Women Special

Step into a modern yoga class, and you’ll likely find yourself sweating through a series of dynamic poses . Yoga has become synonymous with “flow,” and the practice has gained popularity as a type of physical exercise in the U.S. But contrary to popular belief, not all forms of yoga involve active movement. Another yoga style, known as restorative yoga, involves holding static postures with the primary goal of restoring balance to the mind and body. Let’s dive into the basics and take a closer look at the health benefits of starting a restorative yoga practice. What is Restorative Yoga? Restorative yoga is based on the teachings of B.K.S. Iyengar. Iyengar developed a yoga style known as  Iyengar Yoga , which focuses on proper body alignment in yoga postures using props, such as straps, blocks, blankets, and bolsters. As the practice evolved, it was brought to the West by one of Iyengar’s students, Judith Hanson Lasater. She popularized a new style of yoga, restorative yoga, based...

Keeping your skin healthy matters. After all, healthy skin protects you from viruses and bacteria, controls your body temperature, and converts sunlight into usable vitamin D. While there are many commercially available creams, oils, and scrubs to help keep your skin healthy and glowing, your diet and nutrition can be just as influential to the health of your skin. Herbs and spices add flavor and vitality to our foods and beverages, but it isn’t the only benefit they provide. Many herbs and spices provide you with crucial vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients when ingested, components your body needs to build and repair cells. Others are added to creams, oils, and lotions to help improve your skin’s health from the outside. The versatile herbs on this list pull double duty to improve our skin health from both inside and outside. 1. Chamomile ( matricaria chamomilla ) and ( chamaemelum nobile ) Chamomile has been employed as a medicinal herb for thousands of years, its use recor...

by Dr. Colleen Batchelder Imagine, if you will, a neighborhood brimming with people. The community is vibrant with vivid landscapes and joyful smiles, but each resident remains cloistered in their home. They wave to one another through the glass panes and enjoy the morning breeze from their own front yard. But they never leave their welcome mat. They refuse to venture outside of their box. Now, this picture might look familiar because the majority of us are still living within this reality of social distancing during Covid-19. But, what if this type of behavior became the norm for the next fifty years? Many within the LGBTQIA+ community have been a victim of social distancing and segregation within the workplace for eons. However, it didn’t always come in the form of outright bias. Often, it was masked under the guise of tolerance. When the movement towards tolerance became popular, it seemed like a quick-fix solution for corporations. However, it didn’t necessarily create a culture...

Worrying about your health and well-being, and that of your loved ones, doesnt have to reach peak panic mode for you to start using anxiety-management and resilience-building skills. Heres where to start. 1. Stop scrolling If you notice anxious thoughts spike following a Twitter or Instagram sesh, or after watching the news, its time to tune out. Even pre-pandemic research published in 2010 in Current Psychiatry Reports showed that health anxiety can be high following exposure to disease-related media and there is no shortage of virus-dominated stories at the moment. Many psychologists, myself included, are recommending that clients limit media exposure as one way to help manage excessive anxiety, says Dr. Melanie Badali , a psychologist and board director of Anxiety Canada. Cut back to checking your social channels just once a day, or every few days, to give yourself a break from the pandemic news cycle. (Related: How to Know If Your Level of Health Anxiety Is “Normal” ) 2. Balanc...

Super Simple Tomato Sauce Make this sauce ahead of time, so you have it ready to go for the week or let it simmer on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon.Recipe: Super Simple Tomato Sauce Barley & Mushroom Risotto This easy and wholesome risotto is sure to bring comfort to your kitchen this season.Recipe: Barley & Mushroom Risotto Pulled Pork Tacos Bring a little comfort to your kitchen by adding our pulled pork tacos to the menu.Recipe: Pulled Pork Tacos Lentil Pumpkin Soup Serve with cornbread or a French baguette.Recipe: Lentil Pumpkin Soup (Related: 25 Pumpkin Recipes to Truly Celebrate the Season ) Coconut Chickpea Vegan Soup An easy-to-serve meal that’s perfect to whip up any day of the week.Recipe: Coconut Chickpea Vegan Soup Beef Chili Make cool nights warmer with this hearty, slow-cooker beef chili.Recipe: Beef Chili Chicken Stew The broth in this recipe lightens the dish and allows the vegetables to take a leading role.Recipe: Chicken Stew Quinoa Cabbage Roll...

We all know we’re supposed to eat our fruits and vegetables, limit processed foods, and opt for salad over fettuccine alfredo. Eating healthy is simple, right? And yet, it can feel so hard to stick to a clean diet. Sometimes there are scratches only a box of mac n’ cheese can itch, or we reach for chips and salsa over carrot sticks when we need a quick snack (for the sake of convenience, of course). Workweeks get busy, and it feels like we barely have time to heat up a Lean Cuisine, much less prepare a fresh meal from scratch. Plus, cravings set in after long, stressful days, and that little voice in our heads tell us to order UberEats instead of DIY an entire healthy meal from scratch. The 20 minutes it takes for a pizza to arrive sounds way better when you’re hungry than the 45 minutes it takes a spaghetti squash to cook, right? But something so good for us doesn’t have to be so hard. Healthy eating can actually be effortless, delicious, and achievable. Here are seven hacks tha...