A little over a year ago, I was rather forced into signing up to Facebook because videos of some newly born puppies I was considering were being posted there each week.

I, of course, was curious to watch the progress of their growth and to see these beautiful babies play and interact. Unfortunately, it was clear that other posts on Facebook began distracting me from my immediate purpose, and, before I knew it, I was seduced.

It wasn't long before I began seeing those images of animal abuse appearing suddenly before my eyes. Even after scrolling by as quickly as possible, I couldn't get those images out of my head. I just didn't want to see those tragic pictures reaching out to me first thing in the morning. Like everyone else in the world, they are images I never want to see and attempt to forget, however futile.

Passle and her service dog Fenway(Photo provided)

Nonetheless, as much as I want to avoid this reality, it is absolutely my obligation to confront this unthinkable cruelty. We all have to. We have to absorb it, feel it and believe it and do whatever we can to stop it from ever happening!

Unfortunately, those people who really need these reminders are probably too heartless to even acknowledge the cruel part they play. I know I'm repeating myself when I say that these same people who are willing to abuse animals will do the same to people.

In his book "Guardians of Being: Spiritual Teachings From Our Dogs and Cats," Eckhart Tolle reminds us of our connections to our pets:

"When you pet a dog or listen to a cat purring, thinking may subside for a moment and a space of stillness arises within you, a doorway into being."

Alas, gratefully there is also an abundance of videos and images on Facebook that represent the beauty, sensitivity, humor, intelligence and importance of animals. Videos and images that make us laugh and cry and touch our souls because there is something there, in the animals that is deeper than just fun and adorable creatures. Something that is innately a part of us. Shared energy. Shared life force. Most of us know this, and thankfully there are more of those heart filled videos than the bad.

This past spring, my friend Passle lost her service dog from old age. This dog, for the past 12 years, was Passle's eyes, helping her to maneuver through the day and alerting her to every possible danger that might be present in her daily life. I was thrilled then to see on Facebook the happy photo of Passle with her new service dog, Fenway, someone she will literally be trusting with her life.

Then there was the posting of the soldier who had returned from a war zone, and like so many others traumatized by the brutalities of war, he ended up with PTSD. His life was a series of blackouts that led to falling over and potential injury. Dog to the rescue. This man's remarkable dog was able to detect when these blackouts were going to occur, and the dog would stand on his hind legs, front paws on the man's chest, letting him know he needs to sit down before he falls down. If you think animals are "just" animals, think again.

Eckhart Tolle: "Every being is a spark of the Divine or God. Look into the eyes of the dog and sense that innermost core."

We've all heard the stories. A cat howls in the middle of the night waking his family when a house was on fire. Dogs used to find people lost in the wilderness or under debris of a bombed-out building. The stories involving the lives saved by animals are endless.

Eckhart Tolle: "The vital function that pets fulfill in this world hasn't been fully recognized. They keep millions of people sane."

I've seen how my own animals respond to my moods. My cat Willow always shows up to sit and listen when I play the piano. The other day my golden wouldn't stop licking my face when I wasn't feeling well. A past dog of mine, Laddie, who was usually all work and no doggie kisses, showed a rare sign of affection when my mother was in pain from a knee replacement. He jumped up on her bed and laid his paw gently on her painful leg. She couldn't help but smile. This same dog used to sit down at the bottom of the driveway on the day I was returning home from a vacation waiting for my arrival.

We have to remind ourselves that there is something deeper in the animals than time has held to be true. An intuitiveness that allows them to know and feel beyond the obvious. A gift that we all have but so many of us have lost.

The animals haven't lost this special sense. It's a powerful awareness of caring, yet they continue to be abused.

Eckhart Tolle: "We are ultimately not separate, not from one another nor from any living thing - the flower, the tree, the cat, the dog. You can sense yourself in them, the essence of who you are. You could say God. There is a term, a Christian term which is beautiful ... loving the creator in the creature."

I believe people who abuse animals have deviated from the evolutionary chain into another kind of life form. One that doesn't have a soul and a connection to what's important and real and that's a strong and dynamic life force whose energy is derived from love, respect and reverence. My senses are torched when I think about the animals that are being abused, even as I write these words. Animals who could otherwise contribute love, joy, companionship and healing to so many human lives.

What can you do? I've said this before. Continue to support all animal organizations. Not just the dog and cats but the polar bears, elephants and wolves. All of them. Continue to support your local shelters as well because they play a part in assisting with local animal abuse. They also do their best at matching the shelter animals with the right families giving the animal a home to thrive in and giving the family an animal who will bring to their lives an abundance of gifts.

Eckhart Tolle: "Love is a deep empathy with the other's Beingness. You recognized yourself, your essence in the other. And so you can no longer inflict suffering on the other."

View post:
OUR ANIMALS, OURSELVES: Use me, don't abuse me - Lake Placid News

Make traffic your jam by using your drive time to your advantage.

By Jennifer Worick

Special to The Seattle Times Jobs

Traffic in Seattle is a drag, no doubt about it.

But there are ways to quell your angst and rage. Leverage your commute time in powerful ways. And now that the distracted-driving law is in effect, its time to put down your device and devise a better way to use your commute. It can often be found time in an otherwise busy day.

Present yourself. You may not want to be present to the traffic jam youre in, but listening to an Eckhart Tolle or similar book can help center you for the workday. And if that doesnt work, youll be sufficiently distracted by his unique accent.

Podcast intelligently. Before you take to the road, cue up a smart podcast for your drive. Check out Entrepreneur on Fire (a daily podcast by John Lee Dumas), the HBR Ideacast (a weekly podcast from the Harvard Business Review), or The $100 MBA (a daily podcast that offers lessons on business, marketing, tech and more).

Run down your to-do list. Get a jump on your morning by thinking about your to-do list, both immediate concerns as well as longer-term projects. Come up with three things you want to accomplish before lunch.

Create a mantra. Is there a phrase that centers your or helps you keep things in perspective? Breathe in and out slowly and repeat your mantra. Youll arrive at the office calm and centered, despite the backup on I-405.

Plan a vacation. Preferably one without road congestion. Work and traffic might be bringing you down, but planning the details of your next holiday in Reykjavik can lift you up where you belong.

Rehearse. Get your talking points in order. Whether its an important presentation or just a one-on-one with an employee or client, practice aloud and refine your key messaging.

Call your mentor or mentee.Use your hands-free device to check in with an aspirational figure to start or end your day on a high note. Think about a professional challenge that you can parse out with your mentor, or ask your mentee if they have any issues theyd like to discuss.

Keep your mind sharp. Expand your mind with podcasts like Wait Wait Dont Tell Me! or Stuff Your Should Know, or brush up on a foreign language with one of the many podcasts available for download. Try Radio Lingua if you want to improve your French, Spanish or German.

These self-improvement tactics may not make your commute go any faster, but they could certainly speed up your career.

Jennifer Worick is a veteran freelancer/contractor, publishing consultant and New York Times bestselling author. Email her at jen@jenniferworick.com.

See the original post:
Hate your Seattle commute? Use it to your benefit - Seattle Times

Keith Roach, To Your Health Published 5:55 p.m. ET July 24, 2017

Dear Dr. Roach: In a recent column, you said, I dont find simply telling people to eat less and move more to always be an effective therapy. What do you suggest to patients wanting to lose weight?

C.N.

Dear C.N.: The vast majority of patients I see who are overweight know they are overweight, and have tried unsuccessfully to lose weight. Often, they have tried multiple different types of diets, sometimes having success in the short term, but then having gained it back. Eat less, move more, while correct, doesnt address the issues that are important for many people.

Although some of my colleagues will disagree with me, I look at the issue differently. I recommend that people choose a healthy diet. There are many healthy diets, and people can choose what they like, but I recommend plenty of vegetables, some fruits, and good-quality protein sources such as legumes or nuts and lean meats or fatty fish for those who eat them; processed foods, especially starches and processed meats, should be avoided. Along with these dietary changes, which are modest for many people, I advise increasing exercise, from wherever the person starts (within reason). My rationale is that losing weight often seems unattainable to people; however, eating better and exercising more feel like they are within ones control. There is no doubt that people will be healthier with a better diet and with more exercise.

It is true that over a long time, most people who make those dietary and exercise changes will lose weight. But the primary goal is to improve health, even if the weight doesnt come down.

Some people, especially those with medical problems due to their weight, need more-intensive intervention, and I am fortunate to have colleagues in weight management, both medical and surgical, for those who need it.

Dear Dr. Roach: My husband just got a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis. Were not thrilled, but it could have been worse. He is older than I am in his 70s. A few people have said that if you are going to get MS, it is not as bad when you are older. Is that true? What is his prognosis?

N.W.

Dear N.W.: I am sorry to hear about your husband. There is no good age to get this diagnosis. MS is the most common demyelinating disease of the nervous system. The myelin is a covering around the nerves, which protects them and speeds impulses. Without myelin, nerves cannot properly perform their function of communication. The myelin is destroyed by the bodys own systems, by an immune system that mistakes myelin for an invader.

It used to be thought that people who got MS at a younger age had a slower rate of disease progression; however, more recent studies have shown that age itself is not a strong predictor of the course of the disease. Similarly, being male was thought to predict worse outcomes, but that no longer seems to be the case.

It is very hard to predict how MS will progress in any given individual, as the disease can range dramatically. Some people have only a single episode in life (sometimes called benign MS, about 15 percent of cases). However, the most common is relapsing-remitting, with times of normal function interspersed with acute attacks. Finally, there is progressive disease, which can start right away (primary progressive MS) or after a period of time of relapsing-remitting (secondary progressive). About 12 percent of people have malignant MS, which leads to a need for assistance walking within five years.

MS is a complex disease, and I can barely scratch the surface of it here. There are many types of symptoms, but most people have at least one of the following: eye symptoms, numbness or weakness in a specific body area and terrible fatigue.

Email questions to ToYourGoodHealth@med.cornell.edu.

Read or Share this story: http://detne.ws/2ur8WFg

See the rest here:
Doc: Choose better diet, exercise regimen for health - The Detroit News

Image: Supplied.

Is there anyone more annoying than a friend who has just lost weight and feels amazing?

Rhetorical question.

Because while some of us are still safely ensconced in layers of clothing, snug and warm in the comfort of denial about the inevitability of summer while eating carbs with sweet abandon, OTHERS are making their summer bodies, right as we speak, IN WINTER.

I found myself dying midway conversation with a friend who was on week three of the new version of the HCG Diet [an extreme diet involving injections of HCG, the hormone women make when pregnant].

She had just lost five kilos and was now perched high on a soapbox and offering unsolicited diet advice.

Not wanting to rain on her parade at all, because as if I would want to do that, I carefully enquired: hadnt she been on the old HCG roundabout before? And hadnt she, after she returned to eating like a normal person, regained all the hard earned lost kilos with maybe a couple of extras for good measure?

Oh, pardon me, sorry, this is the HCG you get from the doctor. Right. Is it still 500 calories a day? Hello obviously thats why it works. My mistake. And how fabulous that were giving it another go the third time is always the charm.

Look, I dont mean to be negative-Nancy but I was born a Size 14 and I certainly know my way around a calorie-restricted, protein-laden diet and exercise program like the very best of them.

Which is why I was a little surprised when Missy continued in her sermon. Do you know why French women dont get fat?

Um, because they are on drugs and they smoke?

No. Because theyve identified their food culprits. What are your top five food culprits Aleesa? Oooh. The big questions. Champagnefood, which has cheese on it and is like not a protein?

Well that answer opened a can of worms: Champagne sure have that glass but then get on the treadmill for half an hour to burn it off. Because thats how much it takes to work off the calories of just one glass of Champagne.

Firstly, what idiot is going to sit on one glass of Champagne and then excuse herself as she darts upstairs to the home gym filled with washing to do a quick sesh on the treadmill, WITHOUT having another glass of said Champagne on her return as a reward? Spare. Me.

I then get a follow up text message with the suggestion to "Find a PT and do weight resistance training at the gym because it will burn fat and tone". Knock me down with a feather weight training burns fat and tones! I had no idea. And Im kind of pissed that not one of my six trainers over five gyms during this last 15 years told me this. Seriously. And I paid these guys good money.

See, people like myself and my dear friend who have always had that extra 10kg plus to lose, have done it all the fasting, the meal replacements, the tablets instead of food (hello Herbal Life cant believe that wasnt sustainable), the shakes, the drops, the potions and lets not forget exercise (I mean were not idiots).

Weve bounced up and down through the step classes of our youth, done the grapevine right up to Body Pump, intermittent training, Spin and Barre I mean I have had a Fitness First membership for a generation. Indeed we seasoned dieters have been around that block many, many times. Which begs the question: Why, after having made a career of dieting and exercise, are we are still not our taut and trim best?

So, I did my Googles, found an article that really spoke to me, and guess what? I discovered that diets dont work (I bet you didnt know that either. GIVE ME BACK MY LIFE)!

Well, of course the basic science of eating less than your body burns, works you will lose weight.

But keeping the weight off for the rest of your life? I think we all know the answer to that one. However, there are some people who have been very successful long term.

A few of my friends have lost weight and kept it off for many years (I dont speak to those people anymore) but the data reveals that this is the exception, not the rule. Is it lack of motivation, will power, discipline? Why do our bodies kind of spring back to their natural size 16 states in no time at all?

Scientists have found that a weight-reduced body behaves very differently to a similar-size body that has not dieted it is metabolically different (like not good different).

Dieting puts a person who has gone down this slippery road into a state of always wanting to eat while their metabolism is slower than someone at the same weight who has never dieted. I kid you not. Its pure biological sabotage from the get-go.

After youve lost weight, your brain has a greater emotional response to food, Rosenbaum says. You want it more, but the areas of the brain involved in restraint are less active. Combine that with a body that is now burning fewer calories than expected, he says, and youve created the perfect storm for weight regain.

How long this state lasts isnt known, but preliminary research at Columbia suggests that for as many as six years after weight loss, the body continues to defend the old, higher weight by burning off far fewer calories than would be expected.

The problem could persist indefinitely. This doesnt mean its impossible to lose weight and keep it off; it just means its really, really difficult.

Arent we up against it, friends? Our very own bodies literally setting us up to fail. So, do we just abandon that second round of Michelle Bridges? Cease the Ketosis?

Stop donating money to various fitness establishments? Or do we just press on with that dream, and keep chipping away at our lifes work of actually losing weight and keeping it off? Its very tempting to throw in the towel. But Im no quitter. It does make me wonder thoughmaybe ignorance really is bliss after all.

Continue reading here:
'There's nothing more annoying than a friend on a diet' - 9Honey

The sudden passing of radio personality-cum-soca artiste Devon Matthews sent many into a state of disbelief and the misinformed report linking his death to the use or misuse of diet pills further exasperated his family, friends and fans alike.Matthews suffered a heart attack that killed him at the age of 36.The mention of diet pills, however, caused a stir and has left people wanting to know whether or not using diet pills is safe, advised by doctors and even if allowed, should one use them unsupervised by a medical practitioner.The Express sought the views of Dr Varma Deyalsingh on the potential dangers of diet pills and dietary supplements consumers might be unaware of.Deyalsingh has been in the medical field for over 20 years and believes in the power of information and educating others on health matters. He often finds himself encouraging people to do their own research, and talk to their doctor before taking any form of medication or starting a new exercise routine.Deyalsingh admits, unrealistic beauty and physical standards put pressure on people to fit in, this in turn causes them to take unprecedented risks, where they would normally stop and think things through.Body image is a problem in our society. Its not just our society but around the world. This concept of Slim-is-in is a mindset people have to change. The focus should not be on how slim you are but your overall good health. Eat healthy and have a healthy lifestyle, thats what is most important, Deyalsingh said.Easy to get off the shelf

Diet pills and supplements are easy enough to get off the shelf, and doctors also prescribe diet pills and supplements from time to time to their patients. While most people would be more focused on the results, it is important to know exactly what you are putting inside your body, Deyalsingh said.He cautioned about popular diet pills and supplements claim to be herbal. These diet pills and supplements have also been known to cause adverse side effects in people, he said. One case in point Deyalsingh referred to was Hydroxycut.He said, A lot of people were taking this, however, there were instances where people complained of having seizures, and after a thorough investigation by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) based in the United States, it was then removed from the shelves. The company reformulated the product, and reintroduced it to stores and pharmacies a few years later.Diet pills and supplements with green tea and caffeine are also considered relatively safe, but it can cause the heart to skip a beat in some people. Some diet pills contain amphetamines (uppers), and act as a stimulant to suppress the appetite. It can also increase energy. For some people it could also prove to be very addictive. Phentermine is another drug that can cause heart palpitations in some people, thats why it is so important that these two drugs are prescription only, he said.

Health factors before taking pills

There are many factors doctors take into account before putting someone on diet pills/supplements. If I decided to put someone on diet pills/supplements, the patient would first have to have demonstrated for a couple of months that healthy eating, dieting and exercise have failed. I would check first to see if the person has any heart problems, check and make sure their blood pressure is good, and if there has been any history with addiction such as alcohol or smoking. If any of these is a factor, there is greater chance for the person to be at risk for adverse side effects with this type of treatment. I would not recommend such for a patient with this history. I would prescribe something else, he said.Most consumers are not aware of the dangers posed by some diet pills and supplements. Some have been known to cause seizures, strokes, heart attacks and possible addiction. There have also been instances, where people combine medications, such as diet pills and anti-depressants, which in turn can cause grave harm to the body. There are countless diet pills and supplements on the market, however just because you can get it over-the-counter does not automatically mean it is safe, Deyalsingh said.There are instances, where some of these pills and supplements are banned in other countries, and still manage to find their way into our market. Gym owners and people who go to the gym need to be aware of all the new and existing medical information out there on supplements and diet pills. Not everything is safe for everyone, Deyalsingh said.Deyalsing added that pharmacists also have a greater role in educating consumers about the potential risks. They should be firm with consumers when they advise them to consult their physician before purchasing any medication.It does not take rocket science to get in shape, but there are people who are unwilling to put in the work through exercise to get the results they are looking for. My advice for anyone thinking about taking diet pills and supplements, try it the natural way first. Start with a proper diet and exercise instead of potentially causing your body harm, Deyalsingh added..

See the article here:
Diet, exercise, doctor first, before the pills - Trinidad & Tobago Express

Staff photo by Don Himsel The motto at CFI emblazoned on a T-shirt

Staff photo by Don Himsel Cadets gather after classroom instruction and prepare to attend their next excercise Wednesday.

Staff photo by Don Himsel Justine Shackleton of Toronto, Canada, was once a cadet. She returned this year as a volunteer to help Nashua Fire Rescue Lt. Jess Wyman run the camp. Its very rewarding for me to see the girls transform over the week; witness them experience the incredible thing that I did, she said. I went through that same transformation.

Staff photo by Don Himsel Olivia Horstkotte of Hudson listens to an instructor Wednesday.

Staff photo by Don Himsel Victoria Thickins of Londonderry puts on gear before a lesson on wildfire fighting Wednesday.

Staff photo by Don Himsel Wildfire fighting equipment lined up for training Wednesday.

Staff photo by Don Himsel Bryan Nowell, a New Hampshire forest ranger, shows cadets how to deploy an a protective emergency shelter.

Staff photo by Don Himsel A cadet rushes to effectively deploy her emergency fire shelter during a timed excercise Wednesday.

Staff photo by Don Himsel A cadet lays on top of an emergency fire shelter in Wednesday's heat.

CONCORD Dont call them firemen.

Print subscriber? Sign up for Full Access!

Please sign up for as low as 36 cents per day to continue viewing our website.

More:

A taste of firefighting: Camp shows women skills of fire service - Nashua Telegraph

Dr. Keith Roach, Syndicated Columnist

DEAR DR. ROACH: In a recent column, you said, I dont find simply telling people to eat less and move more to always be an effective therapy. What do you suggest to patients wanting to lose weight? C.N.

ANSWER: The vast majority of patients I see who are overweight know they are overweight, and have tried unsuccessfully to lose weight. Often, they have tried multiple different types of diets, sometimes having success in the short term but then having gained it back. Eat less, move more, while correct, doesnt address the issues that are important for many people.

Although some of my colleagues will disagree with me, I look at the issue differently. I recommend that people choose a healthy diet. There are many healthy diets, and people can choose what they like, but I recommend plenty of vegetables, some fruits, and good-quality protein sources such as legumes or nuts and lean meats or fatty fish for those who eat them; processed foods, especially starches and processed meats, should be avoided. Along with these dietary changes, which are modest for many people, I advise increasing exercise, from wherever the person starts (within reason).My rationale is that losing weight often seems unattainable to people; however, eating better and exercising more feel like they are within ones control. There is no doubt that people will be healthier with a better diet and with more exercise.

It is true that over a long time, most people who make those dietary and exercise changes will lose weight. But the primary goal is to improve health, even if the weight doesnt come down.

Some people, especially those with medical problems due to their weight, need more-intensive intervention, and I am fortunate to have colleagues in weight management, both medical and surgical, for those who need it.

DEAR DR. ROACH: I went gluten-free four years ago for health reasons. I had no irritable bowel issues or celiac disease. After this amount of time, is it OK to reintroduce wheat and gluten? Does going gluten-free when you do not have celiac disease cause you to become more gluten-sensitive because its reintroduction would be like a foreign substance to your system? I fear I may have caused myself to become gluten-sensitive by avoiding it when I didnt have to. Can you please advise? L.

ANSWER: If you had no gluten sensitivity and no celiac disease, then you should have no issues with going back on a diet containing gluten, as far as I have been able to tell from my reading and my understanding of the condition. However, some people with celiac disease have extremely mild symptoms, such as fatigue or abdominal discomfort after eating, which are symptoms felt by nearly everyone from time to time. Nonetheless, making the diagnosis of celiac disease is important, even in people with minimal or no symptoms. People with celiac disease are more likely to develop autoimmune disorders, nutritional deficiencies and some cancers. Also, dietary intervention is critical in the case of women who might become pregnant.

If you truly had no symptoms at all before you went gluten-free, and still dont once you restart, I dont think any testing is necessary. However, if you notice symptoms, then a blood antibody test while on a diet containing gluten can establish the diagnosis.

READERS

The booklet on diverticulitis explains this common disorder and its treatments. Readers can order a copy by writing:

Dr. Roach

Book No. 502

628 Virginia Dr.

Orlando, FL 32803

Enclose a check or money order (no cash) for $4.75 U.S./$6 Can. with the recipients printed name and address. Please allow four weeks for delivery.

Here is the original post:

To your Good Health: Choose a better diet and excercise regimen for health - Prescott Daily Courier

This is part of ourRoad Trip 2017 summer series "The Smartest Stuff,"about how innovators are thinking up new ways to make you and the world around you smarter.

I lean back against the gray, microfiber-lined cushions inside an egg-shaped pod, and prop my feet on the matching footrest. Black headphones fit snugly over my ears as a spa concierge taps on a Samsung tablet mounted beside me.

"This meditation dome is your personal retreat," the screen reads. "It is a space to calm your senses, relieve stress and align your mind and body."

Exactly what I need.

The concierge lowers an illuminated white dome over my body, making me feel like I'm inside a cocoon. I can see my feet peeking out from under the pod, warding off any sense of claustrophobia. The dome is bathed in a soft light from the LEDs, which glow bright green (a color that "stimulates inner peace," according to the brochure).

A woman's soothing voice tells me to close my eyes. "Take the brief pause we all need to live our most meaningful lives," the voice says through my headphones. "Your body and mind need different things every day, and that undefinable part of yourself will respond in turn. So take this time, just for you, and breathe. Welcome to your journey to the present."

For the next 20 minutes, all I have to do is relax. This may be the best assignment I've ever had.

The author tries out a Somadome, where dark blue light eases stress. It seems to be working.

I'm at the Ojai Valley Inn & Spa, about 33 miles from Santa Barbara, California, and I'm sitting in a Somadome. This "personal meditation pod" combines color therapy, binaural beats (using sound to influence mood) and special energy healing tiles to help people bliss out.

Yep, it's a high-tech machine that helps people shed stress that's too often brought on by a nonstop diet of emails, texts, tweets and world events. All our tech is freaking us out.

The result is that most Americans me included are feeling stressed, according to the American Psychological Association's anxiety meter, which has been surveying the population's stress levels since 2007. More than four out of five US adults constantly or often check their email, texts and social media accounts, says the APA, adding "this attachment to devices and the constant use of technology is associated with higher stress levels for these Americans."

We can't help ourselves. That's because every time we post, share, "like" a comment or look for something on our phones, we get a sense of reward that keeps us coming back for more. This feeling triggers our brains to release dopamine, the same chemical that causes us to crave food, sex and drugs. Dopamine is at its most stimulating when the rewards come at unpredictable times, such as phone alerts, social media likes and texts.

"Really, we're still cave people," says Martin Talks, founder of the Digital Detoxing consultancy and author of the book, "A to Z of Digital Detoxing."

What do you want to do today? Somadome offers 20 different sessions, depending on your goal. Some are guided, while others simply have calming sounds like waves and pulsing binaural beats.

"When there's an alert, I must see it. It literally becomes a matter of life or death because people can't resist looking at it, [even] while driving a car."

Meditation the 5,000-year-old practice of shutting out the mental noise rattling in our heads can help. Studies show it may lower blood pressure, improve heart rate and reduce anxiety. Researchers at Harvard University found that meditation can rebuild gray matter in the hippocampus part of the brain associated with learning, memory, compassion and self-awareness in just eight weeks. Cancer patients say it makes treatment more bearable.

"There's something really powerful about just being in your own little world for a minute," Sarah Attia, the CEO and creator of Somadome, tells me before I visit Ojai.

When my mother, who was diagnosed with breast cancer almost two years ago, told me she found meditation to be calming, I wondered if it could help me too. But the question was how to get my brain and gadgets to shut off long enough to actually de-stress. Just thinking about feeling less stressed makes me more tense. Could technology actually calm me down instead of being the conduit to my stress?

So began my "journey to the present."

I stand very still in the dimly lit treatment room, arms raised slightly as a woman waves a piece of burning sage around me. The scent wafts through the air, calming me even as my brain tries to process what the heck is going on.

I'm being smudged.

This is the first step in Ojai's Sound Energy Therapy treatment. "Smudging is just clearing the energetic fields of you, of me, of the room," says Susan Wichmann, the bodyworker and healer conducting my session.

I lie down on a massage table, close my eyes and slow my breathing. The sound of wind chimes echoes softly in the room. The next thing I know, I'm jolted awake by a feeling of vibrations on my abdomen. I had dozed off somewhere between the wind chimes and vibrating Tibetan bowls placed on different parts of my body where my energy was "stuck." Wichmann says her techniques get my energy moving again.

Chris Fortin, Zen priest

"I'm just kind of told where to go," she says after the treatment. "Just see how you're feeling physically, mentally, spiritually over the next few days, and see if you notice anything. Some people don't notice a thing. Some have profound transformations."

I'm still waiting to figure it out.

Energy healing, which has deep roots in Eastern medicine, is based on the belief that the human body exudes energies that affect our mental and physical health. The Somadome produces its energy therapy through microcrystalline tiles. (Bear with me. It's hard to explain some of this stuff while skirting less-scientific topics like Chi, Chakra balancing and aura cleansing.)

Shhh! No one wants to be bothered by loud phone calls, smoking or "disquieting conversation" while at the Ojai Valley Inn & Spa in Southern California.

More specifically, the Somadome uses so-called Biosyntonie ceramic discs that, according to proponents, block harmful electromagnetic frequencies from phones and other electronics, and "increase energy through the restoration of the normal vortex waves." I'm not making this up.

While there's no scientific evidence to support that claim, I can tell you I'm relaxed as heck while I'm in the meditation pod, although I suspect its light and sound therapy also have a lot to do with that.

Some historians claim sound therapy goes back 40,000 years, when the Aboriginal people of Australia first used ancient didgeridoos to mend bones and heal illnesses. And for centuries, Tibetan monks have used singing bowls to help them enter meditative states. More recently, the British Academy of Sound Therapy (yes, really) claims 95 percent of its clients felt calmer following treatment.

In the Somadome's case, we're talking binaural beats, which Dr. Gerald Oster first described in his 1973 paper in Scientific American called "Auditory Beats in the Brain." Oster found that when the right and left ears hear sounds at different frequencies, the brain produces a third, inaudible beat that can produce five different brainwave states.

Sarah Attia, Somadome

Depending on the brainwave's frequency, your brain marches to a beat that can, for instance, hone cognition (gamma waves), increase concentration (beta), boost creativity (alpha), speed up learning (theta) and help you relax and heal (delta). If you have an important project coming up, you'll want something that triggers gamma or beta waves. Want to really relax? Then delta's the brainwave for you.

"If I want to be more creative, I listen to alpha," says Kelly Howell, the mindfulness expert who voiced the soothing guided meditations in my ear. "If I have trouble sleeping, I tune into delta."

Light therapy is a big part of the experience, too. Somadome cites research that says light helps regulate the autonomic nervous system, which controls bodily functions like breathing, heart rate and digestion.

Each Somadome session (it's $45 for my 20-minutes in Ojai) begins and ends with white light, to "promote balance, increase harmony and contribute to overall healing." Violet contributes to "spiritual insights" and boosts immunity. Green stimulates "inner peace" and strengthens the nervous system. Dark blue eases stress while turquoise "improves intuition and sensitivity."

A 20-minute session with something like a Somadome is great. But what to do on a daily basis? Sure, you can go on retreat vacations at the beach, tickets to a football game, or a night in binge watching Netflix. Or maybe take the occasional mental health day off from work.

It turns out, there are plenty of iOS and Android apps and gadgets to ease anxiety and help us relax. Apple -- with its free Apple Watch app called Breathe wants you to remember to, well, breathe. Biofeedback apps usually rely on wearables or other sensors that detect things like our temperature, respiratory rates and heart rates and then suggest ways you can chill. Unyte's biofeedback hardware (currently $219 on Indiegogo) clips to your ear, while Muse is a $249 headband that monitors your brain's electrical activity.

Of course, contemplating the beauties of nature can help you relax, too.

"People meditating typically don't know if they're in a meditative state or not," says Unyte CEO Jason Tafler. "But it helps to know."

Biofeedback uses several kinds of exercises, including deep breathing, guided imagery, tightening and then relaxing different muscle groups, and mindful meditation (focusing all your thoughts on your abdominal muscles as you breathe in and out, for instance).

"This is a brand new idea that's 2,500 years old," jokes Richard Gevirtz, a psychologist, biofeedback expert and adviser to technology companies, including Unyte. When you inhale for about four seconds and exhale for six, you can change your heart rate and improve your mental and physical state, his research has found. "Clinically, we've seen if you [do this for] 10 minutes a day, you have some powerful changes in your body over the course of six weeks," Gevirtz says.

Dr. John Denninger, a psychiatrist and director of research at the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, sees both pros and cons to mobile apps and gadgets.

"If [high-tech devices] get people who wouldn't even think about doing this to do some breathing exercises for even a minute a day, then that's progress," says Denninger, who's investigating the medical benefits of stress-reduction techniques like yoga or meditation. But "one thing I worry about with devices is they could just be a distraction."

The instructions say to "meet at the yurt," most definitely the first time I've been told that. It's another line in the description that really makes my heart race, though: "Please note there is no cell phone reception at Green Gulch."

Richard Gevirtz, biofeedback expert

I've signed up for an all-day meditation retreat through the San Francisco Zen Center at the Green Gulch Farm near Muir Beach, a 45-minute drive north of the city. I've come to the sunnier side of the Golden Gate Bridge many times, but today I'm trying something new: Buddhist meditation. In a yurt. In this case, it's a round, red structure surrounded by a faded wooden deck and fragrant bay laurel trees.

I'm greeted at said yurt by Chris Fortin, a licensed psychotherapist and spiritual counselor who's also the Zen priest and teacher leading today's meditations.

"I'm as addicted as anybody to my phone," Fortin tells me. "But these cell phones are fairly new devices. I just feel like there's a deep need in the world right now, where people can come together where it's safe, where we can speak about what's true beyond sound bites."

We're just 15 women sitting silently in a circle some on the floor, some in chairs with our eyes closed and hands clasped against our chests for zazen (sitting meditation). Sometimes we walk very slowly and deliberately through the woods and gardens surrounding the yurt. That's kinhin meditation. The silence is broken only by the occasional bird call and the plunking of seeds as they fall from the trees.

"The world is pretty crazy," Fortin tells me. "We need all the help we can get."

I agree. We do need all the help we can get, which is why I'm ready to climb into the Somadome again.

I'm feeling so calm, I barely even notice the photographer snapping shots of my feet or the tech workers running on treadmills outside the room. I'm in a Somadome at the health and wellness center in Adobe's headquarters in San Jose, California. The software maker has owned one of the pods since January 2016 and plans to buy a second for its San Francisco offices.

Employees can sign up for free sessions throughout the day or just show up to see if the Somadome is available. It rarely is. "We have a steady 85 percent booking [rate] on it," says Kris Herrera, Adobe's global site operations strategy manager. "When we put it in, our target was 35 percent. It's been so well received."

The Somadome uses sound, color and energy therapies to help relieve stress often brought on by too much tech. In light therapy, violet "contributes to spiritual insights" and boosts immunity.

Adobe's not the only high-tech company that sees the benefits of meditation. Others include Google, Facebook and Apple, whose co-founder Steve Jobs famously embraced Zen meditation and spent time at an Indian ashram. (So did Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg.) Google launched a "Search Inside Yourself" course to help employees learn mindfulness meditation, and now runs the group as a nonprofit, the Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute, to teach techniques to individuals and other companies.

Mindfulness is also gaining popularity in traditional medicine and becoming a component of fitness centers. Somadome is working with Equinox to bring the dome to the high-end fitness club, and Planet Fitness plans to test out the machine. The Four Seasons in Westlake, California, has one installed in its California Health & Longevity wellness facility, which its clinical psychologists can recommend it as part of patient therapy. Right now, there are 20 Somadomes in the world.

Dr. Leasa Lowy, an OB-GYN and bariatric physician who runs the 360 ME medical, weight and lifestyle clinic in the Portland, Oregon, area, found out about Somadome through her daughter, a competitive tennis player who was training at the Sports Academy in Thousand Oaks, California, which also has one of the machines. She bought two of them six months ago. The machine costs $14,500, plus $100 for monthly maintenance and content fees.

Lowy plans to conduct medical research with Somadome to track its impact on patients. So far, she's encouraged by the anecdotal evidence.

One patient bikes to Lowy's office to use Somadome before work four days a week because she says it clears her mind and helps her plan her day. Two others who work night shifts use Somadome whenever their hours change and they need to adjust.

Click here to see more Road Trip adventures.

"The most skeptical person, you can put in there and they see it," Lowy says. "You're going to sit quietly for 20 minutes and have an adult time out. Who wouldn't want that?"

Somadome has big ambitions. It's working on a way to mass-produce its dome and refine the machine to include more sensors and possibly incorporate facial recognition technology "so users can get direct feedback about how their session is affecting them," says Cooper Lee, Somadome's technologist.

It's also building a smartphone app that helps you find and book sessions nearby. The Somadome will know who you are when you arrive, and the app will be able to make recommendations for which session you should take based on your age, sex, the type of work you do and what you're trying to accomplish. You'll also be able to use heart rate monitors or wearables like Fitbit to track what happens to your body in and after using Somadome and save all of that data in the app.

"The idea is to use Somadome as a place where people can both take a session that's curated or specifically aimed at their goal, as well as give them feedback," says Gilles Attia, a technology attorney who also partnered with his daughter, Sarah, to bring Somadome to market.

Back at Ojai, I try "Manifest" for my first session, which aims to give me "a renewed sense of peace and guidance" by talking about "the law of attraction and the connectedness of our universe." It's best used "when starting a journey or setting your intentions," the description says. The dome turns a soft violet as Howell's voice tells me to "concentrate on harmony."

I hear birds chirping and Howell's voice telling me all is right with the world. I'm told to repeat phrases like, "I know that I am one with the Universal Mind."

The next day, I opt for "Heal," another guided session that's part of Somadome's physical wellness track. This one uses "delta to release HGH [human growth hormone], which helps to accelerate healing, boost your immune system, and support well-being." I'm told it's "best used when you feel misaligned or have ailments." Considering I'm in physical therapy for typing-related nerve damage, I figure I'll give it a shot.

Dr. Leasa Lowy

After a while, I don't have to focus as much to steadily breathe in through my nose and out through my mouth. I feel my shoulders relax and my muscles loosen. I have no way to track the time, and the best thing is I don't even care. I simply breathe.

Did I achieve my goal of getting my mind to stop wandering? No, but that's OK.

"You have to go past the idea of meditation being about clearing your mind," says Cory Muscara a meditation expert who runs his own clinic in Long Island, New York, and teaches mindfulness at the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University.

"You're setting yourself up for failure with that mentality," he says. "I spent six months, 14 hours a day in meditation [with Buddhist monks in Myanmar]. The longest I went without a thought was maybe 48 seconds or a minute."

Eventually, three bells chime. I feel like I could stay in the Somadome for hours.

I don't know if the sessions actually improved my ability to meditate or if I'll see any lasting effects. I don't know if the studies will show real scientific benefits from the energy tiles and other therapies, or if they'll prove to be snake oil. And I don't know if the machines will eventually be found outside of fancy spas and clinics.

What I do know is I feel pretty damn relaxed.

Road Trip 2016: Reporters' dispatches from the field on tech's role in the global refugee crisis.

Road Trip 2015:CNET hunts for innovation outside the Silicon Valley bubble.

Go here to read the rest:

High tech meditation pod relieves stress caused by tech - CNET - CNET

Before you meditate, you must surrender your iPhone. At least thats what a couple of serene young women tell me when I walk into Unplug Meditation, an airy Los Angeles studio with inspirational slogans on the walls. (Keep Going! Live the Life You Love!)

Im here for a 45-minute class called Inner Peace, which promises to teach me the basicsof deep mindfulness, making me calmer, more productive, more focused, and more joyful. After passing through the gift shop, which peddles crystals, aromatherapy eye pillows, and Bad Spirit Remover candles, I settle into a black faux-leather floor seat. Violet lights beam down on a couple of dozen people, from spandexed millennials to graying businessmen. Its like a yoga studio without the yoga.

Thoughts can make us sick or they can empower us, says Sherly Sulaiman, a hypnotherapist with an Australian accent, who sits on a dais. We want them to empower us, right? She instructs us to lift an index finger every time a thought arises. Remember, you are not the thought. You are aware of your thoughts. Spa music wafts from the speakers as index fingers tap out a frantic Morse code. A truck horn blares. Eventually, a bell rings. Ill be outside, says Sulaiman, if you want to ask a question or shareor if you just want a healing hug.

A new breed of upscale meditation studios, which package contemplative practices into 30-to-60-minute classes for about $20 a pop, are spreading across the country. Designed for the affluent mainstream, the hip spaces offer diverse services, including private sessions for about $150 and five-day, $300 mindfulness summer camps for teens. At Inscape, which opened in New York City in November, meditators loll in beanbag chairs under a sailcloth and bamboo dome; at a Los Angeles studio called the Den Meditation, the wellness crowd attend classes like Lunchtime Detox and Candlelight Relax. Following the trajectory of yoga, these for-profit centers have opened in cities from Miami to Calgary.

Im the gateway drug, says Suze Yalof Schwartz, the founder of Unplug and a former Glamour editor. Schwartz floats about the studio, greeting customers with frenetic exuberance. People who would never meditate are now practicing, because were meditation lite. Unplug plans to open two more locationsin Los Angeles and San Franciscoover the next year, and the brands app has users in 37 countries. Its the Netflix of meditation, says Schwartz, beaming.

Meditation, you may have noticed, is becoming as ubiquitous as Starbucks. Studies suggest that it can improve concentration and working memory, lower blood pressure, and even boost immune-system functioning, among many other benefits. Nearly 1,000 apps, such as Headspace and Calm, promise to help you find inner stillness in a now $1.1 billion meditation and mindfulness industry, which includes therapy, classes, retreats, and other services. This swift commercialization is alarming some longtime teachers, who worry that the new studios present an attractive but diluted version of spiritual practices.

Secularized mindfulness programs are like an industrial approach to meditation, says Jesse Maceo Vega-Frey, a teacher at Vipassana Hawaii, a nonprofit Buddhist organization that offers weekly meditation as well as multi-day retreats on the Big Island. Theyve turned it into a commodity and replaced its foundations of generosity and morality with promises of productivity and effectivenesshigher test scores, more effective soldiers, greater wealth, more power.

Others compare selling meditation to bottling water: it makes some people rich while commercializing an abundant resource. But arguably the biggest concern is whether these for-profit centers instructors can support the full range of emotional experiences that practitioners encounter. In some spiritual traditions, becoming a teacher can require more than a decade of serious study. Some of the new studios require as little as 100 hours of training.

According to the guidelines for Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, an eight-week intensive program, some practitioners may find that negative emotions worsen before they improve. This is simply because of heightened awareness. Willoughby Britton, a professor of psychiatry and human behavior at Brown University who studies challenging meditation experiences, suggests seeking out teachers with meditation-instructor training and at least three years of personal practice. But the onus is also on the studios.

It would be easy to dismiss the trend as superficial, but as with exercise, many people are more likely to develop beneficial habits with the help of guided sessions. Its like going to a fitness class for the mind, says Stefanie Seifer, an actor and filmmaker who visits the Den several times a week. Sometimes its hard to practice on your own. I knew how to meditate before; I just didnt do it. But does marketing meditation as a feel-good cure-all set people up for frustration? After all, on any given day the practice can range from blissful to exasperating.

Nobody here pretends you walk in and its magic, says Tal Rabinowitz, founder of the Den. You still have to do it, and we are here to guide you. Like anything, it takes practice and time.

Jack Kornfield, one of the first Buddhist teachers to bring mindfulness to the West, is not particularly worried. Contemplative practices have taken many different forms in Asian cultures for centuries, he explains, and these new studios will survive only if people find them beneficial.

I see it as an offering that serves people where they are, and thats the point, he says. A certain number will know intuitively that much greater depths are possible. But the fact that anybody goes in and takes 20 or 30 minutes to quiet their mind and tend to their body and listen to their hearthallelujah.

View original post here:

The Pricey New World of Meditation - Outside Magazine

TO THE NEW OWNERS: A Memoir of Martha's Vineyard. By Madeleine Blais. Atlantic Monthly Press. 288 pages. $26.

It's the human face of Martha's Vineyard, not the place itself, that entices in Madeleine Blais' charming, elegiac account of summers spent on its shores.

Blais, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist whose In These Girls, Hope is a Miracle was a finalist for the National Book Award, married into a socially and politically prominent family that spent summers simply but well on the Vineyard. Sidestepping an unseemly Lament of the One Percent regarding the 2014 sale of the Katzenbachs' long-time island retreat, her account of that family's history (and the island's) lends the mystique of Martha's Vineyard a more grounded view.

The summer home on Thumb Point, built in 1976, rested in a setting of blue gold water on three sides but with no heat, no phone and no TV. Rebuilt in 1978 with a few more amenities, simplicity remained the watchword. For its generations of inhabitants and many guests, the lifestyle meant a steady diet of lassitude and self-direction raised to an art form. Not to say there weren't plenty of activities. After a few days you became a happy animal, scampering barefoot, feral, and fortified, writes the author, currently a professor at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.

After providing capsule personal histories of the principal players, all of whom lived by language and shared a passion for social justice, Blais recounts how she and her husband happened upon the happy idea of using old-style ship's log books to record their summers, the minute details and larger themes. There is some excellent writing here, but also some rather mundane material from the logs kept by family members throughout their years at the Point.

But Blais also engages the reader with peripheral stories of how Chappaquiddick and the movie Jaws initiated the transformation of the island from a well-kept secret into a celebrity playground, some of it gated and closed off, with a regrettable invasion of McMansions. The Old Vineyard now exists as a kind of misty-eyed platonic ideal of Kindly Year-Rounders and Grateful Summer Guests coexisting in perfect harmony with a minimum of traffic and a plenitude of just-caught fish.

In her memoir, augmented by recollections from her husband and other island denizens, the Vineyard remains endearingly quaint, though not without a measure of snob appeal, which Blais gamely dissects, along with the island hierarchy and its sometimes inexplicable codes of conduct. The island sometimes feels like a club with secret rules that no one appears all that eager to share.

She also explores the gradual process of racial integration on the Vineyard.

Like any seemingly idyllic place, there are troubles beneath the island's veneer, and a clear-cut difference between the outlooks of full-time vs. summer residents, much less the tourist hordes that arrive by ferry.

Apart from its compelling personal portraits, the book benefits from much gentle humor, a compensatory sweetness, and a touching coda. There are also resonant bits of wisdom, such as Blais' meditation on an evening party: I looked around that night and realized that at certain signal moments the people you gather and the place where they assemble can be in and of itself a work of art, as real as any painting in a museum.

And at least as sustaining.

Reviewer Bill Thompson is a freelance writer and editor based in Charleston.

See more here:

Review: 'To the New Owners' a meditation on the character of Martha's Vineyard - Charleston Post Courier