6 Outside-the-Box Gifts for Musicians

If you know anyone who can be considered a true musician, you know how quirky they can be. They’re always looking for some new way to make music, and will experiment with pretty much anything at their disposal as long as it allows them to be creative. Luckily, the Internet is full of instruments and products that allow musicians to express themselves through notes, chords, and…sometimes, plain noise.

Digital Audio Workstation

A digital audio workstation, such as FL Studio, is a way to “compose, arrange, record, edit, mix, and master professional quality music” on your own personal computer if you are a musician. Though a bit pricey, these workstations can help take recreational musicians to the next level in their playing. DAWs can be used by bands working toward cutting their first CD, or DJs looking to get their dubstep mixtape heard. Just be sure not to bother them while they’re recording.

Kaleidoloop

Sometimes music isn’t just about notes on a scales; it’s about appreciating the sounds all around you. Enter Critter & Guitari’s Kaleidoloop. This little gadget collects sounds all around you, allowing you to record and store them as you go. With over three hours of recording time built into the memory card, a musician can store thousands of sound clips and bites, from the birds singing outside your window to the crackling of a campfire. With Kaleidoloop, you can “invent new musical games,” and “explore new harmonies” at all times.

Electric Thumb Piano

For the musician in your life that always breaks out the weirdest instruments you’ve ever seen, check out these cedar thumb pianos. If they look primitive (except for the whole amplifier jack thing), that’s because they’re based on the mbira, an African instrument invented thousands of years ago. You might not see much use in the small instrument outside of a novelty, but your musically-inclined friend will definitely find a way to sneak it into his next recording.

Travel Acoustic Guitar

There have been many times in my life in which I wanted to bring my acoustic guitar to a party or campout, but simply didn’t have space in my trunk to store it. The Martin Steel-String Backpacker Acoustic Guitar makes those worries a thing of the past. It’s slender frame allows it to fit in the tiniest of spaces, and its lightweight body makes it easy to lug around. However, just because it’s small doesn’t mean it doesn’t sound good. As it is meant for travel and outdoors play, it promises “strong intonation” and durability. I probably don’t have to warn you of this, but just don’t mistake it for firewood.

Theremini

You may have heard of the theremin, the instrument you play without actually touching it. The Moog Theremini makes playing the theremin a little less complicated, and provides “new ways to experiment with music, education, and gestural control.” It includes a built-in tuner, so the player can see not only what note he’s playing, but how perfect his pitch is. it also comes with a built-in speaker, but also can be plugged into an amplifier.

Noise-Cancelling Headphones

Okay, this last gift might be more for the person giving it than the one receiving it. If you purchased any of the gifts on this list for a significant other or family member who you happen to live with, you might also want to invest in a pair of Bose QuietComfort 25 Noise Cancelling Headphones. They provide full sound, while virtually eliminating any outside noise – even when not playing music. Bose makes specific models for Apple or Android products, and with a small adapter jack they can be plugged into most amplifiers as well. Or, you could buy them for yourself while your friend rocks out.

Featured photo credit: Weird Al Yankovic in Las Vegas / michaelbwelch / flickr via farm8.staticflickr.com

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6 Herbal Remedies Guaranteed to Lower Stress Levels

You know the saying “stop and smell the roses”? While you’re used to the saying’s symbolic context – that we should never let life pass us by – there are literal benefits to many of the flowers and herbs found in nature as well. The mere aroma of some flowers has been proven to reduce mental and physical stress, while others require ingestion of some form or another. Regardless, it seems that if you’re looking for new methods of relaxation, you might not have to look farther than your garden.

Cannabidiol Oil for Stress

Let’s get the controversial one out of the way first, shall we? The mere mention of cannabidiol oil can make a person perk up or cringe, depending on which side of the marijuana legalization fence they’re on. However, this just goes to show the general misunderstanding surrounding cannabis and hemp. Simply put, cannabidiol oil contains only trace amounts of THC, meaning you can’t “get high” from using it. However, it has been shown to alleviate signs of physical and mental stress and anxiety, among many other debilitating conditions. However, because it’s such a taboo topic, clinical studies on cannabidiol’s effectiveness are currently fairly scarce.

Ginger for Anxiety

Ginger is one of the more ubiquitous herbs on this list. Not only can it be found in capsule form at your local health store, but it also is used in many different foods and drinks you may come across incidentally. Ginger has been proven to combat physical symptoms of anxiety, such as nausea and dizziness (remember when your mom used to give you warm ginger ale when you were home with a stomachache?). However, too much ginger can be dangerous if too much of it is consumed – especially for pregnant women or people taking blood-thinners. When in doubt, consult a doctor before ingesting ginger to alleviate stress.

Chamomile for Insomnia

Chamomile not only works well to alleviate symptoms of stress and anxiety, but it also helps cure insomnia, as well. The recommended usage of chamomile is as a tea, of which you can drink two to three cups on a daily basis. Of course, since it is usually used as a sleep aid, you’d want to drink chamomile tea in the hours leading up to bedtime. Like ginger, chamomile can also negatively affect those who are pregnant or taking blood thinning medication.

Passion Flower for Nausea and Nerves

Like chamomile, passion flower has shown to reduce anxiety and insomnia. It also combats general unease and nervousness that manifest in the form of nausea. Passion flower comes in a variety of forms, from teas and juices to tinctures and capsules. Once again, pregnant woman should stay absolutely clear of passion flower, as it has been proven to cause contractions within the uterus.

St. John’s Wort for Restlessness

The use of St. John’s Wort is well-documented throughout history. Before the use of modern medicine became more…well, common, St. John’s Wort was used to treat mental disorders from mild anxiety to full-blown depression. In fact, it’s been shown to be more effective than Prozac when combating disorders revolving around depression. When combined with valerian root, St. John’s Wort can also help with restlessness and insomnia. However, St. John’s Wort has many contraindications, so take special care when using it.

Lavender to Help Relax

I saved this one for last, because if you’re even remotely interested in herbal remedies you likely know all about lavender. Not only does lavender promote mental and physical relaxation, but it also balances your body’s hormones and stimulates the immune system. Lavender is best used as an essential oil (its aroma will definitely fill your house), but it also can be used as a tea. One thing to keep in mind is that lavender can cause hormonal problems in pre-pubescent males, so avoid using it if you have any young boys in your home. Otherwise, lavender can be incredibly effective in reducing anxiety, insomnia, and depression.

Featured photo credit: Chris Gin / Lavender / Flickr via farm8.staticflickr.com

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12 Weekly Challenges For Happier, More Productive Employees

If you manage a team, you know hard it can be to keep everyone engaged, happy, and productive.

Some days, simply getting your employees to show up and get the job done feels challenging enough. But as a manager, you have a unique opportunity to help your team members learn and practice life skills that will help them become happier, healthier, and more productive, both at work and at home. They’ll love you for pushing them in new directions, and you’ll love seeing the increased collaboration and energy in the workplace.

One way to engage your team is to issue a new challenge each week that’s fun and simple to do — and if adopted as a habit, can become a powerful new life skill.

Here are 3 months’ worth of weekly challenge ideas. Announce a new challenge every Monday and check in with everyone during the week. A weekly team meeting is a great time to ask each team member to report on their progress, experience, and learnings.

These challenges were borrowed from the free e-book: 26 Weekly Challenges For Happier, More Productive Employees.

Week 1: Tiny Steps

Procrastination is a huge time waster, but overcoming the inertia can be as easy as taking one tiny step. After that the Zeigarnik effect kicks in — the voice in your head that prompts you to finish what you start. For this challenge, organize your team into pairs. Ask each person to choose one task they’ve been avoiding at home or work and break that task into 5 tiny steps. Starting Monday, each person’s goal is to complete one of the 5 steps each day and report back to their accountability partner by an agreed-upon time. For some people, finishing one step may generate the momentum to complete all 5 steps on the first day, and that’s great!

Week 2: Mindful Meetings

When everyone is present and tuned into the discussion, meetings are more fun, productive, and efficient. For this week, challenge your team to commit to being mindful during meetings. This means taking a couple of deep breaths before the meeting, setting an intention for what they will each contribute and take away from the meeting, and staying engaged for the duration of the meeting by taking notes, listening actively, and speaking up thoughtfully.

Week 3: Authentic Smiling

A genuine smile conveys warmth, trustworthiness, and interest. It’s the number-one way to boost likeability. To smile authentically, you have to engage the muscles around your eyes, not just those around your mouth. Practicing this in the mirror first may seem silly, but it does help! Challenge your team this week to smile at everyone they pass in the building or, for extra credit, everyone they come in contact with inside and outside of work.

Week 4: Hunger Awareness

Overeating during the workday can leave you feeling sluggish and unproductive. Tuning into your hunger will help you slow down, enjoy your food, and feel satisfied with less, so you finish your meal feeling light and energetic. This week, challenge your team to stop and note their physical hunger level on a scale of 1 (famished) to 10 (stuffed) before, during, and after eating each meal. By the end of the week, their goal should be to start eating when their hunger level is at a 3 and stop when it’s at a 7.

Week 5: Walking Breaks

Walking breaks ease mental tension, free your mind for creative thinking, and help to counteract the physical stress caused by long bouts of sitting. The challenge this week is to integrate 10-minute walking breaks into the work day. Have your team schedule their walking breaks into the calendar the day before to ensure they don’t forget them. You can set a good example by converting any 1:1 meetings you have this week to walking meetings, whether you walk outside or just around the building.

Week 6: Tech-Free Hour

Disconnecting from technology, even just for an hour a day, can help you reconnect with the people in your life and experience the world more fully. Challenge your team this week to pick one hour every day when they would normally be connected and completely unplug — no phone, tablet, or Internet access of any kind! It could be during the work day, first thing in the morning, or right before bed. Encourage them to use the tech-free time to do something no-tech like writing with pen and paper, reading a book, sketching, or having a face-to-face conversation.

Week 7: Must-Do List

Taking a few minutes at the end of each day to set your top priorities for the next day is a powerful time management and productivity technique. This week, challenge your team to set aside time at the end of every day to write down the 3 most important tasks they will tackle the next day. For extra credit, ask each person to post their 3 tasks in a shared document. This will add both transparency and accountability, and you might be surprised by the discussion and collaboration it creates.

Week 8: Small Talk

Small talk at the office may seem like a waste of time, but it’s actually one of the most effective ways to build rapport with other people, and that leads to open communication, collaboration, and creative problem solving. This week, challenge your team to practice making authentic small talk with someone they barely know, whether it’s a customer, client, coworker, or even their barista. To establish genuine rapport, you need to go beyond “Crazy weather we’re having!” and generate conversation by offering up an opinion or story: “What did you do over the weekend? Even though it was crazy cold, my kids wanted to go out for ice cream, so we did!”

Week 9: Posture Check

Chronic sitting triggers back pain and neck tension, contributes to stress, and saps energy and productivity. While a daily stretching regimen can help counteract all that, what affects your posture most is how you hold your body throughout the day. This week, challenge your team to set a reminder on their phones or computers for an hourly posture check. At each reminder, they should adjust their seated position, stand up straight and stretch for 5 minutes, or scooch forward to sit upright on the edge of their chair.

Week 10: Mindfulness Meditation

The idea of stopping to meditate for even 2 minutes during a hectic workday may be hard to contemplate, but the benefits make the sacrifice worthwhile. You’ll notice reduced stress, improved creativity, and enhanced focus. This week challenge every person on your team to stop and take 2 minutes during the workday to meditate (this guided track will help). For extra credit and to help reinforce the benefits, encourage them to take note of how they’re feeling before and after each session.

Week 11: Eye Contact

Eye contact is one of the best ways to establish trust and rapport with other people, but many of us struggle to make and sustain eye contact, especially with people we don’t know well. The challenge this week is for your team to practice making eye contact with everyone they pass in the building or with friendly strangers. They should try to hold the contact for a few seconds before looking away, and for extra credit, add an authentic smile.

Week 12: Pomodoro Technique

Do you often look back after a day at work and struggle to identify what you actually accomplished? We have so many temptations and distractions vying for our attention that it’s hard to get anything done. The Pomodoro Technique helps solve that problem: You carve up the work day into 25 minute chunks separated by 5 minutes of indulgence in social media, online shopping, or socializing. Challenge your team this week to work in “pomodoros,” using a phone, an app like Freedom, or a kitchen timer to signal the start and end of each break.

These challenges were borrowed from the free e-book: 26 Weekly Challenges For Happier, More Productive Employees.

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Effective Yoga Stretches For Sciatic Nerve Pain Relief

Sciatic nerve pain comes from a tenderness of pain along the sciatic nerve. It will usually show up on one side of the body, although there are sciatic nerves running down each each leg. They are connected at their core to several nerve roots that come from the spinal cord. The sciatic nerve runs between layers of your glutes and the deep muscles of the back of the thigh, down the outside edge of your leg and down to your feet.

What Is The Sciatic Nerve?

As the largest nerve in the body, when it becomes agitated, you’ll experience the symptoms in many ways. Nerve pain, weakness, and tingling can be felt in the buttocks, back of the thigh, and into the toes. In over 70% of the cases of sciatic nerve pain, it’s the tightness of muscles that causes pain, also known as the piriformis.

Yoga is an ancient practice combining poses and movements which nurture the body. Some of these poses offer sciatic nerve pain relief. Yoga also has the ability to help you manage the pain through various poses that invoke positive energy.

Why Yoga Helps Ease Sciatic Nerve Pain

If your sciatic nerve pain is due to piriformis, there are gentle yoga poses that offer sciatic nerve pain relief. They can align, lengthen, and strengthen the back. Yoga is capable of managing and reducing problems that are caused by herniation, often reducing it. Gentle poses that include basic asanas include the half spinal twist and downward-facing dog. These poses align your spine as well as lengthen and strengthen the back. Be gentle with these poses, working on them progressively for a few minutes every day.

Ardha Matsyendrasana (Half Spinal Twist)

This yoga pose will give the piriformis a mild stretch, encouraging the muscles to lengthen.

1. Sit on the floor with your knees bent and your feet flat in front of you.
2. Take your right foot, put it under your left knee and around to your outer left hip. The right knee should be pointing forward.
3. If your left sit bone is lighter on the floor than your right, lean into the left sit bone. This will be the stretch you’re looking for.
4. Hold your left knee with both hands. Hold the pose and breathe in deeply while lengthening your spine. Breathe out and relax the spine.
5. Repeat the exercise on the other side. Try doing this three times daily on each side, holding the pose for 20 seconds at a time.

Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward-Facing Dog)

This pose does many things for the body and the mind, including a deep stretch for the hamstrings and lower back. Any pose that incorporates a good hip stretch is going to help with sciatic nerve pain relief. Tight hamstrings are connected with a tight piriformis, which further constricts the sciatic nerve.

1. Get on your hands and knees on the floor.
2. Put your knees below your hips with your hands a little bit forward of your shoulders.
3. Spread your palms with index fingers turned out a little and turn your toes under.
4. As you exhale, lift your knees from the floor. Keep them slightly bent with heels lifted off the floor.
5. Focus on moving your tailbone away from your pelvis, pressing it lightly toward the pubis.
6. Lift your sitting bones up toward the ceiling.
7. When you exhale, push the top of your thighs back, stretching your heels down on to the floor. Make sure not to lock your knees.
8. Press the base of your index fingers into the floor. Feel yourself lifting along the inner arms to the shoulders. Firm your shoulder blades and widen them. Make sure not to let your head hang, instead keep it between your upper arms.

Raja kapotasana (King Pigeon Pose)

Sciatic nerve pain can be reduced with yoga poses that “passively” stretch your hips. You want to use poses that create an external rotation of the thigh. The King Pigeon Pose is known as the king of hip openers and is the strongest of all the piriformis stretches. As it’s a deep stretch, when you try it for the first time, stay on the edge of the stretch and breathe. This is going to allow the piriformis to release.

1. Begin on your hands and knees, bring your right knee forward and out to the right.
2. Bring your right foot forward also until the heel is aligned with your left hip. Your shin should be at a 45-degree angle. In order to protect your knee, keep your foot flexed.
3. In order to stretch the right piriformis, lean your upper body forward, tuck the toes under and walk the left leg until it’s straight back. This will allow your right thigh to rotate out passively. The hip will naturally descend to the floor.
4. Make sure your hips are level to the floor and square to your mat. If your hip doesn’t reach the floor, use a blanket.
5. Do this pose on the other side. Hold the poses for a few minutes, using your breath to go deeper into the pose.

Featured photo credit: Earl McGehee/Flickr via flickr.com

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8 Benefits of Culture Shock

“Though we travel the world to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not.”

-Emerson

Through the glass doors I could see distant lights that were diffused by a copper haze in the night.  The automatic opening of the doors triggered in me a similarly automatic response of movement, and soon my feet felt the transition between tile and concrete.  The heaviness of burning plastic and petrol smoke attacked my lungs as I processed my surroundings.  A cyclone fence topped with spiral razor wire boxed me into a 60 foot (20 meter) square.  I could see a cow on an overpass ahead and a crowd of about 10 men deep pushed up against the perimeter of the fence.  The only way out was through an opening guarded by a gauntlet of increasingly frantic men in odd dress who were desperately shouting and raising their hands at us as we approached.  I was afraid.  I wanted to run back inside the terminal and wait for the next flight home.

The year I’d spent preparing for this trip was threatened in that moment. I didn’t feel ready to walk past the threshold guardians at the fence, and into India.  The mob of men stood before me threatening all I had dreamed and planned for. Though I well outside of my comfort zone, I continued to move forward anyway.

Though it can be extremely uncomfortable, culture shock caries with it the seeds of 8 profound benefits. There are countless types and ways in which we experience it.  Whether we take employment in a new field, have a baby, experience a divorce, or travel to a distant land, we all experience culture shock to some degree.  It’s a disorienting step (or nudge) outside of our comfort zone.

1. It Heightens Senses

As we pushed through the cloud of people in the scene above, I was feeling the onset of that lost-in-a-supermarket feeling when I was a kid. With four times the population in one third the space, India has a relative factor of twelve times the people as compared with what I was accustomed to back home.

Before that moment, I had never felt so awake. It was a bit like the moment before the whistle starting one of my high school wrestling matches. At the time, I felt my survival depended upon that lucidity. The heightened awareness of culture shock can place us into a frame of mind much like what a warrior or athlete experiences at the height of a contest.  It’s an absolute mindfulness where time seems to slow, where our judgements come quickly and where we’re ready to react before we cognitively process the threat.

I later learned that the people pressed to the fence were only awaiting relatives and that the overzealous gate keepers were just hungry cab drivers.  What an entrance experience though.

2. The Magic Happens Out There

With the heightened awareness that comes from being in a new environment, a foreigner will notice the gorgeous architectural appointments, the deep lines on the face of a elderly man tilling a field or the spectacular colors in the the clothing of children at play that a local will take for granted. The drama is in the details, and we are far more aware of the details from the framework of the shock of being immersed in a novel environment.  Inspiration tends to come to so many while on a journey in a strange place.  The novel situations seem to evoke this inspiration.

3. It Builds Intuition

It didn’t take me long while traveling to become a quick judge of the intentions of people around me. Within a couple weeks, I learned to quickly determine whether a local was interested in talking to me because he wanted to take advantage of me, or because he was genuinely interested in having a conversation with me.  this intuition was awaken while I was traveling and has stuck with me in the years since that first trip.

4. It Promotes Growth

Growth occurs when we step out of our comfort zone. It is important to know that stress is not a bad thing. We learn when we are in stressful situations. People who consistently avoid stress don’t grow (…until they are forced out of their comfort zone by a good teacher or life experience).  People who constantly seek comfort, grow at a much slower clip than people who push themselves into the unknown regularly. Our experience should be an ebb and flow between comfort and stress. To grow on our own accord, we need to bring ourselves into reasonably stressful situations, learn a lesson and then return to comfort. Culture shock is one source of this stress that promotes growth.

5. It Begins the Journey of Discovery

Once we are outside our comfort zone, we see things anew like a child. While I was in India, one of my favorite places to visit were the local markets. From the vibrant colors of fabrics and bindu powders to the odd fruits being sold. The lack of refrigeration of meat and dairy was difficult to process too. Culture shock allows for some fresh perspectives on life and the various ways it can be lived.  I had an opportunity to live closer to the ground an learn new skills which taught me about myself in the process.

6. Traveling Solo is Seldom Lonely for Long.

There is vulnerability in the experience of culture shock. One thing I found while traveling the world (especially solo) was that I was far more open to the company of strangers around me. There is safety in numbers especially when those home sick feelings creep in.  I made great friendships with people who i met in hotels/hostels, in restaurants, on busses and trains, etc. On this planet, we really are more alike than we are different. This comes out readily while we travel. Culture Shock helps this along.

7. It Frees up Blocks

William Pollard is credited with saying: “Without change there is no innovation, creativity, or incentive for improvement.” Culture shock has a way of exposing our deepest values, motives and prejudices. Not all are clean and friendly. Travel is a pursuit that oddly brings us home to our core with greater ease than if we’re sitting comfortably in our armchair at home. Being exposed on the outside exposes us on the inside too. Taking advantage of this exposure is an opportunity for personal growth.

8. It Positions Us For the Discovery of Our Current Personal Limits

There is a limit to how much we can endure as humans, but the truth is, our limits are far further off than we can ever begin to imagine.  Culture shock is an opportunity that positions us to discover our mental and physical endurance (or lack thereof).  Arriving in a new city in the middle of the night with no reservations is a chance to learn something new about ourselves.  Stumbling into an alley empty of all but the most unsavory people and stray dogs is a chance to push through the boundaries of what it really means to be “safe”.  As we survive the experiences that inevitably arise through the culture shock of travel, we find our limitations flee from our conscious.

Growing as we spend time outside of our comfort zone is necessary for our development.  Taking comfort in this is a muscle that needs to be worked.  It’s a skill that can be developed.  I’ve found no more immersive way than surrendering to the inevitable feelings from culture shock that arise as we explore a culture different from our own.

Featured photo credit: CandyBoxImages/shutterstock.com via shutterstock.com

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Have We Discovered A Love Hack That Works? [INFOGRAPHIC]

In this age of social media and text communication, it’s easier than ever to connect with people from all corners of the world. You can talk to people without ever knowing what their voice sounds like or what they even look like.

In 1997, Dr. Arthur Aron conducted a study to see if feelings of intimacy and closeness could be fast-tracked in a lab setting. A classroom of psychology students were divided into pairs and given 36 questions to ask each other. These questions were divided into three 15-question sections, becoming more probing and personal with each section. The idea was that if people shared personal memories, thoughts and feelings with each other, they would feel closeness at an accelerated pace. The 36 questions became a popular exercise for people looking for ways to break the ice during dates or to get closer with their partners.

Dr. Aron sent out a follow up survey seven weeks after the study and found that 57% of students had at least one subsequent conversation, 35% had done something together, and 37% had subsequently sat together in class. Dr. Aron had, essentially, created a love hack.

This year, Venngage decided to recreate the study with with a 21st century twist: the study would be conducted entirely through text, with no physical indicators.This new study asked 32 participants to ask each other the same 36 questions, but through text message. At the end of the study, participants had the option of exchanging contact information with their partner if they were interested in talking more or meeting in person.

Would people still feel the same level of closeness as in the original study if participants had no physical cues to go by? Is it possible for people to fall in love through words alone?

The results may or may not surprise you. While the majority of participants 50% of participants found it easier to discuss personal topics through text, 53% of participants still preferred offline conversation to online. And while 81% of participants exchanged contact info at the end of the study, 78% of participants did not intend to see their partner again after the study.

While text can make it easier for more introverted people to open up, most people need to meet a person before they know how they feel about them. In the original study, the relationship between participants was rated closer than the closest relationship in the lives of 30% of similar students. In the new study, however, 16% of participants felt the same level of closeness to their partner as they do to the closest person in their life, 84% felt less close in comparison, and 0% felt more close in comparison.

What can we learn from this? Well, while text can be a great way to chat with someone before deciding if you want to meet them in person, most people need a physical connection with their partner in love. There are things that a person reveals through their facial expressions and physicality that is lost through text communication.

But don’t despair if meeting people in person isn’t your thing! While the number of people who use online dating apps is still in the minority, those numbers are on the rise. According to research done by eHarmony, 38% of couples are expected to meet online in the near future, with that number rising to 70% of couples by 2040. And while most people prefer conducting their romantic lives offline, according to a survey by Skout, 76% of people have  a good friend that they met online but have never met up with in person. So it would seem that people continue to become more and more comfortable with conducting relationships through social media and messaging apps.

When it comes to love, do what works for you.

This infographic shows the full results of the study:

Featured photo credit: Venngage via infograph.venngage.com

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