There's a positive feedback loop between environmental and personal health and well-being. And it's easier to move towards a sustainable lifestyle if your personal life feels in balance. Natural therapy and alternative health or harmony enhancers like art, music, yoga, mindful meditation, exercise, homeopathy, and herbs can help close the loop.

New

Gretchen Reynolds on The First 20 Minutes - NYTimes.com - - This refers to where most of the health and longevity benefits of exercise lie. And it doesn't even have to be strenuous!

If you Want Happiness, Practice Kindness - Greater Good - - Get the details and some examples.

Surprising Ways to Beat Anxiety and Become Mentally Strong, According to Science - - Research-backed methods for alleviating anxiety and a healthy way to worry from a study published in 2017. Some of them are counter-intuitive and others are more like, " Oh, that makes sense; why didn't I think of it?"

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Living Room Dancing - You've heard of Ballroom Dancing... Well, this is the kind of dancing you'd do at home, in your living room, or anywhere you feel totally comfortable, unjudged, unpressured. Except you get to do it in a BIG room...

Dry Brushing - Save on tooth paste...and dental bills. This Arizona study found that brushing with a dry brush reduced plaque by 67% and gingivitis by 50%. Includes instructions. NOTE: Thanks to the anonymous visitor who sent us this link, with more about drybrushing.

Life Cycle - Stephen M. Follett reflects on 26 years of all-season bike commuting in rural Vermont.

Introduction To Meditation - How it works, why it works, and how to do it.

Parthenogenesis, by Tania Kupczak - Talk about re-use! Vermont artist, Tania Kupczak used a paper punch and magazine pages to create this fascinating and beautiful vision.

Somatics - A short intro to a remarkable way to heal a sore back. In my case, less than 5 minutes of exercise per day eliminated a longstanding back problem. You can easily learn it from the book Somatics, written by Thomas Hanna, who developed this derivative of the Feldenkrais method.

Eating Out to Stay Fit - Don't these two activities work against each other? Not necessarily! This little article plays with words a bit and shows you how to put some variety (and some Nature) in your dining, increase its nutritive value, and get a workout at the same time. [7k]

Supper Club - Save time and money, eat out, and build community all at once!

Activity Calorie Calculator - - Find out what it'll take to burn off that holiday meal. Compare various sports with a variety of everyday activities. You may be surprised by the results.

Bare Feet in Medicine - - Wanna really get in touch with the earth? Need a good reason not to buy those expensive running shoes? Here it is, compliments of the Dirty Sole Society.

EcoFuture- Dave Foreman, a Dialogue with Derrick Jensen - - Dave Foreman cofounded Earth First! and more recently, The Wildlands Project. Earth First! represented amazing concept: defense of the Earth is not "Lord Man protecting something less than himself. Rather, it is a humble joining with Earth, becoming the rain forest, the desert, the mountain, the wilderness in defense of itself."

Finding Harmony in Discord A Physicist's View of Symmetry and Beauty - - "One of the purposes of this talk is to argue that science in general, and physics in particular, is very much a creative activity, that requires, in addition to technical skills, a well developed aesthetic sense. In short, physics can be and (to me at least) is beautiful."

Finding Healing and Healers - - How to go about finding a healer in your community- Practical suggestions on where to look locally and how to evaluate candidates.

Gretchen Reynolds on The First 20 Minutes - NYTimes.com - - This refers to where most of the health and longevity benefits of exercise lie. And it doesn't even have to be strenuous!

Harping For Harmony - - sponsors volunteers who carry harp music to remote and conflicted places (Like Cyprus, Haiti, Russia, and El Salvador.) They can also help you Learn the folk harp by ear in seven short days and download simple plans to build your own harp. You can also buy a kit, a finished harp, and assorted harp jewelry, etc..

Hindu Yoga - - A brief, but helpful catalogue of the many facets of Yoga. At Spiritual Teachings.

How to Build a Life - The Atlantic - - A weekly collection of essays about meaning and happiness, by Arthur Brooks, a guy with some helpful things to say, like how Fear Can Make You a Better Person , or how Making People Happy Makes You Happier, Too.

How to Win an Argument With a car Driver - - This page could also be called "Bike for Health". It shows how a car-free lifestyle makes it so much easier to prioritize health.

If you Want Happiness, Practice Kindness - Greater Good - - Get the details and some examples.

Intro to Meditation - - Why it works and how to do it.

It Happens About 10,000 Times a Day to Every Cell in the Human Body - - Bruce Ames, Ph.D., comments on a common sense strategy for preventing cancer, cataracts and heart disease, why he believes in it, and how it works. (14k)

(Native Moons) Indian Moons, Days & Other Calendar Stuff - - The Moons of the Year in over 30 Native American languages and the english translation for each.

Physical Activity and Health: A Report of the Surgeon General - - The summary of the U.S. S.G's report. It's noteworthy for its non-discriminatory approach to fitness- for example, it shows that daily activities like raking leaves, washing the car, and dancing can be as health-promoting as jogging, jumping rope, and similar activities that are usually thought of as necessary to fitness.

Sailing - - by E.F. Knight. A classic on sailing and one of Arthur Ransome's sources. Learn to sail! The entire book is on line. From theory to practice, to navigation, reading the weather, and much more.

Sand Sculpture How to Do It - - Learn from a master. Award winner Larry Nelson tells you how. This is just part of a wonderful site called the Human Touch Museum. What better way to regain your balance than with a day of creative play at the beach? For potent inspiration, have a look at earn Larry's introduction.

Spiritual Teaching - - Overviews of worlwide spiritual teachings. This is just a small part of Spiritual Healing/Counseling, an incredibly rich resource and ideal jumping off place for spirituality on the net.

Surprising Ways to Beat Anxiety and Become Mentally Strong, According to Science - - Research-backed methods for alleviating anxiety and a healthy way to worry from a study published in 2017. Some of them are counter-intuitive and others are more like, " Oh, that makes sense; why didn't I think of it?"

The Ancient Heart of Forgiveness - Greater Good - - Jack Kornfeld on Forgiveness - What it is, why and how to do it.

The Art and Sole of Barefoot Hiking - - A personal, poetic account, by John Harder.

The Barefoot Hiker - - A Book About Bare Feet and how their sensitivity can provide not only an unique dimension of pleasure, but also significant benefits in safety, comfort, and confidence to hikers who learn to rely upon them. The entire book is online.

The Heavenly Haven of Peace - - Wise words of advice from a 17 year-old art student living in South Africa.

The Mind - Body Connection--Next time you have a sore throat. - - Short, simple, and provocative recipe for healing. Try it out and then email the author (Stan Waese) to let him know how well (or poorly) it worked.

The Neuroscience of Happiness - - Have you ever wondered why it seems so much easier to feel sad or mad or blah than happy? You're not alone. Brain research shows how our built-in bias towards negativity can destroy happiness, but also how to get around the problem and "make ourselves happier, more peaceful, and more kind" in the process.

The Ten Bulls - - A zen classic, online. Written in the twelfth century by Kakuan, and a source of inspiration to students ever since, the ten bulls represent sequential steps of spritual growth.

We Are Most Happy When Making Love, Exercising Or Chatting, And Least Happy When Our Mind Wanders - - As far as we know, we're the only animals that spend much time thinking about what what we're not doing. That may help us to survive, but, as this study shows, it doesn't make us happy

Yogic Breathing - - A quick, two-part introduction at Yoga Central.

Aging

Art

Exercise

Food_Body

Growth and Learning

Homeopathy

Illnesses

Love

Relationships

World-Wide Guide to Swimming Holes - World-Wide Guide to Swimming Holes