Positivity in Difficult Times

By Ana Wilmer

In life, it is often a struggle for people to remember the positive side of life. That being, it is surely not easy to be appreciative when you’re feeling depressed, anxious, or stressed. Research proves that trying to remind yourself of things you’re grateful for, can indeed improve your mental health — and Teen Vogue Editor in Chief Lindsay Peoples Wagner agrees.

Lindsay claims she utilizes the Grateful app to write down one thing she’s grateful for everyday as a way of ensuring appreciation of the joy present in her life. Studies have shown that this sense of thankfulness can limit stress, alleviate depression, and aid you with sleep patterns. Research also shows that demonstrating gratitude can directly lead you to be happier.

 Rachel O’Neill, a therapist and director of clinical effectiveness at Talkspace, told Teen Vogue  “The simple act of making a daily gratitude list can be such a powerful tool to turn your mental focus into a more healthy and positive space.”

As the coronavirus pandemic grows, it is especially challenging for people to maintain a positive mindset. From the panic from the spread of the virus itself and the anxiety social isolation causes, O’Neill claims a gratitude journal is a wonderful way to remind oneself that joy still exists. 

She says “During this time when many people are socially isolating, it can be easy to focus on the negative aspects of our day.” 

What does it mean exactly to practice gratitude?

Gratitude is defined as the state of being grateful and thankful. In other words, it means appreciating what you have.  Lindsay incorporates this into her life by jotting down a sentence or two on her phone about what she’s grateful for that day (her workout, or her family). One can be grateful for something big, like their health or family, or simply how delicious morning coffee is. 

 

 

Gabrielle Bernstein Offers a Free Online Anxiety Relief Workshop

By Kiki Montgomery

Motivational speaker and #1 New York Times Best-Selling Author, Gabrielle Bernstein, is now offering free online anxiety relief workshops on her website. The workshop includes spiritual tools that she uses to maintain a constant sense of peace during difficult times. The workshop helps you feel calm within minutes and is a great way to focus on yourself. She also uses the guided meditation to help people feel uplifted and safe as opposed to stressed at this anxiety ridden time in our history. With social distancing in place, the workshop is a way to relieve anxiety in the comfort of your own home alone or with family. The workshop is 50 minutes in which you can focus on yourself instead of the problems of the outside world. Gabrielle Bernstein also offers more mindfulness activities that you can buy for $11.11 called The Meditations To Calm An Anxious Mind Album. The free online anxiety relief workshops and the Meditations To Calm An Anxious Mind are both great ways to calm and destress during this global pandemic.

 

 

 

Naomi Campbell Live Streaming Her Workouts To Help Support Exercise During Coronavirus Pandemic

By Haley Brettschneider, Chloe Robinson, and Julia Carroll

With all the uncertainty in this coronavirus pandemic, Naomi Campbell, a renowned supermodel, has been an excellent source of positivity and happiness for all. 

Campbell began posting lessons on sanitation via social media and now offers motivation to workout, hosting Instagram Live videos with her trainer Joe Holder. A major draw to her workouts is learning the secrets behind Campbell’s fabulous legs. Although social distancing creates a sense of isolation, it allows for more opportunities to work out—and there are many benefits to targeting the legs.

Holder provides a master class on how to get long, strong legs in five simple steps: Stretch with a foam-roller, boost your heart rate with cardio, activate the glutes, break out the resistance bands, and build strength and muscle. Below is the synopsis of each step.

1. Stretch With a Foam-Roller

Holder starts every workout with clients with 5 to 10 minutes of foam-rolling to stretch quads, calves, hamstrings, and glutes.

2. Boost Your Heart Rate With Cardio

Holder’s cardio warm-up of choice is a jumping-rope circuit of 30-second intervals, for 10 minutes, followed by a 10-minute uphill run on the treadmill. 

3. Activate the Glutes

Holder then focuses on “butt-busting” mat moves in reps of 10: bird dogs (extending the opposite arm and leg in unison); fire hydrants (raising one leg at a right angle out to the side until your thigh is parallel to the floor); and single-leg elevated side planks.

4. Break Out the Resistance Bands

For proper conditioning, Holder uses resistance bands. He places bands around his knees while lying on his back and drives the hips upward.

5. Build Strength and Muscle

Lastly, bring one foot onto a bench, and then bring up the other in reps of 8 to 15—and deadlifts. Bend at the hips with dumbbells in hand, and lift as you return to an upright position in 3 sets of 10.

 

 

 

How Women Are Staying Active 

By Lucy Jerome 

Now that we must stay at home due to the recent COVID-19 outbreak, it can be difficult for everyone to find a way to stay active, especially women. This is because the exercise industry is a predominantly male-run industry; therefore, many online exercise classes and apps are run by men and are intended for a male audience. In fact, many app’s attempts to create workouts specialized for women have been offensive and stereotypical. Workouts focused on women are often much easier than the workouts for men and are only focused parts of the body that women stereotypically care more about, like their butt or core, instead of a full-body workout. 7M, a popular workout app that is completely male-run, has a workout specialized for women with the description of, “A variation of the classic 7-minute workout with more emphasis on the butt and other areas women care about”. 

However, despite this issue in the exercise industry, this has also caused many female-run online workout classes to become much more popular, giving these women the recognition they deserve. Goop, a modern lifestyle brand run by celebrity Gwenyth Paltrow, just came out with an article shouting out many women in the exercise industry. This article encourages everyone, especially women, to try online classes run by Tracy Anderson, Taryn Toomey, Megan Roup, and many other women in this industry. Despite there being more obstacles to stay fit and healthy during this time, many women of all different fitness genres have been offering at-home classes so that everyone can stay active and healthy during these hard times.