Its pretty much impossible to ignoreall the information swirling around about how great meditation is for your mind, body and spirit.

Its been scientifically proven in over 3,000 studies that meditationincreases concentration, lowers your blood pressure, improves memory retention, naturally aids the management of ADHD and even improves your bodys immunity to disease.

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The problem is, were so busy in our daily lives that keeping up with a meditation practice can just seem so overwhelming.

But, meditating isnt about having the time.

Its about making the time, and the following apps made it possible for me (a sort-of adult with a full-time job, a relationship, two dogs, a daily exercise routine and a verytime-consuming skin care regime) to keep a daily practice going.

So now, I just sit back and wait formy meditation practice to make me perfect and also very rich.

Thats what youre supposed to do, right?

Sattva is the perfect meditation app for people who want to win a trophy for their calmness.

Really, for someone who enjoys a challenge, Sattva includes daily challenges that you can actually wintrophies for. Hell yeah! I love fighting for peace!

Not only does Sattva give you digital prizes, but it also includes daily guided meditation, a heart rate monitor (so you can check out how peaceful you are before and after your meditation sessions) and daily reminders to help you stay on-track.

Its the all-around perfect meditation app for Type A personalities.

Straightforward title for a straightforward app.

This meditation guide is a good option for someone who isnt trying to make a big thing out of their meditation practice, and who just wants to get through their morning commute without getting arrested for assault.

Guided meditation sessions are available in lengths of three, five, 10, 15, 20 or 25 minutes, so you can choose the perfect length to fit with your schedule. The topics also range from stress management to deep sleep.

This app can even tell you bedtime stories, and Ive been looking for an app that can effectively do that for literally five years.

Its perfect for beginners.

Meditations guided by Andy Puddicombe have been covered bythe New York Times asa quick, secularized adaptation of Buddhist teachings that have been distilled for a modern, Western audience.

While this is a for-profit mindfulness app, it does have broad commercial appeal.

It raised $30 million in financing last year that included celebrity financiers like Jessica Alba and Jared Leto.

The app also includes a buddy system, so you and your friends can encourage one another in your mindfulness goals, and subscribers get free access to the apps introductory course.

The Mindfulness App is perfect for beginners and advanced practitioners of meditation alike.

It has many of the above meditation apps features, including daily reminders and statistics that can track your progress from week to week.

What sets this app apart? It gives its subscribers access to 200 different meditations and courses for improving your relationships with others as well as yourself.

It also allows you to share you experience on social media, if thats something that will motivate you more.

Get those sweet, sweet likes baby!

First of all, Buddhify is pretty to look at.

Its colorful and easy to use, and it provides a type of meditation for literally every single part of your day,including traveling, being online, taking a work break and going to sleep.

If youre someone who needs to be reminded to just take a breath, or if youre someone who is trying to quit smoking and needs something to get you through those cravings, this app is the one youll want to reach for.

It seems to be perfectly designed for the kind of person who is always doing a million things at once or the type who easily gets bored.

Buddhifyallows you to change things up for every occasion.

With all of these meditation apps, theres no way you cant stick to your practice.

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Rosebud Baker is a standup comic and writer in NYC. Follow her on Twitter, where she desperately seeks the approval of strangers, but will settle for just attention.

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5 Meditation Apps That Will Actually Help You Stick To Your Practice - Elite Daily

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In a bizarre display of self-determination, agroup of female Chinese divorcees chose to lie down in shallow graves so they can start a new life.

The graveyard meditation, organized by 30-year-oldLiu Taijie, took place on the outskirts ofChongqing City, southwestern China, earlier this week.

A divorcee herself, Liu launched her cemetery class to help other women cope with their romantic breakups,I know how a woman felt when she was feeling abandoned. I had the thought of committing suicide when I got divorced.

Liu got married at 19 and had her first baby at 21. All was well until 2015, when she went through a heartbreaking divorce and failed a business she started the previous year.

Liu also worked hard toimprove her body she dropped from 158 lb to 99 lb, Zaker noted.

As seen in the photos, participants lay down on plastic sheets that linedshallow holes dug in the ground. They closed their eyes and held their hands in a praying position.

Apparently, the idea is to simulate death so they can start over as a clean slate.Liu told Daily Mail:

When a person is desperate, he or she could almost feel theyre near death. By lying in the grave, my students could try to experience death. This will remind them that they have not done many things in their life and that they need to forget about the past and start a new life.

Liu said her graveyard meditation classes are held every two to three months. She does not charge fees participants. Interested individuals mayreach her through her number.

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Divorced Chinese Women Now Use 'Graveyard Meditation' to Get Over Their Exes - NextShark

Urban apathy in voting is seen in most big cities. Polling percentages rarely touch 60. So nearly half the electorate don't vote to determine who should run their city Voter inertia is mostly in urban areas. This is evi dent in polling percentages in most big cities in the country.

In the last Lok Sabha polls, India's 'tech-capital' Bengaluru recorded just 55% turnout, Mumbai recorded 53%, Hyderabad registered 53% and Delhi registered 65%.There are some exceptions such as Kolkata and Chennai where the voting percentage recorded in the last Lok Sabha elections and Assembly elections has been in the range of 65% to 70%.

Even states like Manipur and Jharkhand, plagued by militant attacks and Maoist problems, witness a robust voter turnout. The turnout in the assembly elections held this year in Punjab and Goa has been 75% and 83%, respectively.

For all the efforts that the state election commission and citizens' groups took this time to increase voter turnout for the civic election, the voting percentage remained a dismal 55.5 in Pune, up only 4.5 % since 2012. Pimpri Chinchwad was a bright spot though with a polling percentage of 67.

But compare Pune city's civic poll figures with that of the Pune Zilla Parishad elections. In 2012, 65% voters turned up to cast their ballots in the Zilla Parishad polls. This year, the figure touched 70%.

The apathy towards exercising one's franchise has been evident in the last five elections in Pune city, but there were expectations that with a slew of projects like metro and the new airport, and Smart City plans, citizens would come out in large numbers and cast their votes.

Since 1992, the voting percentage for the civic polls has been between 50 and 60% with the 2012 election registering the lowest (51%).

"We expected a much higher voter turnout in both Pune and in Mumbai. There is no excuse for not voting. If, as a voter, you are not happy with the candidate, you should exercise the NOTA option. Not coming out to vote is not the option,'' Indira Malkani of VCan said. She has been working with the state election commission to increase the voting percentage.

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By staying away, citizens don't excercise right to vote | Pune News ... - Times of India

Actor Akshay Kumar is making the most of his presence on social media platforms.

Actor Akshay Kumar is making the most of his presence on social media platforms. After posting patriotic videos with messages for the Indian soldiers and their families, the actor once again took to twitter and posted an inspiring video for his fans. He wrote, Before I sleep tonight, thought of indulging in some pillow talk. Sharing with you all something I swear by do give your time & thoughts (sic).

Akshay began the video by thanking his fans for praising his films and said he really enjoys these direct conversations with fans. Giving the biggest smile, the actor shared how hes been feeling very light and healthy over the past few days.

Away from the hustle bustle of city life, the actor recently spent 14 quality days in a tranquil Ayurveda Ashram in Kerala. Without any phone, television, junk food or branded clothes, he admits it was nothing short of a heavenly experience. However, he is evidently surprised at the fact that he was the only Indian present in that Ashram and rest all were foreigners.

Known for his prim and proper lifestyle, Akshay revealed that he has been following Ayurveda for last 25 years and its healing experience remains unmatched. Asserting on the importance of Ayurveda, Akshay feels sad that Indians dont value this treasure and want to survive on modern medicines, chemical injections and supplements. Though hes not against allopathic medicines and its treatment, he urges people to include the traditional ways of healing such as yoga, Ayurveda, naturopathy and homeopathy in their lifestyle.

Furthermore, Khiladi Kumar clarified that hes not shared this video as the brand ambassador for any Ayurveda company or a centre, rather he genuinely wishes to promote this natural way of healing. I am the brand ambassador for my own body and I want all of you to be the same. Learn to lead a simple and healthy life and youd always wake up with a smile like me, he said.

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Akshay Kumar urges fans to become the brand ambassadors for their own body - Hindustan Times

ZURICH, SWITZERLAND / ACCESSWIRE / February 22, 2017 / Today, an update on the rare earths market and Commerce Resources Corp. (TSX-V: CCE) has been published. According to John Moody from FoxNews, Republican member of the US House of Representatives, Duncan Hunter, plans to introduce legislation this month to require the US military to obtain rare earth elements (REEs) that are produced in the US, even if it means subsidizing those industries. More specifically, he said:

This is of critical importance to our national security and ability to stay ahead of everyone else. Rare earth metals are crucial. Weve closed down mines in my own state of California, which is the leading edge of stupid. We need to have our own rare earths. The big sticking part of the bill is this. You have to put money in to subsidize our own product to create a market, because now theres no market. Weve got to put American manufacturing back in competition.

However, as Moody asserts correctly: The problem is that US production capacity in this area has been allowed to wither to almost nothing, due to plentiful supplies from China that can be produced at a lower price than US made rare earths.

Commerce Resources Corp.s Ashram Rare Earth Project in Qubec is firmly in the mainstream of the majority of REE producing mines in the world in that it is a carbonatite hosted project with monazite and bastnaesite as the dominant REE bearing minerals. The importance of this must be stressed in that Commerce is not looking for, nor does it need to find, a new processing technique to concentrate the REEs contained in its Ashram Deposit.

The full report can be accessed with the following links:

English (PDF): http://rockstone-research.com/images/PDF/Commerce23en.pdf

English (web version): http://rockstone-research.com/index.php/en/research-reports/2518-Edging-China-out-of-Rare-Earth-Dominance-via-Quebecs-Ashram-Rare-Earth-Deposit

German (PDF): http://rockstone-research.com/images/PDF/Commerce23de.pdf

SOURCE: Rockstone Research

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Edging China out of Rare Earth Dominance via Quebec's Ashram Rare Earth Deposit - Satellite PR News (press release)

New York Times

A Place for Water Aerobics and Feeling Safe as American Jews New York Times Around the time Jewish community centers were being threatened, when parents were receiving terrifying come-get-your-kid phone calls, when water aerobic class participants were sent outside to huddle in the cold, our president was twisting himself into ... JCCs Respond to New Wave of Bomb Threats Quickly, Effectively With Practiced Security Protocols to Keep ...JCC Association all 384 news articles »

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A Place for Water Aerobics and Feeling Safe as American Jews - New York Times

Youll remember, Im sure, the debacle involving 5 notes during the tail end of 2016. You can find my original articles on this hereand here. It seems the story has progressed even further down the rabbit hole since, and its with great annoyance that I find myself having to talk about it again.

The petition that started it all was rejected by the Bank of England and subsequently, the new 10 notes arriving this September will also contain tallow. The bank is, however, toying with the possibility of using a plant based substitute for the new 20 notes, which will not be in circulation until 2020.

The Vegan Society or as I like to call them, the You Dont Have To Be Vegan Society had thisto say in response:

While it is unfortunate that the new 10 note will contain tallow, The Vegan Society is pleased that the Bank of England has been transparent in their response to this important issue, and has taken the beliefs of the public into consideration.

We look forward to the consultation around the 20 note and hope that any future bank notes will be free from ingredients produced through harming animals. We hope that other companies will follow this positive example and review the use of animals in their products.

Along with the many other folks upset by this development, the Vegan Society are missing the point. The problem isnt that tallow a byproduct of animal slaughter is used in currency, its that the system of exploitation that results in tallow exists in the first place. Focusing on this byproduct assumes the legitimacy of the underlying exploitation. There are many non-vegans who consider the use of tallow unnecessary but who consider their own exploitation of animals to be perfectly acceptable. The outrage over 5 notes does nothing but tell these people that there is something different about this form of animal use to the use that they themselves engage in.

The use of tallow in our currency is wrong. Just as the use of animal products in our roads, computers and automobiles is wrong. But you dont change that by drawing arbitrary lines and forming campaigns that tell people that these products exist in some kind of vacuum. They exist because there is a demand for animal exploitation. Take tallow out of our currency and tallow would still exist in the exact same quantities. We have to get to grips with the fact that the use of animal byproducts will not cease until we have a sizeable population of vegans. At that point, demand will decrease to the point that slaughterhouse byproducts are not as cheap or readily available as they are now.

Until that point, anything less than promoting veganism merely ensures that the systems of exploitation resulting in these products continue on as ever. The people who are campaigning over 5 notes need to explain why there is a difference between this and any other unavoidable byproduct we encounter in our daily lives. There is literally something everywhere you look. It is as nonsensical as basing a campaign on tarmac. This hasnt stopped Doug Maw, founder of the original tallow petition, being quite angry over the 10 note news. He claims that they are forcing people who have religious and ethical objections to use something thats against their religious beliefs and their ethical beliefs. But the same could be said for credit cards and house bricks. This is nothing but yet another form of self-indulgence on the part of advocates, who are incapable of recognising the very real exploitation they promote through normalising all others.

Doug goes on to say this: Im most definitely as of now looking at legal advice and we will definitely be bringing a test case against them because Im pretty sure we will win it. Wonderful. A victory would not mean any decrease in demand. It would not mean that there is any less tallow being brought into the world. All it would mean is that people can feel better that an animal product is not being used unnecessarily. Well Ive got news for you, Doug. Such a victory does literally nothing for animals. But what it does do is tell the public there there is something different about that form of animal use to their own. It makes them feel better about their own exploitation by implying that there is some necessity or compulsion involved.

People need to stop advocating for themselves and see the bigger picture here. A non-vegan world equals millions of tons of byproducts whether theyre used in our currency or not. A vegan world equals no byproducts in existence in the first place. Advocating for the end of byproducts in the former merely normalises the legitimate forms of exploitation that people consider to be acceptable.

Want to do right by animals? Be veganand advocate veganism. Want to end animal byproducts? Advocate veganism. There is no other option that doesnt throw animals under the bus.

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5 Note Nonsense & The Vegan Society - Ecorazzi

Kiki Adami is coming for your meat.

The 28-year-old restaurant consultant wants to veganize every restaurant in New York City, and shes setting her sights on Bleecker Street. The fact that the Greenwich Village stretch is home to meaty mainstays like JG Melon, Faiccos and Murrays Cheese Shop doesnt deter her.

I want the whole street to be a vegan mecca, says the Hoboken, NJ, resident and adamant vegan of 10 years. Like, the Great White Way is where all the Broadway shows are I want this to be the Great Vegan Way.

Adami launched her company, Veganizer, in 2015 with the goal of converting restaurants all over the city to a menu in which half the options are meat- and dairy-free. She has also convinced several restaurants around the city to hold vegan pop-up nights, including Pagani, on Bleecker Street. This year, shes decided to focus her efforts on Bleecker because the thoroughfare is home to a location of the constantly packed vegan restaurant and bakery By Chloe (185 Bleecker St.). She believes that when restaurant owners see By Chloes success, theyll want to replicate it with similarly plant-based options.

Thus far, shes gotten another Italian place, Romagna, to make half of its menu vegan, and shes confident that this is only the beginning.

I have no doubt in my mind that the seed has been planted, says Adami, who hasnt eaten animal products in a decade and gave up wearing leather six years ago.

But most restaurateurs on her target block highly doubt shell be able to get a hand on their meatballs.

Weve been open for 40 years, and people come from all over to have the paella, says Cafe Espaol owner Irene Becerril. We cannot change the menu.

Restaurantgoers on the street are similarly protective of the dishes they know and love. For Money Sealy, its her favorite 50-cent wings at dive bar Wicked Willys (149 Bleecker St.).

To turn a whole street vegan is absurd, says Sealy, a 27-year-old Upper West Sider. Variety is what makes the village.

Adami, a former cruise director, broke into the restaurant business working at GustOrganics, a Greenwich Village restaurant about 10 blocks north of Bleecker. When it opened in 2008, Gust catered to the paleo crowd those who eat only meat, nuts, vegetables and seeds. Adami started working there as a waitress in 2010, then stepped in as a manager and turned the menu entirely vegan in 2015.

I started to feel guilty, knowing that I was paying my rent from a company that was not really in line with sustainability, she says.

The restaurants paleo regulars revolted. Hate mail and bad Yelp reviews poured in, and the eaterys investors sued the restaurant for alienating its original clientele.

This is a case of imposing your own personal views on Gusts devoted clientele, one commenter on Yelp wrote.

The lawsuit was eventually dropped, but the legal fees cost Gust and it closed in 2015. At the time, Adami said the restaurant wasnt profitable, but now she says it was.

While most would take this failure as a sign from the meat gods, Adami ran the other way: I just said, You know what? Screw you guys Im going to veganize another restaurant.

And so her crusade began. Adami approaches restaurants with the promise of money, keeping her real intentions hidden at first.

I dont even use the word vegan. I talk money, I talk p.r., I talk business and I talk market trends, she says. I also wear a really cute outfit when I go to meet the owner You use whatever tools you have you flirt, you giggle, you laugh at them.

At the end of the conversation, she proposes just one vegan pop-up night, like she did with Pagani. After she gets buy-in on that, she suggests an even more aggressive change: making half the menu vegan.

If the restaurant is game, Adami cashes in, taking a 10-percent cut of the restaurants pop-up night profits and acting as the middleman for its vegan food supplies. The business model is how she, and Veganizer, make money.

To turn a whole street vegan is absurd.

Adami says about five restaurants on and around Bleecker Street are interested, and shes looking for more. But when The Post contacted their owners, many say they had never even heard of Adami and werent looking to give up their tasty meats and cheese.

Georgian cuisine doesnt allow it, says Vasil Chkheidze, owner of Old Tbilisi Garden (174 Bleecker St.), whom Adami says she contacted. And if a veganizer were to come by, he says, they would probably turn her away.

Adami also says she had some interest from a staff member at Deninos Pizzeria & Tavern on the corner of MacDougal and Bleecker, but owner Joe Castellano says he has no intention of putting fake cheese on his famous Staten Island pies.

When you put that material on the pizza, it totally takes away the quality of what we captured for the past 80 years, he says. For us to be a 50-percent vegan restaurant I think its pretty impossible.

Abi Sharma, the owner of Indian restaurant Surya (154 Bleecker St.), is even more blunt.

Our chicken tikka masala pays our rent, he says.

Still, Adami isnt discouraged and says her crusade is just beginning. Shes also helping to organize the first vegan dinner at the James Beard House in March and mentoring Veganizer chapters in Portland, Ore., Los Angeles, Brussels and Toronto.

Thomas Watts, the owner of newcomer sports bar JoJos Philosophy sports bar (169 Bleecker St.), says he would never open his doors to Adami. But he encourages her efforts on Bleecker Street.

If all the other restaurants go vegan, we could be a home run over here, Watts says, with a laugh. Meat eaters will be pounding at our windows.

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Militant vegan drives neighborhood nuts - New York Post

By Anna Johansson

Most people think of veganism as a highly-debated personal issue, one related to health and nutrition, but few outside the vegan community stop to think about how such a diet impacts our environment.

For vegan-centered businesses, however, our food choices arent just about physical health; theyre about global sustainability and long-term economic health. It goes far beyond changing the way we eat, but rather is a statement about how we treat our planet and what kind of future we hope to have and intend to create.

When people talk about veganism, the first question most people ask is: But where do you get your protein? Due to a lack of nutrition education, many Americans think that the only way to get protein is through meat products, and many even over-consume meat products, believing its necessary for their health when its, in fact, bad for their bodies and the environment.

In fact, vegetarians and vegans can get their protein from many non-meat sources, including soy, nuts and nut butters, peas, seeds and even whole grains. Grains like quinoa are actually very high in protein, as are peas. Meat eaters are often surprised to hear that these foods they think of as poor sources of protein can boast more protein than an equivalent serving of meat.

With this in mind, then, companies are rapidly centering alternative protein sources in their business plans. Ruoquette, a French company, is in the process of bringing the worlds largest pea protein factory to Canada. Andin the U.S., plant-based foods contribute $13.7 billion to the economy. And because of its complexity and status as a near-complete protein, pea protein alone is expected to be an $18.5 million industry by 2021.

Health food, in the broadest sense, has become a viable, mainstream marketing point rather than just a niche market, and vegan protein sources are a key example of this. In part, this is because of an increase in health issues. The risks of things like heart disease, type 2 diabetes and some kinds of cancer can be reduced by a vegan diet.

In this day and age, however, its not just our health we should be worried about. Rather, we need to consider how what we eat impacts the health of the earth and this kind of ethical appeal works well for vegan-centered companies.

Simply put, a vegan diet has a much smaller carbon footprint than diets that include meat and animal products. In 2017, if everyone across the globe switched to a plant-based diet, we could reduce greenhouse gas emissions related to food-production by 70 percent by 2050. Thats an enormous reduction.

Looked at more carefully, theres an even more intimate link between our health and the health of our earth because of the implications of global warming.

When 80 percent of food-production greenhouses gases are related to meat production, evidence suggests veganism may be the only answer.

In addition to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, a vegan diet has other environmental benefits that could decrease resource scarcity around the world but only if changes are made on a corporate, rather than individual, scale.

A quick look at resources needed to produce a cup of beef versus a cup of kidney beans makes it clear why. From land and water to fertilizer and fuel, it takes fewer resources to grow the kidney beans and theyre better for you. Considering the scarcity of potable water, the amount of land devoted to animal agriculture, and the damages done by fossil fuels, why wouldnt we want to reduce our use of these critical resources?

Finally, its important to put to bed the fiction that vegan diets are not attainable for many people, particularly those living on limited incomes. Lets take, as an example, the fact that veganism and vegetarianism are practiced most widely in the developing world.

Even among those who dont identify with this particular dietary practice, meat tends to be a relatively minor part of peoples daily diets its expensive and ultimately out of reach, saved for celebrations or when guests are invited. It isnt a staple in the way it is in the United States. And the more popular plant-based diets become, the less expensive basic meat alternatives will become.

Animal agriculture is the enemy of the environment and the enemy of our health, but it has distinct advantages for todays food businesses. As advocates for the earth, then, its time to push for a vegan revolution. High-end restaurants are catching on, vegan butchers are opening, and your local grocery increasingly stocks vegan alternatives.

Now, more businesses need to step up and support this change.

Image credit: Pexels

Anna is a freelance writer, researcher, and business consultant. A columnist for Entrepreneur.com, HuffingtonPost.com and more, Anna specializes in entrepreneurship, technology, and social media trends. Follow her on Twitter and LinkedIn.

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The Vegan Food Boom is Good for People, Planet and Profit - Triple Pundit (registration) (blog)

The Denver Post

Bravo actress pens letter to Colorado bagel company pleading for vegan shmear The Denver Post That's why I'm writing to you today urging you to consider adding vegan cream cheese options to your menus so that people who can't or won't consume dairy foods might still be able to enjoy a good bagel with shmear at your many establishments.. Hey, Einstein Bros., Vegans Like Cream Cheese With Their Bagels, Too!PETA (blog) (press release) all 2 news articles »

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Bravo actress pens letter to Colorado bagel company pleading for vegan shmear - The Denver Post