I bought it as an expensive, therapeutically perfect gift for a stressed-out friend with back, foot, teeth, and job pain. What better present to give her than one hour of being held, with no obligations or responsibilities to the holder (which, in this case, is 10 inches of skin-temperature water with so much Epsom salts—1,000 pounds—that you are weightless and…
I read a terrific article in Outside magazine about “The Best Meditation Retreats in the U.S.,” and it reminded me that sometimes it’s important to take time for ourselves and get out of our day-to-day routines to really rewire. I was fortunate enough to visit two of the places on Outside’s list, and each of them contributed to my rewiring…
How can anyone not love magnets? They’re about as close as we can get to magic, with their ability to move things around invisibly and defy gravity by picking up nails right off the floor. And how about the North Pole, which manages to make a tiny compass needle thousands of miles away point toward it? Physicists long ago determined…
Writing about visiting her mother who has Alzheimer’s disease, Priscilla Warner observes, “I try not to go with expectations, but that’s hard, since… I want my visits to go well. But it’s hard to define ‘well’ when my mother doesn’t know who I am.” Watching her mother deteriorate over time, Warner sometimes forgets herself and asks (then immediately regrets), “What…
We know that stress—especially of the traumatic variety—can affect the shape and function of structures in the brain. For example, studies on survivors with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) reveal that the amygdala (the almond-shaped threat and danger detection center of the brain) can actually enlarge in the presence of an ongoing, unmitigated survival response. Conversely, the hippocampus (a horseshoe-shaped entity…
Music can provide therapeutic benefits
When a trauma occurs—for anyone at any age—it calls into question key elements that we naturally depend on for survival: safety, control, and, as psychologist Albert Bandura defined it, our sense of self-efficacy. That refers to the belief in our ability to succeed in a specific situation—in the case of trauma, the ability to take action, protect yourself, and stay…
Relationship status between yoga and me: It’s complicated. Bitter even. Tempestuous. So why the hell did I stand on a yoga mat with 807 people in a public square in Portland, Oregon? It has something to do with smiley-face socks. I first practiced yoga in the B.L., P.M. era: Before Lululemon, Pre-Madonna. In 1973. I was 15, and I learned…
I have never been one to sit at my desk for long periods of time. I’ve always deliberately let my tea get cold so I’d need to walk down the hall for a refill (while leaving my glass of water empty to necessitate a separate refill trip). I take the stairs every chance I get and often stand up when…
