January 01, 2020 at 07:00PM by CWC We’re in for a huge dose of clarity in the new year, according to “Rock-Star Shaman” Alyson Charles. Yes, 2020 is all about clear inner vision, and Charles senses a masterful guide coming through right now to help make that vision a reality: the rooster. Consider this spirit animal the confidence coach you’ve always dreamed of. Power moves and “I gotta be me” boldness? No time like the present. Here we are and here we go! Not only a brand-new year but also a brand-new decade—and a newly activated energy system within us. And I’ll get right to it: It is go time for those of us here on divine assignments and Earth missions to activate and birth the New Paradigm (a new energetic time on this planet that embodies ancient truths of oneness, compassion, unconditional love, unity, and equality). For those newer to the awakening path, you can expect an accelerated rate of understanding and internal alchemy, to see the purposes of this Earth life more clearly. You’ll also get new, bright glimpses of how your personal medicine, or your unique gifts, are here to be of service for the world. Our first spirit animal for this new decade is a masterful guide: the rooster, bringing us medicines to support us having great confidence and embodying courage and kindness. For those who have been walking the hero’s journey for a long time, there is a deeeeep dropping-in, to feel the fullness of
Day: January 1, 2020
5 easy ways to fix a broken nail at home, according to manicurists
January 01, 2020 at 06:00PM by CWC You know the feeling: You’re growing out your nails, and they get to an almost perfect length, right before one splits. The horror! The drama! The tragedy! On the scale of world problems, breaking a nail isn’t exactly a 10, but it can still be frustrating. Your only option, however, isn’t to trim all 10 and start again. As proof, I asked manicurists how to fix a broken nail, so that your manicure can still look pulled together. “It can be very easy to break a nail, since we use our hands for everything,” says Evelyn Lim, chief educator at Paintbox nail salon. “If nails are dry and brittle, they’re more prone to break, so using a cuticle oil can keep your nail bed hydrated and healthy.” Prevention is the best cure for broken nails, so slather on something like Deborah Lippmann Cuticle Oil ($20), which has jojoba and coconut oils plus vitamin E to keep nails hydrated and strong. Another preventative measure to help with breakage? Choosing the right shape for your tips and always having a base coat covering them. “As a guideline, you should shape your nail to match the natural shape of the cuticle and base of the nail,” says Lim. “For length, the free edge should not exceed half of the nail bed.” And, since your fingernails are constantly exposed to water and hand soap, it helps to have at least a clear base polish on, says celebrity nail
The 6 healthiest canned soups to always keep in your pantry, according to a dietitian
January 01, 2020 at 05:00PM by CWC On weeks when I really don’t feel like meal-prepping, I have an easy solution. I buy five canned soups to stash at my desk for speedy lunches. I have my own favorite (Amy’s French Country Vegetable), but just to make sure I’m on the right nutritional track for cozy, mid-day fuel, I asked a dietitian to name the healthiest canned soups on the market. “Canned soup can be extremely high in sodium, and according to the American Dietary Guidelines, the goal is to stay below 2,300 milligrams of sodium a day,” says Tracy Lockwood Beckerman, a registered dietitian and author of The Better Period Food Solution. “If you suffer from heart disease or diabetes, you want that goal to even lower: 1,500 milligrams.” The ideal soup, says Beckerman, will have about 400 milligrams of sodium. “That’s less than 20 percent of the total amount of sodium intake a day,” she adds. As with all your meals, you’ll want to make sure your canned soup of choice balances carbs, fat, protein, and a ton of veggies. Below, Beckerman names the healthiest canned soups that fulfill the criteria of the most popular diets today. The healthiest canned soups for every diet Photo: Amazon Paleo and whole30: TRUE AND PRIMAL GRASS-FED BEEF AND VEGETABLE SOUP “Not only is this a paleo option, but this soup is made with natural spices and 100 percent grass-fed beef—making it Whole30 approved. It’s also gluten free, high in protein [24
7 ways to heal your sacral chakra and get your creative juices flowing again
January 01, 2020 at 04:00PM by CWC If you feel like you’ve lost your creative mojo, or perhaps have trouble expressing yourself, your sacral chakra might need some healing. But first, in case you need a little chakra refresher: “There are seven different major energy centers throughout the body, from the base of the spine to the crown of the head through which this energy can flow in and out in a constant stream,” says nutritionist and Reiki Master Serena Poon. “These energy centers are called chakras, Sanskrit for ‘wheel,’ and are essentially the link between our energetic and physical bodies and the universal life force energy that connects us environmentally and spiritually.” The sacral chakra, also knowns as the second chakra, is located two inches below your belly button and is represented by the color orange. “This chakra governs your emotions, your creativity, sensitivity, sexuality, intimacy, emotional well-being, and self-expression,” Poon says. Each chakra, she adds, also vibrates at a particular frequency that impacts certain parts of the body. For the sacral, it’s the lymphatic and circulatory systems, reproductive organs, bladder, kidney, and large intestines. So, really, what does it mean to heal your sacral chakra? Poon explains that it’s about clearing and cleansing that energy center and bringing it back into a state of balance. There are many things you can do to heal your chakras. There’s talking to them, for example, as well as wearing chakra-balancing jewelry, and if you want to get really woo-woo, you can even try rainbow crystal light
This pressed serum is pricey but absolutely worth the money
January 01, 2020 at 03:00PM by CWC Discovering Maya Chia’s “The Super Blend” ($105) was a happy accident. After forgetting my usual moisturizer on a trip home to see my family, my mother handed me the pressed serum with a ceremonious flourish and said: “Here, try this.” Since then, the sherbert-hued skin-care product has a forever-home on my face. The beauty brand describes the product as a “multi-correctional moisture concentrate using our most complex ingredient deck to date in a high-performance, luxurious formula” and I’d like to second that. The formula includes botanicals, pressed seed oils, and butters—all of which are great. But personally, I’m most invested in how all these components come together in a rich, non-greasy balm that turns my skin from dull to luminescent overnight. In short: It has set a new standard for how I expect all my beauty products to work. Now, I know the triple-digit price tag may seem like a bit of a deterrent, but please allow me to explain why my Maya Chia mainstay is worth the extravagance. To get the full, glorious benefits of the product, you really only need a teeny-tiny bit (I’m talking the amount you can fit on the tip of your pinky finger). The jar that I purchased last Christmas ran out a few days ago and some very warped, self-indulgent math tells me that means I only paid about 29 cents per application. There’s something else, too. Whenever I feel the slightest bit comfier in my
The 2 most underrated gym machines for burning out your thighs and glutes
January 01, 2020 at 02:00PM by CWC There are two pieces of equipment that I absolutely love—the abductor and adductor machines. When I ask Maillard Howell, owner of CrossFit Prospect Heights and founder of the The Beta Way, whether they’re worth a share of the small amount of time most of us have to dedicate to our workouts, he says, in a word, absolutely. “I own a CrossFit gym, but there are certain machines in a traditional gym that do have amazing benefits,” says Howell. Two such machines? You guessed it: the abductor (outer thigh) and adductor (inner thigh) machines. Since Howell’s normal movement patterns consist of CrossFit’s signature “constantly varied, high-intensity functional movement” (think: sumo deadlifts), he uses the two machines to ensure his inner-thighs, glutes, and hips can support him in those more complex moves. He thinks you should do the same, whether we’re into CrossFit or not. “If your inner thighs—your abductors—are not strong enough, then you can strain them,” he says. Same goes with your adductors. Even though he’s a fan of the pair of equipment, Howell says it’s best to not use the machine at the highest weight possible. Instead, focus on high reps and low weight. This strategy promotes hypertrophy—or increase and growth of muscle cells—in the body and complements your squats, deadlifts, and other moves that rely on the strength and stability of the hips. As for where to situate these machines in your workout, Howell says anytime is fine, but you can use them as
How to receive signs from the universe in 5 simple steps
January 01, 2020 at 01:00PM by CWC If you fancy yourself a spiritual person who regularly turns to tarot cards for intel, carries around crystals to balance blocked chakras, and doesn’t book important meetings before first consulting with an astrologer (no big decisions should be made while Mercury is in retrograde, of course), chances are you believe—at least in some sense—in signs from the universe. But even if you aren’t wholly attuned to your energetic presence, you can still learn to access the helpful life tools that the universe may stand to offer. “It is always guiding us, but we’re not always listening,” says Gabrielle Bernstein, New York Times best-selling author, Well+Good Council member, and spirituality guru who contends that the universe is a powerful force that always has our back. “When we decide to tune in to that guidance, we can ask the universe to show us a sign.” These signs from the universe can communicate with us and signal to us that we’re on the right path. The process of asking the universe for a sign, however, does require you to flex your spirituality muscle, even if it’s not so strong or defined. “Asking for a sign means that you’re willing to collaborate with the universe, that you’re committed to releasing structure and control to instead be led by a power greater than you,” Bernstein says. If you’re ready to give this practice of asking for and accessing signs from the universe a try for the first time, Bernstein
A ballet dancer’s secret for ironing out the kinks in you neck
January 01, 2020 at 12:00PM by CWC You can crush your workout, fill your body with nutritious food, and sleep to your heart’s content. But if your desk job or a shoulder bag is making your neck hurt, you still won’t feel 100 percent. Donna Flagg, a dancer, ballerina, and stretching instructor at Broadway Dance Center, says that when upper-body discomfort is cramping your style, one neck and shoulder stretch is better than the rest. “You know how you always see people use one hand to pull their head to the side to stretch their necks? What if I told you that you’re not really stretching the muscle when you do that,” says Flagg. “To holistically stretch something, you need two [muscles] to work opposite one another.” In the case of neck stretching, that means you need to get your shoulder involved. To accomplish a counterbalanced neck and shoulder stretch, Flagg recommends dropping one ear to one shoulder without using your hands. Then, keep it there and slide the opposite shoulder down,” she instructs. So if you’re tilting your ear to the right, pull your left shoulder down; if you’re tilting your ear to the left, pull your right shoulder down. “This happens inside your body, so nothing else moves,” says Flagg. “Don’t tilt, don’t lean, don’t move anything except that shoulder sliding down on the inside. Immediately, you are going to feel exactly what I’m talking about: one end of the muscle pulling away from the other! And boy,
Make mental wellness a priority this month with our 28-day feelings challenge
January 01, 2020 at 11:30AM by CWC Have some empathy for the “She Doesn’t Even Go Here” chick from Mean Girls; it can be hard to have a lot of feelings—and to know how to productively channel them. That’s why, for the next four weeks, we want to encourage you to focus on your emotional health. Per clinical psychologist Carla Marie Manly, PhD, author of Joy From Fear, emotional health means being in touch with your emotional state in a “balanced, grounded way” and being aware of and able to process and regulate those emotions. Because it takes 28 days to make a habit, we’ve compiled 28 daily tasks to help you get more in tune with your emotions and mental well-being. By the end of this month, you should have the tools to make checking in with the way you feel and the headspace you occupy a priority every single day. Get to know the plan now, sign up for our special email to have each week’s tasks delivered to your inbox* (in the box below), and sync the plan’s tasks onto your personal calendar now. On January 5, get ready to get emotional. Keep reading for the full 28-day emotional wellness challenge: Graphic: W+G Creative Day 1: Set goals It’s easy to make a resolution December 31 and have your efforts swan dive before you return to the office. So to set emotional-wellness-related goals in a manageable way, Dr. Manly says it’s best to set only one or
Make healthy eating a reality with this delicious 28-day plan
January 01, 2020 at 11:00AM by CWC Year after year, “dieting and eating healthier” tops the list of most common New Year’s resolutions for Americans. But this is a different kind of healthy eating challenge from others you might see in January. We’re not here to tell you to follow a specific kind of eating plan, nor are we ever going to focus on eating for a certain kind of body. Instead, we want to help you prioritize whole foods over processed ones, and make doing so super simple so you might consider keeping it up throughout the year. Why? Simply put, it’s one of the few healthy eating “golden rules” that experts can agree on, no matter if they’re a fan of Paleo or keto or the Mediterranean diet. And it’s something that can be adapted to nearly any way of eating, regardless of a person’s unique nutritional or dietary needs. But it’s easy to bite off more than you can chew when working towards a new goal, no matter how gung-ho you feel on January 1. Because it takes 28 days to build a habit, we’ve set up our food challenge to give you a piece of actionable advice every single day for the next four weeks, all with the goal of getting you to eat more whole foods while meeting your own individual healthy eating goals along the way. Ready to join us on four weeks of change? It all starts on January 5. Read up on