In the face of so much uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, its tempting to search for answers that might help you regain some sense of control over your life. You might, for instance, find yourself reading the advice of self-appointed health experts and social media gurus, who love to make overblown and often blatantly inaccurate claims about using diet to avoid getting seriously ill from the novel coronavirus and spreading it to other people.

Their arguments can be summed up like this: A population full of strong bodies would effectively stanch the pandemics spread and hasten our return to normalcy. Also, eating the right food and fortifying ones immune system (through vitamins, etc.) is enough to personally inoculate oneself from the worst effects of COVID-19.

As science, its garbage. Worse, emphasizing healthy eating above all else is a way of casting doubt on the necessity of masks, social distancing and, on occasion, the efficacy of vaccines.

This focus on diet is shared by alternative-health gurus, medical quacks, social media grifters, and at least one celebrity chef and former presidential candidate. These people often dont deny Covids existence, or even its virulence. But they often imply that the climate of fear surrounding the pandemic is overblown and that mainstream authorities have deliberately ignored the issue of diet in their safety messaging. The true pandemic, they say, is Americas longstanding preponderance of diet-related disease, such as diabetes, heart disease, hypertension and obesity.

Perhaps youve seen these ideas echoed by friends on social media, where they tend to proliferate. Or maybe youve seen the misinformation emerge at its source: by various influencers or public figures who advance these claims online, often to audiences in the tens of thousands.

One particularly brazen tweet that was devoid of much context came from the UKs Aseem Malhotra, a cardiologist who cites dieting as something of a panacea in the fight against COVID.

As Nicola Guessassociate professor at the UKs University of Westminster and Head of Nutrition at the Dasman Diabetes Institutetells Lifehacker, diet is and has always been an important aspect of ensuring overall health. But there is zero evidence to support claims that eating healthier will protect one from contracting COVID or succumbing to its more serious effects.

She writes in an email:

Eating a healthy diet and...exercise is sensible as it protects us from a lot of diseasesin my view there is no evidence and no justification for pinning healthy eating on COVID-19 (unless you have something to sell). Is it worth trying to eat more healthy during a pandemic if theres a chance it could protect you against severe infection? Sure, because there are no downsides to eating less sugar, junk food etc. Lets just not pretend that its going to prevent someone from getting COVID-19 and even dying from it there are 23-year-old slim athletes who have sadly died.

Eating healthy, exercising, and taking vitamins when needed are great ways to ensure your personal health in a general sensethis is knowledge backed up by over a century of scientific study. Still, its no substitute for a coherent public health policy involving traditional epidemiological tools in the midst of a raging pandemic. Heres what you need to know about the culture of dietary zealotry and how you can spot it in its many forms.

In recent years, dietary evangelists have accrued an increasing deal of clout in the public sphere. The craze has been spurred on by celebrities such as Gweneth Paltrow, whose wildly popular lifestyle brand Goop has touted raw food diets deemed potentially deadly by experts. Podcast host Joe Rogan has also helped amplify the dietary claptrap of Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson, who advocates a strictly carnivorous diet (both Peterson and his daughter, Mikhaila, claim a red meat diet cured their long standing bouts of depression).

Much of the dietary fundamentalism preaches different methods for boosting general immunity and thus warding off Covid. Paul Saladino, for example, a doctor based in Austin, Texas, recommends chowing down on organ meats and steak. The doctor T. Colin Campbell, on the contrary, is an advocate of whole food, plant-based dieting. He wrote this year: I doubt there are many people who will be content with repeated masking, social distancing, and contact tracing when changing our diet could do so much more, while simultaneously protecting social norms, job security, and our economy. UK celebrity doctor Aseem Malhotra, meanwhile, published a book promising a 21-day route to immunity through conscientious dieting that purports to prevent, improve and even potentially reverse the factors that can cause or worsen COVID-19.

Adherents of the trend arent always doctors. Australian celebrity chef Pete Evans was fined $25,000 by the countrys Therapeutic Goods Administration this year after making outlandish online claims about a device he invented called a Biocharger. Evans was charging $14,000 for the wellness platform, which he claimed was programmed with a thousand different recipes and theres a couple in there for the Wuhan coronavirus. The idea seeps into the echo chambers of YouTube and Instagram, but isnt confined to social media influencers: former Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson joined in as well.

David Gorski, M.D., an oncologist and editor at Science-Based Medicine, says the notion that diet can prevent or treat illness is nothing new. The idea that diet can somehow magically enhance the immune system so that we never (or almost never) get sick is a very old alternative medicine fantasy that takes a grain of truth and then vastly exaggerates it.

This kind of dietary dogma is often devoid of the scientific nuance that pervades modern immunology, especially in light of COVID-19s recent emergence and our evolving understanding of the virus.

Dr. David Robert Grimes, a cancer researcher, physicist, and author of The Irrational Ape, builds on that point, saying: dietary zealots often make vague statements about protecting ones immune system, but this is at best a truism and at worst mindless. He explained to Lifehacker that this thinking showcases a complete lack of understanding about immunology.

According to Grimes:

Boosting your immune system is often the last thing you want to do; ask anyone with an allergy, being attacked by their own immune system, for example. During Spanish flu, young healthy people died disproportionately because their immune system over-reacted. Not only do diet evangelists give too much credit to diets ability to modulate immune response, they fail to understand any subtlety whatsoever with it.

Its important to note that many of those who preach the dietary gospel are entrepreneurs or authors in their own right. Saladino peddles dietary supplements in addition to his book; an anonymous meat evangelist who goes by @KetoAurelius on Twitter sells beef liver strips along with a hyper-masculine mantra that lauds the supremacy of beef while casting doubt on the severity of the pandemic.

The appeal of healthy eating makes sense as a tantalizing alternative to the uncertainty posed by government-mandated lockdowns, school closures, and the economic calamity wrought by COVID in the face of paltry fiscal stimulus from the federal government. After all, changing your diet is relatively easy, and wouldnt it be great if all it takes is some moderate self-discipline to make a world of difference?

There is an alluring prospect here. It allows anyone who subscribes to this logic to believe theyre equipped with unspoken knowledge that the mainstream medical community is actively ignoring. According to Grimes, the notion gives [people] a sense of power and well-being: they know the causes and cures to disease, and thus they are effectively impervious to them. This sense of control is entirely illusory, but it often flatters the believers ego.

But consciously, or not, theres an implicit level of victim-blaming that necessarily comes with this kind of individualist approachthat whoever succumbs to COVID-19 must have been doing something wrong.

Gorski says theres a definite blame the victim vibe to these claims. They imply that its the victims fault if he dies of COVID-19 because he didnt eat right or live right. Of course, that leaves out the fact that the biggest risk factors for severe COVID-19 are unalterable: being male and increasing age.

Gorski points out that making individual dietary changes can, in fact, bode enormously positive results in terms of increasing overall metabolic health in the long term, but those lifestyle adjustments often take a huge amount of time.

He tells Lifehacker:

Its possible that by becoming less obese or by partially reversing type II diabetes or heart disease with diet, weight loss, and exercise, one might decrease ones risk of death from COVID-19, but that doesnt help NOW. Such interventions take months to years, not days to weeks.

While youre not going to be able to personally eradicate the spread of misinformation (thats an ongoing job for tech companies), you can equip yourself with enough to recognize all of its hallmarks: it often offers a reductive, quick-fix approach to a multi-faceted dilemma, valorizes individual efforts to protect themselves, sells various lifestyle products, and traffics in inflammatory rhetoric about the current slate of tools used to keep people safe in a pandemic.

See the article here:

You Can't Beat COVID-19 With Diet, No Matter What the Internet Tells You - Lifehacker

December 17, 2020 Morehead State Professor of Biology Dr. Janelle Hare and a group of student researchers published articles in two academic journals in 2020, exploring gene damage in a drug-resistant pathogen.

Students involved in the research were Jordan Carrington, a 2019 biomedical science graduate from Somerset; Megan Peterson, a 2020 graduate with a Master of Science in Biology from Wallingford; and 2020 Craft Academy graduate Kevin Johnson from Rush. Their research involves the pathogen Acinetobacter baumannii, and its response to hybrid proteins. Articles were published in the Canadian Journal of Microbiology and the Microbiology Societys journal, Microbiology.

The article in Microbiology, co-authored by Hare and Peterson, identified that two proteins, not just one, cooperated to control the response to DNA damage that bacteria can make. This helps them stay alive after exposure to certain chemicals or radiation.

The article in the Canadian Journal of Microbiology was first-authored by MSU post-doctoral research associate, Dr. Deb Cook, who worked with Hare in mentoring Carrington and Johnson. It tested whether the two proteins that cooperate to control the DNA damage response (UmuDAb and DdrR) directly touch each other to achieve this control. Hare and her team did not find evidence that they did so but found that each of the two proteins can bind to themselves in groups of two. This is common in proteins that bind to DNA to control its use.

The work Hare, Cook, and their students did sheds light on how the DNA damage response system in bacteria can result in bacteria gaining resistance to antibiotics. Not only does the research have important medical ramifications, but it also helps students gain valuable skills.

It teaches the students the importance of the scientific method and quality control, Hare said. It also gives them a real-world view of how the information they learn in the classroom each day is gainedthrough experimentation.

Hare added she and her students are proud of their contributions to the scientific community.

We feel proud of our work, because not all manuscripts are accepted for publication. It is a lot of work and it can be hard to move through the peer-review process. But sharing our work with the larger scientific community is the final goal of any research project, so it feels good to have completed that step, she said. I also hope that their experience boosts their confidence on a personal and future professional level, to know that what they do is important and relevant.

Morehead State offers numerous research opportunities for students in every major. Our Undergraduate Research Fellowship program allows students to participate in academic research with a faculty member as early as their freshman year. Students in the program will have the opportunity to present their research at regional, national and international conferences and publish it in academic journals.

To learn more about research opportunities at MSU, visit http://www.moreheadstate.edu/undergraduateresearch.

For information about programs in MSUs Department of Biology and Chemistry, visit http://www.moreheadstate.edu/biochem, email bioc@moreheadstate.edu or call 606-783-2945.

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MSU students and professor publish research internationally - Morehead State University News

How do you measure freedom of speech? Its not a rhetorical question, though it is a timely one. According to think tank Civitas, the University of Cambridge along with 35 per cent of UK universities now falls into the red category for free speech.

Analysing campus policy, events and a survey, wherein nearly a third of staff reported workplace harassment and bullying, the results of Civitass traffic light ranking just 14 per cent of universities were designated green are enough to make a libertarian squeal. The issue of quantifying something we perceive to be a fundamental right is, once again, making headlines but surely, free speech will be defined differently depending on who youre asking.

Its a problem as old as language itself. My freedom to do or speak as I please can never be absolute if yours is to be total, too. My right to insult you undermines your freedom not to have your feelings hurt. Every system of law strives to balance these conflicting liberties, charting Venn diagrams with varying degrees of mutual reliance between their circles. The Cambridge row, it seems to me, is no different.

One example cited by Civitass researchers involves a eugenicist and a pretty window. The commemorative glass was commissioned in 1989 to honour the legacy of one Sir Ronald Fisher, a fellow (and eventually president) of Cambridges Gonville and Caius College, who died in 1962. Students petitioned the college to remove the window, and, in June this year, the powers-that-be obliged.

Far from striking cold fear into my heart, that story makes me happy. Isnt objecting to something, talking it out and reaching an agreement, completely emblematic of how free speech ought to work?

Theres a dangerous little platitude floating to the surface of my mind, thinking of Fisher and the hoo-ha of his desecrated shrine. You know the one: everyones beliefs deserve respect. That is so patently untrue that I practically convulse when I hear it. Heres a very short extract from a very long list of people whose beliefs, Id venture, do not deserve respect: eugenicists; men who think they can beat their wives; members of the KKK or Britain First; homophobes and cult leaders; and that guy I met at a party who explained hed voted for Brexit because there was a Polish person working at his local Costa. In short, something doesnt become sacred simply because it is sincerely believed, and just because something is sacred doesnt make it any more than a belief.

Lets say that Person A believes trans rights activists are dangerous and wrong. Trans rights activists, on the other hand, believe that Person As views are harmful and reductive. Youll have your own stance on that imaginary stand-off but subtracting personal feeling from the equation, were left with two viewpoints, which would fight to the death if left to their own devices. Should we strive instead for peaceful(ish) coexistence or allow one to triumph a kind of Darwinian showdown of thought?

The dons at Cambridge raised a similar point, voting earlier this month to amend the phrase respectful of to tolerate in a series of updates to free speech rules proposed by the universitys council. Although the switch in terminology might not sound like a leap, the distinction is a crucial one not least because it renders no-platforming practically impossible, for all its prominence in Civitass report.

While the recent news cycle might lead one to believe that no-platforming was hauled from the knapsack of the radical left only a few years ago, its been used as a form of protest since the 1970s. At the 1974 NUS conference, for instance, students resolved to deny a platform to openly racist or fascist organisations or societies in response to the rising profile of the National Front.

While the criteria for such no-platforming has arguably shifted since then, the essential idea remains the same. Especially in an educational environment, surely the right to object to ideas comes under the same banner as the right to have those ideas in the first place? This latest vote might be summarised as you dont have to be nice, just dont veer into hate speech as an instruction to visiting speakers. But again, isnt it subjective? Take Jordan Peterson and Nigel Farage, who both fell prey to the brutal no-platforming brigade of Cambridge before the recent vote. Today, in theory, theyd be welcome but fairs fair. If were hosting the Nigels and Jordans of this world, theyll have to accept a bit of backchat.

Not all ideas are created equal. Some come encased in a carapace built over centuries of repetition that almost obscure them from view the patriarchy, or institutional racism, are so monolithic that its hard to step back far enough to recognise them as ideas like any other, rather than representations of some sacred natural order. Other ideas are new, vulnerable, soft and fledgling rights for anyone not white and/or male are concepts in their societal infancy, and require our careful nurture. They need us to shout louder on their behalf, if only to counterbalance the scales, which place an established system of thought on one pan and a feather on the other.

A spokesperson for Cambridge University says that rigorous debate is fundamental to the pursuit of academic excellence, which is hard to object to; whether that commitment to debate ought to cover the view that some opinions dont deserve a public airing seems less clear. The university will always be a place where freedom of speech is not only protected, but strongly encouraged, continues the statement; thing is, speaking requires spates of listening if its to graduate from monologue to conversation.

The Civitas report will no doubt reignite the old guards accusations of snowflakery See?! They got rid of my favourite eugenics window! but, as ever, the hysteria about woke censorship sheds light on the debates truly fragile side. The freedom to speak, Im afraid, must make room for the possibility of being spoken over.

More here:

Freedom of speech at universities is not under threat it is actually thriving - The Independent

The day before Election Day, I met up with two of my favorite dudes, who happen to be two of the smartest thinkers on race and culture today. We gathered at West Phillys Decisions barbershop, opened 30 years ago by young head-cutters Ty Martin and Suran Cassellean iconic spot where Black men have long gathered to talk life, hoops and, uh, trash.

We were filming a segment for the forthcoming Mike Tollin-produced documentary on the way NBA athletes have fueled social change in this moment of racial awakening.

Related from The Philadelphia Citizen:

WATCH: Virtual Chat With The Last Dance Producer Mike Tollin

The Citizens virtual event found two old pals sharing an intimate conversation spanning life, deathand basketball

Citizen contributor Dr. James Peterson was the first to arrive, and Dr. Michael Eric Dyson was close behind. Dyson, whose new book, Long Time Coming: Reckoning with Race in America, is organized around moving open letters penned to the martyrs of our original sin, from Emmett Till to Elijah McClain, the heartbreakingly gentle 23-year-old who would play the violin to soothe stray cats.

Let Dyson take it from here:

Someone called the cops on you, saying you appeared suspicious as you walked home from a convenience store in the summer of 2019, waving your arms. You wore a ski mask because your anemia made you get cold easily. When the cops arrived, you begged them to truly see you: I am an introvert, please respect the boundaries that I am speaking. You told them you were on your way home and asked them to stop being so aggressiveThe string of words that flowed from your mouth as the cops brutalized you is at once sad, because you tried your best to show that you were a meek and mild soul, and enraging, because it didnt matter what you said. They were hell-bent on smashing your body into no-thing-ness, into not-there-nessYou told them, Im just different. Thats all. Im so sorry. You told them, I have no gun. I dont do that stuff. You promised, I dont do any fighting. Then you pleaded, Why are you attacking me? I dont even kill flies. I dont meat!as if your penchant for peacefulness and your dietary discipline might somehow convince them that your life was worth sparing. But Elijah, you quickly insisted that you didnt have a sense of moral superiority over those who disagreed with your choice: But I dont judge those who do eat meat. You begged them to forgive you. No, my lovely young friend, it is they who need to beg your forgiveness and be held accountable.

This is classic Dyson; for all his insightful commentary, for all his connecting of cultural dots to advance an argument, and for all his speaking of truth to power (as when he upbraids others in the Black church for their homophobia), there is never anything bloodless in Dysons take.

Every character upon whom he fixes his literary gaze, like Elijah McClain, is flesh and blood, someone who breathes and loves, and whom other human beings love and need.

Thats why we asked Dyson to close out our third annual Ideas We Should Steal Festival, because he has a way of speaking hard truths in a way that nonetheless lead us to hope. And we need us some hope in these times.

For now, heres a snippet of our conversation that day. I had noticed that Dyson dedicated his book to one LeBron James:

To: LeBron James

Greatest basketball player on the globe

In the conversation for G.O.A.T.

Founder of the I Promise School for at-risk children

Media mogul

Global business magnate

Transformative Philanthropist

Outspoken social activist who refused to shut up and dribble

Started at the bottom, now youre here

For standing with Black people without excuse or apology

And for embracing people of all races around the world

Black men, Black women, Black kids, we are terrifiedYou have no idea how that cop that day left the houseYou dont know if he had an argument at home with his significant other. You dont know if his kids said something crazy to him and he left the house steaming. Or maybe he just left the house thinking that today is going to be the end for one of these Black people. Thats what it feels like. It hurts.

LeBron James

Larry Platt: Do you make the case that LeBron is the most impactful social change agent athlete weve hadeven more than Ali?

Michael Eric Dyson: The most impactful ever, no question. And let me tell you why. Ali, over the three years he faced imprisonment over his refusal to fight in Vietnam and was barred from fightingthey snatched his crown, and we never got to see him in his heyday. Thats an amazing thing to think about. So he responded in reaction to that. LeBron has been proactive at the height of his career, at the height of his fame, and hes leveraged everything he has. [Michael] Jordan had to wait, what, 20 years after he left the game to write a $100 million check now? No disrespect to MJ, but LeBron is doing all this at a cost thats very interesting to me.

LP: And, unlike Ali, I guess youre saying, LeBron wasnt driven to act by his personal victimhood, by something that was done to him?

MED: Thats right, LeBrons racial empathy is off the charts. But to me, its in concert with what hes been doing all along. Hes been changing the game in a way Jordan never thought to. By developing the first truly Big 3, [when James recruited fellow stars Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh to play with him in Miami] they consciously coupledif we can borrow the Gwyneth Paltrow termand changed the economics of the game in a very fundamental fashion. Black men in control of their destinies in a game whose coffers are filled by them.

LP: He basically declared himself the general manager of the team. It was like a laborer saying, Okay, Im management now.

MED: And in the process he has reversed so many of the usual racial rituals. Theres nobody in his class, on the court, or as a change agent off it.

LP: Weve talked about this before. My concern is that the racial awakening after the execution of George Floyd will fade before we get to real systems change. When it comes to social justice, it always feels like Groundhog Day.

MED: But see, Black folk are used to repetition. Its always circular. You start, white folk get interested, then they fall out of interest. We then leverage what we have at that point. We keep moving. So Black people and other allies have to keep moving and keep strategizing even during the moments when theres a lull. You keep talking, you keep planning. Then when it catches fire among white folk, you capitalize.

But lets also put a little burden on white people. George Floyd? Like no disrespect to Mr. Floyd. But George Floyd is what awakened you? Not Emmett Till? There was a thing called slavery, dont know if you heard about it? There was a thing called Reconstruction that was quickly snatched from under the feet of Black people, read Black Reconstruction by DuBois, 1935.

Look at what happened with Jim Crow, look at what happened with separate but equal, look at what happened with sharecropping, where Black people were getting systemically ripped off, look at the book Slavery By Another Name by my man Douglas Blackmon. In other words, there has been so much information and knowledge but you can never predict what will kick off a movement.

LP: How do we insure that the opportunity of this moment isnt squandered?

MED: The thing about that is, this younger generation says thats a question white folk gotta answer, right? Cause, they say, weve been doing our job. Weve been marching for social justice, weve been addressing democracy. But when you have the resurgence of white supremacy and white nationalism and white folk are saying, hey, what else can we do? Well, go home and tell your white people to stop that crap. Thats what you can do.

But lets give credit where credit is due. To me, this is a different generation of white folk.The reason this is the biggest set of social protests in history is because a bunch of white folk got involved as well. And white folk not just merely on the street, but their bodies at stake. I talk about it in Long Time Coming their bodies are at stake in a way they werent before. Look at the two people who got killed in Kenosha, in the Black Lives Matter protest white men! And the third who got shot.

So there is a level of investment and empathy that translates white concern into something thats very tangible, that is actionable, and that demands we form a coalition to get things done. To me, thats something to celebrate and acknowledge and not just pass off as just another cycle. This is something layered, something different than what weve seen before.

See the original post here:

Michael Eric Dyson on how not to waste this moment of racial awakening - The Philadelphia Citizen

Jordan Graham's supernatural horror film interweaves home video footage and occult testimonials from his own grandmother.

Don't ever let anyone tell you there's no original ideas in horror anymore. Sator, a new indie chill-festwritten, directed, produced, edited, scored, andshot by Jordan Graham, blends the foggy deep-woods supernatural horror of The Witch with his family's real-life accounts of the occultincluding actual testimonials from his grandmother,June Petersonto create a singularly unique horror hybrid.Below, we're hyped to exclusively bring you the Sator trailer in all its tension-building glory.

The film follows a man named Adam, recently rocked by a mysterious death in the family, who delves into the history of an insidious presence known as Sator that he believes has been stalking his bloodline for centuries. The script, based on Graham's actual family and their claims of making contact with Sator over the years, blends its narrative fiction with haunting home video footage and Peterson's real recollections.

Sator is quite personal to me, Graham said. It delves into my familys dark history with mental illness surrounding a supernatural entity, and uses home video footage to create an interwoven piece between documentary and fiction.

Check out the trailer below, followed by the film's official poster. Sator will debut on VOD on February 9, 2021. The film also starsMichael Daniel, Aurora Lowe, Gabriel Nicholson, and Rachel Johnson.

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Here is the official synopsis for Sator:

Secluded in a desolate forest home to little more than the decaying remnants of the past, a broken family is further torn apart by a mysterious death. Adam, guided by a pervasive sense of dread, hunts for answers only to learn that they are not alone; an insidious presence by the name of Sator has been observing his family, subtly influencing all of them for years in an attempt to claim them.

"Everything about this movie could go horribly wrong, which makes it so exciting to me."

Vinnie Mancuso is a Senior Editor at Collider, where he is in charge of all things related to the 2018 film 'Aquaman,' among other things. You can also find his pop culture opinions on Twitter (@VinnieMancuso1) or being shouted out a Jersey City window between 4 and 6 a.m.

Original post:

Sator Trailer Reveals a Deeply Horrifying Hybrid of Fiction and Fact - Collider

2020 has been a year, not least because much of the world pivoted to remote work. Industries that typically rely on in-person connections, like fitness and religious institutions, found themselves having to engage their audiences through live streams. Ad revenue disappeared from influencers and YouTubers, who are used to working remotely so long as they make money. Fashion influencers whose livelihoods depend on peddling an image of beauty and aspirational clothing were without events to attend or reasons to get dressed. Everyone needed to adapt.

In this piece, we look back on a few people we previously interviewed this year to hear how their remote transition has gone do they anticipate staying remote? What have they learned from this challenging year? And will we collectively agree to forget 2020 ever happened and try to resume normalcy in 2021?

Check out what they said below, and click through on the posts to read the original pieces mentioning them.

In March, Mancao began pivoting her therapy Instagram account to address COVID-related stress and anxiety. She had just posted her first couple test posts covering the pandemic, including one called COVID-19 Compassionate Reminders, which suggested checking in on friends and family who are immunocompromised and donating to small businesses that might be struggling. She saw her Instagram as a way to reach people who might be interested in therapy but might not be able to financially afford it.

Nine months later, Mancao says shes actually moved her content away from pandemic-related topics because ample information is already available, and COVID content overload can really exhaust and burn people out. Shell post about the pandemic if necessary, though, like when she recently posted about setting boundaries with friends and family who might want to hang in-person.

Although Macaos business has managed to stay afloat with new clients, she says other therapists she knows have struggled. Clients lost their insurance and income and can no longer afford services.

Many of her clients talk about burnout and the struggle with working, living, and having time off all in the same place: their home. She herself has focused on practicing what she advises, like not working from her bed and finding a routine that works for her.

This year really taught us to find that balance between staying connected and having boundaries, she says. Instagram is still a powerful, and free, place for her to spread information, but shes found that throughout 2020, a post caption doesnt capture the nuance of every situation and circumstance.

While she decorated her tree this past weekend, Canon Vicar Dana Colley Corsello began praying for past parishioners, friends shes traveled with, her mother and others who have gifted her ornaments over the years. Dana encourages us to think of and pray for the people in our lives as we string lights and hang ornaments in the coming days. Thank you for joining us for this service of Morning Prayer and Reflection. Your support is appreciated! *Please note that these services are filmed in advance.*

Eckstrom and the team at the Washington National Cathedral in Washington, DC, were preparing for virtual Easter services when we last chatted. The team had already been streaming live services on Sundays, but Easter was a major test of their remote work. Its an essential day for the cathedral, which is typically packed with 3,000 people in the building. The remote operation involved only 10 people in the building at once with the clergy tailoring the service to the pandemic. They took spiritual communions in which they consecrated the bread and wine without actually consuming it. They said a special prayer, too, which expressed that they wanted to take communion but couldnt at that time.

The team is now preparing for Christmas services, and in the months since the pandemic started, the cathedrals services have reached 1.8 million people and average between 6,000 and 7,500 people streaming Sunday morning services. The cathedral team has focused its live stream efforts on how best to make services resonate remotely, rather than making them an afterthought.

We will be doing essentially two separate versions of the same thing for the foreseeable future, and thats a kind of a radical shift for us to put as much energy and attention into an online experience as we are into the in-person experience, Eckstrom says.

Although some global viewers might eventually return to their home church when cities, states, and countries eventually open up, Eckstrom says some attendees say the virtual ceremonies have become a routine they want to continue. The cathedral considers the online world a second location at this point and will continue to stream after the pandemic wanes.

At the same time, however, monetizing the streams hasnt been easy, especially with no in-person visits. The cathedral anticipates a loss of $5 million this year, mainly because of the lack of tourists buying things in the gift shop and caf, and from the loss in event rentals. The team now solicits online donations, and although people have given money, it hasnt made up for the lack of in-person visitors.

People want to make a visceral physical connection, he says. And thats really hard to replicate online. We can use some of [the in-person cathedral experience], but not all of it, so were really anxious to be able to reopen the door, so that people can have that experience that weve been working on developing for about 113 years.

Theo Gove-Humphries and Bee Roper had planned, before the pandemic, to fly themselves and their van from the UK to Canada and make their way throughout North America. But as soon as their visas were approved, Canada banned most inbound flights. The UK then shut its borders, too. The couple decided to move into the home of a friend, who themselves was stuck abroad, and focused on writing an ebook about their Scandinavian travels. YouTube sponsorship opportunities slowed down and their ad revenue decreased, so they need to find a way to diversify their income.

Gove-Humphries and Roper say their YouTube revenue is back, and theyre thriving on the platform now that everyone is stuck at home and streaming videos. They left the UK as soon as they could and traveled to Portugal where they own property and a barn, which theyve focused on fixing up. This is the first time theyve lived in a house in six years.

Owning the land where we are right now in Portugal was one of our best decisions because living in a van full-time, its all fine and well, but I always had that feeling that we never really belonged somewhere, like there was nowhere to fall back on, says Gove-Humphries. So having our own land where we can go, where we know that were not going to be moved on, or we know that were legally allowed to be here, is quite good. Even if youre not here, its good for your mental health to know that you have got somewhere to fall back on, and this worked out brilliantly.

Roper says multiple people they know, fellow vanlifers, looked into buying their own homes since the pandemic for this same reason.

It is quite scary when the whole world locks down, and youve got no way youre allowed to be, she says.

Still, they look forward to traveling again. Their original North America trip is still on the table, but theyre thinking itll happen in 2022 rather than next year, realistically.

Katie Baki almost immediately started hosting donation-based yoga classes on Zoom when the studios she worked at shut down in March. She appreciated being able to see students practice when their cameras were on and being able to record classes for later. She managed to set the mood by emailing her students Spotify playlists so they could recreate the yoga class ambiance in their own homes.

Baki now teaches four classes remotely a week for her own clients and two classes for a virtual studio. Her clients have stuck with her throughout the pandemic, which she greatly appreciates, but she says finding new students is seemingly impossible without the reach of in-person classes. Plus, she now competes directly with bigger studios that can afford to charge less than her.

I dont know if its sustainable, to be completely honest, she says. Im sure that there are ways, but the teachers that Ive spoken with, every yoga teacher is struggling. A lot of them only teach once a week, and a lot of students expect them to be free classes, and our industry got hit really, really hard, and its been challenging.

Zoom classes have more or less acted like a Band-Aid on a large wound for Baki, and shes ready to get back to in-person classes. She might continue teaching a couple remotely for viewers outside of her area, but otherwise, in-person classes are where she feels both she and the students get the most benefit.

Elizabeth Savetskys fashion Instagram feed pivoted quickly when the pandemic took hold in the US. Instead of her usual glitzy looks and fun event photos, she posted herself with minimal makeup and her natural, wavy hair. She sang to her followers, who never knew she had a nice singing voice. She couldnt rely on the same style or type of content she had been making previously, and couldnt hire a photographer to help her take photos. At the same time, she had to strike the right tone and figure out what her followers wanted they loved her luxurious, cool looks before, but would they still want that when they were all at home wearing sweatpants?

After months of being stuck at home, Savetsky says her followers seemingly want lighthearted, aspirational content again. She participated in her first professional photoshoots in around six months recently and says her followers crave a fantasy world where they could be dressing up and celebrating the holidays.

People arent traveling, she says. People arent getting to do their normal holiday season glamorous gatherings and parties and all of that, and so to be able to give them a little bit of that on Instagram is, thats kind of [my] angle.

Thats only the Instagram grid, however. Savetsky says throughout the pandemic shes given her followers a peek into her real life, and they likely will want that to continue. The brands want that, too. Savetsky says the brand deals are coming back to her account but now involve more focus on her struggles and day-to-day life. Her followers are buying from her posts, too, she says, which she thinks reflects the lack of spending in other areas of their lives, like travel.

I feel like my audience really responds to this real factor. Its nice to have the fantasy, but its not relatable, and people want to see your everyday life, especially when the world is hurting, she says. I think its kind of shown me that its not about the setting, or about the product, but its about me, and people wanting a window into my life.

More:
We asked an influencer, yoga teacher, and others how their pandemic pivots went - The Verge

It felt like an extravagance when I finally bought myself the FeetUp Trainer, but my justification went something like this: when the world feels upside down, perhaps its wise to literally look at life from that perspective. The FeetUp Trainer, which is on the better-made end of yoga benches out there, helps you to more easily do inversions of all kinds without injury or discomfort. This allows you to enjoy the circulatory and mood benefits of headstands and upside down poses for much longer than you would be able to on your own.

After doing some research on the best yoga benches out there, I landed on the FeetUp Trainer for a few reasons. Its made with high-quality vegan leather and wood, ethically manufactured, and also comes with a helpful two-sided poster of creative poses you can do on the bench. It also looked aesthetically pleasing, so I knew I wouldnt mind leaving it out in order to remember to use it more frequently.

I like to exercise, but find I slack when it comes to a very necessary component of fitness and general wellbeing: stretching. Having this tool around makes the prospect more playful while I watch TV or listen to a podcast or even meditate upside down. If I dont feel like inverting, this bench also helps make all kinds of stretches deeper, more supportive, and safer. I find it especially helps cushion the Half Pigeon pose, and makes arm balances more supportive.

If you are having trouble finding the fun in stretching or exercise, perhaps its time to give in to the topsy-turvy world were in right now and spend some time upside down. You might find you even get some good ideas there. (Some also claim inversions help your digestive system, though not too soon after a meal.) All in all, Im glad I shelled out the $150 for this bench, and think it makes a great gift for yourself or a loved one who misses yoga class while in quarantine.

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A FeetUp Trainer To Invest In Yoga and Mental Health At Home - The Daily Beast

Koya Webb can sit on the ground with her legs extended straight up and out to the sides, her arms parallel to the floor, grasping her feet. The celebrity yoga instructor and health coach can unfurl into a headstand, tilt into a backbend, and balance on one foot like an ice skater.

A post shared by Koya Webb (she/her) (@koyawebb)

"If anyone sees me on social media, they're like, 'you're so flexible, you're so strong,'" told Insider.

But that wasn't always the case. A former track athlete with a chance to go to the Olympics, Webb suffered a back injury that ultimately ended that career. It was caused by overuse, poor sleep, and tight muscles, she said."I couldn't touch my toes," Webb said.

But Webb's recovery led her to yoga which, at the beginning, was simply deep breathing. Now she helps her followers and clients, who've included Stevie Wonder, India Aire, P. Diddy, and Ashley Judd, embrace daily self-care something particularly critical during the holiday season capping off what for many was a tragic, life-altering year.

"I believe when we have challenges, they're actually meant to make us stronger," Webb said. "So no matter how rough, no matter how debilitating, no matter how sad, that if we're able to grow through the challenges and learn more about ourselves, learn more about others and learn more about the world, then actually that's the silver lining."

Webb talked to Insider about a few simple techniques anyone can use to find calm, and even joy, this season.

Eye yoga involves closing your eyes while intentionally moving your eyeballs in various directions. While there's no evidence that the practice can treat various eye diseases or improve vision, as some practitioners promote, it has been shown to reduce eye strain and is an accessible, subtle, and risk-free way to de-stress.

"The average American is in front of the phone or the computer at least four hours a day," Webb said, "and so that can cause eye strain and tension headaches, and it can add on to anxiety."

To practice eye yoga, simply close your eyes and take a few deep breaths while imagining the stress leave your eyes as you exhale. Then, with your eyes still closed, look all the way down, look all the way to the right, all the way up, and all the way to the left. Then, repeat in the opposite direction.

Roll your eyes in more fluid circles both directions, too, like you're massaging the backs of your eyelids with your eyeballs, Webb explained.

Finally, rub the palms of your hands together until they're warm, then place them on your closed eyes while zig-zagging your eyeballs once more.

Webb recommends doing eye yoga for just two minutes after every 30 minutes of computer use. You can also simply close your eyes really tight, and then blink them a couple of times to release the tension. "It also helps puffiness in the eyes if you didn't get sleep the night before," she said. "So it's really great to just do a little yoga every single day."

A post shared by Koya Webb (she/her) (@koyawebb)

Webb also recommends deep breathing as an alternative to full-body yoga.

"So many times people feel like they have to get a mat or have fancy yoga clothes to do yoga, but you don't have to," she said. But anyone can practice mindful movement, meditation, and breath work, which "really helps calm anxiety," Webb said.

"It really does help you turn on your parasympathetic nervous system, which helps you rest and digest, which most of us need because we're eating a lot andwe're also not as not getting as much sleep at this time," she said.

For beginners, Webb recommends a three-part breath: Inhale for five seconds, hold for five seconds, and exhale for five seconds. Repeat while involving the shoulders, bringing them up, holding them, and releasing them along with your breath.

"Anyone can do this, whether you're at work or at home, just these little eye yoga and breathing exercises will help release some of that tension out of your shoulders, help your eyes relax," Webb said. "And you're going to feel a lot better."

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You don't have to be a professional to feel real benefits from the practice of yoga. Even small, low impact movements can have big results

CLEVELAND Since embarking on this "The New You journey, Ive learned that that a healthy lifestyle is not only about eating well, its also about reducing anxiety and moving your body two huge factors in the ancient practice of yoga.

Thats why, each week during our shared medical appointment, we take some time to work with Cleveland Clinics lead yoga therapist Judi Bar.

"The reason yoga is in the program is because it does help with mindfulness. Were going to look at body awareness, am I breathing am I holding in my breath because just allowing ourselves to make a breath can many times, help us make a nice non-emotional decision," Bar told us the first week of the program.

Though virtual yoga has been great, Kati, Kim and I recently had the chance to practice with Judi in person, at Cleveland Clinics Wellness Center campus in Lyndhurst.

In our class, Judi explained that yoga can get a bad rap for being complicated and physically advanced. But right away, Judi told us yoga can be modified for all, and even low impact, simple motions can have lasting results. She had us start by using a chair to help us modify the poses instead of practicing on the floor.

"The key here is we don't start out running a marathon. In yoga we can build our core, we can stretch our our rotator cuffs we can help support our back we can get better stronger legs more flexible feet," Bar said.

"All I ask you to do is listen to your body if something that I'm suggesting isn't working then you adjust and adapt."

But its not all about the physical workout. Just like we learned in our culinary medicine class, like food, yoga can even help fight infections in the body.

"The variety we get in yoga and the moving helps to really support a healthy immune system too it pumps that lymphatic fluid through to to get some detoxing done," she told us.

Though none of us would call ourselves professionals, Kim, Kati and I all settled in pretty quickly to learn some of those famous poses youve probably heard about - including my favorite - the "warrior pose."

It wasn't all easy, but by the end of class, I think we looked pretty good! And Judi just may have convinced me to incorporate yoga into my daily routine. Namaste.

Were in this together!

If you're interested in learning more, or signing up for a similar program through the Cleveland Clinic, visit:

call: 216.448.4325 or email: cilm@ccf.org

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The New You: The many benefits of yoga - WKYC.com

Guides

Phillys health and wellness community is finding new ways to evolve, and in some cases, starting fresh.

Strength Haus, one of Phillys new fitness businesses to launch during the pandemic, hosts an outdoor class in Queen Village. | Photo courtesy Strength Haus Instagram.

With all of the change and challenge of this year for the fitness and wellness industry, its a marvel to see new fitness initiatives opening up. But, we shouldnt be surprised. The Philly area is chock full of determined and passionate trainers and leaders who are creating their own paths, whether IRL and socially distanced, or entirely online. (Shout out to all the virtual races that happened this year, too.) Here are just some of the new digital and in-person offerings that have cropped up in the Philly area since March.

These new workout classes (which kicked off during the most recent city shutdown) typically take place on Sundays outdoors and socially distanced in different locations around Philly. Check their Instagram for information and to get on a mailing list for workout updates.

Leavell Up Fitness is a body-positive and inclusive fitness network that seeks to make exercise accessible and joyful. It was launched this year by Lauren Leavell, a NASM Certified Personal Trainer and group fitness instructor. Check the website for membership options.

The stylish new Nordic-inspired space in Nolibs opened this year and offers sauna sessions, massages, and limited contact private booking. Read more about their opening and their offerings here.

Yoga teacher Marissa Nash launched the Well Studio in October, a virtual studio focusing on movement, breath work, community, and meditation. Members get access to a weekly movement and meditation sessions and a monthly wellness guest expert talk. Check out all the information on their website.

Yoga instructor Lisa ORear launched Align Your Asana 2.0, a group coaching course centered around yoga this fall. Check her website and Instagram for the latest updates and future offerings.

Fit pro Jayel Lewis pivoted to launch her Fitness Curriculum, a program which teaches fitness professionals how to build their online platforms and businesses, and create additional revenue streams, in July. Shell be offering more sessions in the coming year, too. Find out more on the website.

OMM Yoga Studio, which stands for Organic Mindful Movement, was founded by Anne Ledyard, Jacki Silva Steuer, and Melissa Green Henkin. They created it after being laid off from CorePower Yoga amid the coronavirus pandemic. Check out their full list of offerings on their website.

This brand new gym from Whitney Blaylock opened this September on East Allegheny Avenue. It was designed to be a space where women can confidently reach their fitness goals the space features painted walls by fashion designer Iris Barbee Bonner. Check their Instagram and website for their latest updates.

This program from fitness coach Angelena Minniti includes a 12-week group coaching course that will come with a progressive strength training program, live workouts, a nutritionist and a community of like-minded individuals. Check her Instagram and website for more information.

Spirits Up! launched in June, and has since continued expanding their initiatives to include socially distanced group workouts like running, yoga, and meditation, as well as plenty of virtual health and wellness events. Theyre working towards a goal of opening a brick-and-mortar location, too. Check out the latest updates on the website and Instagram.

Yoga instructor Jung Kim kicked off her virtual yoga program, YogaJung, this year, partnering with various other local organizations in the process. Check her website for the latest updates and schedule.

Fitness coach and entrepreneur Jackie Dragones latest offering is The Program, a 90-day small group training for busy women that want to build sustainable healthy habits. Find out more information here.

Launched during the pandemic by Latifah McMullin and Jimmy Kirby, the Practice in the Park yoga series takes place outdoors and socially distanced in Malcolm X Park on select dates. Check Instagram for the latest updates and information about upcoming classes.

The movement and meditation classes from Joy Moves are available by membership subscription or drop-in. Find more information and the latest scheduling information online.

Launched in September 2020, this new studio from instructors Alyssa Beerger and Michele Dolaway offers pilates, barre, and yoga virtually as well as in outdoor locations in Ambler. Check their website or Instagram for the latest updates.

The Refresh is a Be Well with Beth fitness and nutrition online program created for busy parents. It provides weekly action prompts, online resources, Zoom chats and other tools to help parents feel energized and in control of their health and wellness. Find out more information on the website.

Konect offers recovery compression therapy, chiropractor services, IV therapy, and chryotherapy in NoLibs, and opened this past summer. Check their website for the latest information on pricing and availability of services.

Another NoLibs newcomer, Nirvana medical wellness spa was founded by a former Rescue Spa esthetician, and includes a staff largely drawn from other former Rescue spa workers. Learn more about them here.

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New Fitness Businesses That Opened in Philadelphia Amid the Pandemic - Philadelphia magazine