April 08, 2019 at 08:29AM by CWC In my time working at Well+Good, I’ve developed a love for crystals. I’ve interviewed all sorts celebrities and wellness gurus alike, who have all praise their purported high-vibe properties, from Miranda Kerr, who sleeps with rose quartz under her pillow to Olympian figure skater Adam Rippon, who says his go-to gemstones bring him good workout vibes. But there’s one much-revered crystal that my personal collection has been missing: shungite. Lately, every crystal lover that I chat with raves about shungite and its purported benefits, which are unique and powerful, according to those who are in-the-know. “Shungite is an ancient rock formation that’s believed to be about two billion years old,” says Colleen McCann, energy practitioner and founder of Style Rituals. “Shungite receives its healing powers from one of its elements, fullerenes, which are a crystalline form of carbon and a major component of the gemstone.” Interestingly enough, McCann says that shungite is the only known source of fullerenes on earth—except for a few meteorites—which means it’s extra special. The stone has been used for centuries, and originally hails from a village called Shunga in Russia (where it gets its name), says McCann. “Legend and lore dates back to the reign of Ivan the Terrible, and locals knew about its mysterious powers,” she tells me, and aside from being used for its metaphysical prowess, some has used the carbon-rich stone to purify water. “There are two types of shungite: Type one is known as ‘noble’
Category: 2019 Health
This 8-move, at-home abs workout will fire up your full body
April 08, 2019 at 07:03AM by CWC As any trainer worth their free weights will tell you, a strong core is key to pretty much a strong everything else. But there’s one problem: Holding a plank for a minute-and-a-half for the sake of getting stronger is A) hard and B) boring as hell. Thanks to Le Sweat founder Charlee Atkins, you can light that core afire without having to pop into plank pose for any longer than 30 seconds. In honor of our Trainer of the Month Club’s week two ab challenge, she shares a no-equipment workout that will help you get a more powerful core in seven minutes flat. After week one’s no-equipment abs workout left our center’s burning (seriously—we did them in the office every day for a week, and it was hard), week two’s workout is meant to take that strength and apply it to your whole body. And, it’s worth noting, Atkins’ tips from last week still hold true. “In all of these core exercises, the focus is to stabilize the core around the spine,” she told us. “So in any supine (or lying) exercises the emphasis is pressing the lower back into the ground. And for any prone exercises the focus is on keeping a flat back, head in line with hips or heels, depending on exercise.” Follow along with the workout below, and be sure to check out our Instagram every Monday for a new series of body-building moves from Atkins for the rest
On-demand, $20 astrology readings via text message? Yep, there’s an app for that
April 08, 2019 at 03:00AM by CWC Picture the kind of gal who does elaborate rituals to welcome the new moon and quizzes her dates on their sun, moon, and rising signs—yeah, hi, it’s me. I’ve been obsessed with astrology since my early teens, and to this day, I still feel like something’s missing if I don’t know exactly what’s going on up in the stars, at all times. You may call this type of behavior excessively woo-woo—I mean, I am a mystically-minded Pisces rising—but I actually see my astro addiction as a manifestation of my type-A, control-freak side. (Natal moon in the 6th house!) I like to meticulously map out my weeks in advance; I like to feel prepared for the unexpected; and I like to get as much insight as possible into the people around me, because relationships are messy and confusing by nature. Astrology makes me feel like I have a little more command over my own life, in some small way. So obviously I sprung at the chance to try Sanctuary, a new astrology app offering professional mini-readings via live text rather than algorithm. I already use astrology to plan my days to some degree, but in practice, it requires a lot of research time. With Sanctuary, whenever you have a question, you can message it to a pro and get a straightforward answer within minutes. It’s basically like having your own on-demand astrologer (which is exactly what my first big purchase would be if I
WNBA player Rebekkah Brunson shares the plant-powered food that keeps her strong on and off the court
April 08, 2019 at 02:00AM by CWC As a power forward for the Minnesota Lynx, Rebekkah Brunson has mastered how to fuel her body, getting the energy she needs for quick bursts of speed up and down the court. And she does it all without eating meat. Yes, contrary to enduring conventional “wisdom,” Brunson has proven that you can be vegan and a star athlete. She loads up on plant-based protein, fruits, and vegetables to keep her game strong, even during the off-season. However, her vegan diet doesn’t mean she’s going to miss out on waffles. Brunson and her wife, Bobbi Jo, own Sweet Gypsy Waffles, a waffle truck that offers up sweet waffles topped with powdered sugar, Nutella, and fruit, and savory ones topped with homemade chili. It was actually playing basketball abroad in Belgium that gave Brunson her first taste of real Belgian waffles, and later, she was inspired to bring the specialty stateside. Bonus: All the profits from Sweet Gypsy Waffle go directly to various charities. View this post on Instagram BB’s got boards. 3,356 to be exact. 🥇🐐 A post shared by minnesotalynx (@minnesotalynx) on Feb 25, 2019 at 11:43am PST //www.instagram.com/embed.js So, how does a pro basketball player balance eating healthy and waffles? We asked Brunson to share a week’s worth of her food and workouts. Some things to remember: Brunson is a professional athlete, so her training schedule and food needs likely look a bit different than the average person’s. And while she is
What astrologers mean when they excitedly talk about a cosmic “conjunction”
April 07, 2019 at 01:52PM by CWC As you become increasingly astro-sophisticated (and aren’t we all these days?), you’re going to hear a lot about planets, the sun, and the moon being “conjoined” in different combinations. Astrologer Jennifer Racioppi is here to help you understand what that actually describes—because FYI there’s a major conjunction happening right now—and give you the cosmic 411 on the rest of the week. Happy horoscope-ing! After last week’s new moon in Aries, the first new moon on the astrological new year, this week offers a critical runway for your dreams to take flight. Aries, the first sign of the zodiac, provides a potent activation, and a new moon in Aries (like we had in the early hours of last Friday) opens a vital gateway. In the days after the new moon, when the moon waxes like it is now, it becomes crucial to take actions on behalf of your goals, dreams, and desires, which makes this week a valuable time to rally your life force energy on behalf of what you most desire to create. To review some basics, at the start of every lunar cycle, the sun and the moon conjoin (meaning they align at the same degree of the same sign), creating a new moon—a temporary moment when we don’t see a moon in the night sky. This alignment between the sun and the moon, known as a conjunction, creates a very fertile moment. This alignment between the sun and the moon, known
The superstar soothing vitamin that your skin-care routine’s probably missing
April 07, 2019 at 10:00AM by CWC As far as the superstar vitamins you slather onto your skin go, vitamins A and C get all the attention. It’s for good reason, of course—vitamin A is the MVP you know and love as retinol, and vitamin C is the brightening essential that skin-care devotees hoard for their regimen. But there’s another equally important vitamin that’s often overlooked, and that is… drumroll, please… vitamin B3. Vitamin B3 is actually a nutrient that your body needs in its diet, and your skin isn’t much different. The vitamin, which is also known as niacinamide, has just as much street cred as vitamins A and C, and dermatologists and facialists alike think everyone should be applying to their face. “Niacinamide is a form of vitamin B3 commonly used in skin-care products,” says Joshua Zeichner, board-certified dermatologist in New York City. “It helps brighten the complexion and lighten dark spots. It also helps calm inflammation and supports healthy collagen production.” The best part? He says it’s okay to use for all skin types, including those with very sensitive complexions. Essentially, niacinamide is a key ingredient to add to your skin-care regimen to multitask in various glow-inducing ways. “Niacinamide or vitamin B3 is a key ingredient to treat age-related skin changes, acne, and skin discoloration,” says Alison Adams-Woodford, LE, from research and development at PCA Skin. “It naturally calms the skin and provides dramatic skin brightening.” Other perks, according to her, include decreased hyperpigmentation, blotchiness, fine lines, and acne, while
There’s one part of your Instant Pot that you probably aren’t cleaning—but should
April 07, 2019 at 08:00AM by CWC The Instant Pot is a food-making magician. You can basically put anything you want in there—whether that’s spaghetti squash or baked potatoes—and it’s finished cooking to perfection in minutes. While clean-up is pretty easy overall (basically just the stainless steel inner pot and a quick wipe-down of the outside!), it’s the hidden silicone ring on the inside of the lid that can be a little harder to deal with. The sealing ring has a very important duty in the Instant Pot—it helps ensure an airtight seal on your closed IP, helping truly pressurize the cooker (and thus cook all your food properly). Since it’s made of heat-resistant silicone, it will be just fine in those high, steamy temps. But it only takes a few meals for it to start smelling a little, umm, funky, and battling off the odor usually takes a little more effort. Some food Redditors even report that the smells from the seal can transfer to the food they cook (something that the manufacturers of the Instant Pot generally dispute). Thankfully, getting rid of the smell only requires calling on our home cleaning BFF, white vinegar. According to Instant Pot’s website, you can kill those gross odors by removing the silicone ring from the IP and soaking it in vinegar for a few minutes or overnight. Rinse and wash it with soap and water, then let it air-dry before popping it back into your Instant Pot. If you want to
Second-day eyeliner is my fave, so I found out how to recreate it on day one
April 07, 2019 at 04:00AM by CWC I should preface this by saying that I really hate the Saturday night ritual of going (as the kids say) “out.” As in: outside of my room, outside of a cozy coffee shop, outside of anywhere where the unspoken uniform isn’t “sweat pants and leggings.” I’d gladly ditch the weekly excursion altogether if it weren’t for peer pressure, and the fact that I love the look of second-day eyeliner—the ever-so-thin black line that hangs on despite my tipsy makeup-removing efforts. Come Sunday morning, the leftover pencil’s barely-there-ness gives me that “no-makeup” makeup that’s the subject of endless retweets. It also just feels more like me. And now, with the help of Molly R. Stern, a celebrity makeup artist, I’ve learned the art of recreating the serendipitous eye adornment even when I make the executive decision to skip the Saturday night spectacle. “I like using a felt-tipped liquid liner on the wet line of the top eye,” Stern tells me. “It tends to give a perfect amount of longwear color and the wetness of the liner mixes perfectly with the eye moisture. The finished look has that excellently worn-in vibe.” To trace inside the waterline, try making tiny dashes that build onto one another rather than one line (this will make the whole thing easier to achieve). If you’re more of an eyeliner pencil kind of gal, however, she advises the same dash technique along the upper lid, followed by swiping a small brush
We’ve reached peak minimalism, so why are people still buying throw pillows?
April 07, 2019 at 04:00AM by CWC My boyfriend recently shared with me his terrifying theory about throw pillows, based on his experience at various aunts’ homes: that they increase with age (volume of pillows, not number of aunts). Well, consider my inner Marie Kondo five-alarm fire officially set off, because throw pillows are the worst, most needless aspect of home decor. With these, less is more, and none is best. It’s baffling that throw pillows are still a thing amidst the current War on Clutter. We throw out everything! The prom dresses we were hoping to fit into someday; the IKEA culinary set we bought in college; the degree we earned in college; anything we haven’t used, worn, or specifically enjoyed in the past year; all of it. So how did we sit among these little damask-print rectangles, reposition ourselves because they are wildly uncozy, and conclude that they get to make the joy-sparking cut? Why do we lie to ourselves about these anti-comfort monsters that only work in the confines of Pinterest and magazines your aunts read? Annoyed and terrified (I mean, there’s a good chance I’m someday going to be an aunt—am I doomed to a future of throw pillows?), I looked into the origin of the useless overstuffed puffs. And, yikes, because the story starts with something I very much do love: a regular pillow. Throw pillows do nothing but provide discomfort and clutter. Furthermore, you only need one good pillow when it comes to bedtime,
The mental health realness movement is coming for your closet
April 06, 2019 at 12:00PM by CWC Sure, buying a new pair of platform sneakers or bike shorts can give you a little hit of happiness in the moment. (Dopamine, I know what you’re up to.) But can fashion make a meaningful difference when it comes to improving mental well-being in the long term? A small but growing contingent of brands are banking on it. While their aesthetics and missions are all a little different, each one draws on the lessons of the mental health realness movement—namely, they’re aiming to start a conversation around mental health concerns in order to normalize and destigmatize them. One of the first entrants to the scene was Madhappy, a streetwear brand that launched in early 2017 with a self-proclaimed ethos of optimism and inclusivity. In addition to tees and sweats in cheerful colorways, Madhappy also delivers events featuring mental health pros as speakers. This year, it launched a blog filled with original content and resources pertaining to the topic. “We had seen the rise of celebrity suicides in the press alongside heightened levels of social media abuse all around us, and we wanted to create a brand that could combat that,” says Peiman Raf, one of Madhappy’s four cofounders. “We felt that no brand has been a champion for mental health awareness and were motivated to tackle such a global issue.” Madhappy’s currently working to form charitable partnerships with mental health non-profits—a tactic that’s proven to be pretty powerful for other companies. Last year,