November 01, 2018 at 07:12AM It’s hard to think about your holiday plans this early. Hannukah isn’t for another month, Christmas is 53 days away, and you still have double that many tasks to get through on your to-do list before then. Waiting any longer to snag your plane ticket back home could be a mistake, though, because data shows the best time to book is, well, ASAP. Skyscanner, a site that compiles the cheapest flights across airlines, recently went through travel data from previous years to uncover the cheapest time to buy holiday tickets. While October came out as the most affordable month to book both domestic and international flights with prices 4 and 3 percent less than average, respectively, you still have time to score deals even though November has officially hit. Up until the 19th of the month, domestic flights are still 3 percent below average. Up until November 19, domestic flights are still 3 percent below average. But once December arrives, the cost of flights increase to 5 percent above average. Yikes. It might be hard to fork over the moolah on your travel already, but one thing’s for sure: You’ll seriously regret it if you don’t. Once December arrives, the cost of flights increases to 5 percent above average. So not only will booking now save you from draining your bank account—but it’ll also make your parents super happy when you tell them you already have plans to see them well before Thanksgiving. Best daughter ever or what? Here’s Meghan Markle’s trick
Author: CityWomen
Unsure about coming out as LGBTQ+ at work? Here’s a 5-step guide to help you decide
November 01, 2018 at 07:10AM Bringing your whole self to work is an uncomfortable notion to many; imposture syndrome, fear of rejection, and boundaries are just a few of the reasons employees may struggle with letting their entire (and totally boss) personalities and interests shine at their nine-to-five. But for LGBTQ+ employees in particular, being yourself can be challenging on a whole other level—especially if you haven’t come out. “In life, if you’re queer or genderqueer and are not out, you can feel like you’re not really you,” says Rena McDaniel, licensed clinical counselor and sex therapist. And the same goes if you’re out everywhere but work. “Considering that you spend the majority of your time at work, not being out means you aren’t sharing a really big part of yourself and your identity with your coworkers. It can make you feel like you’re hiding who you really are,” she says. In fact, according to a new survey from the Human Rights Campaign, nearly half (46 percent) of LGBTQ+ employees are closeted at work. Reasons why include fear of being stereotyped (38 percent), making others uncomfortable (36 percent), losing connections with coworkers (31 percent), and false accusations of being attracted to someone at the office simply because of the LGBTQ+ status (27 percent). Coming out as LGBTQ+ is rarely easy. But the question of whether or not to come out at work is a particularly loaded one, fraught with legal ambiguities and inequalities. Coming out as LGBTQ+ is rarely easy, but the question of whether
5 Mind-Blowing Avocado Swaps You’ll Actually Use
November 01, 2018 No surprise here that avocado is a fan favorite. Here are five healthy swaps that’ll make you love avocados for even more than just your guac obsession. Continue Reading… Author | Life by Daily Burn Selected by iversue
Why you should do Savasana after *every* workout, according to science
November 01, 2018 at 06:46AM Getting to hang out in Savasana is always the icing on the vegan carrot cake after you finish up your yoga routine. And if you’ve ever laid there wishing every workout ended in the feel-good restorative pose, maybe it should. According to one expert, it can be incredibly beneficial no matter which type of sweat sesh you choose. While it’s tempting to rush off the second your workout is complete—whether that’s spin, HIIT, or a run—taking five extra minutes to lay in the corpse pose allows your body to “absorb the full effects” of what you just did, helping you get more out of all that time and effort. “Especially in this active, overstimulated world, having a period of forced rest to do nothing but focus on the breath is a chance to really let go,” Tamsin Astor, PhD, told Healthline. Taking five extra minutes to lay in Savasana post-workout allows your body to absorb the full effects of your workout, helping you get more out of all that time and effort. Experts say doing Savasana post-workout gives the body the chance to relieve the built-up physical and mental stress that comes from the amped-up intensity, counteracting the stress hormones that are unleashed when you’re in workout-mode. “Your body doesn’t differentiate between stress from running from a tiger, having a long day at work, or a run in the park,” says psychologist Carla Manly, PhD. “Exercise puts us in that fight-or-flight state. Those situations trigger the body to flood itself with adrenaline
Is CBD coffee actually as beneficial as everyone says it is?
November 01, 2018 at 05:27AM CBD coffee is the unicorn latte of 2018: You can’t throw a reusable straw in New York City or Los Angeles without striking a cafe selling cannabinoid spiked brew. (Okay, so it hasn’t arrived at Starbucks yet. That one might take a minute.) But if you know anything about CBD—the ultra-buzzy, non-psychoactive cannabis compound that’s credited with all sorts of health benefits—this pairing sounds like a weird one. Coffee gives you a jolt of energy, while people often use CBD to calm down. Wouldn’t the combination of both just cancel each other out? Anecdotally, at least, that doesn’t seem to be the case. “What I hear from people is that they’re able to experience that nice, alert, focused energy of coffee without any of the jitters,” says Jewel Zimmer, founder of “farm-to-table” cannabis and CBD oil brand Juna. I’ve found that to be true, personally—as someone who loves the taste (and antioxidants) of cold brew but can’t drink it without feeling a little manic, I’ve realized that mixing CBD into my cup slightly mitigates those side effects. Photo: Unsplash/Rawpixel But why? Well, one commonly cited (but untested) theory is that it might have something to do with a chemical in the nervous system called adenosine. “Both caffeine and CBD inhibit adenosine signaling,” says neuroscientist Leigh Winters. “Adenosine acts as a central nervous system sedative, which is super useful in regulating our wake/sleep cycle. When you have a cup of coffee in the morning, it makes you
Spin junkies, your dreams are coming true: MZ Wallace and SoulCycle have a new bag collab
November 01, 2018 at 05:17AM One surefire way to tell you’ve stepped into a SoulCycle spinning studio—other than by the spoke-and-wheel graphics on the walls—are the number of MZ Wallace tote bags in the locker room. So it seems only fitting that the two companies have finally collaborated. “Funnily enough, this kind of came to be because so many of our existing customers were nudging SoulCycle,” says Lucy Wallace Eustice, MZ Wallace’s co-founder and designer. It’s true, says Julie Lieberman, SoulCycle’s senior director of buying and merchandising. “It was simply a natural fit,” she says. “We’ve heard our riders ask for their Metro Tote over and over again.” Persistence pays off—in this case, in the form of two slick, gunmetal designs—the coveted Metro Medium Tote ($225) and Metro Belt Bag ($145). “Both [are] on-trend and completely functional for running to and from class,” says Lieberman. They also mark the first time MZ Wallace has delineated from its traditional design details, adds Eustice. Photo: MZ Wallace “The first thing is the colors,” she says. “We used SoulCycle’s colors, grey and yellow—the grey has a very slight metallic sheen; it also has a yellow zipper. Normally, the zippers match, but we wanted that contrast. Then, the inside pouch that comes with all the bags, we resized to fit SoulCycle’s spin shoes.” As a final touch, Eustice’s team embossed SoulCycle’s monogram on the leather finishes for the Metro Tote’s handles. Photo: MZ Wallace To add some outsider context to this collab, it’s basically the brand
How to actually be present during sex (rather than going over your grocery list in your mind)
November 01, 2018 at 04:00AM Have you ever found yourself making a mental grocery list in the middle of sex? You could be completely into the person beneath you (or atop you, beside you, what have you), and enjoying yourself immensely, and then bam. Nope, not an orgasm. Rather, you just remembered there’s no mylk in the fridge, and now there’s nothing else you can think about. The problem, it turns out, is actually super common. “We used to have more clearly delineated lines between our personal lives, our work lives, and everything else,” says Daniel Olavarria, LCSW. “The convenience that’s afforded to us by the internet, mobile phones, flexible work hours, and social media also has a flip side: It’s hard for our brains to keep track of which moments and places in our day are dedicated to certain things.” Basically, we’re so great at multitasking that sex, too, can certainly fall victim to busyness. Basically, we’re so great at multitasking that sex, too, can certainly fall victim to busyness. Your mind very well might not know that once you slip between the sheets for some fun, it’s a “safe” moment for it to turn off. And if you’re someone who tends to look at your phone in bed—or binge-watch the latest and greatest on Netflix, or fire up the laptop for some hygge WFH—the effects may be more severe for you, since your brain associates stimuli with your mattress. Furthermore, the tendency for your mind to wander tends to
One PT has seen an uptick in injuries from *this* type of class
November 01, 2018 at 03:30AM Injuries are the nemeses of workout warriors everywhere. Sure, you can totally get them from yoga and running , but Helen Kim, DPT, a New York City-based physical therapist, says she’s witnessed an uptick in clients who end up at her practice with shoulder, neck, lower back, and knee injuries (among others), thanks to none other than fusion classes. “These type of classes are very trendy and popular because they are offering something ‘new,’ and blending together other types of traditional exercises,” the physical therapist explains, citing yoga and pilates combo as an offender. “This may be appealing since they are fun, different, and challenging. However, because of the fast pace and competitive nature of these classes, you may be more focused on trying to follow along and not pay attention to what you’re feeling and modifying if needed,” she says. Plus, because you’re melding together two different modalities form of the movement can quickly go out the window. To avoid walking out of yoga boxing with a case of pulled hamstrings, Kim has three recommendations. First, do your homework on the class. If it promises to feature a slot of workout moves your body’s never done before, it might not be for you (yet). Two, take a beginner’s class of both parts of the fusion beforehand (for example: dance cardio and reformer), so that you can nail the technique then go for the combination. And finally, spread these fusions out throughout the course of a week, leaving rest days in between for your body
Your November energy forecast: Get ready to feel a powerful new life force
November 01, 2018 at 02:43AM If you’ve felt like a snake shedding its skin for most of 2018, you’ve got a major boost coming this month, says “RockStar Shaman” Alyson Charles. There’s a new era starting—here’s what you need to know, plus the spirit animal that can help you usher it in. As we turn the corner to enter the tail end of 2018, can you sense what a trippy, time-warp year this has been? When accessing in to the guidance for this month’s forecast, I was directed to go back to the forecast for January 2018 to reflect, and that process brought huge swells of emotions to my eyes. January’s forecast revealed that this would be the year of the snake, of shedding our old skin and old patterns to birth a new way of life. And wow, can you take a moment now to really honor yourself for all the evolution (and some total 180s) you’ve courageously experienced this year? January asked if we were ready to “shed to rise, release to uplift, and liberate to higher energy,” and that work is all paying off now as we enter November. It promises to be a month of much-needed balance after so much change and upheaval—as well as a month of softening, especially in areas where we used to constrict or worry. Can you sense what a trippy, time-warp year this has been? Along with the balancing and softening, November is bringing with it a sense of beginning to land again—we’ve
Shake Out Stiff Legs With This Dance Move You Can Do Anytime, Anywhere
November 01, 2018 at 12:30AM It’s a great all-around workout that just feels like fun. Continue Reading… Author Emma Loewe | Life by Daily Burn Selected by iversue