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My Best Friend’s Girl: Is the "Bro Code" scientific?
Could the “bro code” be part of our DNA? A new study has found that men’s testosterone levels drop during contact with the wives and girlfriends of their closest male pals.
2013 September/October
Staring Plastic Surgery in the Face
Connections
Ask a Practitioner: So what’s a colon hydrotherapist?
So what made you say to yourself, I want to be a colon hydrotherapist?I developed ulcerative colitis, and it was through a colon hydrotherapist that I learned how to heal myself na…
The Healing Power of Chant
Kirtan practitioner Snatam Kaur finds the vibrations that move us, body and soul.
A Body at Rest: Restorative Yoga Triggers Your Relaxation Response
I was having coffee with an old friend when I found myself interrupted—repeatedly—by a series of “helpful” reminders and messages from my smartphone. With each blrrpt, …
The Buzz on Colony Collapse
An insidious new class of pesticides threatens our food supply’s most important pollinators.
The Things We Carry: A Backpacker Reflects on Her Relationship with Waste
“They didn’t understand why we wanted to sleep on the ground like peasants, when we had beds at home that our ancestors could only dream of. We told them we wanted to escape the crowds. ... But we couldn’t escape ourselves.”
Tags:
• Eco-Friendly
5 Apps to Quiet Your Mind
From meditation to mental health, try these apps to achieve stillness on the run.
Puppy Love: It’s official! Having a pet is good for your heart
While all animal lovers know instinctively that living with a pet can lift their spirits, a new scientific statement from the American Heart Association confirms it is literally go…
Faster Food Choices: 9 Favorite Apps
Being an informed foodie has never been easier. Our favorite apps offer information and inspiration at the touch of an icon.An apple a day may keep the doctor away, but a variety o…
Ghee Whiz: Try clarified butter for a tasty—and healthful—alternative to oil
For centuries, cooks across Europe, Asia, and the Middle East have heated butterfat to remove the milk solids and water, making ghee, or clarified butter. Ghee has a longer shelf l…
Don’t Panic! Worrying About Your Health can Trigger Real Symptoms
Your mom always told you that worrying would make the shot worse, and now research confirms that some things really do hurt more if you think they will.
A Grandfather Glimpses Life—and Death—Through Young Eyes
Five-year-old Eleanor and I are on the upper deck of a small beach cottage on Hatteras Island, North Carolina, cradled in the hammock. We have just finished reading a book about a …
A New Spin on World Peace: In a divided Israel, teens connect through Ultimate Frisbee
Imagine living in a completely segregated society where decades of discord have created gulfs between ethnicities, religions, and cultures.“Even within Israel, Jews and Arabs neve…Tags:
• Israel
Survival Lessons: Novelist Alice Hoffman's Memoir about Breast Cancer
Who is Survival Lessons for? I wrote this book for survivors of trauma, but it’s also for the people who love them. So many of us are taught to deny illness and loss. When trag…
A Good Death
Two new memoirs examine the way we die—and reflect on how we can do it better.
Tags:
• Death
Carrie Newcomer's Latest Album: Kindred Spirits
With lyrics like “God walks around in muddy boots” and “a summer tomato is a cause to rejoice,” it’s clear Carrie Newcomer has a knack for finding the transcendent in the everyday…
5 Questions for Thich Nhat Hanh
Thich Nhat Hanh (1926-2022) on what moved him along his spiritual path.
DIY Quiet: Six Tips to Find Your Stillness
The neighbor’s smoke alarm is beeping, demanding a new battery. A kid is bouncing on a pogo stick out in the yard—squeak, squeak, squeak. Trying to focus on a task can be cha…
How to Avoid “Catching” a Bad Mood
Tips to become depression-proof, because misery does love company.
Sacred Space at Home
Create an “inner sanctum” where you can connect with your partner.
Tags:
• Intimacy
Elizabeth Gilbert on her new novel, "The Signature of All Things"
Charting the border between science and spirituality.What led you to explore the subject of botany? My parents gave me a copy of a book that had belonged to my great-grandfather, a…
Family Dynamic: Deepak Chopra reflects on how family has changed him
We visted with Deepak Chopra a year after son Gotham’s documentary, Decoding Deepak, opened a window on the spiritual icon’s private life. How has it affected you to have grandch…
For Chronic Illness, Try Qi Gong
Medical styles like Dragon and Tiger can offer gentle yet effective relief.
Tags:
• Qigong
Becoming Ourselves: A great read can help us discover our highest self
Becoming Kuan Yin: The Evolution of CompassionBy Stephen Levine (Weiser Books) Stephen Levine’s Becoming Kuan Yin tells of Miao Shan, the daughter of a spiteful Chinese king. When…Tags:
• Book Reviews
Columns
Care of the Soul: Joyfully Adrift
Maybe, as we become more soulful, we drift into reality rather than away from it.
Close to the Ground: Buddhaland
She was sitting on a bench outside the grocery store where I shop. It was 8 a.m. and drizzling—typical for spring in Eugene. I watched her sip coffee out of a well-worn Starbucks c…
Ask Rabbi Rami: "Whose God is the Truest?"
My friends and I have different ideas of God. Is any idea of God truer than any other?Rabbi Rami: Let’s define “true” here as “that which makes me more kind and just.” The more you…Tags:
• Judaism
Natural Medicine: B12 Benefits, Adrenal Fatigue, pH-balanced Diet, and Optimal Juicing
I’m hearing about more and more people getting vitamin B injections, but then I read that this is appropriate only for people with a deficiency. What’s your advice? Vitamin B12 wo…
The Heart of Money: Is Solar a Good Investment?
[Paul pictured with his oldest son, who heads to university this fall.]
Features
Roshi Joan Halifax on Compassion, Women in Buddhism, and Altruism
We spoke to the Upaya Zen Center founder about her understanding of suffering, shamanic studies, and environmental activism.
Face to the Floor: How a Buddhist American woman opened her heart to Islam
Omar stood on my doorstep, smiling and peering at me through square, outdated glasses. He placed his hand over his heart in a traditional Muslim greeting and stepped inside. His d…
Plastic Surgery: Six things I learned about this emotionally loaded, spiritually conflicted choice
My friend Wendy has always been the envy of our group of women friends. Willowy-tall, she has legs that go on forever, naturally blond hair, and a face like a model’s. Yet when …
Meet Your Parasites: Can They Help Heal Autoimmune Disorders?
Years after scientists first noticed that autoimmune disorders rise as our environment gets cleaner, a new generation of researchers is looking at parasites not as a scourge but as…Tags:
• Immune System
Reviews
Film Review: Unacceptable Levels - Do You Know What's in Your Water Supply?
DIRECTED BY ED BROWN Director Ed Brown is not your typical activist, nor is he one of those thought leader types who pretend to have all the answers. As he presents himself in thi…Tags:
• Film Reviews
Ayahuasca
Welcome to the WorkBen LeeTen Fingers RecordsThe transformative properties of the Amazonian healing medicine ayahuasca are unmistakable on Australian singer-songwriter Ben Lee’s ni…
Film Review: One Track Heart - The Story of Krishna Das
Directed by Jeremy Frindel Krishna Das—an American chanter of an ancient Indian devotional music known as kirtan—was born Jeffrey Kagel on Long Island in 1947. He grew…Tags:
• Film Reviews
Kirtronica
Jaya Lakshmi with AnandaSounds TrueThe latest creation by American vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Jaya Lakshmi is exactly what the name Kirtronica implies: a fusion of call-and…Tags:
• Music Reviews
Awakening the Fire
R. Carlos Nakai and Will Clipman Canyon Records Not counting birdsong, cicada rhythms, and ocean waves, the most ancient music on earth was probably created by the human voice. N…Tags:
• Film Reviews
Bobby McFerrin's SpiritYouAll Honors His Father
(Sony Masterworks)After 30 years of uplifting vocals, a cappella magic, 10 Grammys, and a wide swath of musical collaborations, in his new album Bobby McFerrin focuses on his own s…
The Art of Healing
The Art of Healing: Uncovering Your Inner Wisdom and Potential for Self-HealingBy Bernie S. Siegel, MD; New World LibraryWhether or not you enjoy this book has little to do wi…Tags:
• Book Reviews
Love Your Enemies
How to Break the Anger Habit & Be a Whole Lot HappierBy Sharon Salzberg and Robert ThurmanHay HouseAs the elevator door closed in my face, I felt my blood pressure rise. D…Tags:
• Metta
Root-to-Stalk Cooking
The Art of Using the Whole VegetableBy Tara DugganTen Speed PressIn an age of nose-to-tail animal cookery, it’s only natural that an enterprising chef should turn her attentio…
Darling
A Spiritual AutobiographyBy Richard RodriguezVikingIn the months after the events of September 11, 2001, the award-winning journalist Richard Rodriguez found himself drawn to learn…
