Perry Garfinkel

British author Graham Greene, in his 1980 book, "Ways of Escape," put into words what most writers know: "Writing is a form of therapy; sometimes I wonder how all those who do not write, compose or paint can manage to escape the madness, melancholia, the panic and fear which is inherent in a human...

Nobody walks in L.A.? Ridiculous! This is a series of articles exploring the many opportunities for walking in (and around) a city of 3.8 million.

Lauren Kessler

My shoulders are lowered, blades squeezed, back expanded, ribs wrapped, pelvis tucked, glutes engaged, core activated, spine long and neutral. My feet toes gripping, heels rooted push back against the floor to lengthen the muscles of my thighs and calves. My neck is long, but not because my...

CrossFit changed fitness. Now, the high-intensity workout colossus wants to change our diets, by cutting back on sugar-packed sodas and energy drinks, considered by many the key agents in the steep rise of obesity and chronic diseases including diabetes. "We're in a holy war with Big Soda," CrossFit...

Rene Lynch

Did you overdo the cocktails and cookies this holiday season? (We sure did!) We asked L.A.'s Tess Masters a.k.a. the Blender Girl to help us get back on track in 2016. Masters, author of "The Blender Girl Smoothies: 100 Gluten-Free, Vegan, and Paleo-Friendly Recipes," says she has one foolproof...

Kavita Daswani

Unless you're the designated driver, holiday parties are often associated with that wrecked morning-after feeling: nausea, dehydration, dizziness. And typical remedies black coffee, aspirin, a greasy meal might not always work. Which explains why healthcare entrepreneurs among them doctors...

Bonnie McCarthy

Do it. Now. If you're like most of us, you want to lose weight in 2016. The experts we spoke to suggest that you start now. As in, today. "There's no need to wait for January 1st," said Jocelyn Shaw, a Weight Watchers personal coach and leader. "The very next decision you make can turn it around...

Lisa Mulcahy

We're betting you've already "treated yourself" a little too much this holiday season hey, who can resist that extra reindeer cookie? Pretty much no one. But here's some good news. You can get a jump on your resolution to drop a few pounds in 2016 and it won't be hard at all. New research shows...

Lily Dayton

Essential oils are all the rage but do they live up to their claims? You can't pass through the personal care aisle of a supermarket without seeing labels that tout the benefits of essential oils, including the relaxing effects of lavender and the skin-nourishing properties of pomegranate seed....

Valli Herman

Los Angeles is a leading center for all things yoga and a natural location to unite leaders aiming to shape future trends. Which is why dozens of yoga enthusiasts filed into lecture rooms, exhibitor booths and yoga studio spaces in downtownLos Angeles recently for the first-ever Veda MeLA, the...

Valli Herman

"There is no modern yoga; there is just yoga in modern times." That's a line from the new Taschen book "On Yoga: The Architecture of Peace" by photographer Michael O'Neill. The book's recent release coincides with an exhibition of 80-plus large-scale photographs at the Taschen Gallery, marking...

Mary MacVean

All sorts of fitness buffs have taken to using foam rollers on backs and arms and legs, but it's often a no-pain, no-gain venture. That made no sense to the developer of a gentler way to self-massage muscles and other troublesome areas of the body. "If you are in pain, why would you cause pain...

Leslie Baehr

Bridging the gap between who we are and who we want to be is often exhausting. To become fitter, we need to keep from blowing off the gym. And to do that, we need willpower. Children who have the self-control to resist a marshmallow now in order to receive two later generally have better SAT scores...

Mary MacVean

Shay Kostabi was a dancer and choreographer who found fitness. Her boyfriend, Jesse DeYoung, was a trainer who became a photographer. And an idea was born. Why not meld fitness and art? They founded the Local Skill, an "artistic fitness collective" that enables them to tap their creative roots...

Kavita Daswani

If you can't find a doctor who makes house calls, telehealth might be an appealing option. Telehealth using electronic information and telecommunications to support long-distance healthcare was once primarily used by people in remote areas who might have to travel for hours to see a doctor....

Kavita Daswani

When Dr. Renee Dua's son was 7 months old, she and her husband had to take him to a hospital emergency room for what ended up being a non-threatening condition. Still, it took eight hours of waiting around to be told that. "I wondered why two reasonably intelligent people would have to go through...

Denise Florez

When biking started taking off in and around Los Angeles, I wanted to be part of it, but I was intimidated by the cars that are very much unwilling to share the road. Then I found the Ovarian Psycos Bicycle Brigade. The Los Angeles-based group with the eyebrow-raising name bills itself is a supportive...

Mary MacVean

For 14 years now, sometimes three times a week, Robin Russell has gotten up around 3 a.m. and driven his maroon van from Pasadena to the same spot in Griffith Park, not far from the zoo. In the dark, he rakes out a small clearing under an oak tree, unpacks a six-piece drum kit and sets up, everything...

Kavita Daswani

Fitness trainers say they are putting more dance moves in their routines, and high-profile trainer Shaun T has a dance workout called Cize for streaming or on DVD and at gyms including Bay Club in Santa Monica. Dancing is naturally social, and experts say that in dance fitness classes, students...

Denise Florez

My first hike happened by accident. It was forced upon me, sort of. It was the Sunday when the eclipse of the super blood moon took place. My husband and I planned to take our daughter to see it at Griffith Observatory, where live classical music would be played. I thought it seemed like a great...

Peg Moline

I sat at the edge of my seat, waiting to be called up. Hands freezing, heart racing, I tried to slow my breathing and calmly remember what to do. Breathe, got to breathe. The instructor called my name. I walked to my spot, inhaled and expanded my rib cage. Nodded. And began to sing "Shenandoah."...

Peg Moline

New York City psychologist Linda Hamilton theorizes that the reason some of us love horror movies is that it takes us out of our normal life. "Halloween and scary movies, scaring people and being scared, is not boring," said Hamilton. "We are attracted to doing things that are unusual. How many...

Perry Garfinkel

At first blush, Susan King seems like the type of person you'd meet at a neighborhood pub in London after work: cheerful, bubbly, given to exuberant exclamation. There's nothing about her personality that gives you a sense of what she does for a living. She calls herself an "intuitive counselor"...

Lily Dayton

Cheryl Strayed has always collected quotes from her favorite writers and used them as solace and inspiration during tough times. She's copied their words into notebooks, tacked them onto her walls and even transcribed them into trailhead log books during her famous journey on the Pacific Crest...

Claire Coghlan

Oscar winners Julianne Moore, who portrayed a woman battling early-onset Alzheimer's disease, and Eddie Redmayne, who played Stephen Hawking, a theoretical physicist with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), have helped shine a light on debilitating brain diseases that affect millions of people...

Mary MacVean

I never took a single ballet class as a girl, despite my whining, and while I got over that, I still can't ignore the allure of long graceful muscles and good posture -- which is the sweet promise behind barre workouts. Barre teachers say the workout's combination of dance exercises, yoga and Pilates...

Lily Dayton

Jane Smiley is an author who doesn't shy away from ambitious literary projects. She penned "The Greenlanders," a saga about the dying Greenlandic civilization, in the epic Norse tradition. In "A Thousand Acres," she reinvented Shakespeare's King Lear in America's contemporary heartland and won...

Mary MacVean

Readers have asked for a class that would suit older people or those recovering from an injury. This class works for those groups, and it works for everyone else too. It's water aerobics, this one at the West Hollywood Pool, part of that city's recreation program. I tried this class on a crazy...

Continue reading here:
Health & Fitness - Los Angeles Times