stress drain away through motion.

I love the energy of this place, Gaspard said after the class. I was homeless for 1 years before finding my housing near here, and the whole time, yoga and tai chi here has been a healing thing for me. It fills my body, makes me feel better.

Ashley Adams, a 39-year-old dog walker who leads the centers Sound Healing sessions meditation, augmented by playing on crystal singing bowls said the near silence and peace inside the Healing Wells walls is enormously important.

I look at the singing bowls as sonic nutrient, she said after one recent session. Sonically, people dont get a break out here in the Tenderloin. There is noise and stress all around, all the time. This here is an opportunity to receive sounds like this so you can relax.

And when we relax, our bodies can heal. Its all about healing.

Kevin Fagan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kfagan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @KevinChron

Kevin Fagan is a longtime reporter at The San Francisco Chronicle. He specializes in enterprise news-feature writing and breaking news, taking particular pleasure in ferreting out stories others might not find from profiling the desperate lives of homeless drug addicts to riding the rails with hobos, finding people who sleep in coffins and detailing the intricacies of hunting down serial killers.

From 2003 to 2006, Kevin was the only beat reporter in the United States covering homelessness full time. He has witnessed seven prison executions and has covered many of the biggest breaking stories of our time, from the Sept. 11 terror attacks at Ground Zero and the Columbine High School massacre to Barack Obamas election as president, the deadly Mendocino Complex, Wine Country and Ghost Ship fires and the Occupy movement. Homelessness remains a special focus of his, close to his heart as a journalist who cares passionately about the human condition.

He has a bachelors degree in journalism from San Jose State University and was raised in California and Nevada.

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Yoga, meditation and quiet: Homeless people in the Tenderloin flock to healing nonprofit - San Francisco Chronicle

While the science may paint a bleak picture, not all is lost. The good news is research shows people who make resolutions are 10 times more likely to change behavior than those who never commit. The trick, according to Professor Weisman of Englands University of Hertfordshire, is to select just one goal that can be achieved in spite of our chaotic and busy lives.

A commitment to hit the yoga mat for 20 minutes a day is an ideal resolution to consider. The practice of yoga can be done virtually anywhere: the privacy of your home at a time most convenient for you, at a local gym (the Greater Kingsport Family YMCA offers classes) or yoga studio, or even while traveling. All you will need to practice is a yoga mat, which can be purchased for under $20.

If you choose to practice outside of the YMCA or local yoga studio, check out the hundreds of free yoga videos available on YouTube. For example, Yoga with Adriene is a popular series that features targeted yoga practices for virtually every need. Adrienes 30-day yoga challenges are perfect for beginners as they slowly introduce breath-controlled exercises and yoga postures and end with a resting period. Since yogas core essence is noncompetitive, yoga sessions always offer varying degrees of difficulty depending on where you are on your yoga journey.

Still not convinced to give yoga a try? Consider a personal testimony from Dilip Sarkar, a 51-year-old vascular surgeon from Virginia who was the picture of health until 2001 when chest pains resulted in emergency by-pass surgery.

Shortly after the life-threatening ordeal, which he later attributed to a hyperarousal state, Sarkar became fascinated with yoga therapy as a way to improve his health and prevent this near-fatal event from happening again. What Ive found through practicing and studying yoga therapy is that people who have a daily practice have effortlessly and automatically changed their lifestyle. They eat better, sleep better, their lifestyle is more regulated.

Thousands of scientific studies support Sarkars assertions about the immense power of yoga to harmonize your entire wellbeing, leading to a healthier, stronger, and more flexible body and a calm, focused mind. Need more data before giving yoga a go? Consider these final two points related to improved cardiovascular health and boosting weight loss and maintenance.

Yoga has been found to have a positive effect on cardiovascular risk factors: It can help lower blood pressure in people who have hypertension and improve lipid profiles in healthy patients as well as patients with known coronary artery disease. It can also lower excessive blood sugar levels in people with non-insulin dependent diabetes and reduce their need for medications. Yoga is now being included in many cardiac rehabilitation programs due to its cardiovascular and stress-relieving benefits.

Research also found that yoga practitioners generally gained less weight, especially during middle adulthood. And people who were overweight actually lost weight. Overall, those practicing yoga had lower body mass indexes (BMIs) compared to those who did not practice yoga. Researchers attributed this to mindfulness, which is the ability to focus your attention on what you are experiencing in the present moment without judging yourself.

Want to be one of the 8-percenters who are able to achieve their New Years resolution? Select one goal (like hitting the yoga mat), publicly declare your intention, grab a friend and share the goal, realize youll likely need a mulligan or two, and reward yourself for every small success along the way until you finally celebrate reaching your proverbial finish line.

Kandy Childress can be reached via email at [emailprotected]

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Still deciding on a New Year's resolution? Hit the yoga mat - Kingsport Times News