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We’ve all rubbed a salve into a sore muscle or joint and breathed a sweet sigh of relief. There are the old standbys, Icy Hot or BenGay. Tiger balm has saved my lower back with its cool, soothing cloud of numbness. Now there’s a new player in the topical pain relief game — topical cannabis. Continue reading
Your smartphone lets you listen to music, read the newspaper, filter your photos and find people to date. It can also help you lose weight and stay fit. If your New Year’s resolution is to have less screen time and more gym time, you might want to think again — turn your phone time to fitness time with these free apps. MyFitnessPal Continue reading
Nia is a form of exercise that mixes yoga, martial arts and dance techniques, but never mind what it is exactly: That analyzing part of your brain has no place here. Nia is about the joy of having arms and legs and knees and shoulders. It’s exploring the movements that your body loves. Continue reading
When a fellow EW staffer and I decided to take advantage of our YMCA memberships last December, we experienced the smug satisfaction of being ahead of the New Year’s resolution crowd; however, neither of us were particularly familiar with gym etiquette or protocol, and on our first day we hopped onto a few elliptical machines, pressing buttons and uncertainly moving the pedals as the panel instructed us. Continue reading
Meditation is not just some hippie trend or a simple means of relaxation. UO emeritus professor and researcher of psychology Michael Posner found that it can reduce smoking habits, and UO Substance Abuse Prevention Program teacher George Baskerville says it improves attention and helps practitioners better connect with others and the world around them. Continue reading
HPV aka human papilloma virus, can be as scary as it is common. About 40 strains of the disease are spread through sexual contact, the worst of them able to cause genital warts and cancer in the cervix, vagina, throat, penis and anus. Enter Gardasil, a vaccine the FDA approved in 2006. It’s been shown to protect against types 6, 11, 16 and 18 of the disease, which cause the majority of cervical cancer and genital warts. (A previously introduced vaccine protected against some cancers but not genital warts.) Continue reading
Looking over the barre, I see Broadway wet with dawn dew, the morning foot traffic beginning to pick up. Standing there on my tippy-toes, knees bent, arms holding onto the ballet barre for balance, I’m in full “power leg” mode at Barre3. Luckily, the passersby can’t really see my sweaty struggle (I checked; the double windows provide a sort of one-way glass effect). This is good because my legs are starting to get the shakes — that sweet spot where the muscles are forced to surrender and reform. Continue reading
Opium has, and has always had, this country by the short hairs. But for myriad reasons, the dope epidemic in the U.S. tends to elude detection as the massive health crisis it is — reasons that are intricate and complex and interpenetrating, deriving almost in equal parts from public-policy myopia, bureaucratic mumbo-jumbo, political opportunism, inadequate social welfare, incompetent or absent education, rampant drug hysteria and the inexorable nature of addiction itself. Continue reading
Robin Runyan is a four-year CrossFit veteran and coach. She came to CrossFit because other workout and conditioning programs didn’t hold her attention; CrossFit’s quick pace, varying routines, close-knit community and friendly competition appealed to her. Runyan is with me at Eugene CrossFit, near Valley River Center, to guide and coach me through my first workout. I’m far from an exercise enthusiast, so I’m going to need all the help I can get. Continue reading
With the Dalai Lama visiting Eugene in May, there could be no better time to examine the peaceful practices that His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, recommends for living a happier, healthier inner life. “I think the overall theme of his visit is the path of compassion and peace as a global remedy,” says Jigme Rinpoche, spiritual director and co-founder at Eugene Sakya Center. “Global does not mean an international theme — it means compassion as the foundation of every relationship in every moment of the day.” Continue reading