I love the snow. Except for our recent blizzard, it’s been in short supply here on the Cape. Several times, my son and I got our hopes up when a […]
Body & Soul
Outermost ways for nurturing body, mind, and spirit.
Browse all Body & Soul stories below or dive into a topic:
MOVEMENT
Strength Training Isn’t All or Nothing
Getting fit in 15 minutes, part one: the legs
Strength training is important because it makes you feel better. Its health-related virtues include decreased blood sugar and increased strength of bone, muscle, and other connective tissues, increased release of […]
SURFING
The Complex Stuff of Simplicity
Boards, suits, straps, wax, and other things surfers need to ‘be in the moment’
Surfing exemplifies simplicity: a human, on a board, riding a wave. There is a presence and purity to it. When you are surfing, everything falls away and the only thing […]
BODY/MIND
Please Enjoy the Ride
Here’s your ticket to a year’s worth of adventures on Outer Cape Cod
Welcome, dear reader: here is your very own free ticket to the adventures ahead — the year 2022. All that’s required of you is to strap in, pay attention, and […]
WONDER LAND
By Any Other Name
The gifts of gratitude
Attention is a form of prayer. —Simone Weil The season of gratitude is upon us. It’s plugged from every pulpit, platform, card, and commercial. It breathes down our necks as […]
BODY/MIND
To Prepare for the Holidays, Just Lie Down
Starting with the simplicity of a single pose, yoga’s explorations of quiet
In just four weeks, we’ll be celebrating the winter solstice, the shortest day and longest night of the year. Pre-pandemic, this time of year always felt frenetic. We were all […]
MOVEMENT
Heading to Class on a Search for Motivation
Groups are good for hibernators, the hesitant, and those with hectic lives
Motivation has been a theme for me this fall — I find that’s true of a lot of people I work with. As the weather cools, most of us need […]
SURFING
There’s Togetherness in Surfers’ Small Transgressions
On the practicality and satisfaction of peeing in the ocean
Surfers pee in their wetsuits. I’ve never met one who doesn’t. All those people you see out there in the ocean, looking calm and free? They are. They’re peeing. This […]
WONDER LAND
The Year of the Rat
Why do we assign such menacing imagery to this critter?
CAMBRIDGE — Two days ago, while I sat on my bed talking on the phone, a rat scrambled across my bedcovers and slipped down between the mattress and the wall. […]
BODY/MIND
Remixing the Basics
When the source of pain is hiding in old routines, it’s time to get out of the groove
After 15 years of both classical and new-age yoga training, I still find my home practice beginning the same way. Somewhere in the first five minutes: tabletop, on hands and […]
MOVEMENT
Why It Works to Work Out With a Friend
The buddy system builds in motivation, competition, and fun
It’s 5 p.m. on a Friday, and I’m exhausted after a long work week. I spend all day motivating other people to move, but right now I feel like lounging […]
WONDER LAND
The Swan
What does it mean to try to breathe inner peace into others?
I’d just left Chinatown after reclining in a chair for hours inside a state-of-the-art dental school. Each white cubicle featured an oversized nature photo, and all the while I’d been […]
SAVASANA
Wednesdays With Janis
Sometimes a student is the best teacher
It was in some ways not an unusual invitation, from one yoga teacher to another: “I have a really special client that I’d like you to meet,” my colleague wrote. […]
MOVEMENT
Finding Flow on a Paddleboard
The best exercise is the one that makes you happy
People always ask me, “What’s the best exercise?” That’s a tough one because “best” can mean many different things. Is it the one that burns the most calories? Works the […]
UP A CREEK
Occupy August
Troubleshooting the peak season, with guided meditations
August. The balmy bliss of sandy sheets. This month requires a certain je ne sais quoi when waiting to get a spot off Ocean View Drive with a pack of […]
