August 18, 2019 at 01:00PM by CWC As we transition from good-time Leo season into the uber-practical (and productive!) season of Virgo, there’s always a distinct back-to-school feeling. With Mars and Venus also moving into the sign of the virgin, expect that feeling to be amplified, says astrologer Jennifer Racioppi—who has some specific suggestions for getting the most out of this get-‘er-done period. With Mars, the planet of action, now in the sign of Virgo (it moved from Leo into Virgo on Sunday, August 18) the back-to-school mentality that Virgo season brings begins. Over the next few days, Venus and the sun will follow suit, leaving the sign of fun and play (aka Leo) and heading into the sign of structure, order, and service. Venus moves into Virgo on Wednesday, and the sun follows on Friday. Even more to the point: On Saturday, Venus and Mars will conjoin in the sign of the virgin, igniting practical, goal-driven passions. (And, yes, love too.) Virgo season signals the end of rosé all day and beckons the return back to the basics of health. Virgo, a mutable earth sign, sets transformation into motion. With summer quickly coming to an end, and daylight waning, Virgo season asks you to get organized. It signals the end of rosé all day and beckons the return back to the basics of health. Yes, I am talking about eating a low-glycemic diet complete with complex carbohydrates, locally sourced, organically produced foods inclusive of high-quality protein. Drinking plenty of
Category: Yoga
Driving along the rocky cliffs of Ireland helped me navigate my feelings post-divorce
August 17, 2019 at 04:02AM by CWC A friendly sign inside the rental car reminds me that I have one responsibility and one only—to drive on the left-hand side of the road. This roadtrip along Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way seemed like a much better idea several months ago when my best friend and I had decided to divorce our husbands at the same time. I couldn’t think of a more perfect place to escape reality than Ireland in December, where it would be perfectly acceptable to drink and cry at all hours of the day in dark pubs next to hot Irishmen. “I can’t do this,” I say. “You have to,” Allison replies. “It’s your turn. I’ve already done the first leg.” I’m still jet-lagged, and I don’t know how to convert kilometers to miles, but at least if I die here, I won’t have to go back home and deal with attorneys and divorce papers. I inch out onto the roadway. A car honks. I swerve back into the left lane. Even with the warning sign directly in my face, I’ve already forgotten how to drive here. Allison shoots me a look, the same one she’s given me for the last 25 years whenever I’ve done something stupid, like when I got the bright idea to wax my own eyebrows. I know Allison is wondering maybe if she should just take over, but this would mean she’d have to drive. She checks her phone, perhaps sending a good-bye text
Post-Yoga Glow Made Easy: The Best Way To Apply Blush
August 17, 2019 at 02:03AM Every. Single. Time. Continue Reading… Author Alexandra Engler | Life by Daily Burn Selected by CWC
“Heavy carries” are the surefire way to get stronger without lifting weights
August 16, 2019 at 01:00PM by CWC You’ll be hard-pressed to see me schlepping around with less than two bags at any given time. (Gym bag, purse, laptop bag… the list of bags really goes on and on.) But I tend to view this as an annoyance—I’ve grown to hate carrying things. Sometimes I’ll knock out some bicep curls with my heavy bags, sure—but I don’t really think of carrying stuff as a workout. Fitness trainers beg to differ. “There’s nothing better than wrapping your hands around some heavy bells and just holding, marching, or walking,” says Samantha Ciaccia, a New York City-based trainer. Exercises involving these “holds” include the popular farmer’s walk exercise, which involves simply walking in a straight line while holding heavy weights in your hands. (Sometimes people do single-arm farmer’s walks for more of a focus on the obliques.) This is functional fitness at its best, because while you can use kettlebells at your gym or weights at home, things like groceries and giant bags work just as well. “Farmer’s walks are beneficial because they’re simple and efficient, but help with core strength and total body coordination,” says celebrity trainer Paolo Mascitti. To do them properly, he says to make sure your core is tight, and shoulders are back and down away from your ears. “Keep awareness of your posture, and make sure you’re comfortable with the weight so it doesn’t compromise your form.” As for what weights to carry, Ciaccia says to “go as heavy as
This 8-minute Pilates ring workout will leave your abs sore for days
August 16, 2019 at 11:37AM by CWC [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f902gJ3FPSY] Much like medicine balls or yoga wheels, Pilates rings tend to fall into the category of workout tools that look pretty innocent. It’s just a hollow, simple ring—how sore can it leave you anyways? Fun fact: Very. In our latest episode of Good Moves, Well+Good’s video series that showcases sweat-packed at-home workouts, trainer Rahel Ghebremichael—a fitness pro who currently teaches at Modelfit—walks us through an abs-burning Pilates ring workout that will leave you seriously sore. Part strength training, part Pilates, this eight-minute sesh (which you can do from the comfort of your living room, BTW) works your arms, your core, your legs, and your balance. You might even say it’s a well-rounded sweat sesh you can do anytime, anywhere—even without a Pilates ring (Ghebremichael says it’s totally optional). Her advice for getting through the pain? “You can do anything for five reps!” Set one 1. Reverse lunge—left: Take a step back with your left leg, right knee over your right ankle on the same line. As you lunge, you’re going to keep your chest out, stomach in, core engaged. Take a squeeze of the Pilates ring in your hands, then as you extend your arms out, release and toe tap your right foot back as you stand up. Then take another giant step back, arms extending, pause—pull in the ring and squeeze—then release. Keep your shoulders away from your ears. 2. Oblique wood chop in lunge—right: Step back with your left
These swimsuits double as sports bras, so I’ll be wearing them long past Labor Day
August 15, 2019 at 02:00PM by CWC I’ve long been a believer in strategic swimwear. I love when a triangle top that peeks out during a dance-floor move can be excused as a bathing suit, or a when bandeau bikini that gives new, family-gathering-appropriate life to a v-neck that might have otherwise been cut too low. In my opinion, a swimsuit styled with actual clothing is the definition of summer outfit perfection. And applying this double-duty move to activewear—aka wearing your bikini top as a sports bra—is not only stylish, but it’s actually a fairly logical move. For me, throwing on a supportive bathing suit and heading to a workout about the ease of wear, and also about getting twice the bang for your bathing suit buck… even if swimming isn’t even part of the equation that day. Practicing free yoga stretches in my living room to Amazon Prime’s finest instructors means that a torso-flattering Boys + Arrows Phil Top ($98) can provide just the right lines and lift without the pressure. And for frisbee tosses on the actual beach, Cover’s Swim Sports Bra ($100) is a real winner. This multitasking attitude has been everywhere lately, as brands give bikini/sports bra hybrids new life both in and out of the water. Photo: Summersalt Summersalt Mesh Diver Bikini Top ($50) Take Summersalt, the sustainable swimwear label who launched their activewear line this month with the intention of giving everything from halter bikini tops to color-blocked leggings a double meaning. Pulled on
Approximately 1,000 yoga teachers have told me this is the most relaxing pose
August 15, 2019 at 11:38AM by CWC Whenever I take a yin yoga class (which is all about deep, long stretching), I can almost feel my thoughts melting into beautiful pink goo. Pigeon pose is my main squeeze. I’d sell my first born child before letting forward fold slip through my fingertips. But there’s one asana that I wouldn’t give up for anything. A pose that many of my yoga teachers have declared to be, and I quote, “the most relaxing” asana out there. Now that I have you on the edge of your seat, I’ll tell you that the pose with said mystical reputation is half frog pose. When you do the pose’s two-legged version, it’s a powerful groin stretch wherein you really, truly do look like an amphibian. Picture this: both your knees are on the mat and splayed out wide, your calves form a 90-degree angle with your thighs, and you slowly lower your chest to the ground until sensation leaps through your lower body. The half version is much more gentle. You lie all the way down on your stomach then hike one knee up so it’s forms just one 90-degree angle. It feels like tension is pouring out of you the minute you slide into it. But since I wasn’t sure why, I asked yoga teacher Lindsay Pirozzi of New York City’s Y7 studio why half frog is such a standout. “It’s so relaxing because you’re reclining on the yin side of your body–which is the front
This 8-minute morning stretch routine will wake you up when you don’t have time for yoga
August 14, 2019 at 03:00AM by CWC In theory, getting up early for a pre-work yoga class is never a bad idea—it can help to undo the tech neck, tight hips, and lower-back aches brought on by the daily grind and intensified by long stretches of time in bed. But let’s be real: In an era when being “tired all the time” has its own clever acronym, an extra hour in bed often wins out over warrior poses at dawn. Fortunately, you don’t have to fully sacrifice lithe, flexible muscles in favor of a full eight hours of sleep. According to Samira Mustafaeva, a former world-champion gymnast and founder of the SM Stretching studios in Los Angeles and Russia, all you need is an eight-minute morning stretch sesh to set you up for a more limber day. “Stretching can be done at any time of the day, but the morning is especially great because it awakens your muscles from slumber and gets you ready to go about your day,” she says, adding that a shorter routine is actually better because your joints will be stiffer after sleep. This is especially true if you’re starting as soon as you get out of bed, without a workout as a warmup. “Doing a few stretches in the a.m. with no prior workout is fine—just don’t do anything too sharp or pull too hard,” she says. “Push yourself as far as you are comfortable, without any serious discomfort, to wake up the body.” ad_intervals[‘413212_div-gpt-ad-9261280-3’]
Yes, your parents have a favorite child—here’s what happens when it’s not you
August 13, 2019 at 05:00PM by CWC My little brother and I recently engaged in a heated conversation about who’s the favorite child between us and our two other siblings. We’re all grown adults, yet this debate has been ongoing for as long as I can remember. My mom, for one, denies any favoritism, but I suspect she’s trying to shield us from the rather obvious truth: she loves my eldest brother most. Science says I might be right, at least in terms of the fact that she has a favorite period. Clinical psychologist Alexander Bingham, PhD, says real research backs up the notion that parents prefer one kid. In one 2005 longitudinal study, for example, 74 percent of mothers admitted to having a favorite child while 70 percent of fathers confessed to such a preference. So, odds are good that my parents—and yours, too—prefer one of their kids over the others. Dr. Bingham says this favoritism happens for the same reasons all humans prefer certain people, and those reasons, he explains, tend to fall into one of two buckets: neurotic and healthy. In psychoanalytic theory, a neurotic need is something an individual develops to protect themselves (like, for example, a need for approval as a means to stave off anxiety). “For neurotic reasons, any person will like or favor people who pander to their neurotic needs and dislike people who do not do so,” Dr. Bingham says. “If/when these needs are not met, the favoritism ends, replaced by dislike
The 7-minute, plank-centric yoga flow will fire up every part of your core
August 12, 2019 at 02:01AM by CWC [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YInYh05-4tE] Welcome to Trainer of the Month Club, our brand-new fitness series, where we tap the coolest, most in-the-know fitness leaders to create a month-long fitness challenge. On Mondays, we have our “sweat drops” where you’ll get access to the week’s workout that you can follow along at home. This week, Val Verdier is teaching us a yoga sequence that’s all about the core. When I think of yoga, I tend to think of it as an all-over workout—rather than a butt-sculpting, arm toning, or leg strengthening exercise specifically. Yoga pro Val Verdier, who’s our Trainer of the Month this August, has proved me wrong. This week? Verdier’s taking us through a core-activating yoga flow, and while it obviously works your entire body from head to toe, it gives your abs and obliques a little extra kick. “This is a little core sequence—it’s more about isolating the muscles so you can really feel engaged throughout the whole practice,” she says. “We’re not going to focus on repetition and all the sit-ups, but we’re going to engage [the core] the whole time and get the body moving.” You’ll definitely feel your abs quaking by the time you hit savasana. ad_intervals[‘414427_div-gpt-ad-9261280-3’] = setInterval(function () { if (ads_ready) { clearTimeout(ad_intervals[‘414427_div-gpt-ad-9261280-3’]); googletag.cmd.push(function(){googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-9261280-3’);}); } }, 100); Try this 7-minute yoga for core-focused flow, courtesy of Verdier 1. Bridge pose: Lie down onto your back, feet hip-distance apart and arms by your side. Reach for your heels to