Tibetan Buddhist Pema Chdrn once said, If it werent for my mind, my meditation would be excellent. Im not a Buddhist, nor an ordained nun like Chdrn, but I completely get what shes saying. My mind always goes to food when I meditatemore specifically, cheeseburgers. My brain also travels to my to-do list, whatever show Im bingeing on Netflix , or current stressors. Which is exactly why I need meditation , but also why I can never seem to stick with it.

Merriam-Webster defines meditation as the simple act of engaging in a mental exercise for the purpose of reaching a heightened level of spiritual awareness. And loads of studies show that its basically a miracle nondrug for the brain.

Like many couples, my husband and I wade through lifes distractions, like a constant stream of text messages or the need for quick answers on an iPhone. If daily meditation can help keep us in the present, it's kind of like a free form of counseling for a better relationship, right? We decided to give it a try for a month. Heres what we learned.

Joey Klein, the author of The Inner Matrix: A Guide to Transforming Your Life and Awakening Your Spirit , tells SELF, Any place or position is OK for meditation because you are engaging in an internal process; you can do that in a city, in the woods, lying down, or sitting up, and you can even engage certain internal processes while you are walking or working out."

My husband and I both pictured meditation as sitting still in a cross-legged position, so we appreciated the myriad options for zoning out. Walking meditation is quite pleasant but difficult to do as a couple with the temptation to talk. Hiking meditation is pretty awesome (it's so much easier to keep quiet and be in the moment when you're surrounded by nature), but the best was in-flight meditation, which instantly quelled airport anxiety .

We did most of our meditating in the evening, sitting in bed. But unlike walking or sitting in lotus position, engaging in this casual style of meditation promptly led us both into deep sleep before our timer went off. Klein says that this is common for the newbie meditator and instead recommends sitting comfortably in a chair with your back straight, or on the floor with your back relaxed. But even when we fell asleep, it felt like a success.

Unlike my daily exercise routine of running or yoga , its hard to remember to meditate, and we completely forgot a few times. Klein says consistency is important when it comes to seeing the benefits of meditation and that skipping days will reduce the efficacy. Think of meditation as lifting weights for the mind and the brain," he suggests. "Just like you want to work out each day and not miss your workoutits the same idea. We started setting a daily meditation reminder, and by the end of our month, it was rarely needed.

Does it feel like humans get annoyed way too often? It feels like I spent too much of my life being annoyed about things that dont actually deserve the frustration (like big groups blocking the sidewalk, people wearing sunglasses indoors, or someone showing me a video on their iPhone). Surprisingly, meditation helps. I noticed this while nonchalantly dropping my husbands dirty clothes into the laundry bag that sits 1 inch from where he leaves the pile.

And my husband feels that his road rage is improving. A recent paper publishedin Current Directions in Psychological Science confirms that meditation can do this. Researcher Rimma Teper and her colleagues at the University of Toronto write that, despite the common misconception that meditation empties our head of emotions, mindfulness actually helps us become more aware and accepting of emotional signalswhich helps us to control our behavior.

Theres zero equipment required for meditation, but my husband and I both discovered that its easier to focus when youve applied Chapstick to your lips, moved hair out of your face, and are not hungry . I once meditated hungry on the sofa in front of leftovers, and the smell of onions was incredibly distracting.

We downloaded the Inscape app , created by Khajak Keledjian, the owner of New York Citys newest luxury meditation center of the same name. The handy subscription-based app is loaded with guided meditations for those who cant visit the swanky studio in person. While my husband found the apps voice to be distracting, I enjoyed the soothing tone and appreciated the guidance. Its here that I learned to count while breathing, which helped to alleviate thoughts of cheeseburgers.

Klein says that a great universal practice for beginner or advanced meditators alike is to concentrate on the breath. "Begin by sitting down, closing your eyes, and relaxing the body from your head to your toes," he instructs. "Next, place your focus on the breath and inhale through the nose for four seconds. Pause gently at the top of the inhale. Exhale through the nose for four seconds. Pause gently at the bottom of the exhale.If your mind becomes distracted, gently bring the focus back to the breath.Then repeat this breath pattern for 20 minutes.

Klein says, One of the most important aspects of a healthy and vibrant relationship is how couples connect with each other. Its so easy in our fast-paced modern society to forget to take the time to connect with each other in an intimate and focused way. That's why he recommends meditating as a couple. Meditation helps to create a deep and profound connection with ourselves and access experiences like joy, peace, love, and compassion. If we connect with each other in that space, it helps to bring those qualities into our relationship.

After a month of daily meditation, that advice completely rings true. For us, it felt great to engage in something nondigital together each day that was good for our minds and souls. And while we didnt speak, we soaked up the relaxing and positive vibes at the end of each day and let it really set the tone for our interactions. Daily meditation is definitely something well continue as a couple.

You Might Also Like: 3 Quick Tips for Meditating on the Road

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My Husband and I Meditated Daily for a Month and It Felt Like Free Couples Therapy - SELF

FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP, NJ - Do you have questions about Buddhism or wanted to learn how to meditate? If so, the New Jersey Buddhist Vihara and Meditation Center may have answers for you.

"The basic philosophy of Buddhism is to do good, not evil, and improve your mind," center member Ravi Karunaratnesaid.

The New Jersey Buddhist Vihara and Meditation Center was established in 2003and is located in Franklin Township minutes away from Princeton and a 45-minute bus ride from New York City.

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In Sep. 2009 the Samadhi Buddha statue was built, on the 10-acre property of the Meditation Center. According to theirwebsite, it is the largest outdoor Buddha statue in the western hemisphere. The Buddha is 30 feet tall, sits on a pink lotus and is made of steel and concrete.

Since the unveiling of the statue, the center has been considered a New Jersey landmark attracting a steady stream of visitors throughout the year. It can be seen from Route 27 by people driving by, especially on a moonlit night due to the luminous glow of the statue.

"Our members come from all over - New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Deleware and New York, we have about 600 families," center member Dr. Wije Kottahachchisaid.

According to their website, "the New Jersey Buddhist Vihara is dedicated to serving Buddhists, as well as non-Buddhists in the United States, essentially for religious, cultural and social purposes."

Many practicing Buddhist believe peace can only be found through love, compassion, tolerance, co-existence and non-violence. At the NewJerseyBuddhist Vihara and Meditation Center visitors can learn practical methods to deal with the everyday stresses of life through various programs offered at the center.

Visitors can meditate in front of the Samadhi Buddha statue every day from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. There is also a scenic redwood tree-lined meditation trail, one can walk to help cleanse their mind, and along the trail, they will see quotes to help with meditation.

On Friday nights between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. are evenings of meditation with the resident monksand after meditation one can take part in discussions on the Buddhist doctrine. There is also a Dhamma school for children to help give them a foundation to assist with the development of rational thoughts, along with positive attitudes.

At the center, you can learn different forms of meditation - Metta Meditation, Anapansati Meditation, and Buddhanussati Meditation.

The New Jersey Buddhist Vihara and Meditation Center provides descriptions of each form of meditation, below is a brief snapshot:

Metta Meditation:"Metta meditation is a good way to calm down a distraught mind and some consider it to be an antidote to anger."

Anapanasati Meditation:" The practice ofanapanasatiis a tool to free oneself from suffering generated by uncontrolled thoughts."

Buddhanussati Meditation:"In thismeditation,we direct the mind to the qualities of Lord Buddha as the object of meditation."

The New Jersey Buddhist Vihara and Meditation Center is in the midst of an expansion project that will include an 11,000 square foot building that would house a library, meditation hall, residence for the clergy, and areas for community gatherings. The meditation trails through the woods will also be expanded and meditation gardens will be built.

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Derby Mayor Anita Dugatto administers the oath of office to Adam Pacheco as a new Housing Authority commissioner on Jan. 4, 2017

Derby Mayor Anita Dugatto administers the oath of office to Adam Pacheco as a new Housing Authority commissioner on Jan. 4, 2017

HUD clears the way for Pacheco to serve on Derby Housing Authority

DERBY-The ;U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development cleared the way for Adam Pacheco, a city landlord, to serve on the Housing Authority despite having a tenant who receives Section 8 subsidies.

Pachecos January appointment came on the heels of Mayor Anita Dugattos decision not to re-appoint Joseph Romano to the Housing Authority. Romano is the father of J.R. Romano, the state Republican Party chairman.

Many city Republicans including J.R. Romano accused the mayor of playing politics. Both the elder Romano and Stan Muzyk, a Housing Authority member, pointed out that Pachecos appointment could be in violation of HUD regulations.

Pacheco owns a four-family home at 91-93 Caroline Street which he resides in. One of his tenants, who resided there prior to Pacheco purchasing the property, receives HUD subsidies.

As a result Dugatto contacted HUD and requested a waiver of the conflict of interest clause for Pacheco.

In a letter dated Feb. 8, 2017, Jennifer R. Gottlieb Elazhari, HUDs program center coordinator, wrote: Form the facts as stated, we find good cause to grant the waiver of the conflict of interest as the issue is isolated to one family and the Commissioner does not have extensive rental property in the town of Derby.

Furthermore, in the State of Connecticut landlords are required not to discriminate against Housing Choice Voucher participants and so any rental property owner can be faced with this situation, she continued. Although Mr. Pacheco is a DHA board commissioner, it does not appeart that in his role he would excercise functions or responsibilities with respect to the programs at DHA.

However, Elazhari warned Pacheco against becoming involved in other DHA issues relates to this tenant.

Muzyk said he is "happy to learn that Mr. Pacheco received the waiver necessary to be in conformance as a HUD landlord who receives HUD rental income as he is already a valuable contributor as commissioner at DHA.

However Muzyk believes Dugatto should have obtained the waiver before appointing Pacheco.

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HUD clears the way for Pacheco to serve on Derby Housing ... - Westport News

by Greg Klein | February 17, 2017

With potential customers waiting for rare earths concentrate samples, Commerce Resources TSXV:CCE closed a $1.71-million private placement on February 17 that included $1 million from Ressources Qubec. A subsidiary of the provincial government corporation Investissement Qubec, Ressources Qubec focuses on projects that have good return prospects and foster Qubecs economic development, the organization says. Its role is complementary to private funders.

We are excited to have the support of the Quebec government with this investment from Ressources Qubec. The province of Quebec continues to prove that it is one of the most attractive jurisdictions to develop a mineral project. Chris Grove, president of Commerce Resources

We are excited to have the support of the Quebec government with this investment from Ressources Qubec, Commerce president Chris Grove stated. The province of Quebec continues to prove that it is one of the most attractive jurisdictions to develop a mineral project. We are excited to be advancing our Ashram project with this financing.

The private placement will be used to complete the projects pilot plant, to produce samples of REE and fluorite concentrates, and for general working capital. Among companies requesting REE samples are Solvay, Mitsubishi, Treibacher, BASF, DKK, Albemarle and Blue Line.

The money comes in addition to a three-year, $300,000 environmental grant from the province to optimize tailings management.

Ashrams high-grade, near-surface deposit benefits from relatively simple metallurgy, suggesting a potentially low-cost operation with an impressive distribution of magnet feed elements. Now moving towards pre-feas, the project reached PEA in 2012.

Commerce also holds the Upper Fir tantalum-niobium deposit in southeastern British Columbia, which reached PEA in 2011 and a resource update in 2013.

Read more about Commerce Resources.

This article was posted by Greg Klein - Resource Clips on Friday, February 17th, 2017 at 3:12 pm.

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Province of Quebec invests in Commerce Resources' Ashram rare earths project - Resource Clips

Listening to Club Aerobics tracks and collaborations, sweaty dance party, comes to mind. Bianca Oblivion, DUCKY and Suspect Bitch make up the Clubs Aerobics team, and each brings her own flavor and spin to the groups dynamic. Bianca Oblivion recently chatted with us about her fellow female DJs and her collaboration with Akira Akira for the remix of Shiftees Go Premee.

Thanks to the graces of the internet, it seems that the music gods intended for these three creative minds to cross paths. No genres, no rules, no safe sh*t, no boring is Club Aerobics motto and while each carries her own pizzazz when they come together it all blends into a perfect high-energy mash ups. With two masters degrees, Bianca Oblivion has spent time living in the East and West coast (currently resides in Los Angeles) and has 10 years of DJing under her belt. She sprinkles some of her Hispanic roots and Jersey house into her tracks. DUCKY, a San-Fran bred and now LA-based producer and DJ, has been playing at clubs since she was 13 (via fake ID vibes). She quickly bubbled up in the LA and internet scenes with releases on OWSLAs sister labelNEST, Japanese tastemakersTrekkie Trax. Last but certainly not least is Suspect Bitch, LA-based producer. Drum and bass (D&B) opened up another world of music she hadnt quite yet explored. Not too long after attending a few D&B parties she decided she would learn how to DJ and naturally focus would shift to producing. Needless to say these three pretty much self-taught souls have racked up quite an impressive musical repertoire.

Tropical, grimey and hype are three words Bianca would use to describe her musical style. I love fast dancesYou can be jumping up and down sweating or like when youre dancing and that one beat hits, and youre just likefeeling it, said Bianca. Her description marries perfectly with one of her recent live DJ sets alongside Anna Lunoe during the Hyper House fall tour this past year. She [Anna Lunoe] started doing Hyper House live events in LA, and we would go and I met her in-person. She was really sweet and we all just got closer. Fastforward and Bianca joined the tours first stop at Santa Barbara.

For Bianca, DJing and dancing go hand in hand. For me whenever Im DJing, I visualize myself dancing and how I want to dance. For me, its so interconnected. Whenever I DJ, I see myself on the dance floor I try to put myself in that place, explains Bianca. What would I want to dance to? What are these people feeling? What do they want to dance to? How can I make those two things come together? Her recent remix of Shiftees Go Premee makes it virtually impossible to not have some part of your body moving with the beat.

Remembering the exact point in time of where she was and what she was doing when Shiftees e-mail extending a music opportunity found its way into her inbox. She recalls being surrounded by pumpkin this, pumpkin that. I was in a Trader Joes shopping and it was around Thanksgiving timethere was a lot of pumpkin spice everything. I was on my phone writing him back, giggled Bianca. She had wanted to work with Akira Akira for some time now and saw this as perfect timing to make that happen. Hes a really amazing producer. He can basically do anything, really fantastic upcoming producer and DJ. In the span of two weekends, Bianca and Akira cranked out the track. It kind of came together organically. We have similar tastes in what we play and what we like, said Bianca. With no further adieu, check out the energizing Go Premee remix below, and get ready to sweat:

For the full Q&A with Bianca Oblivion click the link below:

Mix 247 EDM: Youre part of a group called called Club Aerobics, can you tell us a little bit about the groups background? Mix 247 EDM: Whats the dynamic between Club Aerobics? Mix 247 EDM: Bianca Oblivion, guessing that isnt your full legal name, so where does that name come from? Mix 247 EDM: Before we dive into your work, I remember meeting you late last year and talking about how DJing isnt your first line of work. Can you share how you first started getting into this? And what life is when youre not mixing? Mix 247 EDM: TheGo Premee remix has been gaining a lot of attention, congrats! Both Martin Garrix and Mad Decent featured it in their Spotify playlists. How did this work come about? Mix 247 EDM: In three words, how would you describe (for someone who hasnt listened to you) your genre, what your tastes are what you gravitate toward [in terms of music]? Mix 247 EDM: Theres such a strong movement right now with women and supporting each other. When being identified in the music biz, does it bother or flatter you to be termed as a female DJ? Mix 247 EDM: Youve DJed with a DJ Ive been following for awhile, Anna Lunoehow was that like being part of a Hyper House night? Was it something her and her team reached out or what did that look like? Mix 247 EDM: Any projects in the pipeline?

Keep it right here for more edm news. Check out our online edm radio station for 247edm, house, dance, techno, Fashion and more.

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Behind the Beat: Bianca Oblivion from Club Aerobics Makes 'Em Sweat - Mix 247 EDM

"The Museum Workout" is a lively workout at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, staged amid some of the worlds masterpieces. (Feb. 17)

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Fine Art Meets Sweaty Aerobics | Video | hartfordcitynewstimes.com - Hartford City News Times

February 17, 2017 at 4:51 am | By PAUL SWIECH

In this Jan. 19, 2017 photo, Rebecca Perkins, right, brings her mother, Catherine Whitaker, into the sensory room in the Meadows Mennonite Retirement Community in Meadows, Ill. The room includes projected light effects, a musical water bed and a host of textured wall pieces and other features designed to help residents with Alzheimer's disease and other types of dementia hold onto reality. (David Proeber/The Pantagraph via AP)

In this Jan. 19, 2017 photo, Rebecca Perkins, left, shares a tactile ball with her mother, Catherine Whitaker, in the sensory room in the Meadows Mennonite Retirement Community in Meadows, Ill. The room includes projected light effects, a musical water bed and a host of textured wall pieces and other features designed to help residents with Alzheimer's disease and other types of dementia hold onto reality. (David Proeber/The Pantagraph via AP)

In this Jan. 19, 2017 photo, Rebecca Perkins, right, brings her mother, Catherine Whitaker, into the sensory room in the Meadows Mennonite Retirement Community in Meadows, Ill. The room includes projected light effects, a musical water bed and a host of textured wall pieces and other features designed to help residents with Alzheimer's disease and other types of dementia hold onto reality. (David Proeber/The Pantagraph via AP)

In this Jan. 19, 2017 photo, Rebecca Perkins, left, shares a tactile ball with her mother, Catherine Whitaker, in the sensory room in the Meadows Mennonite Retirement Community in Meadows, Ill. The room includes projected light effects, a musical water bed and a host of textured wall pieces and other features designed to help residents with Alzheimer's disease and other types of dementia hold onto reality. (David Proeber/The Pantagraph via AP)

CHENOA, Ill. (AP) The calming smell of lavender filled the room as Rebecca Perkins brought her mother, Catherine Whitaker, inside.

The lighting was subdued. On one wall, flowing lighting which made it appear to mother and daughter as if they were looking to the bottom of a pool was stimulating, yet relaxing.

Perkins took her mother, sitting in a wheelchair, to a ball, which Whitaker squeezed, prompting bubbles to rise in a see-through tube. Every time Whitaker squeezed the ball switch, the color in the tube changed.

"Look, we got green," her daughter said. "Isn't it beautiful?"

Her mother nodded.

When the color switched from green to yellow to red to blue each time Whitaker squeezed the ball, Perkins told her mother "Isn't it something to think that we're doing that?"

Perkins, 65, told her mother, 93, that the bubble column reminded her of a Lava Lamp that an aunt and uncle once had. Whitaker nodded again.

Next, she took her mother to a tactile board of different textures. One surface reminded Perkins of an old laundry washboard. She reminded her mother of the ringer washing machine that she used when Perkins was a girl.

"I'm trying to make those little connections," she said. "Mom is still mom and I love her."

The latest therapeutic tool in Central Illinois to stimulate and relax people with Alzheimer's disease and other types of dementia actually is a lot of simple tools in one room.

The sensory room at Meadows Mennonite Retirement Community in rural Chenoa is for residents of Meadows' Skilled Memory Support unit who have Alzheimer's disease or another type of dementia.

Dementia slowly robs people of their memory, thinking and appropriate behavior.

While sensory stimulation therapy is used at various long-term care facilities, Meadows apparently is the first facility in the Bloomington-Normal area with a dedicated, fixed sensory room.

"I think this room is an amazing addition to a really wonderful facility," Rebecca said after spending time with her mother in the room on Jan. 17. Whitaker was diagnosed with dementia several years ago and is at a moderate-to-severe stage, her daughter said.

"When people need a quiet space, this is it," said Perkins, of Peru.

The sensory room uses everyday objects to stimulate the senses of smell, sight, hearing and touch to evoke positive feelings.

"This (a sensory room) is one of a number of viable options for providing stimulation and engagement for people with dementia, particularly in the later stages," said Nancy Rainwater, vice president of communications with the Alzheimer's Association Greater Illinois Chapter.

"It has had some good outcomes," Rainwater said. "There is published research to support this."

People with Alzheimer's disease and other dementia experience memory loss to the point that it disrupts their daily life. Frustration, agitation, anxiety and social isolation result.

In some cases, anxiety is so great that psychotropic medication is prescribed, said Meadows Director of Nursing Joleen Hudson.

"Now, we can take residents to the room and calm them down with sensory stimulation," Hudson said. In the last quarter, fewer doses of psychotropic medicines were given because nurses now have the sensory room to use to try to distract, stimulate and calm residents, she said.

The room works to calm or stimulate anxious, sad or angry residents, Hudson said. "It can address a plethora of emotions."

When people have trouble recalling and expressing themselves, sensory stimulation can calm, bring back memories and result in a connection with another person, even if that connection is brief, said Memory Care Coordinator Bailey Kemp.

The room also is a form of entertainment for residents with dementia, she said.

"Unfortunately, dementia limits your ability to entertain yourself," she said. "This creates a piece of entertainment" that is available for residents with dementia to use 24/7 with staff or family member support.

"This is a really good tool for residents who are low-functioning," Kemp said. "It's cool for people who don't talk with anyone or have lack of eye contact."

Whitaker, who has lived at Meadows since May and whose language has become limited, has periods of anxiety, her daughter said.

When that happens, staff has taken her to the room and she has curled up on the warm, vibrating water bed and has fallen asleep, her daughter said.

"She was no longer agitated," Perkins said. "She has used it (the sensory room) several times."

When residents enter the room, the first thing they experience is the calming fragrance of lavender and subdued lighting.

"When you walk in, it's a feeling of quiet," Perkins said.

Projected on one wall is the simulated, multi-colored water flowing, which is designed to have a calming effect.

A shimmering illumination curtain of multi-colored strips is for visual and tactile stimulation, Kemp said.

"Mom loves to feel it with her fingers," Perkins said.

The bubble column is designed to calm residents visually and the accompanying ball switch provides tactile stimulation, Kemp said.

Pillows of various fabrics are for residents to hold for comfort and to experience different tactile stimulation.

"Fidget blankets" made by Perkins are lap blankets made of different textures and colors with several items sewn on to occupy residents who need something to do with their hands. Items include shoelaces, a ball that lights up, blocks and numbers.

"It provides mental stimulation and comfort," Perkins explained. "It gives you something in your lap to fidget with. When mom is done with it, she likes to fold it."

The heated, vibrating waterbed relaxes tense muscles and joints and enhances body awareness, Kemp said. Relaxing music may be played while the bed is being used.

Above the bed is a fiber optic curtain that some residents stroke to help them relax as they are lying in the bed.

"Lying in the bed is like getting a hug," Perkins said.

The tactile board consists of a variety of textures for different tactile sensations designed to elicit different memories.

For example, there's the part that looks like an old washboard, artificial turf, plastic chains and a mirror.

The sensory room was created in August in what was a resident's room, thanks to a $12,000 gift from the Parker and Sharon Lawlis family of Normal.

"This is another tool for the staff to calm residents so they'll have peace," said Sharon Lawlis, a member of the Meadows Mennonite board. "The staff is finding it so helpful and the residents are responding to it.

"We are proud that we have something cutting edge like this right here in our community," Lawlis said.

In March, sensory equipment will be added to the Skilled Memory Unit's sun room and dining room, so more residents will have access to sensory stimulation therapy, said Meadows Mennonite CEO Jay Biere.

That equipment is being paid for by a donor who wishes to remain anonymous, Biere said.

"We couldn't do this without donors and volunteers," Biere said.

"Our hope," Lawlis said, "is that this makes the residents' lives a little calmer, a little better."

___

Source: The (Bloomington) Pantagraph, http://bit.ly/2l6pXwQ

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EXCHANGE: Sensory stimuli calm residents with Alzheimer's - Beloit Daily News

Upon hearing of local barbershop Scissors & Scotch, I was brought back to the thought of the pictures I would see of my grandfather working as a barber in his little shop on the south side. While Scissors & Scotch may not perfectly match the iconic image of a steady-handed man smoothly tidying up the beard of a customer while relaxing music plays in the background, it acts as a wonderful junction where old meets new.

Walking into the salon, I was met with a classy and relaxing interior that made me feel like I had just entered a high-end country club. Scissors & Scotch has done away with the overdone plastic chair filled waiting areas and has constructed a calming lounge equipped with a bar. It provides an enjoyable wait area for those who have come with a friend and supplies customers with the free drink that accompanies every service.

Photo by Jeffery Fitzgerald

In spite of my lack of facial hair, I was still left with a large array of services to choose from. I decided to go along with the 15-Year service. This included a professional haircut, a relaxing neck and scalp massage, shampoo and conditioning, a hot towel treatment and a three-part facial cleansing treatment. Normally I will get my hair cut by either my mother or a notably cheap salon such as Supercuts. With the price of the bundle I received being only a few dollars more and of much better quality, the price was certainly worth it.

The experience was kept lively and enjoyable by the friendly staff. While cutting my hair, my stylist and I had a nice conversation. Usually it feels like the questions are asked only as an attempt to fill an awkward silence.

Photo by Jeffery Fitzgerald

This wasnt the case at Scissors & Scotch. I felt as though my stylist was genuinely interested in what I had to say. All of this came at a price I was relieved to find doable even on a starving college-student budget ($40, $30 for first-time customers).

The entire experience is geared toward making customers feel right at home. With the welcoming design, wonderful staff and excellent quality of service, I find no reason why Scissors & Scotch would fail to make the cut.

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Scissors & Scotch: classy cuts - ViewFinder Media

The Indian Express

On menu of Pune's first music cafe, a customised tune to lift your mood The Indian Express Patrons get the chance to choose from a variety of pieces such as 'Relaxing', 'Anger Control', 'Positivity', 'Concentration Booster', 'Women's Wellness' and 'Confidence Booster', among others. The Music Cafe aims to cater to the variety of moods and ... and more »

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On menu of Pune's first music cafe, a customised tune to lift your mood - The Indian Express

When it comes to music and the human brain, Daniel Levitin's expertise is hard to top. The musician, professor, and neuroscientist quite literally wrote the book on the topic when he penned the 2006 bestseller This is Your Brain On Music. His most recent book The Organized Mind furthers his exploration into our brains with a focus on how information overload is affecting cognition and what we can do it about it.

Over the last two years, he's been working with smart speaker maker Sonos on new research into how music affects people's minds and behavior at home. As part of its new marketing campaign centered around what the company regrettably diagnoses as "the silent home"the relative dearth of music being played out loud as families stare into their phones or tune into NetflixSonos enlisted Levitin to help design a new survey of people's listening habits at home. We sat down with Levitin at Sonos's Boston offices last week for a conversation about science, music, the brain, and how to stay sane in the age of Trump and Twitter.

Youve been working on some new research into music and people's lives at home. What are some of the most interesting or unexpected things you've learned about how musicor the lack thereof that affects our lives at home?

Levitin: I think one of the most interesting things is the number of people who really don't have music playing in their homes. Its quite striking across the nine countries we surveyed. Something as simple as entertaining friends and family: 84% of people in Sweden, 83% of people in the U.K., 79% of people in the U.S. don't play music when they have friends over. That just seemed surprising and weird to me. I'm of the Boomer generation, so music was just something that you did and it's the way that you related to other people, and even the generation behind me. These are people from all age brackets. It's not just the digital natives who aren't playing music. Nobody is.

Other activities like cooking dinner, doing the dishes, relaxing in the evening and weekend. In Denmark, 69% of people and in France 82% of people did not listen to music to relax for the evening or the weekend. That was one thing that was surprising. The other is the yearning that people have for more contact, juxtaposed with the amount of time they spend in their own isolated, digital words. 86% want to spend more time doing activities in person with others. It's as though two wheels are in a rut and they can't figure out how to get back on the road that they used to be on. We've got to encourage people to take screen-time breaks and to establish shared spaces in the home where they can enjoy communal activities.

These days, its pretty common to go out to a restaurant and see an entire family staring into their phones. What are some of the effects of this isolation and, based on the research you've done and seen, what might the impact be of changing these habits?

Levitin: The research on this is still in its infancy, of course. It's a somewhat new phenomenon, and so any data that we can get is helpful. I think that related to this, we've learned recently that kids who don't interact regularly with their parents but are instead put in front of educational or instructional television don't learn language properly. Language learning has to be interactive. It can't be just passive, receptive. I think we're also seeing that increasingly digital natives are reporting that they've got shorter attention spans than non-digital natives. Colleagues of mine at other universities who teach these large classes or even seminars say that in the last few years, a whole new breed of students come up to them during their office hours in the first week of class, say, "Professor, I have to read 20 pages tonight? I don't know how I'm going to do that. That's too much." They are accustomed to being constantly distracted and we know from neurochemical studies, people get addicted to that distraction.

Your book, The Organized Mind, deals with this quite a bit: the information overload and how our digital lives might be affecting our brains. What is your advice for people in the workplace? How do you deal with this deluge of information when youre trying to be productive?

Levitin: One piece of advice I have is based on our modern understanding of the different attentional modes of the brain. There's the mind wandering mode, the idea that the brain has this whole separate mode of existing where you're not in control of your thoughts and they're loosely connected from one to the next. Often, I think that when we're at our desks at work or if we're out in the field doing work, after a certain amount of time, we feel our attention flagging. The modern reaction when that happens is to double down. Maybe have another cup of coffee and keep pushing through.

In reality, your brain is telling you that it needs a break. Taking a break and getting yourself into this mind wandering mode by giving into it for 15 minutes at a time every couple of hours or so, you effectively hit the reset button in the brain, restoring some neurochemicals that had been depleted through focused activity. There are a lot of different ways to get into this mind wandering mode. One of them is listening to music. Another is going for a walk in nature. Listening to nature sounds. Looking at art, reading literature. Not reading Facebook posts. Literature has this special quality that it invites you to let your mind wander. I think that's part of the answer. Going off and searching the Web for your 15-minute break is not a break.

Weve grappled with information overload for years now, but in our new political climate, there's a certain intensity and anxiety thats now tied to a lot of the stuff that people are seeing online everyday. How do you think this might be affecting people's mental health? And what should we do about it?

Levitin: My reading of the research is that we really are, as a society working harder than before, but we're not working as efficiently. We feel overloaded by the onslaught of information, and so I think that creates the conditions in which things like fake news and alternative truth can exist because we just throw up our hands and say, "I can't deal. It's somebody else's job to deal with this, not mine." I don't mean to get on a soapbox, but I think that's when we begin to see democracy falter, when people don't want to get involved.

I think that we need to recover some sense of community and engagement with one another and with our towns and our neighbors that only comes from face-to-face interaction, not from retreating into our own digital devices. As President Obama said in his exit speech, democracy is not easy and is not free. You have to work for it. I think that work is putting our minds in a state where we can evaluate claims and information and stories as they come by. Evaluate them for ourselves or in discussion with other people. Start talking to people who disagree with us, which has become unfashionable. I don't mean yelling at people who disagree with you. Just talking.

I've had a couple of interesting conversations just in the last few months with people who I disagreed with strongly about a number of political issues, and the conversations were productive because we saw from each other's point of view how we came to hold those beliefs and discovered that we had really a lot more in common than we had differences. We were able to agree on the facts. As Daniel Patrick Moynihan famously quipped, you're entitled to your own opinions, but you're not entitled to your own facts. We agreed on the facts, but our opinions about how to address the problems, we had different views about what would be effective, but we wanted to end up in the same place where people were happy and prosperous and safe. I think that creating shared spaces in the home and shared moments in the home, if music can be part of that or talk radio or just art, some kind of discussion, I think that that's the antidote to all of this.

It seems like its partially a matter of people reconfiguring that balance between their digital lives and the time they're actually spending face to face. I assume those conversations you refer to werent on Twitter or Facebook.

Levitin: One of them was in person. One of them was on the phone. It was 45 minutes long and we talked about a lot of things. This is somebody who is polar opposite of me politically and is quite in the public eye and his opinions are very well known, but I was astonished that we agreed on far more than we disagreed on. I ended up admiring him for his stance for coming to the conclusions he came to, even though I still don't agree, but I can see how he got there.

This is the conversation that Republicans and Democrats aren't having anymore. I never thought I'd look back nostalgically at the Johnson presidency, but in the Johnson days, the two parties worked things out. They did that pretty much through more or less through the next couple of administrations. The polarization is a problem, and I think that the digital age has only put a hyper focus on polarization because of the echo chamber that you've covered already in your magazine.

You wrote This Is Your Brain On Music in 2006, so it was pre-iPhone, pre-Spotify. It seems like music is more pervasive in peoples lives than ever. How has musicboth as an industry and in terms of our relationship with itchanged in the last decade or so?

Levitin: I think we're living in a golden age of music, as we're living in a golden age of TV. There's a lot of creative people engaged in it. The barriers to entry are much lower than they used to be. Anybody with a laptop and a $200 mic can make something that sounds as good as most of the Rolling Stones records that were made in professional studios. That's great. The problem, of course, is that we haven't figured out how to monetize it. As Keith Richards said, for a period of time you could make recordings for a living and you could make a good living at it, but those days are gone until we figure something out. We're living in a world now where a lot of artists have to have day jobs. I would like to live in a world where "artist" is a job and a person can earn a living doing that. I don't want Bono to be writing songs in his spare time after a day of heavy labor making sandwiches. I want him to be able to devote himself to it.

I would say there's been a Balkanization of music sources in the way there's been a Balkanization of the media. When I was a kid, and maybe when you were a kid, you ran into the proverbial man in the street, woman, somebody you didn't know at a bus stop and you started talking about the news, you probably got your news from one of the same small handful of sources. You agreed what the news was, and you probably listened to music on one of the same two or three radio stations. Now there are thousands of places to get your news, thousands of places to get music, and so the common ground that we share is much less. Sure, there's still hit songs, but it's different. I see that changing. There's good and there's bad in that. The so-called long tail means that people can really fine tune their musical taste or their taste in books and independent films, find exactly what they love, but at the expense of the shared experience.

I don't think that there's any evidence that music is more pervasive. In fact, we found that 60% of people we surveyed said they listen to less music now than when they were younger. I don't know why that is, because there's more music available and it's free, but people don't make the time for it. It's not a priority the way it once was. I think that's a shame. I'm not thinking people should do nothing but listen to music, but as part of a balanced life that involves exercise and a good diet and nature and movies and ballet and literature and all the finer things.

Tell us a little bit about your own music consumption and how its evolved. How do you listen music now?

Levitin: I always fantasized in my twenties about buying a physical jukebox from a bar and restoring it. I had a nice collection of 45s. Now I have something even better: I have 20,000 songs on my hard disk and I just stick it in random. I got them in my car now and I have them in my backpack and I have them on my computer and at home, and that's most of my listening. I have 20,000 of my favorite songs. It's my own radio station. Anything that comes up, I'm going to like. I may not like it at that particular moment, depending on what I'm doing.

The second source is that friends who are making music send me advances of their stuff. Rodney Crowell, Paul Simon, people that I know who are actively working as songwriters and musicians will send me stuff. A friend of mine who manages Bob Dylan is just sending me the 36 CD boxset. It's supposed to be there when I get home tonight. I burn the CDs to my hard disk and then put them in the mix.

Then the third source is I stream. Once I got Sonos in the home, I found it easier to deal with things like Spotify and streaming radio and Apple Music. For one thing, they weren't playing out of these crappy little speakers in the computer. Typically, my wife and I will put one of the jazz stations when we're in the kitchen cooking and washing dishes and while we're eating. We hear a lot of good music that way.

How do you find the mental space to focus and be productive?

Levitin: I get more work done on airplanes than anywhere else. I wrote my last two books primarily on airplanes touring for the previous book. You've got the white noise of the engine. Somebody bringing you food.

Yeah, it's great. When I really need to focus, I tend to need to get away from the internet too. I turn off Wi-Fi. Sometimes I leave my phone at home to avoid the distractions.

Levitin: I do that once in a while and it's very refreshing. My wife and I hike a lot, because we're in California. So we'll go and we just won't bring the phones. We'll bring them in the car in case we have a breakdown or something, but when we're hiking, no phone and it's lovely.

Speaking of California, I just called an Uber because I have to get myself to the airport.

Read the rest here:

The Neuroscience Of Music, Behavior, And Staying Sane In The Age Of Twitter - Fast Company