Healthy, Eco-Friendly Ways to Spend Time at Home
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1. Exercise
Click and Sweat: Virtual Workouts Change the Game
Between health and workout apps, online classes and electronic devices calculating distance and monitoring bodily functions, virtual fitness offers many personal exercise experiences. Read More »
Pound-Shedding Workouts: Best Exercises from Yoga to Cardio
The consistent exercise so vital to weight loss becomes easier when we choose a stress-reducing routine, set realistic goals and practice patience. Read More »
Tweet those Fitness Goals: Online Friends Help Us Stay on Track
With Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other social media sites, we can get all the fitness buddies we need, plus lots of useful strategies. Read More »
Exercise Detox: Six Ways to Burn Calories and Clean Out Your System
Try these suggestions to rev up your metabolism, burn calories, build muscle and clean out your system. Read More »
Try Some Stretches: Four Ways to Flex Our Muscles
Whether incorporated into a workout routine or done on its own, a regular stretching practice can foster flexibility, balance, range of motion, coordination and improve muscle endurance. Read More »
2. Meditate
Ways to Calm Your Anxiety with Meditation During the Coronavirus Pandemic
With all the uncertainty we are facing today surrounding COVID-19 causing individuals to develop anxious feelings, now is the perfect time to start a regular mindfulness meditation practice. Read More »
Meditation Made Easy: Simple Tips for Health, Happiness and Peace
Meditation can counteract the negative effects of acute and chronic stress, lower high blood pressure and help to bring the body back into balance. Here is how to start a regular practice. Read More »
Awakening to Spirit: Prayer and Meditation Heal and Free Us
By penetrating to the core of our true identity through spiritual practices, we open the door to vast expanses of peace, healing and joy. Read More »
3. Start a garden
Herbs that Beat the Heat: Favorite Varieties that Flourish in Summer
Some of the best plants to keep as summer companions are herbs that enrich life with their flavors, fragrances and beauty. Whether potted or in the garden, these herbs thrive in hot weather. Read More »
Indoor Kitchen Gardening: Easy-Grow Microgreens Are Big on Nutrition
Alfalfa, wheat, popcorn, radishes, red cabbage, snow peas and more can be grown in soil in tiny kitchen containers, producing quick harvests of tasty nutrients. Read More »
Backyard Gardening: How to Get a Lot From Your Plot
Whether this is your first year growing a kitchen garden or your thumb glows green from years of use, it’s possible to quickly turn dreams of bountiful organic harvests into a reality. Read More »
The Herbal Kitchen: Eight Easy Picks for Container Gardening
These eight culinary gems will spice up your meals, and they like being pot-bound. Read More »
4. Practice yoga
Natural Awakenings Yoga Guide
Yoga aims to integrate mind, body and spirit, offering healthful benefits to individuals of every age and physical condition. This guide explains the many styles of yoga to get you started. Read More »
Relax and Unwind: Restorative Yoga Poses Foster Healing
If even touching our toes is too much of a stretch, restorative yoga might be a good first move. It uses pillows, blocks and blankets to support the body in deeply healthful asanas. Read More »
Why Our Body Loves Yoga: Gentle Poses Foster Flexibility
You don't have to be super-flexible or practice intense poses to enjoy the many health and wellness benefits of yoga, available to any age group or physical type. Read More »
5. Catch up on sleep
Chasing ZZZZZs: How to Put Insomnia to Rest
Natural, holistic approaches such as acupuncture, massage, diet, exercise, cognitive behavioral therapy, meditation and CBD can help to foster quality sleep without undesirable side effects. Read More »
Exercise To Sleep By: Quell Insomnia and Nighttime Anxiety
By doing the right kind of exercise at the right time of day, we can sleep soundly all night long. Read More »
Eat Right to Sleep Well: 10 Foods Help Us Relax and Rest
Rather than popping a pill, eating certain foods can kick-start hormones that help us get a long, deep night’s sleep. Read More »
Get Good ZZZs: Natural Solutions to Help Cure Sleeplessness
Natural sleep-inducing habits and remedies that may be just as effective as sleep aids at facilitating better rest. Read More »
6. Tidy up the house
Spring Decluttering: Many Benefits of Reorganizing
Getting rid of the old can by done step by step, opening up space not only in our closets but in our psyches. Read More »
A Home That Heals: Creating a Nurturing Space
Stay-at-home orders allow for the opportunity to transform your residence into a sanctuary of peace. Here are ways to reduce clutter and enhance flow to make your house feel like a sacred... Read More »
Marie Kondo on the Joy of Tidying Up: Simplicity Invites Happiness into Our Lives
By turning a conventional to-do on its head, Marie Kondo has taught millions worldwide how to gain joy by permanently de-cluttering their homes. Read More »
7. Create art
Handmade Happiness: A Hands-On Approach to Authentic Living
Participating in craftwork gives us a sense of confidence and completeness that’s often lacking in our fast-paced, digital world. Read More »
Green Arts: Tips for Finding Safe Eco-Supplies
With a little research, we can make beautiful art and crafts using non-toxic supplies from planet-friendly sources. Read More »
Color Me Calm: Grownups De-Stress with Adult Coloring Books
We don’t have to be kids to once again take up coloring pages of inviting graphics that induce calm, improve fine motor skills and enhance our creativity. Read More »
Picture Your Future: Creating a Vision Board Makes Dreams Real
Putting together a collage that graphically illustrates your deepest hopes and desires propels a new future. Read More »
8. Cook healthy meals
Meatless Makeover: A Plant-Based Spin on Classic Dishes
How to turn classic meat recipes into healthy, plant-based versions without losing any taste or texture including vegan popcorn chicken, walnut tacos and mushroom, sage and onion Wellington. Read More »
Zenful Eating: Mindful Meals in Quiet Gratitude
How to cook more mindfully, enjoy meals more fully and eat in better balance, plus healthy recipes for Buddha Bowls and Hearty Moroccan Soup. Read More »
Recipes A Heart Will Love: Tasty Ways to Boost Heart Health
Low-fat, plant-based recipes make for a heart-healthy meal so delicious that non-vegetarians won’t even miss the meat. Read More »
The World’s Healthiest Cuisines: What Five Countries Can Teach Us about Good Eating
Step aside, pizza and chop suey! These five authentic ethnic cuisines offer the real thing— traditional food that’s healthy, tasty and easy to prepare in our own kitchen. Read More »
9. Clean
Sustainable Scrubbing: Tips for Toxin-Free House Cleaning
Safe and effective non-toxic, green cleaning solutions using natural ingredients that are good for our health and the planet. Read More »
Clean Ride: DIY Versus Commercial Carwash
Helpful tips make an at-home car wash both energy-efficient and thorough. Read More »
Think Outside the House: Expanding Spring Cleaning
Before summer heat sets in, here are ways to expand spring green cleaning to the exterior of the house, yard and car. Read More »
10. Listen to music
Music as Medicine: Music Soothes, Energizes and Heals Us
Whether it involves strumming a guitar, humming, or listening to a favorite tune, music has potent healing abilities for what ails us, from depression to addiction to pain. Read More »
Meditative Melodies: How Sound Deepens Meditation
Combining music with our meditation practice can lift our spirit and enhance healing. Read More »
11. Just breathe
Inhaling the Joy of Life: Conscious Breathwork
Mindfully guiding our breath back to its original rhythm helps lower stress and improve vagal tone, easing such conditions as depression, insomnia and pain syndromes. Read More »
Breathe In, Breathe Out: Three Exercises For Better Health
Most of us are oblivious to our breathing habits and do not breathe correctly. The road to better health may well be just a few breaths away with these 3 breathing exercises. Read More »
Breath-Taking Wisdom: Six Ways to Inhale Energy and Exhale Stress
Transforming breathing into a conscious activity can provide energy, dramatically improve our mental and physical health and boost creative performances. Here are six healing techniques. Read More »
12. Do nothing
Make Time for Downtime: Chilling Out Revives Body and Soul
In this stressful era, deliberately taking time off from work, email, texting and other demands is critical to our basic well-being. Read More »
Jenny Odell on the Importance of Doing Nothing
Visual artist and writer Jenny Odell on her new book, How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy, and why we must rebel against the seductive pull of 24/7 availability. Read More »
Doing Nothing: Why Timeouts Matter
It’s hard to take timeouts to do nothing. Yet, when we pump the brakes, we discover fresh productivity, creativity and contentment. Here are tips to reclaim the art of be-ing over do-ing. Read More »
BONUS: Just for Kids
Nurturing Creative Kids: Hobbies Engage and Grow Healthy Kids
Unplugging with creative and fun activities fosters skills that can last a lifetime. Here are ways children can express themselves through arts, crafts, hobbies and more. Read More »
Mindful Minutes for Little Ones: Yoga Helps Kids Focus and Relax
Children's developing bodies and minds respond to yoga on a deep level, both on and off the mat. Here is how kids can get started practicing yoga to reap the many health benefits. Read More »
Gardening for Kids: The Fun of Growing Their Own
How to involve kids in growing their own garden to get them outdoors, foster an appetite for fruits and veggies, teach them planning, and develop their motor, literacy and scientific skills. Read More »
Books that Kids Will Love: Advice for Parents from Award-Winners
Books with strong stories and inspiring characters can entice children away from e-devices, broaden their horizons and encourage their dreams. Read More »
The Pure Joy of Play: Why Kids Need Unstructured Fun
Numerous studies show that giving kids open time for “free play” is so important that pediatricians are writing prescriptions for it. Here are ways to encourage more playtime in kids' lives. Read More »
Please note that because these articles were pulled from our archives, this content was originally produced prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. While the majority of this material is still practical and relevant, if there is any reference to information that does not coincide with stay-at-home orders, social distancing or any other protocols surrounding the coronavirus, please disregard those sections at this time.
