I Tried Meditating Every Morning Before Work, and This Is What Happened

I'm constantly on the search for new and better ways to increase productivity, especially in the mornings. I am not an early riser in the slightest, so anything that helps me hit the ground running as soon as I wake up, I'm game. So, when Ananda Giri-ji from One World Academy visited our POPSUGAR office in San Francisco for a meditation session, I was intrigued when he advised us to meditate first thing every morning before checking our phones or making our coffees. By doing so, he said that we nourish the "beautiful state of being" (more on that later) and we manifest our intentions into reality. Basically, it helps you start your day off on the best possible note.

For 45 minutes, Giri-ji discussed the practice of meditation with our small group, including the difference between what the wisdom school calls a beautiful state of being and a suffering state of being. The former refers to the positive emotions you'd associate like happiness, peace, love, creativity, connection, and passion, while the latter is any state of being that would limit you: fear, loneliness, anxiety, jealousy, etc. By striving to maintain a beautiful state of being as much as possible, you're proactively trying to drive away the negative, resulting in an overall better mindset and well-being. Meditation is a way to shift your brain's activity to the BSOB.

There are various ways you can practice meditation, but the main thing to remember is that it's not about suspending thought, which is actually the antithesis of meditation, according to Giri-ji. Let your thoughts come in as they please instead of using all your efforts to block them out. You'll end up more in the suffering state by worrying about what to think or not think and whether you're doing it correctly. The objective of meditation is mindfulness and being in the present.

So, for every morning for a full workweek, I tried meditating for five minutes as soon I got up. I followed a shorter version of the eight- to 10-minute "soul sync practice" Giri-ji taught us with eight long inhalations and exhalations, eight more with audible humming, and the rest of the time visualizing myself melting into an infinite space. Here's how it went.

Monday: I had trouble focusing. Maybe it was because it was Monday and I couldn't stop thinking about my to-dos for the week. And of course when my boyfriend is usually still asleep at this time, I was startled in the middle of meditation when I heard, "Nicole! COME HERE!" I thought something was horribly wrong, but he wanted to show me scenes from his middle school play that his best friend had dug up, and they definitely were worth seeing. But then when I tried resuming my practice, it was even harder for me to focus and I couldn't stop thinking about what coffee I wanted to drink after.

Tuesday: This morning was much better! I did at times get distracted because of stomach pains from the container of parmesan I ate the night before, but other than that, I found myself in a peaceful state. My mind didn't race as much as yesterday, and the time went by much more quickly than I expected.

Wednesday: Today's practice was the most nice and calming yet. It could've been because I woke up especially tired and it was kind of like a second sleep. Breathing felt so good, and this was the point when I thought to myself, "OK, I see you, meditation."

Thursday: I definitely drifted off into a mini sleep, which could be why the five minutes passed so quickly this time. But I didn't wake to a groggy state as I expected. I felt slightly more refreshed than had I woken up after hitting snooze in bed.

Friday: I was really distracted this morning with thoughts about what was still left to complete on my list for the week. It was difficult to stop thinking about work and what I needed to pack for my trip the next week.

Overall, I found morning meditation to be a calming way to start off my day. I felt like I was actively turning my brain on earlier and didn't have to wait for my coffee to kick in at the office for me to get going. I also realized that I have always sort of practiced a form of meditation each morning in the shower when I run through my mental list of to-dos and story ideas, except I found myself less frantic and more collected. I was able to enjoy my first cup of coffee at home without excessively thinking about my day ahead because I had already run through my mental notes. I didn't expect five minutes to make any difference, but I was pleasantly surprised to experience its subtle benefits. Though it didn't change my life or anything, it definitely helped me jump-start my day on a positive note and got my wheels turning sooner than usual. Close your eyes and try it for yourself!

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Silicon Valley is Mike Judge and Alec Bergs biting comedy about the American tech industry, now in its fourth season. Every week, well be taking one idea, scene, or joke and explain how it ties to the real Silicon Valley and speaks to an issue at the heart of the industry and its ever-lasting goal to change the world and make boatloads of money in the process.

Spoilers ahead for the fourth episode of season 4, Teambuilding Exercise.

In the fictional tech industry of HBOs Silicon Valley, the soul-crushing mundanity of grunt work is often treated as a punchline. Like many sitcoms about careerism and the slog of American professional life, its considered an insult to have to do boring, seemingly meaningless tasks just because some higher power demands it. But on last nights episode, Silicon Valley highlighted a rather pernicious aspect of the tech industry thats currently serving as the foundation of modern artificial intelligence, shining a spotlight on a type of human labor often overlooked when we discuss the marvels of automation.

In Teambuilding Excercise, we have Erlich scrambling to transform his Shazam for food idea into a workable app, in order to keep the venture capital money flowing. He has Jian-Yang cook up a working prototype of SeeFood, as its so appropriately called, but the test app is capable only of identifying whether a certain food is or is not a hot dog. As is the case with most Silicon Valley gags, theres an elaborate dick joke here. (In a clever twist, HBO commissioned a developer to turn the prototype into a real mobile app you can download right now, if you live in the US.)

AI relies on humans making sense of data

Running out of time and in need of some massive data crunching to expand SeeFood beyond hot dogs, Erlich convinces newly minted Stanford guest lecturer Big Head to let him assign an introductory computer science class with the task of categorizing pictures of food off the internet. It ultimately backfires on Erlich, as the students decide to launch a SeeFood rival of their own. But the task he assigned the class is a very real and illustrative type of tech industry labor, not unlike the work of the Mumbai clickfarm Jared employed last season to boost Pied Pipers user metrics.

Because many modern AI advancements are thanks to neural networks, and because those networks must be trained with countless examples so they improve over time, companies often need human beings to help the software make sense of the data. Thats especially true of computer vision, where computers are digesting images as a series of 1s and 0s and must be trained to understand what its actually looking at. But its also quite common in the realm of chatbots, where text exchanges are reviewed after the fact and then cataloged based on how well the software answered a question or performed a task.

You could call the workers that perform these tasks AI trainers or data annotators, but those roles tend to inflate the importance of the work and downplay its grueling nature. Ultimately, what it comes down to is human beings stepping in when a chatbot or AI program needs assistance, or tirelessly reviewing an algorithms decision-making and cataloging its mistakes to ensure it improves over time. Think of it like a specific extension of Amazons Mechanical Turk marketplace, where human beings are regularly tasked with performing feats computers are not yet capable of doing for tiny fees.

A number of AI startups have popped up over the last few years, as the field has become one of the most sought-after technologies in the industry. Nearly every single one relies on human labor, often secured through short-term contract agreements, to make the reality of the service or software match both the lofty expectations of its creator and the confused expectations of users.

Startups like Magic rely on cheap labor from the Philippines

Take, for example, the startup Magic, which debuted in 2015 as an on-demand concierge service that let you make virtually any request via SMS, so long as its legal. Magic launched its service, which once cost $100 per hour and now costs $35, by employing scores of contractors in the Philippines, where human labor is far cheaper than in the US. The companys long-term goal is to build AI that can automate away some of the more rote behaviors and routine demands, while humans would increasingly be used only for tasks the software could never perform on its own, like calling Amazon customer service. Yet for now that means having a team of around 150 people, dubbed magicians, who are essentially treated like virtual robot butlers by a clientele of mostly wealthy Bay Area types.

Other startups arent quite as dependent on human labor just to operate, but rely on it nonetheless to make sure the data coming in is instructive. X.ai, which developed an email assistant that helps schedule and manage appointment in your inbox, uses human trainers to review and correct exchanges the bot has with strangers. That way, it sounds less robotic and more natural over time.

Facebook also engages in this blend of software and human input with its M bot. Launched in beta in fall 2015, M acted like a fully automated personal assistant, but it requires a team of human contractors down in Menlo Park to take control of the bot when, say, someone asks it to call Amazon customer service. Because this model is near impossible to scale to Facebooks gargantuan user base, M wont likely exit its experimental testing stage anytime soon. Instead, the company has taken the learnings from M and turned them into features for the broader Messenger user base, starting with suggestions for M to perform tasks calling an Uber for you or picking out a sticker to reply with.

While Teambuilding Exercise paints Erlichs request as the whims of a ludicrous con man, categorizing images of food on the internet not so different than annotating an email exchange or observing a stranger conversing with a Facebook chatbot about ordering a burrito. The work is arduous, boring, and in the case of content moderators who scan social networks for violent or disturbing content sometimes psychologically torturing. In the real Silicon Valley, you dont have to make college students do all this dirty work for school credit. You just need to hire someone as a contractor, with few strings attached, and task them with making the AI of the future smarter and better. Hopefully one day, our phones just might be capable of recognizing more than hot dogs.

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HBO's Silicon Valley addresses the dark underbelly of artificial intelligence - The Verge

When you are deciding in favour of post bariatric surgery, it is evident that you are frustrated with the excessive fat that has been barring you from doing day to day jobs properly.

You are fed up of the loose skin that make your skin surface uneven and you have not been able to get rid of it with the yoga and the other excercises that you were prescribed. This surgery can be quite effective in these cases, and you will know why. Read on.

How We Burn Fat

We know that we cannot possibly create or destroy matter but we can choose to change their forms that suits us so that we can remove the excess fat and convert them in some kind of energy. We know that the food that we intake is converted to glucose which is then utilized by our body. But often the starch remain stored in our body in forms that cannot be broken down into glucose and the signals from the brain cannot send signals to have them broken down to be sent to various parts of our body so that we can utilize it. This surgery does this work, and helps in burning down the fat from places on which yoga or excercise cannot work effectively. If you have taken a decision in favour of this surgery, congratulate yourself. Though it will cause a bit of pain, it will give you a healthy lifestyle that is priceless.

Why the Extra Skin?

As we have discussed earlier, the problem is regarding the skin that hangs loose from the surface, thus giving it an uneven look and making us feel uncomfortable. Extra skin can be attributed to different stages of a persons life, ranging from puberty to pregnancy. The collagen fibres of our body stretches, and they have a limit upto which they can strtch. Sometimes they overstretch, which gives rise to stretch marks and is quite ungainly to the sight. These can cause other problems too, such as back pain, and so, getting rid of this extra skin is more important than it seems at first.

Post-Bariatric Surgery and Treatment Options

Age is an important factor that decides how much loose skin one might have after the surgery is done. The younger the person is, the less loose skin he will have. Also, the more weight the patient loses, the more loose skin he will have, naturally. For example, someone who will lose 200lbs would have more loose skin than a person who will lose 80lbs. So, keeping this in mind, you should decide positively for the surgery, and thus you must prepare yourself mentally for it. For people who are planning to lose more than 80lbs, you should know that you are actually going to get rid of those extra pockets of fat that had been troubling you, and this surgery would help you a lot, if you can bear with the pain for a while.

Exercise:

This is very important, post surgery. Walking and excercise is very important, and you must carry these out, even if you have to skip on some occasions, but make it a regular habit. This movement of the body will make your body adjust to the new structure of the body, which is very important.

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Post bariatric surgery: feasability of the process | MilTech - MilTech

The annual spectacle of the Eurovision Song Contest brings a much-needed shot of absurdity-tinged sincerity to pop. Each year, countries from all over Europeas well as more far-flung territories like Israel and, as of 2015, Australiasend songs that they feel represent their countrys pop zeitgeist to go head-to-head against each other, putting themselves at the mercy of home viewers and expert juries.

On Saturday, the 61st running of Eurovisionwhich spans months of local decision-making, regional competitions, and lots of pop hits and missescame to a close in Kyiv, Ukraine. At the end of the nearly four-hour, 26-entrant pageant, the winner was a simple song, simply sung. Portugals Salvador Sobral emerged victorious with Amar Pelos Dois, a sleepy, string-assisted ballad about finding lost love that was written by his siser, Luisa. (Luisa and Salvador sang the song as a duet for the show-closing victory-lap performance, which at least added a smidge of tension to the occasion.)

For Eurovision, which so often blends national traditions with a theatricalspirit, Portugals victory represented a shift of sorts. Sobrals impassioned railing against disposable music during his surprised acceptance speech was a bit bizarregiven Eurovisions long historyof foisting incredible songsand ones that are far lessself-serious thanSobrals balladon the pop consciousness.French louche Serge Gainsbourg penned France Galls y-y delight Poupe de cire, poupe de son, which won the competition in 1965 for Luxembourg. Swedish pop titans ABBA made their global breakthrough with the love-as-war confection Waterloo, which conquered the competition in 1974. Finnish pomp-metal revivalists Lordis 2006 entry Hard Rock Hallelujah brought together pop craftsmanship, metallic pizzazz, and hulking costumes. Loreens skyscraper-vaulting Euphoria, the 2012 winner for Sweden, reaches EDM-pop heights that the likes of David Guetta and Zedd are still trying to match years later; ditto Norwegian Margaret Bergers goth-tinged I Feed You My Love, which lost that year to Danish singer Emmilie De Forests not-bad Only Teardrops.

Saturdays competition had its own pop high points, too. Francesco Gabannis entry for Italy, Occidentalis Karma, was a slight piece of electropop elevated by its staging as an actual, and gorilla-inclusive, aerobics class; Robin Bengtssons Max Martin manqu I Cant Go On, the entry from (obviously) Sweden, was marred by an unfortunate use of freakin' in its chorus, but was goofily performedwith treadmills; the home team entrant O. Torvald offered an alternate-universe fate for Linkin Park on Time; Armenia fused modern dance with goth on its entry, Artsviks Fly With Me; and Hungarys Joci Ppai, on Origo, threw down a Roma rap. A couple of songs hewed a bit too closely to current pop trendsGermanys entrant was so reminiscent of Sias EDM-leaning work that it could have been called Titanium (Alloy), while Spains entry, Manel Navarros Do It For Your Lover, came off like an unholy union between Ed Sheerans aw-shucksiness and Sugar Rays island breeziness.

Funnily enough, the nights best song straight-up was a ballad that was stripped down in the manner of its winner; City Lights, the simmering Belgian entry, showed off the steel-in-velvet voice of its singer Blanche, with her visible nerves adding an extra shot of tension to the proceedings.

Eurovisions initial mission involved literally uniting Europe with the power of songit was established in 1956 as a way to bring the continents countries together in the wake of World War II. But as with any high-stakes multinational competition subject to human prejudice, politics of varying degrees of seriousness did popup here and there. Russias entrant, Julia Samoylova, was banned from traveling to Kyiv by Ukranian officials after they learned shed performed in the onetime Ukranian, now-Russian-annexed territory of Crimea. Last years winner Jamalas performance of the storming 1944which was largely viewed as an implicit protest of Russias moves in Crimea, as its lyrics focus on her ancestors being deported by then-Soviet Union ruler Joseph Stalin during World War IIwas interrupted by an Australian flag-wearing invader who briefly showed his rear end to the audience. (He, it turned out, was not Australian, but Ukranian serial disruptor Vitalii Sediuk, who made headlinesin 2014 for scuffling with Brad Pitt.) Sobral, meanwhile, sported a pro-refugee shirt at a press conference following the first semifinal earlier this year, earning a rebuke from the European Broadcasting Union, which puts on Eurovision.

The British paper the Telegraph broke down the political nature of the voting, which is split between jury votes and viewer phone-ins, and which has its own persistent wrinkles despite receiving a serious makeover in 2016. Greece and Cyprus have a mutual back-scratching relationship that continued this year, with each country once again giving the other their highest 21 points; Meanwhile, the Irish Timess recap of who Ireland gave its points to had the subhead the UK wont be happy. (British critic Tom Ewing gave a very convincing presentation on the competitions relationship to the United Kingdoms decision to leave the European Union last month.)

Its tempting to view Sobrals commanding win as a statement in favor of something like niceness, or at least a soothing-sounding song backed by a feel-good story in a time of increasingly apparent global tumult; other Eurovision watchers in my circle blamed its victory on the hokiness espoused by recent authenticity poseslike La La Land. Either way, his victory means that Eurovision heads to Portugal for its 2018 final, which will no doubt combine soaring hooks, winks to local customs, and the occasional moment that reminds the viewers at home and in the arena why music was once deemed a worthy vehicle for repairing international wounds.

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Butts, Gorilla Aerobics, and a Boring Winner: Everything That Happened At the Wonderfully Absurd Eurovision Song ... - SPIN

In our society now, lack of sleep is almost like a badge of honor. If you sleep more than five hours youll get bed sores! Youll get all the sleep you need when your dead. Sleep is for the weak. You can find statements like these all over social media.

The idea is to push high-achievers on to work harder for better results. I just had the chance to spend some time with a buddy who was a Navy Seal with Seal Team 6 for eleven years. At certain times he would average 4 hours of sleep a WEEK (not a day but a week). The need to push, drive and deprive was necessary. We often think in the business world and in our hectic times of today we need to do the same thing. But what if that thought process is exactly backwards? What if our willingness to think were a navy seal and push ourselves to our limits is actually sabotaging our success?

The Problem with lack of sleep

I have known for years for years how important sleep is. I know it, but Im bad at following my own advice, and putting into action the knowledge that I have. After meeting with my buddy, Jeff Nichols, with SEAL Team 6, he reminded me how important sleep is, and also gave me steps how to get into the groove of getting into a sleep pattern.

Jeff showed how we can make sleep into something we can train and condition. Like Pavlovs Dog (they would hear a bell and start salivating) we can set up classical conditioning. Classical conditioning is a reflexive or automatic type of learning in which a stimulus acquires the ability to evoke a response that was originally evoked by another stimulus. Our goal is to develop patterns or set activities that bring on the response of sleep.

Whats true for Navy SEALS isnt always true for all highly motivated people, Jeff says. Folks may think its smart to skimp on sleep but in reality, most of the people who are buying into that are not successful theyre not even close to successful. While a few anomalies might pull it off (which are the seal group), most of eventually fizzle out.

And unfortunately these stubborn folks that miss sleep often create massive problems in their metabolism, in their endocrine system. They just really hurt themselves physically while theyre chasing another dream.

4 Ways to Rock Yourself to Sleep

Nicholas has nothing against success. Far from it. He just knows from painful personal experience and from helping others how important good sleep is to getting good results in our lives.

When we face time crunches, sleep is often the first thing to get cut. It may seem efficient and even smart at the time, but its not. In reality, you getting that optimal sleep is going to enable you to wake up and do the job to the best of your ability, Nicolas says. As a navy seal, a lot of our missions were at night, so we needed to be able to adjust and get our sleep during the day. We needed to develop systems and conditioned responses to find ways to get to sleep and get a good sleep. Here are some ideas on how he did it.

1. Put away the Gadgets and Turn Off the Electric Devices

The best sleep is low-tech with the sounds and lights and electricity of apps and devices well away. Nichols says REMOVE the devices from your sleep area. Some experts say turn it all off phones, TV, computers, etc. Jeffs advice is, dont even have it in the room. When I told him I use my phone for my alarm clock, his response, Go buy a clock for less than $10.00.

Right now thats not happening. Too many people todayand especially younger peopleare sleeping with their cell phones, have their computer in their bed for the night, have a TV in their bedroom and have other devices literally next to their head on their pillows.

In some situations, where having a device is needed, as with parents who have kids, business leaders or folks with jobs that might be on-call, they can actually use technology to help them tune things out: many devices allow us to shut down all notices and to screen out all calls except from close friends and family, select business numbers, or vital contacts so they can reach us in the event of a genuine emergency.

Nicolas suggests turning off all devices at least 30 minutes before bed.

2. Get Your Routine In Place to Get Ready for Bed

Notice how things that we do well, do often and do with success usually have a plan or routine. You do a workout and have a plan and routine to follow its a better workout. You have a routine of what youll do at work to be more efficient and knock out a ton of work. Many of us have a routine for our kids in the evening to help get them to bed, do you have one for you?

Just like Pavlovs dog, we spoke of earlier, we want to set up a routine that puts us into sleep mode. That might be reading a book. Smelling a certain aroma; Nichols says he smells lavender because it reminds him of his daughters and puts him into a restful state. Just remember to make what you choose something that will relax you and reduce stress. Doing a high level workout might not be the best activity 30 minutes before bed. But whatever it is, do it every time before you are planning to sleep, in the same order, at about the same time; 30 minutes before bed relax in recliner and review next days schedule; 20 minutes before bed put on relaxing music, check electrical devices and turn off for the night; 10 minutes before bed do sleep prep; bathroom, wash face, brush teeth, etc.; Last few minutes before bed aroma therapy and breathing work; SLEEP

Following set routine will build that conditioned response.

3. Make the Room Dark

This one was vital for Nicholas and his team, also for folks that are working at night and planning to sleep during the day. It is important for you too make your room a dark zone. Black Out Curtains are easy to find. These help keep outside lights from interrupting sleep patterns. By implementing Step 1, moving all electronic gadgets helps to remove all types of lights out of the room.

4. Use Your Bed for Sleep

Many people use the bed and bedroom for more than sleep (and well say couple time!). Dont! Your bed isnt a place to read. Its not to make out your to do list or write a letter. You already know its not a place to play one more video game or finish up that project on your computer. No last minute evening phone calls and no late night texting or checking emails from any of your devices. Do your routine, get into bed and sleep. All those other things should be taken care of before you go into your bedroom. Your bedroom or sleep room is just for that go to bed and sleep!

By improving your sleep routine youll see huge improvement in your success level.

Mark Coach Rozy Roozen, M.Ed, CSCS,*D, NSCA-CPT, TSAC-F, FNSCA is owner/director of Coach Rozy Performance Powered by AVERA Sports Yankton. He can be reached at rozyroozen@gmail.com or by going to his website at coachrozy.com.

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Improve Sleep To Improve Performance - Yankton Daily Press

Emmelie was excited to be in Kyiv and at Eurovision again. "Im very excited but Im also calm, as a songwriter youre more in the background, its more relaxing than four years ago when I was on the stage."

The Eurovision Song Contest changed Emmelies life. "Back then I was nineteen or twenty, I had just finished school and moved to Copenhagen to study singing but I was not in the music business at that point. After I won Eurovision everything changed. Im still making a living out of music because of that."

The Danish artist explained that alongside singing she has also started writing. "After the 2013 contest I started to get into songwriting. Last year I wrote a song for Anja, who represented Denmark this year. She came second in the national selection in Denmark in 2016, she almost won, so it's really been an adventure."

Emmelie explained that songwriting is her main focus for now but performing also remains important. "Ive been writing a lot of songs over the last four years, more than 80 in fact. Ill also record some new songs later this summer."

Not only has Emmelie won Eurovision for Denmark, Never Give Up On You provided the United Kingdom with its best placing in the Eurovision Song Contest for more than five years.

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Emmelie de Forest is never giving up on music - Eurovision.tv

Jeneal Merriman found herself walking through the Student Experience Center Plaza in the pursuit for a quick bite to eat, but ended up finding stress relief in the moon sand and playdough in the plaza.

She stated that she often has immense levels of stress around finals week, and often finds resources such as these beneficial. She was particularly keen on the massage opportunities offered on campus, as well as the relaxing music.

We saw the sand, and it looked fun to play with, and stress-relieving, said Merriman.

Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) partnered with Dixon Recreational Sports Center, OSU Program Councils Java Acoustic program and other services on campus to combat midterm stress through a variety of stress-relieving mediums.

This unity developed into an event in the Student Experience Center Plaza on Wednesday, May 10 from noon to 3 p.m. titled Unwind in the Plaza.Here, students were welcomed to an array of refreshments, an assortment of crafting opportunities, meditation, massages and even therapy dogsall activities which are aimed to help alleviate the stress of students after their midterms, and help encourage students to relax.

Unwind in the Plaza branched off one of CAPS workshops titled Destress Recess. Destress Recess is where organizations, or classes in general, may come and request a workshop where they can do similar activities as were seen at Unwind in the Plaza. These could be do-it-yourself activities, such as arts and crafts.

We have had many people have positive outcomes, said Sean Borne, the student outreach assistant for CAPS regarding these activities.

Borne says that as a student who experiences the stresses of midterms and finals himself, it makes him feel better to see the students engaging in the event. The event has historically been popular, and overall positive in previous years. This success may be attributed to the inclusivity and collaboration of the different organizations on campus.

The event is specifically planned during week six of the term, because it is anticipated that most students will have had at least one midterm by that time. The strategic placing is intended to help realign students and help them focus, with the end goal being getting students mentally prepared for finishing the term.

That building stress of seeing the end of the term kind of affects people in different ways, Borne said.

Borne truly believes in the need for stress management and relief, which is why he feels so strongly about the event.

It's just kind of a good outdoor spring event, for people to just come and relax, said Borne.

If students are looking for more opportunities in terms of stress relief, they may check out any of the many opportunities offered through CAPS on campus.

See original here:

Unwind in the Plaza attracts students - The Daily Barometer

SONGS From the Latin Skies is Katie Noonan and Karin Schaupp's latest album.

The release sees the artists together on stage, as if they were in a beach in Bahia, Brazil, or in a field in Ecuador, doing a bit of 'Latin chillin'.

Once the parties are over and the mood quiets down, Latin music can be moody, romantic, relaxing and sexy, and it's that feeling that Noonan and Schaupp have captured in the release.

Ahead of their Bangalow show, Noonan said the show will be a very intimate show.

"It's a very intimate musical world that Karin and I make, and it brings it back to the simplicity of the voice and the guitar," she said.

"The guitar has been at the centre of the music of Latin America for centuries, so it felt like a logical place for us to go.

"It is Latin music but in a very intimate way, so it is just voice and the guitar, and a selection of songs spanning centuries from Venezuela, Spain, Brazil, and even an ancient Peruvian folk song that has been re-imagined into a new piece, so it is quite an interesting journey," she said.

Noonan said the music is ultimately defined by the rhythm.

"When you think of Latin music you think of rhythm, you think of dancing."

With so many countries to chose from, thousands of composers, millions of songs, Noonan said finding the songs was a daunting process.

"We had a very long short list (laughs) and were spoilt for choice, but we rally wanted to explore folk, jazz, classical and contemporary, though the filter of the geography of Latin America," she explained.

"The simple answer is that we had to love the songs, and the had to be something in the story, in the lyrics, that I was able to relate to.

"Most of the time I sing my own music and that's easier, but with this project I've gotta find something in there that relates to my life."

Link:

Enjoy a true Latin chill in Bangalow - Northern Star

The greenhouse on Richard and Sharon Hastings property in rural East Texas looks like a typical greenhouse any gardening enthusiast might own.

But a closer look reveals the channels of water where red and green butter lettuce plants are floating on foam pads. This is not a typical greenhouse after all.

The Hastings endured the hustle and bustle of Austin for over 28 years. They raised their children while working in the tech industry. They survived the big city traffic and hour-long commutes to work.

Now theyre managing partners in their own business, East Texas Aquaponics.

We were looking for the next phase of our lives, Mrs. Hasting said. We are passionate about food and food quality. We are part of that community and wanted to find a way to make it into a business.

The Hastings greenhouse boasts a deep-water culture system where Tilapia and channel catfish make their home in 2,000 gallon water tanks. A pump system moves the water through a filtration system. That water goes into the channels, where lettuce plants are floating on foam rafts on the surface of the water. The plant roots hang into the water and absorb the nutrients that the fish put into the water.

This form of farming uses one-tenth of the water to grow good, clean food, Hasting said. Tons and tons of water resources are used to grow vegetables to make a salad. We have the opportunity to reduce that and to reduce the transportation costs.

The water shortage crises that can occur throughout Texas make this type of farming ideal in areas where drought and people lack access to water.

We wanted to help support food shortages in underserved areas, Mrs. Hasting said. Trying to get processed food out and something green and healthy in is important to us.

It takes butter lettuce six weeks to mature in the winter months and four weeks during the summer. This makes it an ideal crop for aquaponics.

Food that is organically grown, using reduced amounts of water, fertilizers and pesticides is a trend that many people support and the type of food many people want on their tables.

Weve partnered with Mudhen Meat and Greens in Dallas, Mrs. Hastings said. Its a farm to table restaurant in Dallas. We also sell at farmers markets in Winnsboro, Mineola, Dallas and Rockwall.

Hastings is working to expand their farming operation beyond lettuce and herbs. Next year, they hope to be growing tomatoes and fruit bushes and trees.

When Hasting lifts the granite rock gravel in one of his beds, he exposes the worms. He said the book Worms Eat my Garbage turned him into a sort of eco hippie type.

I bought a pound of the worms to get started, Hasting said. Worms eat 30 percent of their body weight each day.

Hasting uses the worms in the granite gravel bed and the bed of expanded clay pellets where strawberries and fig trees are starting to grow.

The worms feed on the decayed roots of the plants. Theyre a tool to ward off plant disease and manage insects.

This keeps the tanks clean, Hasting said. Selling the worms can be another source of income.

East Texas Aquaponics is partnering with Genuine Provisions to sell and promote their products. They hope to establish a partnership with the East Texas Food Bank to have their food distributed to hunger relief programs in East Texas.

This gets our product to another demographic that wouldnt have access to this type of food, Mrs. Hasting said. Were also interested in educating the community and helping them learn to grow their own food in this way, with minimal investment.

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East Texas Aquaponics grows organic produce using non-traditional growing practices - Tyler Morning Telegraph

As a meditation teacher, Im frequently asked which type of meditation is the best or the most effective. People also want to know if meditation is possible without a religious connection or belief in God. Then there are questions as to whether busy type A personalities can slow down enough to meditate.

In order to be successful, meditation needs to be simple, comfortable, and have results that make you want to keep showing up every day. As far as the details go, whatever works for you is the right approach, and you have plenty of varieties to choose from. The key is making time every day to sit, breathe, and connect with the self.

Primordial Sound Meditation (PSM) is a silent practice that uses a mantra. The mantra you receive is the vibrational sound the universe was creating at the time and place of your birth. Its calculated following Vedic mathematic formulas and is very personal and specific to you.

Repeating your personal mantra silently helps you to enter deeper levels of awareness by taking you away from the intellectual side of the brain. The focus is on comfort, and PSM is generally practiced sitting down. Dr. Deepak Chopra and Dr. David Simon founded this method.This is the method of meditation taught at the Chopra Center and by Chopra Center certified instructors all over the world.

Famous Practitioners: Deepak Chopra and Lady Gaga

Started by Jon Kabat-Zinn in 1979 and now offered in over 200 medical centers, hospitals, and clinics around the world, Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) classes are often taught by physicians, nurses, social workers, and psychologists, as well as other health professionals, to create a partnership in care between the patient and the medical team.

This technique uses both breath awareness and body scan. Breath awareness is as simple as it soundsyou focus your attention on the inhalation and exhalation. Body scan is a process of focused attention on the physical body starting at the toes and working your way up with heightened awareness and the potential for release or relaxation of tension. The practitioner may be seated, laying down, or walking depending on the focus of practice.

Famous Practitioner: Jon Kabat-Zinn

Zen is also referred to as Zazen, which literally means seated meditation. It comes from Buddhism, which is more of a philosophy than a religion. You acquire insight through observing the breath and the mind, and through interaction with a teacher.

Zen emphasizes the attainment of enlightenment and the personal expression of insight in the Buddhist teachings. These Sutras (scriptures or teachings) and doctrine are taught through interaction with an accomplished teacher. Sometimes chanting is involved.

Famous Practitioners: Dalai Lama and Richard Gere

Founded by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Transcendental Meditation (TM), made popular by famous followers like the Beatles, uses a mantra or series of Sanskrit words to help the practitioner focus during meditation in lieu of just following breath.

The mantra given to the student will vary according to a number of different factors, including the year in which the student was born and in some cases their gender. The year in which the teacher was trained will also affect the mantra provided. The teacher will have been given a list of mantras to use and this list varies depending on which year they received their instruction. TM is a seated meditation.

Famous Practitioners: Katy Perry and Russell Brand

Meditation in the Kundalini Yoga tradition contains specific, practical tools that carefully and precisely support the mind, and guide the body through the use of breath, mantra, mudra (hand position), and focus. The range and variety of meditation techniques in the Kundalini Yoga tradition is very large.

Yogi Bhajan, the founder, passed on hundreds of meditations tailored to specific applications. There are meditations that reduce stress, work on addictions, increase vitality, and clear chakras, to name a few. Since these meditations are so specified, working with a teacher is a large part of this tradition.

Famous Practitioners: Sting and Jennifer Aniston

Research shows that spending time in mindful meditation of any type can combat anxiety, stress, and depression while heightening optimism, creativity, and vitality. Pick the style that resonates with you and give it a try. If you want some help to get started, try the free program for beginners, the 21-Day Meditation Experience.

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5 Types of Meditation Decoded | The Chopra Center