Massage Envy has opened its first Santa Monica location at the northwest corner of Montana Avenue and Lincoln Boulevard. Emphasizing a franchise business model, the company is a pioneer and industry leader in the delivery of affordable massage and spa services. Based in Scottsdale, Arizona, Massage Envy now boasts over 800 locations nationally.
Sounds True presents their second annual Wake Up Festival August 14-18 at the YMCA of the Rockies Estes Park Center in Estes Park, Colorado. The Wake Up Festival is an opportunity for “turbo-charged experiences of initiation, featuring more than 30 presenters over the course of five immersive days in the beautiful Rocky Mountains,” says Tami Simon, Founder and CEO of Sounds True. Leading spiritual teachers will join together with renowned healers, musicians, poets, yogis, and dancers to accelerate personal transformation and spiritual awakening, collectively initiated into greater openness, authenticity, and flow.
Michael Bernard Beckwith, founder and spiritual director of Agape International Spiritual Center, will host Revelation 2013 from Thursday, April 25 through Sunday, April 28. The event, marking the 20th annual Revelation Conference, will be held at the Los Angeles Marriott Burbank Airport Hotel. The theme of this spring’s conference is “Beyond Beyond and Back.”
Deonza Thymes, M.D., is an acute observer who wants to make a difference—traits that explain her attraction to study both sociology and pre-med as an undergraduate at UCLA, as well as her keen eye for finding unmet needs and opportunities to help others. As an African-American female who was born and raised in South Los Angeles, Thymes frequently faced discouragement and lacked role models along the way to pursuing her degree as a medical doctor, which she accomplished in 2003 at Ohio State University. Because she was tuned in to the challenges that young women like her face, she saw the promise in Artemis Medical Society—a group of female, African-American physicians that are working together with a mission to create an environment through which to share, support, encourage and cultivate African-American women physicians across all medical specialties. Similarly, Thymes noticed a need among the older adults that she was encountering as an emergency room physician and found an opportunity to help fill the gap with ActiveRx Active Aging Centers.
For the past seven years, Axiom Foods, a company hidden in our own backyard, has been quietly developing innovative technologies for the manufacture of plant-based protein ingredients for food manufacturers. Two years ago, they resolved to leverage their expertise in research, technology, quality control and information sharing to develop and launch their own brand of natural products intended to be accessible to all people. Under the Growing Naturals brand, Axiom currently markets organic brown rice protein as well as the industry’s first raw pea protein.
Reusing, recycling or repurposing a worn-out mattress is a far better solution than adding another to the 20 million or so that annually end up in landfills. Before discarding, first check with family members, friends or coworkers, or post a note on a community bulletin board or on the Internet (Freecycle.org) about the availability of a free, gently used mattress.
Consumers do not need to buy overpriced, sugary sports drinks in order to replenish carbohydrates and electrolytes during or after exercise, say researchers at the Appalachian State University Human Performance Lab at the North Carolina Research Campus, in Kannapolis. Instead, just grab a banana. The tasty fruit not only offers the same performance boost as sports drinks, but additional advantages, as well. Bananas provide antioxidants not found in the manmade beverages, plus a greater nutritional boost, including fiber, potassium and vitamin B6. Bananas also boast a healthier blend of natural sugars than sports drinks.
Notoriously difficult to treat, chronic back pain may be behind more disability and days off from work than any other health condition. A recent study published by the British Medical Journal, involving more than 500 patients, concludes that practicing the Alexander Technique, an awareness practice to identify and correct unconscious negative physical habits related to posture and movement, breathing and tension, combined with moderate exercise, can help.
Judith Orloff, M.D., assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at UCLA and author of the New York Times and international bestseller Emotional Freedom, will present a lecture on Saturday, March 16 from 1 p.m to 4 p.m. in association with UCLA’s Mindful Awareness Research Center (MARC). UCLA’s Neuro-Psychiatric Institute (NPI) Auditorium serves as the venue. The workshop is open to the public, and the session qualifies for Continuing Education (CE) credits (3 hours) for health professionals.
The UCLA Family Commons will be offering a new six-week session of Maps I: Mindful Awareness for Daily Living beginning on Monday, March 11. The class will meet on Mondays from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. through April 15. The program is designed as an introduction to mindful awareness practices (MAPs) and is intended to reduce stress and develop greater mind-body awareness. Attendees will learn practices that include sitting and walking meditation and how to work with difficult thoughts and emotions.