In June, Fare Community Kitchen worked with the YMCA of the East Bay to feed students who were no longer receiving meals at school. Photo: Fare Community Kitchen

Prior to COVID-19, Fare Resources, a food consulting and catering company in Emeryville, earned most of its revenue from feeding tech clients. It created 1,500 meals a day for a few offices across the Bay Area.

These days, Fare Resources is still making 1,500 meals a day, but now its clientele is completely different. Since May 18, its become Fare Community Kitchen, a fiscally sponsored project of San Francisco-based cooking non-profit 18 Reasons, working to feed food-insecure communities.

When we lost all of our office clients, we wanted to find a way to keep things going, said Nina Mendez, the director. We knew there would be a need for food assistance, and the goal became not so much to keep us open, but to make sure food goes to people who need it most.

While disparate wealth and food insecurity have been longstanding problems in the Bay Area, with up to one in eight people being food insecure, Mendez noted that with COVID-19, that statistic will only get worse the longer the pandemic goes on.

Many believe we havent seen the full effects of [COVID-19] on food insecurity yet, she said.

When Fare Community Kitchen launched in May, it donated 900 meals. A week later, it gave away 1,880. It since has donated more than 38,000 meals to community partners in the East Bay, with the largest recipient being the Oakland Unified School District.

With schools being closed, children who qualified for the schools free lunch program were not only without a classroom, they were out what might have been their only full meal for the day. And in a household where a child qualifies for a free meal, the rest of the family is likely food insecure as well. With this in mind, Fare Community Kitchen creates family meals that feed four to six people. The meals are distributed at three public schools in Oakland: Sankofa Academy, Hoover Elementary and International Community School.

Although its customer base has changed, Fare Community Kitchens menu has not. Its new clients are getting exactly the same meals as its former paying clients, such as barbecue chicken with heirloom beans and grilled asparagus, polenta pie with beans and vegetables served with maple-glazed yams and hot sauce, and spaghetti and vegetarian meatballs made from lentils and quinoa with steamed broccoli. Everything is scratch-made, and almost everything is organic. Whatever food Fare Community Kitchen doesnt source from small farms, it gets in a partnership with Food Shift, the Alameda-based nonprofit that diverts food from going to waste.

The feedback were getting from family members is really incredible, said Mendez. Theyre not used to the level of thoughtfulness that goes into our dishes. Unfortunately, theres a much lower bar for food assistance meals. Were putting out the same exact food we put out to our tech clients, as we dont believe they deserve anything less than our paying tech clients. If anything, these people need such high-quality food even more.

Were putting out the same exact food we put out to our tech clients, as we dont believe they deserve anything less than our paying tech clients. Nina Mendez, director of Fare Community Kitchen.

So far, Fare Community Kitchen has partnered with about 12 other nonprofits, mostly smaller, grassroots organizations like Homies Empowerment, East Oakland Grocery Cooperative, East Oakland Collective and the YMCA of the East Bay that are lifelines to the communities they serve. Theyve also dropped off some meals in the Town Fridges that have appeared around town.

Although the company was able to pivot its mission for the times, it also was greatly affected by the pandemic. Fare Resources laid off a portion of its staff, but was able to retain about 26 employees for Fare Community Kitchen, Mendez said.

Wed love to be doing 1,500 meals every day like we were before, and be able to hire back all of our staff, she said. Fare Community Kitchen is currently looking for grants and donations from individual donors to help it reach its goal.

Weve just started looking for major donors, Mendez said. Were hitting the ground running for fundraising, applying for grants, and starting conversations with potential individual donors. We live in an area that has an incredible amount of individual wealth and were doing a good thing that we think is fundable.

Homies Empowerment, a nonprofit afterschool program in Oaklands Eastmont neighborhood, has greatly benefitted from Fare Community Kitchens work.

Two weeks after the shelter-in-place orders, Homies began operating its Peoples Freedom Store, giving away items like diapers, formula, toiletries and food, including fresh produce, flour, salt, sugar, rice and beans.

JP Hailer, coordinator of partnerships with Homies Empowerment said the freedom store serves some 400 families a week. Fare Community Kitchen has provided dry bulk items and organic produce for the store, as well as 20 vegan meals to feed the stores volunteer staff, who are also from within the community.

The meals are really high quality, Hailer said. I often hear the volunteers, and not only overhear how delicious they are, but theyre surprised by the fact that theyre vegan.

More:

Fare Community Kitchen donates meals that would have fed tech clients - Berkeleyside

Every day is a reenactment of my book, Resistance Is Futile. Trump does something stupid (or many things) and the media say, We can top that!

Trump fumbles the ball, followed by the media throwing an interception, then Trump commits a personal foul, but the media blows the field goal, then Trump throws the ball out of bounds.

Does anyone want to win this election?

As the country burns, Trump (the president) sits in his bed sending out gratuitously bad-ass tweets ... followed by utter spinelessness. He talks like hes Yosemite Sam, then does nothing. This is the worst of everything. How about saying sweet nothings then stunning them with force!

Trump claims hes the antidote to the mass riots in cities across the country, but what powers will he have after being reelected that he doesnt have right now, while hes already president?

Our only alternative is the party that embraces Black Lives Matter, as The Washington Post admitted, calling Democrats cuddling up to BLM a remarkable development in American politics, as a major party sought to associate itself fully with an emerging protest movement.

So your choice is: a president who denounces riots, looting and violence in the streets, but does nothing, or a president who actively supports the people doing the riots, looting and violence in the streets.

And what can the media say? They denied the riots were even happening, then blamed white supremacists for the violence they said didnt exist. (Is it the Boogaloo Boys or QAnon?) Now the media are calling the riots peaceful protests again, so I guess they know its their side doing the arson and destruction.

Democrats could wallop Trump if the media would just stop lying constantly.

FIVE Trumps spoke at the Republican Convention. You got anything to say about that, media? No, theyre too busy claiming ethics violations because Trumps secretary of state spoke at the convention. That may have violated a norm! A norm, I tell you!

And the medias No. 1 standby for any occasion is to repeat the lie that Trump called neo-Nazis fine people.

That one, they wont give up. The neo-Nazi lie is even crazier than the one about Trump, an incompetent buffoon, orchestrating a vast international conspiracy with Russian intelligence to steal the 2016 presidential election. The Russian collusion story was merely preposterous. The neo-Nazi lie is on tape.

But that lie is the centerpiece of Bidens campaign. When he announced his candidacy, Biden said he was propelled into the race when he saw Trump call neo-Nazis fine people.

Why not because Trump didnt end the carried interest loophole giving billionaire hedge fund managers a minuscule tax rate? Or because Trump never produced an infrastructure bill? Or because hes put his incompetent son-in-law in charge of everything?

Regular people had to post the true Trump quote, including this part: ... and Im not talking about the neo-Nazis and white nationalists, because they should be condemned totally. But you had many people in that group other than neo-Nazis and white nationalists ...

Can Joe withdraw now?

No, he doubled-down, repeating the lie in his taped convention speech. Then regular people produced the quote all over again.

The media regularly invoke the neo-Nazi lie in some sort of weird sacramental ritual. And regular people have to keep posting the truth over and over and over again.

If Trump could be locked in the basement like Biden, hed probably be reelected just to spite the media.

There are plenty of things for the media to dunk Trump on, by which I mean things hes actually done as opposed to things the media wish hed done. But no, they have to tell huge stinking lies about him. Even a guilty person can be framed, and thats whats happening to Trump.

The media hysterically denounce Trump for opposing vote-by-mail, smugly announcing that vote-by-mail is exactly the same as absentee voting, as Chuck Todd emphatically stated on MSNBC this week.

Look up the absentee voting requirements in your state right now and see if its the same as having ballots dumped on your doorstep because you or someone who once lived there ever registered to vote.

In New York state, for example, to receive an absentee ballot, you have to fill out an official form stating:

1. Name and date of birth of the voter

2. The address where you are registered

3. An address where the ballot is to be sent

4. The reason for the request, and

5. The signature of the voter

By contrast, with vote-by-mail schemes, ballots are automatically mailed to every eligible voter without any request at all. Ballots will be piled up outside apartment buildings, college dormitories and homeless shelters.

Usually, its conservatives who instinctively lunge for the worst possible argument nah, leave those AK-47s behind, Ive got the water balloons! but with Trump, liberals cant help themselves. Theyd be better off being fairer to him, but their hatred makes that impossible.

The media are forcing people to say, I dont like the guy, but if it will upset The New York Times, NPR, The New Yorker and MSNBC, I have to vote for Trump.

The rest is here:

Ann Coulter: Are the media trying to throw the election to Trump? - Today's News-Herald

Alan Endries was among them. When asked what spurred him to make the 40-mile drive from Milwaukee for President Donald Trumps visit to Kenosha on Tuesday, he said he felt empathy for Rittenhouse. I just feel bad for that 17-year-old.

Hes a hero. He stuck up for the population, for property owners, Endries said. He didnt come up here just to shoot people. He came up here to defend himself.

The defense of Rittenhouse by Trump backers reflects the chasm thats opened across the nation in the wake of deadly violence in Kenosha and Portland, Ore. Activists on the left rushed to defend Jacob Blake, a Black man shot seven times in the back by a white police officer, launching a series of demonstrations protesting what they call systemic racism by police.

But many people on the right see a different dominant narrative from Kenosha: A teen who was wrongly charged with homicide and should be lionized. Online crowdfunding petitions have sprouted, raising hundreds of thousands of dollars in support of Rittenhouse. And he's gotten a hand from the president himself, who refused this week to denounce the teens actions.

The divisions were on full display Tuesday in Wisconsin, one of the most pivotal swing states in the country. During Trumps visit, his supporters and Black Lives Matter activists clashed in the street along the main government complex near downtown, trading chants of All Lives Matter and Black Lives Matter.

Participants in a community gathering at the site of Jacob Blake's shooting hold a sign in support of justice during speeches Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2020, in Kenosha, Wis. | AP Photo/Morry Gash

BLM activists held signs and voiced support for Blake, whose shooting prompted both peaceful protests and destructive riots. Meantime, more than a dozen Trump supporters interviewed Tuesday questioned the case against Rittenhouse, accusing the media of clouding the facts in the case.

Rittenhouse, wielding a military-style weapon that he could not legally carry at his age, shot three protesters, killing two of them. His attorney has said Rittenhouse acted in self-defense.

Rittenhouse was charged as an adult with six criminal counts, including two counts of first-degree murder, for shootings that killed two men, Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber, 26, and injured a third. In videos of the incidents, Rittenhouse was pursued before he fired his weapon. The criminal complaint filed against Rittenhouse states Rosenbaum threw a plastic bag at him. The footage also shows Huber trying to hit Rittenhouse before he was shot in the chest, perforating his heart, aorta, pulmonary artery and right lung, according to authorities.

You shouldnt put a gun in a childs hand, Shawn Lyons, a Trump supporter from nearby Burlington, said. But it was self-defense, definitely. I think we could have avoided the whole thing if we had the National Guard protecting Kenosha at the time instead of children wondering how their familys business is going to do it with all the mobs.

Free him. Free Kyle, said another man who said he was a Kenosha resident but declined to provide his full name. He was here to protect us.

His friend agreed. Hes a patriot, he was protecting people," said the man, who also declined to give his name. "The people out there are trying to make him look bad. He shot some people thats bad. He killed two people, thats bad, I understand that. But thats our right as American people, to protect ourselves, right?

Rittenhouses interactions with police have drawn scrutiny, particularly when compared with the swift reactions of officers to Black suspects.

J.A. Moore, a Biden supporter and South Carolina lawmaker whose sister was one of nine Black congregants killed at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston in 2015, recalled how officers brought fast food to the shooter, Dylann Roof. Moore and others compared that with Kenosha police providing water to Rittenhouse and thanking his armed group just before the shooting last week.

Clashes between racial justice advocates and Trump supporters. Cries of "Black lives matter" met with chants of "all lives matter." POLITICO's Natasha Korecki gives an on-the-ground look at Kenosha.

If he was Black, he would be a thug. But because hes white, hes a young man,' Moore said of how Rittenhouse has been portrayed. Hes not a young man. Hes a murderer.

Rittenhouse has become a cause clbre on the right. Shortly after the shootings, someone tweeted they wanted Rittenhouse to be their bodyguard. Ann Coulter tweeted back that she wanted the teen to be my president. Aubrey Huff, a former baseball player for the San Francisco Giants, hailed him as a national treasure.

And Tucker Carlson, the Fox News host, quickly dedicated time on his program to the Rittenhouse story. Carlson drew fierce backlash when he seemed to justify the shootings by questioning why anybody would be surprised that 17-year-olds with rifles decided they had to maintain order when no one else would?

Carlson was slammed by Fred Guttenberg, whose daughter died in the Parkland, Fla. school shooting in 2018, while others urged his Fox News advertisers to boycott the show.

The rush to defend Rittenhouse prompted a Chicago Sun-Times columnist to ask, "How does a teenage vigilante get to be the hero?"

But right-wing activists and Trump supporters began seizing on new information, including a detailed sequence of the period leading up to the shootings published by The New York Times, to argue that Rittenhouse had no choice but to defend himself. In his first remarks about Rittenhouse, Trump on Monday refused to condemn the shootings and seemed to indicate that they may have been warranted. He also "liked" a tweet offering support for Rittenhouse.

He needs to be in jail, said Jayden Brown, a Kenosha resident who is Black.

Bryan Lanza, who worked on the 2016 campaign and remains close to the White House, lauded Trumps trip to Kenosha and said the celebration of Rittenhouse helps drive a narrative around the president thats helpful to energizing supporters.

The facts will play out, Lanza said. What plays in the burbs is that you have the right to defend yourself and theres no district attorney or attorney general that can take that away from you. If the facts bear out that he had a gun for safety reasons and used it to defend himself because he was attacked, thats a pretty strong case to make.

But other Republicans think Trumps refusal to denounce Rittenhouse including by liking a tweet that said, Kyle Rittenhouse is a good example of why I decided to vote for Trump could backfire. GOP strategist Rob Stutzman said he thinks the rush to support Rittenhouse will repel key segments of voters the president needs.

The image of a dopey delusional kid with an AR-15 isnt comforting to the burbs, Stutzman said. The type of weapon he had I think influences those perceptions.

Rittenhouses attorneys have portrayed him as a good kid who works as a lifeguard, saw that Kenosha was burning, and spoke with a Kenosha business owner before traveling there to help stand guard.

The lawyers did not respond Tuesday to a request for comment. But in previous statements and cable interviews, they said Rittenhouses gun never crossed state lines and was legal in Wisconsin, an open-carry state.

Joe Biden has not spoken in-depth about Rittenhouse, though he said last week he was concerned about armed militias. In a statement Monday after Trumps news conference, Biden criticized the president for refusing to repudiate the Kenosha shootings.

He is too weak, too scared of the hatred he has stirred to put an end to it, Biden said. He urged Trump to join him in saying violence is wrong, period. No matter who does it, no matter what political affiliation they have. Period.

See the rest here:

With a hand from Trump, the right makes Rittenhouse a cause clbre - POLITICO

Bill Gindlesperger, Columnist Published 7:00 a.m. ET Sept. 2, 2020

Senior White House adviser Kellyanne Conway leaves position to focus on family, and her husband will also be stepping away from the Lincoln Project. USA TODAY

So who is George Conway, and why should you care?

George Conway is a 57-year-old American attorney and ultra-conservative Republican. Not a RINO (Republican in name only). He is dyed in the wool.

Conway knows Donald Trump. He was on the shortlist for appointment to U.S. solicitor general. He was also recruited for assistant attorney general heading Civil Division in U.S. Department of Justice.

Trump wanted him, because Conway is a star. Conway argued Morrison v. National Australia Bank before the U.S. Supreme Court. He won unanimously with the opinion authored by conservative Justice Antonin Scalia.

Twenty years ago Conway dated conservative Fox News pundit Laura Ingraham. Then he saw Kellyanne Fitzpatrick on the cover of a society magazine and was stunned. He called another friend, Ann Coulter, for an introduction.

Bill Gindlesperger(Photo: Bill Gindlesperger)

More: Social Security issue shows that Trump's words mean nothing

More: Political trial balloons are soaring all around, testing the atmosphere for Trump

George and Kellyanne were married in 2001, and Kellyanne Fitzgerald became Kellyanne Conway. Today they have four children and live in Washington, DC.

Kellyanne turned out to be no slouch. She is a pollster, political consultant and pundit. She worked as campaign manager and strategist in the Republican Party and was CEO of The Polling Company / Woman Trend. She became Trump's campaign manager when he ran for president.

Up until recently Kellyanne was Trumps counselor and spokesperson. She appeared regularly on Fox News. Thats why you may recognize the Conway name.

Meanwhile George Conway and Neal Katyal, another high-powered lawyer, wrote an op-ed in New York Times challenging the constitutionality of Trump's appointment of Matthew Whitaker as acting attorney general after Trump fired conservative Jeff Sessions. Conway and Katyal argued Trump was overriding explicit wording in the Constitution.

George Conway sought support from members of the ultra-conservative and libertarian Federalist Society. Members were influential in selecting candidates for Trump to appoint to federal courts. They concluded Trump was betraying well-established legal norms and conservative values.

None of this went down well with Trump.

With Trump suffering from narcissism to the detriment of the country and its Constitution,George Conway founded the Lincoln Project.

This conservative Super PAC wants to Defeat President Trump and Trumpism at the ballot box. In fact the Lincoln Project is dedicated to "persuading enough disaffected conservatives, Republicans and Republican-leaning independents in swing states and districts to help ensure a victory in the Electoral College, and congressional majorities that dont enable or abet Mr. Trumps violations of the Constitution".

Contrary to what Trump has tweeted, the Lincoln Project is hard right, conservative, libertarian, rule-of-law, and Constitution-based.

Trump has called George Conway a "stone cold LOSER & husband from hell".

Trump has publicly called George Conway Moonface. This racial slur is based on George Conway being half Filipino. His mother was a well-respected organic chemist from the Philippines.

George Conway grew up near Boston, graduated from Harvard College magna cum laude, and obtained a Juris Doctor from Yale Law School. Thats where he was editor of Yale Law Journal and president of Yale Law Schools chapter of the ultra-conservative Federalist Society.

More: Trump is pulling the ultimate con on the American people

More: Political posturing will not change the facts about COVID-19

Several weeks ago, conservative Republican George Conway made a statement regarding COVID-19 and Trumps responsibility to the American people. Here it is:

"For Trump supporters, let me make one thing VERY clear!

For the record NO ONE is blaming the President for the virus. Let me repeat. Coronavirus is not Trumps fault.

Heres a detailed list of what we are blaming him for:

* Trump declined to use the World Health Organizations test like other nations. Back in January, over a month before the first Covid-19 case, the Chinese posted a new mysterious virus and within a week, Berlin virologists had produced the first diagnostic test. By the end of February, the WHO had shipped out tests to 60 countries. Oh, but not our government. We declined the test even as a temporary bridge until the CDC could create its own test. The question is why? We dont know but what to look for is which pharmaceutical company eventually manufactures the test and who owns the stock. Keep tuned.

* In 2018 Trump fired Homeland Security Advisor Tom Bossart, whose job was to coordinate a response to global pandemics. He was not replaced.

* In 2018 Dr. Luciana Borio, the NSC director for medical and bio-defense preparedness left the job. Trump did not replace Dr. Borio.

* In 2019 the NSCs Senior Director for Global Health Security and bio-defense, Tim Ziemer, left the position and Trump did not replace the Rear Admiral.

* Trump shut down the entire Global Health Security and Bio-defense agency. Yes, he did.

* Amid the explosive worldwide outbreak of the virus Trump proposed a 19% cut to the budget of the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention plus a 10% cut to Public Health Services and a 7% cut to Global Health Services. Those happen to be the organizations that respond to public health threats.

* In 2018, at Trumps direction, the CDC stopped funding epidemic prevention activities in 39 out of 49 countries including China.

* Trump didnt appoint a doctor to oversee the US response to the pandemic. He appointed Mike Pence.

* Trump has on multiple occasions sowed doubt about the severity of the virus even using the word hoax at events and rallies. He even did it at an event where the virus was being spread. Trump has put out zero useful information concerning the health risks of the virus.

* Trump pretended the virus had been contained.

* Trump left a cruise ship at sea for days, denying them proper hospital care, rather than increase his numbers in America.

Repeat. We do not blame Trump for the virus. We blame him for gutting the nations preparations to deal with it. We blame him for bungling testing and allowing it to spread uninhibited. We blame him for wasting taxpayer money on applause lines at his rallies (like The Wall). We blame him for putting his own political life over American human life. I hope this clears things up."

This is not a liberal speaking. These are the words of George Conway and members of the ultra-conservative libertarian Federalist Society.

Bill Gindlesperger is a central Pennsylvanian, Shippensburg University trustee and founder of eLynxx Solutions that provides Print Buyers Software for procuring and managing direct mail, marketing, promo and print. He is a board member, campaign advisor, published author and commentator. He can be reached at Bill.Gindlesperger@eLynxx.com

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One of Trump's biggest detractors is as conservative as they come - Public Opinion

If youre wondering how to meditate, theres a good chance its because youve heard all sorts of things about how good it can be for you. People love to suggest meditation for a variety of reasons: to reduce stress and anxiety, to ease depression, to put you to sleep, to make you feel more present, to magically transform you into a better, more grounded human being. The claims go on and on. And while the benefits of meditation have been greatly exaggerated in a lot of ways, plenty of people find it to be a worthwhile practice and we agree. With everything going on in the world, its a solid time to explore meditation and whether it might be useful for you too.

Meditation may seem simpleand in many ways, it isbut people are often unsure where to start and whether theyre doing it correctly. To help you learn how to meditate and integrate it into your life, SELF asked meditation experts some of your most common meditation questions.

First things first, there are many different kinds of meditation. Meditation is generally used as a broad umbrella term that covers a wide array of contemplative practices, many of which are drawn from Buddhist traditions but have often been adapted and secularized for application in Western society, neuroscientist Wendy Hasenkamp, Ph.D., science director at the Mind & Life Institute and visiting professor of contemplative sciences at the University of Virginia, previously told SELF.

With that in mind, the questions of what meditation is and how to meditate arent exactly straightforward ones. Its kind of like asking how to play sports, Diana Winston, the director of mindfulness education at the UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Center and the author of The Little Book of Being, tells SELF. Just like there are many types of sports, there are many types of meditation, she says. And just like different sports share important things in common (like competition and physical activity), meditation has core tenets too. I define meditation as any practice that cultivates inward investigation, says Winston.

For this article, were going to focus mostly on mindfulness meditation. Why? A few reasons. For one, mindfulness is at the heart of many different types of meditation. Plus, its very accessible to beginners and has the most convincing body of evidence regarding its mental health benefits (more on that later). Its also a very popular form of meditation, especially in recent years. Chances are, if youre interested in developing a meditation practice to support your mental health, the type of meditation youre thinking of is mindfulness meditation.

Like meditation, theres no single universal definition of mindfulness, but experts generally agree on the gist: focusing on the present moment with openness and without judgment. If you check in on your mind at any point during the day, youll probably notice you're thinking about the past or thinking about the future, or youre generally planning, obsessing, worrying, and catastrophizing, says Winston. Mindfulness is getting in the practice of pulling our minds away from these places to come back to the present moment. And so, mindfulness meditation is the formal practice of cultivating mindfulness.

If all that sounds like a little abstract for you, consider that youve probably meditatedor at least felt meditativeat some point in your life. In my classes, I always tell my skeptical beginners to share their favorite hobby, Laurasia Mattingly, a meditation and mindfulness teacher based in Los Angeles, tells SELF. Then I tell them that theyve meditated before. Any activity that allows you to be fully present without worrying about the future or the past is a doorway into meditation.

Heres where things get a little tricky. The proven scientific benefits of mindfulness meditation are hard to sum up (so much so that SELF has a whole separate explainer on it). The TL;DR is that there are three conditions with a strong and convincing body of evidence to support the effects of meditation: depression, anxiety, and chronic pain. Meaning, a not insignificant amount of meta-reviews and meta-analyses have found that mindfulness meditation can moderately help with symptoms associated with these conditions (or in the case of chronic pain, how people cope with symptoms, at least). For a full breakdown of what we do and dont know about the health benefits of mindfulness meditation, check out this article.

Read more here:

How to Meditate When You Have No Idea Where to Start - Self

By now we have all downloaded the mindfulness app Headspace, tried it four times, breathlessly told all our friends we are into meditation now and no, really, you should try it and I dont even need coffee in the mornings now! and then forgotten to do it one day when we were meant to be doing it because we had too many emails to answer, then turning our phone over when the little reminder notification came in, then, three months later, realising weve been paying 9.99 a month to not use an app and then, two more months after that, quietly deleting the whole thing and never meditating again and wondering distantly why our sleep has been so disordered for so long. By now we have all done that.

The Guide: Staying In sign up for our home entertainment tips

Hmm, though: what if Headspace was on television? You just imagined Mindful Escapes: Breathe, Release, Restore (Monday to Thursday, 7pm, BBC Four), which is Headspace on television. Whats interesting about TV is it has the potential to be a near limitlessly creative format, and yet what we do with that is make five soaps, two reality shows and one hard drama every year then fill the rest of the time with Come Dine With Me repeats. How often do you sit down in front of the TV and go: Wow, this is different! This is unlike anything Ive ever, ever seen!? Exactly.

Mindful Escapes isnt going to make you do that, either, but its going to make you think about doing it. The show in brief: Headspace co-founder and business monk Andy Puddicombe soothingly narrates over the top of some leftover Attenborough nature footage, and that is meant to be relaxing. On the surface this is a completely new and innovative way of using the format of television, but the result is like a motivational quote that happens to move. Andy tells you the earth is a living, breathing object as a fern curls out of the soil. He tells you breath is an important facet of the mind as an eagle soars over an icy vista. Clouds part to reveal a river. You hear the sound of rain turning to snow, the sound of water lazily pooling. Andy Puddicombe says something about breathing again. The sun dapples gently through the canopy. You dont have to check your emails. Your emails can probably wait, most of them.

Does it work? Youre sort of asking the wrong person I once had to leave a session in a flotation tank 12 minutes into my allotted hour because the sensation of bobbing in the salted water and staring at a curved purple pod ceiling that looked like the inside of a testicle made me hysterical, so I towelled off and went to the pub instead but the short answer is no, not really. I mean, its recycled nature footage with the Headspace bloke occasionally saying breathe over the top of it. Its quite relaxing for a while, but you could make that argument for watching paint dry, and people are always ragging on that.

If you are really, really stressed, I would obviously prescribe you half an hour of BBC Four with some soothing cooing over the top of it and, fair play, it would absolutely blast if you put it on a projector at the winding down time of a house party but its not really an event to gather the family round for. Maybe we should just stick to the dull, familiar limits of TV. Theres a reason why the old classics still hit.

Read the rest here:

Mindful Escapes: the Headspace meditation app, but on television - The Guardian

[Photo: courtesy of Chopra Global]

Deep breath: Deepak Choprathe meditation expert and authortoday brings us Chopra Meditation and Well-Being, a retreat-in-your-pocket app that features over 400 meditations and practices aimed at overall well-being.

Chopra Global (the company) says that Chopra (the app) differs from other meditation apps because of Chopra (the man), who has taught meditation and expanded consciousness since before the tech bros backing other mindfulness apps were born.

For more than 40 years I have been exploring meditation traditions from around the world, including the forest monasteries in Asia and the Himalayas, says Chopra (the man). I have had the privilege to learn directly from the brightest scholars and healers, and as a physician I have tested the integration of these ancient wisdom traditions with the best medical practices.

Chopra the app puts it all in your palm, in the form of a well-being guide that provides tailored exercises and information.

The luxurious retreats operated by Chopra (the company) will set you back over $1,000 per day, but Chopra (the app) delivers many of the same teachers and personal transformation practices for $69.99 per year.

Chopra (the company) is positioning the app as much broader than Calm and Headspace, the two meditation-focused apps that currently claim 70% of the mindfulness app market, which have received a coronavirus pandemic boost. The offerings of Chopra (the app) are broad, with whole-body options that dip into mood management, relationships, energy work, and life purpose, many rooted in Ayurveda, the ancient Indian health practice.

Go here to see the original:

Deepak Chopra meditation app takes on Headspace and Calm - Fast Company

There are several types of meditation and it is all about finding a method that works for you. Some of the methods often take a bit of practice and others require a bit of experience behind you as well. There will be a method that suits you and there are things you can do to boost your skills.

Here are just a few:

Ascension meditation,Apophatic meditation,Breathing meditation,Cleansing meditation,Contemplative inquiry meditation

Day dreaming,Gratitude meditation,Guided meditation,Heart meditation,Hedge riding,Intentionality meditation

Kasina meditation,Kinhin,Mantra meditation,Metta meditation or Loving Kindness meditation,Mindfulness meditation

Pathworking/journeying,Planetary meditation,Pranayama,Qiqong (Chi kung),Self Enquiry,Shamanic Journeying

Spiritual meditation,Tantra I know what you are thinkingbut most Tantra practices have nothing to do with hours of sex (sorry I know you are disappointed now).

Taoist meditation,Breathing meditation (Zhuanqi),Neiguan,Tai Chi meditation,Transcendental meditation ,Vipassana meditation

Visualisation,Yoga meditation,Third eye meditation,Chakra meditation,Gazing meditation (Trataka),Kundalini meditation,Sound meditation (Nada yoga)

Zen meditation

Sometimes called journeying, inner plane work or vision questing pathworking is a form of meditation used a lot in the Shamanic practice. It is a structured meditation with a purpose to it, a guided journey into our inner world or onto other planes or other worlds such as the Otherworld or into the land of Fae. It is a practice that should only be undertaken by those more experienced in meditation skills. This type of journeying allows us to stretch ourselves, to dip into our inner power, to connect with divinity, to aid us in decision making, to seek out past lives and to connect with messengers and guides. Pathworking allows us to go beyond our conscious and even our universe because it creates a link between our conscious and sub conscious minds allowing us to access memories and psychic skills we may not usually reach.

Decide what you need from this trip, why are you journeying? What path will you take? What is your destination? What or who would you like to encounter? Obviously you will probably encounter some things you didnt plan for but that makes it even more worthwhile! What image do you want to use to take you from this world onto your journey? (I.e. a gate, a knothole in a tree, a doorway etc).

When you have decided upon those details you need a frame work starting with an induction, this is where you enter the pathworking, the trance like state. Then the body, this is whatever you need to do whilst in your pathworking, the reason you are there. And then the closure, where you leave the pathworking and come back to reality. The induction and the closure will be pretty close to your script but the body may take different twists and turns other than those you expected.

It helps to write down your framework. I prefer to then record it to my phone or laptop so that I can listen to it, but go with what works for you.

A Hedge witch has one foot in this world and the other in the Underworld, hedge riding is the term used to describe the journeys that a Hedge witch makes, very similar in fact to the Underworld/Otherworld journeys that a Shamanic practitioner makes. Again I wont go into too much detail on this as there are some good books out there that will help you further if you are interested but it is another meditation practice that requires some experience.

The hedge is the symbolic boundary between the worlds. Hedge riding is the journey your spirit takes into the Otherworld or Underworld realms, sometimes called the upper and lower realms. The middle realm being our everyday world that we live in.

Hedge riding is not something to be taken lightly, it definitely isnt somewhere to just visit because you are bored, it is something to be taken very seriously and journeys should be taken with a particular question or mission in mind. It might be a journey undertaken for the purposes of healing, seeking an answer to a question, for spell work or to find spiritual enlightenment.

Personally I would advise becoming experienced in pathworking, shape shifting and astral travel before attempting to hedge ride not purely for safety but also because it will help you with the journey. This is not something to be attempted by those just stepping onto the meditation ladder. Hedge riding should also be avoided if you are feeling unwell or if you have any kind of mental illness.

Hedge riding is very similar to shamanic journeys and also incorporates the art of Seidh or seer work in that you will communicate with the spirits.

During a journey your spirit, your conscious will travel to the otherworld and whilst there you will need to take note of any symbols or signs that you see and any sounds you hear or scents you smell they may all be important.

A hedge witch will enter the otherworld via a trance state, an altered state of conscious when your mind and spirit work separately from your physical body. You are not fully conscious but you are not unconscious, you are in that wonderful state in between, but you are always fully aware of what you are doing. You are lucid and in control but dont fall asleep.

Altered states of conscious can be induced via means of drugs but I would wholeheartedly NOT advise this route. You will need to go past the state of meditation and on to pathworking to achieve hedge riding, I find drumming helps, but chanting can also be very useful. Shamanic music with drums and rattles is also good; any rhythmic beat will work well.

Many hedge witches (and shamans) have a medicine bag that they use to keep magical items in to aid in journeying. Each bag will be personal and specific to each individual, it might contain beads, shells, feathers, pebbles, herbs and crystals if you decide to make your own bag be guided by your intuition and add whatever you feel is necessary to help you on your hedge riding.

An animal spirit guide is extremely useful to journey to the other side of the hedge with. In my experience you dont choose your animal guide, it chooses you, dont be surprised if your hedge riding guide is a different one from your usual power animal and you may also find that your guide to the different worlds will be different in each one and they might even be different for each journey you take or you may have the same guide every timebe open to whatever you meet.

You might find that it takes a few hedge riding journeys before you meet any spirit guides and you may find different guides in each world. They may be there to guide you, they may be there to give you a message, but it wont always be via spoken word, look out for signs and symbols.

So lets talk about the three realms that a hedge witch can enterand I am going to describe the general ideas, butyour experience may be different.

Generally (not always) a hedge witch will access the worlds via a tree, often it is seen as the Tree of Life and it is a portal to the otherworld. You might see an entrance between the roots which takes you to the lower world, there might be an entrance halfway up the trunk to the middle world and an entrance in the upper branches to the upper world what you see might be different. There is also another level accessed via the lower world, this takes you down another level to the underworld.

The Underworld or the Lower World as it is sometimes called is not a deep, dark fiery hell pitreally it isnt. It can however be seen as darker than the middle world. It may often appear as a cave or a very primordial jungle. You can find dangers in the underworld but you can also meet them in the middle and upper world too. The Underworld is earthy, stable and grounding, it is the base from which the world grows. The Underworld deals with emotions, our intuition and our very basic needs. You may meet ancestors here, animal guides, guardians, plant spirits and the Underworld Kings and Queens along with the faerie realm are found here.

The middle world is often used as a place for time travel (you are thinking Doctor Who now and his tardis arent you?). The middle world is very much like our own and you can find yourself in any familiar type of structure, building or landscape. This world is as much full of bad spirits as it is good, so be wary. You will find earth and fertility deities here along with the Elementals, land guardian spirits, messenger deities, nature spirits and the Wild Hunt.

This world is beeeeautiful. Spirits live here and it shows. Think beautiful landscapes, dreamy clouds, sparkling streams and all that is amazing. This is the place to meet and greet spirit guides, Angels, Ascended Masters, Devas, Deity and animal guides. It is the upper astral, the spiritual plane and a place of enlightenment. This world will show you knowledge, inspiration, ideas and wisdom (hopefully) and also provide healing. The Upper World can also help you remove yourself from your ego and see things as they really are.

Dont forget it is very wise to ground and centre before AND after any journeying.

Before you start your hedge ride make sure you have an idea of what your purpose and intent is whether it is a question you need an answer to, advice on a situation or healing and throughout your journey keep focused on your intent.

If you are looking for answers take note of any symbols you see, objects you find, people or animals you meet, you may also come across pools of water that can be used for scrying.

Healing can be achieved by bathing in oceans, streams or pools or you can use the energy from your animal guides to help the healing process. Your guides can also help with protection requirements.

Your spirit guides in the upper world can help you out if you are seeking knowledge.

Please remember to always be polite and courteous to any animal or being that you meet in any of the worlds treat them with respect at all times.

If you should meet any spirit that you dont like, politely but firmly ask them to leave you have the power to make it leaveyou are in control at all times.

Also see my blog https://www.patheos.com/blogs/beneaththemoon/2017/06/riding-hearthnot-hedge/

See my previous blog https://www.patheos.com/blogs/beneaththemoon/2018/07/hints-and-tips-for-meditation/

See my previous blog

Meditating with crystals

See my previous blog https://www.patheos.com/blogs/beneaththemoon/2018/03/meditation-incense-blends/

See my previous blog https://www.patheos.com/blogs/beneaththemoon/2018/03/meditation-tea-blends/

To catch the replay of my live talk/Q&A onMeditation, Pathworking, Hedge Riding & a Journey Pouch, click the link below

Information drawn from Pagan Portals Meditation by Rachel Patterson

An introduction to the beautiful world of meditation This book will take you on a journey giving hints and tips on how to meditate succesfully, breathing exercises, chants and visualisation tips. Also included are lovely meditation tea and incense blends, how to meditate with crystals, make meditation beads and a whole host of guided meditations for you to experience. Together with introducing you to other meditation skills such as pathworking, shape shifting, astral travel and working with meditation to cleanse your chakras.

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Meditation, Pathworking, Hedge Riding and a Journey Pouch | Meditation, Pathworking, Hedge Riding and a Journey Pouch - Patheos

By: Lifestyle Desk | New Delhi | Updated: September 4, 2020 10:59:46 am Follow these simple tips to see more results. (Source: Getty Images/Thinkstock)

Life is a continuous flow of energy, and any form of stagnation is bound to cause decay. This law applies to our mental energies too, and if our thoughts get stuck in the past or the illusionary future, our mental energies start to denigrate. In fact, an untrained mind is relentlessly boomeranging between cravings and aversions. In scientific terms, this is called the Default Mode Network (DMN) of the brain, which mentally keeps us in a loop of repetitive thoughts and situations. This state of overthinking is extremely exhaustive and erodes not only our aptitude, IQ and abilities but also our emotional intelligence, said social activist and spiritual trainer Manu Singh, chief mentor, Varenyum. This, eventually, leads to stress, frustration, depression and negativity.

This is why it is essential to train our minds through practices of meditation and mindfulness. But, we live in an age of information overload. In these challenging times, the practitioners commit a grave error of reducing these practices to mundane acts or habits, like everything else they engage in.

This can be extremely counterproductive. Such practitioners are catapulted into a dual existence, where, during practice their minds can be peaceful, joyful and full of insight, but the moment they walk into the real world, face real situations, the DMN takes over. The cycle of thoughts pivoting around like and dislike, pleasure and pain, love and hate, starts to generate echoes of confusion and tumult. Slowly, negativism and hopelessness cloud judgments and they start questioning the practice itself, eventually losing interest and giving up.

How to do it right?

Meditation must be taken as a way of life and should never be a prisoner of the mat and the stopwatch. It should be like an ally that walks by your side, continuously bridging the gap between the conscious and the subconscious mind. The tranquillity of the meditative state should transcend the Adhishthan (sitting session) and synchronise with all the activities and situations of our daily lives. This is known as meditative living and is imperative in transforming an individuals reactive reptilian mind into a responsive, insightful and conscious ecosystem, says Singh.

To achieve this state, the seeker must religiously adopt the following principles

*Regularity of the practice shouldnt be broken, especially in the initial stages. Consistency is the only key to success. *The seeker should prefer insight or awareness-based techniques over concentration-based techniques of meditation. One of the simplest techniques is consciously bringing awareness to your natural breathing. *Acknowledge all the sensations and thoughts through detached and non-judgmental observation. This greatly influences our minds by reducing value-judgements in life as per our concepts of good and bad, and right and wrong, which, in turn, reduces the tiring cycle of cravings and aversions. *Be generous towards yourself. *Realise the law of impermanence.

ALSO READ | Meditation, yoga can sharpen your mind

These principles will help a seeker to ensure that his/her practice is not limited to time and space but transforms into an operating system of tranquillity, focus, and consciousness. The positive effects of such an existence will be immense and not be limited to enhancing cognitive ability, improving focus and attention, peaceful and uncluttered mind.

However, since conceptually there is no difference between mind and body (holistically known as body-mind) in the world of meditation, the positive effects are also palpable in the physical realm in the form of improved immunity, augmented agility, as stress and tension free spine and muscles, and a powerful sexual and reproductive life.

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Simple tips to get the most out of mindfulness meditation - The Indian Express

Its hard to know if the ballot measure to undo Proposition 13 will have its intended effect

Zocalo commentator Joe Mathews wants to believe in Proposition 15, the November ballot measure that would get rid of limits on taxing commercial properties. Those limits were set by Proposition 13 more than 40 years ago, and Mathews has long argued that the historic measure decimated California schools and has hamstrung state government in all sorts of ways. But after a visit to Jarviss old house - now a Buddhist center - Mathews says hes feeling better about his uncertainty.

Read Mathews column below:

Howard Jarvis and the Dharmapala

Want to stop worrying about Californias future? Go say a prayer at Howard Jarvis house.

No historic plaques mark the five-bedroom home at 515 N. Crescent Heights Boulevard in L.A. But this is where the famed anti-tax activist Jarvis lived, and organized Proposition 13, the 1978 tax-limiting initiative that still dominates California politics.

With another fight over Prop 13 underwayNovembers Prop 15 would lift Prop 13 limits on taxing commercial propertiesI decided to drop by the houseand got an unexpected lesson in how California always changes, even if its ballot initiatives never do.

Jarvis gray house is now Nechung Dharmapala, L.A.s Tibetan Buddhist Center. The home, is painted orange, and has a wheel representing the Dharma over the front windows, and a stupa outside the front door. Inside, bedrooms are occupied by two monks. And the high-ceilinged living room where Jarvis conducted angry politics has become a sanctuary for lessons on the renunciation of ego and the possibility of enlightenment.

The homes political past and religious present might seem discordant, but the more I contemplated the place, the more I saw continuities. Indeed, 515 N. Crescent Heights is a double-monument to the perils of revolutions and the paradoxes of protection.

Prop 13 was the product of a conservative political revolution promising protectionagainst rising taxes, and housing prices. The paradox is that Prop 13 hasnt protected us from Californias high taxes or extortionate housing prices.

Nechung Dharmapalas is associated with Tibets Nechung monastery, headquarters of the State Oracle of Tibet, who embodies the deity Pehar, The Protector of Religion. Pehar couldnt stop Chinese communists from destroying Nechung after the 1949 revolution. But therein lies the paradox. The communist attacks actually spread the faith. Tibetan Buddhists fled, taking their teachings worldwide, and all the way to Jarvis door.

Jarvis bought the 1925 house in 1941 for $8,000 and stayed through three marriages. During the Prop 13-era, Jarvis smoked cigars in a big chair, with visitors like Jerry Brown on sofas. There were some curses, but no prayers, recalls his aide Joel Fox.

When Prop 13 passed, capping property tax increases at 1970s assessment, the 2005 tax bill was below $1,000, on an assessment of $75,854. In 2006, after his wife died (Jarvis passed in 1986), it was reassessed at $1.25 million.

The house sold in 2008, and was for sale again in 2013as Tibetan Buddhists were searching for an L.A. sanctuary. Nechung bought the house in 2013 for $1.38 million. In Jarvis living room, resident teacher Geshe Wangchuk, expert in Buddhist philosophy, sand mandalas and butter sculptures, now presides. During the pandemic, Geshe Wangchuk shifted weekly teachings online. This summers lessons leaned on The Three Principal Aspects of the Path by 14th century teacher Je Tsongkhapa. One passage intrigued me:

When appearance dispels the extreme of existence,

And when emptiness dispels the extreme of non-existence,

And if you understand how emptiness arises as cause and effect,

You will never be captivated by views grasping at extremes.

I wondered: Can minds really be that open? Does avoiding extremes require uncertainty about you own existence? And could such enlightenment apply to Californias contemporary extremes?

The Nechung L.A. team knew nothing of Jarvis. Talking with Nechungs board secretary, I tried explaining Prop 13, and Prop 15. But my explanations were just questions. Might Prop 15 produce billions for schools, or will its exemptions be exploited by wealthy property owners? Might this measure make a symbolic strike against Prop 13or will Prop 15 just reinforce Prop 13s power?

But if I understood Geshe Wangchuk, having more questions than answers is OK. Because uncertainty about the futurefor a person, a proposition or a homemight be the best attainable answer. As Je Tsongkhapa taught 600 years ago: If the entire object of grasping at certitude is dismantled, at that point your analysis of the view has culminated.

Joe Mathews writes the Connecting California column forZcalo Public Square.

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Joe Mathews: A meditation on life and taxes - KCRW