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Meditation -- There's an App for That!

The act of meditating can help you rewire your brain in the sense that the more you think positively, the stronger the part of your brain that allows you to experience positivity becomes. And today, tech-enabled meditation is making it easier than ever to learn how to meditate. At the click of a button, you can escape to a place of calm to help be mindful and take a moment to reset your internal dialogue. Whether you want to meditate for five minutes, 10 minutes or 20, there are several technologies out there to help get the job done. Here are five to get you started:

11 Easy Ways to Relax

Relaxation: something so necessary for living a happy life, yet can so easily elude us on a daily basis. We have grown accustomed to hectic schedules, frenetic multitasking, and feeling guilty when we have a free moment. However, like vehicles, we have to stop and refuel, or we won’t be able to get moving. Here are some easy ways to relax in a world that doesn’t want you to:

5 Reasons to Practice Martial Arts

Martial arts training is considered amongst the healthiest and most comprehensive forms of exercise today, and when used properly, can do wonders for one’s physical and mental state. Here are five unique reasons to practice martial arts:

Sustainable Housing Series: Yurts

Welcome to the sustainable housing series with Basmati.com! Each week, I’ll write an article that talks about structures that promote sustainable living. I’ll cover everything from construction to average price. This week, I'll be exploring Yurts.

Week 2: Yurts

How Meditation Can Transform Work Culture

The World Health Organization estimates that stress costs companies at least $300 billion a year through absenteeism, turnover and decreased productivity. Some studies have even called stress a national epidemic. As such, more people than ever are making meditation a part of their weekly or even daily routine. Businesses are starting to see its impact on work culture, as employee wellbeing can enhance productivity in the workplace.

What If We Could Live as the Trees Do, or the Flowers?

We were at a local park, and while I tried to take more than five consecutive steps on my slackline without slipping, my best friend, B, was lying belly-up in the grass, musing to no one in particular about the miracle of capillary action.  To give a bit of context, he spent the last year working on a research project funded by NASA, the aim of which being to grow lettuce on the ISS.  As he would say, he needed only to build synthetic root systems, and everything else would just fall into place. 

Neonicotinoid Pesticides and Bees: What You Need to Know

Last week, Bayer made a bid to the tune of $62 billion to buy Monsanto. The merge would combine two of the largest producers of pesticides and GMO crop production, essentially creating a powerhouse of treated agricultural production. The attempt to merge comes in the wake of several other agribusinesses merges (namely Syngenta AG , Dow Chemical Co. and DuPont Co.). Monsanto has not yet responded to Bayer’s offer, though Bayer maintains that the $62 billion offer values the Monsanto shares at 37% over their existing value, at $122 per share.

Free Falling is Only Scary if You Fight It

Today I had the pleasure of running into not one but TWO friends of mine unexpectedly. While we were catching up, the second one mentioned something I found quite profound, "Free falling is only scary if you fight it." That statement really struck me, probably because I've been fighting, well, everything.

The Meditative Power of Water

Water is a common symbol for meditation – it is an infinite flow that moves through blockages and opens inner peace and healing. Water enhances the power of relaxation and brings you deeper into the spiritual realm by calming the overactive mind. This encourages an unattached and weightless spirit.

Wild Garden Reflections

While looking at the overgrown parts of my vegetable garden, I felt a combination of regret and amazement. Regret because I have obviously been neglecting the garden, hence the overgrown weeds, grasses, and vegetable plants that have flowered and gone to seed. However, I was also amazed because I could still harvest quite a lot from it.