#I used to be more popular art wise online but due to me not posting as much as I used to anymore I’ve fallen off but whenever I post again

[tariah23]

Ppl are too nice to me what-

[natsspammityspamspamham]

Anime That Deserve Another Season

Category One: Anime That Supposedly Deserve Another Season Even though the title says “deserve”,  I will be listing some anime that I do not think deserve another season. They’re just here because people are loud about not getting another season. These are mostly series I just didn’t enjoy watching. 

Category Two: Anime That Can Get Another Season They’re fine without another season as there are no cliffhangers to close and no questions that are really unanswered. These anime will not keep you up at night asking for an answer. 

Category Three: Anime That Need Another Season While it’s not mandatory that these anime have another season to be enjoyed, they’d sure benefit immensely with it. Whether it’s because there’s too many cliffhangers, things end abruptly, or there is just too much good source material that was left untouched, they’ll end up here. Even if I didn’t really enjoy the anime, some anime may end up here anyway.

Bonus Category: Anime Need a Reboot Not all adaptations are created equal, and even if the anime can be enjoyed on its own, sometimes it’d benefit from actually looking at the source material and going, “Oh, it was written that way for a reason!” Some anime just need the Brotherhood treatment. From pacing to anime-exclusive storylines, anime in this category stray so much that you might as well just start from the ground up.

*Please note that if an anime isn’t here, it might be because I haven’t watched it (or I bypassed it in my listing journey)

*Categories Two and One are listed from “Bottom Tier” to “Top Tier” in terms of how much I think it needs a sequel/continuation

*I almost never read the manga. These are mostly speculations/me spoiling the series for myself by reading the last chapter of the manga after finishing the anime.

*The bottom half of category three really rips my soul out when people say that there’s no chance of another season.

Category One: Anime That Supposedly Deserve Another Season

Aoharu x Machinegun

The manga is still on-going, but I wasn’t interested enough to really pay any mind. It would benefit from another season due to it ending on a point that made sense, but you could tell there was way more behind the curtain.

Btooom

Remember when they joked about this gross anime getting another season? Hahaha! There’s a story behind it, apparently. Anyway, it leaves off unfinished, but I don’t need any more of whatever this show was. This show is garbage, questionable garbage at that.

Ao Haru Ride

This anime made me kinda bored. The characters were kind of bland. The world was kind of bland. This anime left as much of an impression on me as white-coloured pencils did in grade school. I’m sure it’d benefit from another season, but whether that’d actually make me like the series is another question.

Code: Breaker

This series was pretty bad. I enjoyed it at the time, but it was pretty bad. I don’t recommend this show to anyone. It technically has a ton of manga material left (I think it was a 100+ chapters?)

Classroom of the Elite

I actually strongly disliked this show and wanted it to be over, but people said it got good. I stuck it out. I didn’t like any of the characters. I couldn’t find a reason to enjoy this show, and maybe it’d benefit by having some more story content to it, but if you can’t make me enjoy any of the cast after 12 episodes, you’re not getting any more of my time.

No Game No Life

Admit it, 90% of the people who want another season of this just want to see more fanservice.

Category Two: Anime That Can Get Another Season

Kyoukai no Rinne

This series is very repetitive. I’m surprised it survived three seasons. I still really liked it, but it is counted as one of Takahashi’s weakest works (not sure why though). I would mind seeing it receiving the rest of its adaptation.

Hai to Gensou no Grimgar

While it ended well, it probably has a lot more story to tell. This is an earlier isekai, and it’s hard to say whether it’d do better in today’s isekai market. This anime is what Sword Art Online should’ve been. This show takes it slow. Its action isn’t as over-the-top, and while it has fanservice, the show still feels far more real than SAO markets itself to be (but it does it on purpose)

Hinamatsuri

This anime made me laugh too hard for me not to want a continuation. They also had a character they didn’t have time to touch base on.

Runway de Waratte

There’s quite a lot of manga material to go on. I feel like we haven’t seen the characters develop to their max, and the protagonist hasn’t even gotten his full shot yet. This anime is an underdog, no matter how you look at it, it’s a shounen series about runway fashion, but I’m rooting for it!

Yamada-kun to 7-nin no Majo

I hear the manga goes downhill, and honestly, you could’ve just let it end right where season one ended, and I would’ve gone, “Wow, that was pretty good!” It did come back and “overstay its welcome” according to manga readers, but those final chapters make up for that.

Gakkougurashi

I respect the way that this anime decided to end, but there’s a lot of potential to take it elsewhere. It has a lot of material too. I feel like not a lot of the backstories of even the main cast were revealed.

Category Three: Anime That Need Another Season

Kimi to Boku

I had a hard time determining which category this anime should go under, but I think this category fits it best. The manga does pause sometimes. There are a lot of loose ends romance-wise, but it could’ve easily gone into the previous category.

D-Frag

This is a romance anime that didn’t really get to any of its romance. It hinted, it tried, but it stuck to the comedy route (which I respect). However, there is a lot of potential if this anime ever did want to return.

Hataraku Maou-Sama

This series really needs a season two. It was an isekai before its time, and it has a lot of comedy that made me laugh. There are romance ends that are left up, and the underlying background plot went virtually nowhere. It ended, and it makes the audience go, “That was good and enjoyable”, but it leaves nothing else.

Mob Psycho 100

I’m pretty sure this anime will get another season, but it will take some time. This series does have the popularity, and since it was quite recent, I think it’s just a matter of time. Studio Bones is far too thirsty to leave their man alone. Let’s be real.

Ranma ½

I think what bothers me the most about this one is the fact that they had the right number of episodes to finish the series, but because the manga was still publishing at the time, they had to use a lot of filler which ultimately took away from a lot of the series. The Ranma manga ending had about as closed of an ending that you can have for a series like Ranma. There are some arcs in there that I think would boost the story after a lot of those OVAs left an unsatisfied taste in people’s mouths. I didn’t even bother watching those.

Nisekoi

I’m not sure if I would want an adaptation if it were to happen because I don’t like the ending anyway. There is material there though if they wanted to, and I do think it’s a bit annoying if you focus so heavily on romance and harem then just don’t end it conclusively.

Grand Blue

According to someone I know, the manga gets good. This anime was really funny during some of the parts, so I really wouldn’t mind a continuation.

Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun

This manga actually did end, and I feel like it’s really missing out by not finishing itself. Shoujo manga and other romance manga do rely on having the characters graduate, get together, etc. Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun didn’t get that chance, and since the manga has a more conclusive ending, I think the anime should too.

Tsurezure Children

This anime focuses on everything so ends up with little progression in the long run. A lot of this is puppy love, but we never really move beyond that stage with the countless couples. I think this anime would greatly benefit with a continuation because it got so little done than series that focused on one couple. Focusing on multiple couples is part of this series’ charms though.

Yuri on Ice

I personally don’t feel a strong need for a season two, but I’m sure a lot of people would enjoy it because it has a large audience that are attached to these characters. They weren’t at their final stage yet.

Edit: They just announced a continuation called “Yuri!!! on Ice The Movie: Ice Adolescence”

Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun

The manga just hit a really pivotal point at the time that I’m writing this post, but the manga usually publishes monthly leaving it little room for successive seasons. Regardless, I feel that the series has more than enough popularity to carry it, and despite some of the real big corners that were cut during the making of the first season, people are still invested. I actually read the manga and can say that it has enough material for a second season.

Wotakoi

I actually read the manga for this series sometimes, and let me tell you, this series REALLY SHOULD GET a continuation. Sure, it’s sweet that you know who ends up with who, but this series is about “mature romance” (i.e. beyond high school). 12 episodes isn’t enough for this series. There’s so much awesome stuff that’s happened and is happening in the manga. 

Deadman Wonderland

This anime isn’t great by any means. It’s a gore fest. However, a lot of its plot holes and questions could’ve been answered if it went further in its source material. I’m not sure how much it would’ve made it make sense, but this anime is one of the ones here that really suffered from their lack of time to adapt the manga. Without some of the explanations, this series may little sense. I don’t really want another season simply because I didn’t really enjoy this anime, but I think I put it up here just because of how much it would benefit from a continuation. 

Ouran High School Host Club

Legend has it that every April Fool’s Day, someone goes on Twitter and announces season two. As much as we’d want that, Studio Bones is busy doing something to do with Bungou Stray Dogs or My Hero Academia. I already had to debunk a fake Ouran Season Two post for someone on Discord. I didn’t really enjoy the romance in Ouran (stayed for the comedy), so it would probably benefit from a continuation, even if it is a reboot. I mostly put this one here because of how much fans want it. Personally, I’d still be able to rest in peace either way. Regardless, it woudl still benefit immensely if they were to continue what they started.

Kekkaishi

This anime actually left 200+ chapters of manga untouched when it was adapting. I’m not sure of timelines and whether it was because of the manga publishing at the time that the anime was airing. Now that it’s a finished series in terms of manga, it can always get a reboot. It’s definitely worth it since it just finished on one arc.

Akatsuki no Yona

To me, Akatsuki no Yona was okay, but it could’ve been great... if they didn’t end on literally what the entire series was building up to. As a result of that, the anime really feels like a long manga advertisement going, “Wow, you sure are stupid for not reading the manga like the rest of us nerds!” The only reason why this series isn’t even higher on the list is because the other series did a better job cementing itself into a place in my heart. Akatsuki no Yona could’ve done that if they were given enough time, but alas, this series really suffers from a lack of anime adaptation.

Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun

It is such a shame that this anime doesn’t have another season. The OVAs are great, but if this had another season or two, they would be legendary. The voice actors really added to the comedy (the manga is still funny, but it’s didn’t make me laugh as much as the anime). The quirky soundtrack really adds to the atmosphere, and there’s so much development that’s gone down since its first season run. I really, really, really want another season. But this anime can be enjoyed even if it doesn’t.

Gin no Saji

This anime is incredibly enjoyable even if it doesn’t have a third season, but with the manga tying up all the loose ends with Hiromu Arakawa’s incredible storytelling, I find it really disappointing that they couldn’t get another season for this. Its characters were so likeable. I watched this anime with my mom who keeps nattering about a season three. If only such a thing were to exist.

Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic

As with a lot of shounen anime, this ended on one arc. However, this still had well over 100+ chapters that could’ve been adapted in series to come. The seiyuu events were hilarious, and this anime really hit its stride, but it left us all hanging. Now that the manga’s finished, I feel that it would be really great if we were to get another season. There were some arcs that I read that were so good. This was the first anime I watched, and it always holds a special place in my soul. I do hear the manga goes downhill majorly towards the end, but I’m sure that even that stuff would still be watched by people like me (heck, people waited for Black Clover to get good, come on!)

This also includes the Sinbad spinoff that felt more like a trailer rather than a full series. It wasn’t given nearly enough time.

Noragami

Noragami is extremely popular, and I think one of the reasons that it didn’t get the rest adapted is because the manga went on hiatus for about a year. However, I feel that it still had more than enough material to make some more way. Studio Bones is still busy with Bungou Stray Dogs and My Hero Academia, but Noragami would benefit by cleaning up some of the cliffhangers left behind. The future arcs are also really good, so the source material at least maintains some quality.

SKET Dance

I finished this series (both anime and manga) a couple of days ago, and I want to write a post about it. It was so good. It made me read 100 chapters in two days or something. But if this were to get adapted, this would give the series a MAJOR CHANCE to fix up the ending. Unfortunately, the manga ending disappointed a lot of people (including me), so being able to maybe just give the people what they want (I don’t care if it’s cheesy). They left a good chunk of great, hilarious, and touching arcs that would be able to keep toe-to-toe with the fantastic series they’ve done up to this point. I think it might’ve stopped due to the anime catching up, but come on, I just want this anime to get equal treatment to Gintama!!! It gets compared so often anyway!!! Series like these make me think, “If I was Jeff Bezos, I would just throw my money into making another season of this.” The seiyuu of this anime made the lines so funny too. I will be thinking and talking about this series for a while. 

Anime that Deserve a Reboot

Soul Eater

They really just dropped the source material in the last half. 

No. 6

The pacing kind of sucked in comparison to other materials, apparently.

Kids on the Slope

The pacing for this also really sucked and didn’t give a conclusive ending either way.

[kristallioness]

2016 | 2017 | 2018

*quietly sneaks back in*... Happy New THIS Year, my dear followers! In Estonia, we have this saying that if you wish someone a 'happy new year' after Three Kings' Day (the 6th of January), you gotta have a bottle of alcohol with you and give them a drink. *lol*

Anyways, I would like to apologize for the sudden disappearance that happened prior to Christmas. I was just busy travelling back home for the holidays, unpacking and putting away my stuff, watching some great, traditional movies or shows on TV, and most importantly, working on those 2 latest masterpieces that I posted (which barely got 30 notes each.. *sigh*).

But as you can (and probably will) see, the year of the yellow earth pig (i.e. my dad's year) was a rollercoaster of emotions and accomplishments, or lacking thereof.

My creative side seems to have suffered the most due to lack of leisure time. I only managed to finish 3 full digital drawings and left behind several sketches or unfinished WIPs (2 of which are revealed here under the months of June and November for the first time, I intend to finish the Korrasami one btw). At least I got to start 2020 with a completed drawing on the very 1st day, ha-ha! Perhaps that's a good omen for this year?

If so, then I hope I'll find the time to finish the rest of the 2019 Inktober prompts, since I only did 4/31 this past October (even though I'd thought of ideas for all of them). I brought all the necessary drawing utensils and sheets of paper with me, so whenever I'm in the mood, I'll try to sketch another one.

*calculates for the nth time*.. I wrote 18,110 words worth of fanfiction, plus 820 words for the UYLD prompts (making the total 18,930). Technically, you can count another 8k+ in there, since it comes from that unfinished story (of Aang taking care of a flu-ridden Katara, as illustrated by the September sketch), which I haven't finished within the last 4 months or so. Plus, I barely wrote 1/5 of the amount compared to 2018.. *hides in shame*

Then again, I was an excellent pupil for picking up an actual book and reading through 150+ pages (which means I have ~300 pages to go). I'm talking about the new Kyoshi novel that came out. As I once said, I haven't voluntarily read a book in years make that 2 years ago (most of the reading I've done in my life is either Tom & Jerry comics, now the Avatar comic trilogies and art books as well as fanfiction online, or compulsory reading during school). But this novel is freaking fantastic superb!

Not only that, I bought all the new comic trilogies and managed to read them through. Damn, did they give me feels.. especially "Ruins of the Empire" (ngl I squeed so hard when I saw the Korrasami farewell kiss on the 1st page of the 2nd part). I can't wait to read the 3rd part this year!

However, I failed to rewatch Avatar last year, and I haven't seen Korra since.. 2016, I believe? Wow, that's 4 whole years.. But I intend to fix that mistake starting from 2020. Hopefully I'm in the mood to start my rewatch this weekend tonight. *fingers crossed*

But as I said, I had much less time to focus on my hobbies since 2019 was the year for finally moving on with my life (sort of, I'm still working on it). I still remember how down I'd been feeling for a while and how valid those emotions really were. The first quarter of the year (+ like a month or two) was a continuous descent into desperation and feelings of utter failure, which already started around the 2nd half of 2018 and only continued to deepen around that time.

Everything began to change when I was first chosen to be part of a 2-month summer internship in an IT company, and I had to start building a new nest in a new location in Tallinn this May. And now, I feel like I've hit the jackpot by getting a permanent job in another IT company this October.

I got the opportunity to work in two different fields, in two different teams within a year. I met some awesome colleagues (a lot of whom are foreigners) and got the chance to really put my English skills to the test.

Thanks to the new job, I also had to go to a free health check, which went really-really well. Despite my nervousness in the beginning, I feel much more relaxed about my physical (and mental) health, cause the results showed that everything's okay (something I'd been worried about since March 2017).

Speaking of health or staying healthy, there were a few sports events that I went to, too. Our team held the first winter team event (it was the first one for me, at least) by going to do archery in a range on the outskirts of the capital.

I watched the football match between 2 teams of our local league at my hometown together with my dad on his birthday. Our home team won the match and came in 4th place overall in the league this year, which is their best result so far (I'm really proud!). And merely days before I started work, I visited the Tallinn International Horse Show for the first time (also with my dad). I last got to watch horses jump over fences or dance to their musical programs ~ 10 years ago, and I loved it!

Event-wise 2019 was pretty full of them. As has become tradition, I went to the Defence Forces parade on our 101st Independence Day (which seemed rather bleak compared to the centennial, even more so since we didn't have ANY snow at the time).

What will hopefully become new traditions, I visited the television tower on the Restoration of Independence Day (where Uku Suviste gave a free concert in the evening), and went to the Veteran's Rock concert (to honour our war veterans) on our Freedom Square on the 23rd of April (since I'm residing in the capital now, I should be able to go again this year).

To continue with the centennial celebrations (yes, some things are STILL turning 100), I saw and explored inside the armoured train no. 7 called "Wabadus" ("Freedom") in the Baltic Station. This armoured train was one of the keys that led our country to victory during the War of Independence from 1918-1920.

There was an even bigger (150th) anniversary to celebrate in the beginning of July, when I attended our Song and Dance Festival. This was a really important, if not the biggest event of the year. I intend to make a longer post about my experience, cause it's something that you foreigners need to see for yourself. I can't simply describe or put it into words, I have to show you some videos and photos.

But while we're on the topic of concerts, I should mention that I went to 2 more at the beginning of June - Bon Jovi and Sting - as well as 2 that were part of Christmas tours in December - Elina Nechayeva and Rolf Roosalu.

Besides that, I went to 6 different festivals, half of which I'd been to several times before, such as the Türi Flower Fair, Jäneda Farm Days (where I went on my first helicopter ride for my 25th birthday present) and the Christmas market in the Old Town of Tallinn.

The other half is comprised of festivals that I'd been considering going to for a while, or which took place for the first time. The latter applies to the Black Food Festival, whereas the "Valgus Kõnnib" ("Wandering Lights") and the duck rally, both of which took place in Kadriorg, fall under the first category.

The duck rally is a charity event held in the beginning of June. Regular people can buy at least one (or several) rubber bath duckies for different prices, which will then be dumped into a tiny stream that'll carry them towards the finish line. This event has grown more popular each year, and the money the Estonian Association of Parents of Children with Cancer (sorry, long name in English!) collects is donated to the Cancer Treatment Fund.

*wipes forehead*.. Phew! I'm surprised, that's a whole lotta positivity for 2019. I think there's one more important, but seriously negative topic I haven't covered yet, but I feel should be mentioned and explained.

When it comes to politics, 2019 was a complete disaster for us. EKRE (Eesti Konservatiivne Rahvaerakond in Estonian, or Estonia's Conservative People's Party in English) i.e. our populist/nazi/pro-Trump party is in the government as of April 2019, thanks to 100,000+ idiots (out of our population of 1.3 million) who voted for them and gave them 19/101 seats in the Parliament.

No, I am NOT going to apologize for calling them a nazi party, because their main leaders have repeatedly supported ideology that's common to nazis (they use aggressive rhetoric, blame the media for making them look bad, downgrade women, minorities, are racist, anti-semitic etc...). And I will not apologize in front of the people who voted for them, because "thanks" to this, EKRE has dragged our country's reputation straight through a mud puddle (not to mention the scandals that have accompanied 5 of their ministers, 3 of who have THANKFULLY stepped down from their positions) and.. *swears like the British*.. it's BLOODY EMBARRASSING.

I am done being nice, I have at least some kind of prejudice about anyone who supports them or their ideals. And I will certainly not let Estonia end up like America. So that is why I participated in two protest events against EKRE and our current government (because the 2 other parties, who were willing to form the coalition with them, are spineless jellyfish that simply seek to hold onto their current positions of power). I'm willing to take bets as to when our government falls (the sooner the better).

*shakes off the frustration*.. Brrr! So besides that, I guess the only downside to 2019 was my spare time falling back in the list of priorities (which shows in the empty square of July).

2020 is gonna be the year of the white metal rat. I can only hope (and take action so) that it'll be just as eventful, and much more creative than 2019. Thank you all for following me (or lurking anonymously) for so long, especially to the bloggers who've offered me support through better or worse! *raises a glass* Here's to 2020!.. *sip*

[gh0sti3-writes]

MORE THAN JUST A JOB-CHAPTER 1

Word count: 3k+

Pairing: CEO!Baekhyun x Reader

Summary: Baekhyun is known as one of the sweetest, most caring CEO’s out there. Everyone in his company adores him and is completely loyal. But, a dark secret lurks under every bright smile.

Warnings: Profanity...That’s it.

Note: Not proofread. Inspired by that one twitter post.

DISCLAIMER: THIS WORK IS COMPLETELY FICTIOUS. BAEKHYUN IS A RESPECTIVE MEMBER OF EXO. ANY REFERENCE OR SIMILARITY TO REAL LIFE IS NOT INTENTIONAL. BE RESPECTFUL OF THE GROUP AND OF THE PEOPLE IN THE GROUP. THIS IS MY INTERPRETATION OF THEIR PERSONALITY IN THIS FICTIONAL SCENARIO.

“I told you already, I refuse to apply for a job that doesn’t even interest me!” I protested, as Jennie simply laughed and punched my shoulder gently.

“It’s fun in the company! You’re so qualified.”

“I’m not working under a man who forces his employees to call him Byunnie.” I joked, as she rolled her eyes.

“Look, we’re not forced to. He’s been looking for a secretary...For what? How long?” Jennie tapped her chin, and I shrugged.

“Seven months.” She smirked.

“I knew you would know it!” Jennie exclaimed proudly, as I facepalmed. “Look, you don’t have to work with us if you don’t want to. Buut, you’re so qualified. I know office jobs don’t interest you but he funds so many different projects that it’ll be fine! And if you work in marketing, you can work with me!” She tried to convince me, pushing further. I took a wistful bite of my sandwich, before shaking my head slowly.

“I’ll think about it.”

“Haha! See, you’re convinced.”

“No. I’m thinking.”

“I convinced you to think Y/N, I convinced you to think. That’s all that matters.” She said wisely, staring at the city bustling before us.

“Sure…” I smiled softly. Jennie was one of the most loyal workers under Mr. Byunnie I know. Ugh. Just saying that name makes a scowl appeared on my face. Byunnie was one of the richest CEOs in South Korea. CEO of a popular company that focuses on creative arts and new innovative projects. His company never interested me, but after he opened his secretary position right after I got fired from my old graphic designer job, it definitely became more appealing.

Jennie told me he was getting more and more desperate each day, but I think she just wants me to work there. She was always a little too clingy for my taste, but she still is one of my greatest friends.

But, her loyalty surprises me. How in the world could someone love their boss that much? Like, even my old boss was a close family friend. But some days I would have such a burning, burning anger flaming in my heart. Jennie isn’t stupid either.

I suppose me applying for the job was mostly out of fascination. Everyone loved Byunnie.

And, as the story goes, I walked into the office building holding files closely to my chest. Jennie finally pushed me to go see if he was still looking for a secretary, and I was running out of money to pay for rent and necessities.

I rubbed my arm uncomfortably, nervous as what’s to come. What if I just walked into a brainwashing facility?

A cold sweat ran over me, my brain jumping to the worst situations. Most of them were impossible, most of them were logical considering the amount of money he has. I finally pushed my last step to the front desk, as a woman with swirling brown eyes and black ringlets of hair smiled warmly at me. It made me feel, comforted? Comforted isn’t the right word...Just welcomed. Safe.

“Welcome to the B&Y Building! How may I help you today?” She questioned with an airy voice, her brown eyes scanning me intently. I stuttered, before clearing my throat and tightening the grip on my black blazer.

“I’m here looking for the position as an inter-I mean secretary. Uhm, if the position is open, I would like to apply, obviously.” I chuckled sheepishly. “If that’s alright.” My nerves bounced up and down, as I tried to hide my flushing cheeks due to my embarrassing request. The front desk lady laughed softly, before typing at her computer.

“Well, we have been terribly desperate for a new secretary. The interview is open as of now actually, or whenever you’re ready. If you don’t feel prepared, feel free to schedule an appointment anytime this week.” She explained, typing away. Her black fingernails gleamed in the sunlight that shone through the glass walls. I looked around, and then down at my watch. I nodded.

“I wouldn’t mind d-doing an interview now.” I responded, somewhat confidently. She grinned.

“Great! tenth floor, first room on the right.” She pointed to the elevator, and I nodded, jitterish for what was to come. I was immediately regretting my choices. Usually I would have more prep time, but my interest in this company was overwhelming. I steeled myself as I swung the glass door open. I entered into a glass room, minimalistic with not much. A black cup full of ballpoint pens, with ‘B&Y,’ carefully engraved. A desktop idle on the polished oak desk. The smell of leather and vanilla wafted through the air, as two black office chairs sat on either side.

I nervously slid into the black office chair, tinkering with the fabric of my bottoms, my mind traced over the objects hanging around the room. Abstract art pieces on the white walls, a glass wall that showed the city below. I heard the door open, and a man in a crisp suit with scraggly brown hair walked in. His eyes were sunken, as if he had gotten no rest. He was awfully skinny, but seemed too preoccupied in his paperwork to notice me. I cleared my throat, as he sat in his chair and he looked up at me.

“Oh! Hey there!” He greeted in his baritone voice that seemed to ring around me. He shuffled in his seat and nodded at me, before spreading out his mass papers. “My name is Kim.” He stretched out his hand, and I shook it hesitantly.

“Hi Kim.” I smiled at him.

“Please excuse, this.” He referenced to his face. “I’ve been awfully sick for a while now.”

“Ah! No worries, I didn’t even notice.” I lied.

But then again, who would? I notice everything there is to notice. From the cloud formations to each and every person on the train. The horns, the bird formations, even the smudged paint hidden discreetly with a plant in Jennie’s house. At the right angle, it’s definitely noticeable. I rubbed my hands together under the table, as he coughed slightly.

“Well, I assume you are here for an interview for the position of Byunnie’s secretary?” He flipped through some papers.

“Uhm...Yes. Yes I am.” I answered.

“Great! Any questions before we start?”

“Do...Do we have to call him Byunnie?”

“Well, it’s not required but he prefers it that way.” He chuckled. “It’s a bit of a silly name, I know.” I shook my head.

“No, no.”

“Don’t lie to me.” It was a little more aggressive, but it could’ve been my anxiety that was disorienting me. I nodded and smiled awkwardly. “Alright, since you didn’t schedule an appointment I’m afraid I’ll have to fill out your file right here and now. First, can I have your name?”

“Y/N L/N.” He typed away busily, bobbing his head a bit.

“Great. Can I ask for your age and birth date?”

“Y/A, Y/B/D.” He smiled.

“My sister was born that day too!” I laughed, warming up and getting more comfortable. The vanilla sweetness in the air and the spring sun seemed to wrap me in bundles of safety and comfort. “Anyways anyways, can I ask for your education? Your major in college and what college exactly?”

“Uhm...Well I was an art major. I focused mainly on digital and graphic design or illustration. I recently worked in an indie graphic design company. I went to college in Japan. University of Tokyo.” He nodded, typing it all down.

“Right right. Any ideas with business?”

“I minored in business. It was my first interest but the art program opens lots of opportunities”

“I heard they aren’t big on that type of art, how exactly did you-?”

“I bought online courses while taking the normal ones.” I explained, interrupting him. He smiled. The interview went on, slowly drifting onto what I can contribute towards the company. What makes me a good secretary, what can I handle and tolerate, what can I do. Just the basics with some more in depth questions that focused a lot on my creative aspects. I understood why he was beginning to ask more complex questions, this is a very wealthy company with lots of information.

If they hired the wrong person or let a bad employee slip into the midsts, then...Well it can go downhill. So, I didn’t mind it and answered as honestly, confidently, and charmingly as I could. Finally, about an hour or two later, I was free to leave.

“Thank you for meeting with me. This was great Ms. L/N, I’ll get to you in a week or so.” Kim grinned boyishly at me, as I nodded, shaking his hand.

“Yes. Thank you.” I left the building, getting ready for lunch with Jennie. She texted me during the meeting, wanting to hear all the details on the interview. I was gonna pop by my apartment. Change into clothes, enjoy myself to avoid staining one of my only good blazers.

I got into my apartment, texting Jennie I’ll be there in thirty.

That’s great! Can Byunnie come?

I almost spat out whatever fluids I had in my mouth, it was most likely saliva but the bitter taste of coffee was reminiscent so...Who knows?

Who in the world brings their boss to lunch? Isn’t he running a multi-billion company?

My hands were furiously typing as I was changing into high waisted jeans and a white, blousey crop top. I started to brush my hair down into whatever style I preferred, and slipping on black sneakers. I began to apply some accessories, as my phone dinged once again.

Well! He would love meeting the new secretary.

It’s not confirmed.

So! Pleeaaaase.

She sent me a crying emoji, and then a selfie with her and her boss. I sighed grumpily, blowing a strand of hair out of my face and grabbing my bag.

Fine, on my way.

I grabbed a few gulps of water before deciding to walk to our usual lunch place. The walk was scenic. Bright blue sky, birds flying around and about. The air was dust free for once, meaning the smell of flowers was flowing around with the slight breeze that danced around my body. The green trees rustled, as the heat was buzzing in my ears. I finally arrived at the spot, a nice tea house with lots of treats that they offered. It was aesthetically pleasing, a lot of girls and boys on Instagram could be spotted snapping photos.

I entered and found Jennie waving towards me, Byunnie sitting next to her. She smiled brightly, as I took a seat in front of her, next to Byunnie. Or...Diagonal. Or somewhat close but we were still at a comfortable angle to avoid tension. We were sitting in the nicer areas, gilded accents to accompany the white walls. Aerial plants potted in geometrical glass pots to accent the theme. Dried blue orchids as our centerpiece, with cushions to accompany us.

“Y/N! This is Byunnie, Byunnie, meet Y/N!” I met eyes with him, trying to understand him. But really all I could see was warmth. Bright, brown, swirling warmth. I tried to pry, understand him. But no, it was just...Inky. It was overwhelming, and I felt myself back down. His skin was completely free of blemish or scar, his silvery white hair swirled perfectly and trimmed to precisely frame his face without flaw. He was glowing, radiantly. Like...His skin was absolutely perfect.

His innocent look, chocolate eyes, and perfect hair caught me off guard. This was...Not what I was expecting. I finally realized he was greeting me, and my attention snapped back to him. He beamed at me, out-stretching his hand. I hesitantly took it, warmth spreading over my arm.

“Hi Y/N!” His voice was soft, angelic almost. He was the exact epitome of lovable. I felt my cheeks flush.

“I-Hi, hi...B-Byunnie?” I tested the name gingerly, trying to gauge if he would react. His grin seemed to grow wider.

“I see Jennie told you about my nickname.” He chuckled, nodding. “Yes, feel free to call me Byunnie. We might end up partners after all.” Jennie laughed.

“Might? No way. Y/N is not just a might. She’s for sure what this company is looking for!” She reclined into her chair.

“Jennie, please. Don’t be so kind. I’d rather earn the job then let other people gas me up.” I shuffled. I was trying to straighten myself but his angelic aura seemed to completely intimidate me and welcome me at the same time. He must be a great CEO. Being able to make my legs shake but a smile appear must be confusing for competitors of the company. However, I still felt queasy.

“I’m just being honest!” She wagged a finger in my face.

“Jennie, don’t worthy. Neither should you Y/N. I assure you, my mind isn’t so easily swayed.” He leaned forward, I leaned backwards. “Thank you for meeting with me and Jennie, I know it seems rush but I’m thankful that you accepted her invitation and everything.” He strummed his fingers against the white table. “It’s good to know who I may be working with.”

“See! This is gonna be great Y/N.” Jennie giggled. “Anyways, you guys ready to order?” She questioned. I nodded.

“Actually, I haven’t been to this place before. Y/N, any recommendations?” He questioned. I stared at him quizzically, startled. I realized he was actually regarding my existence, and I realized I should probably respond before he catches me continuing to stare.

“Oh! I...Don’t come here that often. If I do have to recommend anything…” I pointed at the tea section in his menu, reaching over. “Boba, taro. Ask for sixty percent ice and seventy percent sugar, that specific order gets you complimentary taro mochi. Then, for food order the turkey sandwich or a crepe cake, both are really good with taro. Just don’t get durian cake, it isn’t too good.” I instructed, pointing at the different selections.

“I know the secret menu.” Jennie winked at Byunnie and I.

“Jennie, of course you know the secret menu. You literally always get lunch here.” I deadpanned, moving away when I noticed the close proximity. He had the same vanilla scent as the interview room did, just sweeter and mixed with cologne. He also was wearing his usual crisp suit that I saw in the photos. He was usually styled less innocently, but paparazzi coverage isn’t always accurate. His black suit had no wrinkles, white buttons perfectly aligned. Taking in his character, it was almost admirable how absolutely stunning he was as a whole. I took back my hand and cleared my throat. “Of course, it’s entirely up to you.”

He smiled and shook his head. “Nah, taro boba and crepe cake it is!” I smiled proudly, knowing I influenced the choices of a multi-billionaire CEO. It kinda made my heart swell. After ordering, our food swiftly came. I always loved the reliable service that the tea shop offered. It was good for in and out orders, when I was rushing.

We ate our food with slight conversation. The interactions were clearly awkward, but I began to warm up and grow fond of Byunnie. Even over the course of one meal, he was easy to interact with and was kind. I understood why all of his employers enjoyed working with him, he was smart. Resourceful. Respectful. Funny, he could easily pass as your roommate in college who always did the dishes for you.

“So, Y/N. Do you have a partner?” He inquired, as I tapped my chin.

“Mm, no. The closest thing is Jennie and even then we still have our emotional distances.” I joked.

“The only distance is the one you made when you said you don’t like ice cream on pizza.” She retorted, as I scoffed.

“Dairy on pizza is disgusting and gross.”

“Cheese. Y/N. Cheese.” He cleared his throat, giggling a little at our sad excuse of a debate.

“So, no partners? I really assumed so. You seem so put together and you’re very pretty.” I laughed slightly at his compliment.

“Put together? You're the CEO of B&Y and you’re telling me I’m put together?” He nodded, as if it was a basic statement.

“Well, it’s really not too much of a compliment. I’m not god or anything, I just admire how...Easily you hold yourself together.” He grinned at me, his smile wide and sweet. Welcoming. Charming. Not just the smile of a CEO. The smile of a friend. I blushed.

“Why thank you Prince Charming. You’re too kind.” He nodded.

“Look at you Y/N! Getting that CEO ass!” I nearly spit out my drink, expecting Byunnie to yell at her or reprimand her for disrespecting him. But he simply high fived her and laughed boyishly.

“Jennie!” I hissed loudly.

“It was just a joke.” She teased.

“In the company, I consider all the employees family. So of course, comments that usually would throw most bosses off end up being completely normal.” I nodded, not accustomed to now loose and free he was. How in the world is he so successful if he is so easy? He just seemed like the type of person who would let you make your own work hours and pay you all the same.

“You seem...Odd.”

“In a good or bad way?” He joked, as I grinned.

“Good.”

Jennie called for the waitress who was serving us, as all of us whipped out our wallets.

“I’ll pay!” Jennie declared, proudly. I shook my head and slammed my wallet down.

“No! I WILL!”

“No! I SHALL PAY!” Byunnie shoved the money into the waitress’s hands, eyes gleaming. “Keep the change.” I burst out laughing, trying not to seem to informal but jesus. He was so extra, it was so damn amusing. He was so friendly, welcoming. Just everything you wanted in someone close to you. Honestly, because of this lunch I was beginning to want the position of secretary more and more. My eyes twinkled as I watched his mannerisms, his patient nodding, sparkling eyes, bright smile...Everything about him just screamed sunshine flying out of his ass.

He didn’t make people respect him, he made it seem like he deserved it. Who wouldn’t want to give him the world?

“It’s getting late, I should go home. Thank you for inviting me out.” I said respectfully, bowing my head as they nodded.

“No problem, feel free to come with us whenever. We’re friends now, aren’t we?” Byunnie laughed, as I nodded.

“Of course.”

I left, with a smile that I unconsciously placed on my face. I felt fuzzy, safe, comfortable. I felt like I could let everything go to him, send him memes at 3 AM, even rant about my hatred of ketchup. But...He would be my possible future boss. The thought of that made me tense, I really just had a date with my future boss.

Ugh, he’s not even my boss! And even then, I don’t know for sure, and...My mind blurred uncomfortably, as I suddenly began to feel sick. It wasn’t...Food poisoning, it felt more like, I was mortified. Something horrible just happened and I wanted to sit down. But I stumbled home, eyes blank as I could only push forward to my apartment. Why did I feel so...Weird? The fuzziness was replaced with static that swirled around my stomach and head, loudly ringing in my ears.

I shoved the keys into my door, swinging it open and quickly locking it shut. I slowly stumbled into my bed, and felt my body sink in. I didn’t even have time to think about today, as I passed out immediately.

----------

When I woke up, I felt better. Completely refreshed and invigorated, like someone just pounded a bunch of vitamin c into my face and threw me into a warm bath. Like the gods above shoved immortality down my throat. I quickly washed my face of residue products from yesterday, and changed into more comfortable clothes. High waisted shorts and a tie-dye shirt. I put my hair back, and went to my computer to see if I got any emails.

I scrolled through some spam lazily, deleting and cleaning out emails from my babe, a Nigerian Prince offering one million. I chuckled at the cheap scams, before eyeing a new email from B&Y. My cursor hovered over the email, as I felt my throat grow dry. I trembled slightly, as I scanned through the big fancy words and colorful designs.

Finally, I saw the words.

“We are proud to tell you that you have been chosen as Byunnie’s secretary. Please come in at 6 AM tomorrow to get details and get you adjusted.” I squealed to myself, giggling like a child as I sent a text to Jennie.

JenJen! Guess who’s gonna be the new secretary?

BIIITCH.

I’m serious omg.

Congrats!!! Omg I’m crying in the library. Good job!!!

Still working on your masters?

Duhhhh, gotta figure my life out one day haha.

Lolololol

I put down my phone, clutching it tightly. For some reason I wanted to thank Byunnie so bad, tell him grateful I am. But, that wasn’t what people do. I needed to get a grip. This is a job, this is just a job. This is just a job that gives me the position of secretary under the CEO of B&Y.

Fuck.

If only I knew, if only I fucking knew.

This would be more than just a job.

[sunnysynthsunshine]

Negative memories

 “ As someone with Aspergers (now known as ASD) who has other issues with mental health, it’s hell. (note: I am not diagnosed with any other mental condition other than Aspergers but I have experienced the following) (Depressive thoughts, Anxiety (the emotion not the mental illness), panic attacks, strange mood swings, talking to myself, delusions, overthinking, various flashbacks of past negative events, feeling dazed and getting choking type feelings sometimes) 

(I haven’t seen a therapist before outside of unhelpful school counselors) .

if I’m having a panic attack I can’t tell the difference between if it’s a panic, anxiety or a “Meltdown”/”wobble”.

It’s just ever since I found out in my secondary school years about my ASD  I’ve never looked at myself the same way again.

when I was little I tried to interact with neurotypical children and I tried to follow the crowd with each popular trend mainly early 2000s celebrity trends.

I did see the school counselor a few times for “bullying” incidents but they weren’t helpful and I was a brat who couldn’t take criticism ’so while some of the bullying was real some of what young me would’ve called bullying wasn’t bullying at all.

as Year  11/12 approached I became more pessimistic, quiet and cynical than the chipper annoyance I used to be  I used to “entertain” for people I’d sing Disney songs in the playground and eventually anime songs when I got in my weeaboo phase. however when your audience is a bunch of years 8′s/year 9′s etc. they get demanding I felt like a real-life school celebrity or kids show presenter I liked entertaining them but soon they’d follow me almost EVERYWHERE.

like I’d be at the crowded canteen waiting to get food and there some boy would be with his mate asking for a song or “to be my friend” (which was fake because they would say be my friend as a joke) I would decline the offer and then months upon months would follow of me being chased around the playground by kids younger than me yet one of my first career goals was to be like the celebrities I saw on tv.

I had nobody to go to the school itself was already riddled with bullying incidents, two tragedies, homophobia, and other issues.

because of this and the recently learned diagnosis of Aspergers that I’ve had since I was a toddler I was unhealthy, I had asthma sometimes, certain classes and classmates, I dreaded going to,I’d skip lunch on a regular basis to avoid crowds, food and times where those kids would sit at the table I’d plan to sit at just to annoy me.

Anime and the Internet was my escapism but then I became an annoying weeaboo who was also a bit classist after messing on online quiz’s and finding the term “chav” I’d use to insult anyone online or offline whom I hated. (eventually stopped that though thankfully)

The Internet was my haven but it was also a prison. I’d talk to anyone regardless of if they were a fascist troll meme poster or not and that resulted in toxic friend circles, I got into polyamory dating anime roleplayers on Google+ that also ended badly with me at times not being able to tell the difference between reality and fiction, I didn’t have access to “real life” boyfriends so my “online reverse harem” was my only source of romance.

I also was still discovering my sexuality and religion choices at that time. I still remember having rumors spread about me almost every day, religion was something that often changed for me despite being Christian I was an atheist for a short while before I discovered Satanism/Luciferianism which in my opinion was cool but when I told one of my friends at the time about it the popular girls had overheard and soon for months I could not go to class or the playground without people saying “Kelsey do you believe in satan/do you worship the devil, do you like Lucifer” another similar recurring incident involved the two anime terms “Hentai” and “Yaoi” I only knew the name of the first term I didn’t watch any of it but yaoi, on the other hand, I read a lot of  but these are secondary school students who barely know what anime is and when they hear it in an IT room this gets embarrassing “did you hear Kelsey likes Japanese gay porn” Ugh.

and when stupid me decided to tell some people about how I was “pansexual” (the identity I had called myself then) they fetishized it they asked stupid questions out of nowhere like “do you think we’re hot, sexy,etc.” or “do you think (insert male classmate) is hot”  and it was horrible

my friendship circle at the time often changed sometimes I’d have a couple of friends other times I was completely alone and sometimes a few of those ex-friends would have drama which I, unfortunately, got involved in.

and because of all of this, I’d often lash out or make small problems or disagreements I had with my parents worse than they really were and I’d, unfortunately, post those vents on my old Google+ which I  regret.

I had dark thoughts not just thoughts about death but the thoughts JD from Heathers would have due to life and due to a mix of loneliness and feeling manipulated by a very toxic ex-friend of mine who almost destroyed me emotionally (basically, almost columbine type thoughts but I never acted on them).

Eventually, I moved on,I did a Performing Arts course and I thought that would be a sign of life getting better. half of it was good the other not so much.

I was still struggling to recover from what the former ex-friend had done to me, sure there were more positive memories there than there was in secondary school but I had a habit of being a bit of a “Debby Downer” I’d bring up the past too much, sometimes I’d assume too many things were about me even if they weren’t and because of me being someone who would blindly follow I got manipulated again I had become toxic, politically I was an annoying centrist 

it didn’t help that one of my hobbies “dancing” was made to be a less fun activity by a discouraging dance instructor who would put me down..a lot.

luckily at the start of this year, I started realizing what was wrong, the person who manipulated me stopped appearing in class so that gave me more time to think about how I act towards others and how I shouldn’t blindly follow, I constructed some vents into poetry and tried to work on “recovery”.

Mentally things were improving a bit, I eventually managed to work on a production of West Side Story which will remain in my positive memories for years,I got more active on social media that wasn’t Google+ like Tumblr and Twitter which allowed me to get to know some new mutuals I had met, I still sometimes visit Google+ but only for the memes, aesthetics, and mutuals who I can only contact there.

Now I’m doing a new course (Creative Media) with some new people and reuniting with some old faces from before. and my health is quite better compared to then but I still get those times where I’m depressive when I get panic attacks when I get delusions or get negative flashbacks etc.

I wasted years of my life because of that...because of Aspergers because of how I used to act like, because of how I blindly followed people, who were clearly bad influences, because of the bullying because of my bad choices everything.

I wasted so much energy but now..I’m 17 I’ll be an adult next year and Asperger's wise I’m miles more independent than before, politically anarchist and I want to let every one of you know.

it’s ok 

mental health is still a widely misunderstood topic most people deal with 

you are not alone

we are here for you 

[ontarioyoga]

Is Yoga Bad For Seniors

New Post has been published on https://www.ontarioyoga.net/is-yoga-bad-for-seniors/

Is Yoga Bad For Seniors

While Age Does Affect You In Various Ways Theres A Lot You Can Do To Limit Its Impact On Your Body Yoga Is An Excellent Anti

July 31, 2017

Along with the smile lines and gray hair, aging brings changes that are harder to see but very easy to feel, especially during movement. As you age, you’ll encounter general physiological changes in elasticity, stability, speed, strength, and endurance, as well as a different perspective on physical goals. Specific health problems emerge as we age, and these age-related illnesses might affect your yoga practice. Here, we offer our thoughts on how to modify your practice for these common ailments, and we detail the ways that yoga can actually relieve symptoms or has been proven to improve medical outcomes. From heart issues to less lung capacity, decreased bone density to hormonal changes, and to artificial knees, physical changes will affect and dictate the needs of a yoga asana practice, but in all cases, doing yoga will make you feel better.

From Chair Yoga To Hatha To Vinyasa Heres Your Guide To Eight Popular Yoga Types Every Older Adult Should Know

There are countless reasons to add yoga to your routine. Research shows a regular practice not only improves balance and mobility in older adults, but it may also help ease back pain, relieve depression, and even reduce blood pressure for people with hypertension.

“Yoga can help keep the body agile,” says Terry Cockburn, a yoga instructor and owner of Freeport Yoga Company in Freeport, Maine. “It can also help you maintain proprioception, or the awareness of where your body is in relation to everything else,” she says.

That translates to a reduced risk of falls—which is especially compelling, considering falls are the leading cause of injuries in adults older than 65.

So, if you’ve considered trying yoga, now is the time to do it! You don’t have to be flexible or experienced to get started. To help you find the best class for your fitness level and personality, we break down eight of the most popular yoga types.

Common Poses Most Likely To Trigger Yoga Injuries Plus How To Overcome & Avoid Them

November 5, 2016

Healthiest Yoga Poses

According to estimates, more than 30 million people now regularly practice yoga worldwide. And 14 million of those include Americans who received a prescription for yoga from a physician or other therapist. People have practiced yoga for thousands of years. During that time, the practice has earned a strong reputation for promoting well-being in both body and mind.

However, something many practitioners may not realize is that a number of commonly taught yoga poses can also be risky. Particularly yoga injuries are a real threat. So are the healing benefits of yoga worth the risk?

Yoga injuries — including back pains, popped ribs and strained necks — are not necessarily a rare occurrence, especially among those brand new to yoga who push themselves too hard or too quickly. Yoga poses such as handstands, inversions and back-bends might quality yoga as moderate exercise, but these tougher poses also can be cause for concern if you’re not ready for them.

Given all of the proven benefits of yoga, but also the potential risks, what’s a yogi to do? The solution to avoiding yoga injuries seems to be a combination of taking your time to ease into the practice, listening to your body, never pushing yourself past the point of comfort when stretching, and also mixing yoga with other exercises to strengthen weak areas and reduce compensations. It’s also wise to find an instructor who is well-qualified.

Do Yoga Asanas Increase The Efficiency Of The Immune System For The Elderly

Here, again, the Yoga Sutras provide us with insight. Sutra 2.16 states “dukham anaagatam,” which translates into “so that we can avoid the misery that has not yet come.” As we age, the efficiency of our bodies and the immune system’s defenses deteriorate, increasing the risk of sickness. Regular practice of yoga for seniors can lower stress hormones and inflammation, boost the immune system, and decrease the chance of sickness.

So whether you are 65 or 105, lay down your yoga mat, grab a chair, and get started with your yoga practice today!

While a regular yoga practice can result in improved health, know that it is not a substitute for medical treatment. It is important to learn and practice yoga under the supervision of a trained teacher. In the case of a medical condition, practice yoga after consulting a doctor. Do you need information on courses? Contact us at programs@us.artofliving.org to find a Sri Sri Yoga course at an Art of Living Center near you.

We would also like to invite you to attend a free breath and meditation online session to learn about SKY Breath Meditation, the perfect accompaniment to any yoga practice.

Improving Balance To Prevent Falls And Increase Stability In The Senior Age

Falls can occur due to a variety of reasons including home hazards like low lighting, low blood pressure, trips due to footwear, etc. However, one of the major reasons behind the occurrence of falls lies in one simple thing: balance.In today’s post, we explain to you the huge role that balance plays in fall prevention and ways of improving balance to ensure the safety of our beloved seniors.

Balance Exercises For Seniors: Improve Your Balance With These Yoga Poses

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5 Get Back On Your Feet

When a fall could easily result in a trip to the doctor, or even require surgery, staying upright on your own two feet becomes a rather pressing issue. Unfortunately, there are a lot of factors working against our balance system as we age – from our vision to the muscles which support our bodies, everything takes a hit.

But there’s also good news: and improving your quality of life.

More Older People Are Doing Yoga But They Are Also Racking Up Injuries

Yoga may hold a key to aging well, suggests a growing body of research into its potential benefits for body and mind — benefits that include reducing heart rate and blood pressure, relieving anxiety and depression, and easing back pain. One recent study even raised the possibility of positive changes in biological markers of aging and stress in people who do yoga.

So it’s no surprise that the number of yoga practitioners in the United States has more than doubled to 36.7 million over the last decade, with health benefits the main reason people practice, according to the Yoga in America Study conducted last year on behalf of Yoga Journal and the Yoga Alliance.

While yoga enthusiasts are often pictured as young and bendy, the reality, according to the Yoga in America study, is that 17 percent are in their 50s and 21 percent are age 60 and older.

Along with this upsurge of interest has been an upsurge in injuries, particularly among older practitioners. “Participants aged 65 years and older have a greater rate of injury from practicing yoga when compared with other age groups,” researchers wrote last year in a study of nearly 30,000 yoga-related injuries seen in U.S. hospital emergency departments from 2001 to 2014. “While there are many health benefits to practicing yoga, participants and those wishing to become participants should confer with a physician prior to engaging in physical activity and practice only under the guidance of certified instructors.”

The Heat Of Hot Yoga Can Be Very Good But Also Risky For Some People

Brian Tracy first heard about Bikram yoga in 2005, when a graduate student approached the exercise scientist with an idea for studying the classes, which last for 90 minutes in a room heated to about 105 degrees.

To investigate, Tracy tried it. More than a decade later, the researcher still practices Bikram yoga sometimes — and not always for science. “It’s one of the things I do for exercise, and it makes me feel really good,” says Tracy, who studies neuromuscular physiology at Colorado State University in Fort Collins.

Casey Mace Firebaugh had the opposite reaction. A public health researcher at Central Washington University in Ellensburg, Mace Firebaugh has long practiced more-traditional forms of yoga. Although she gave hot yoga a chance, it often made her feel lightheaded.

“I’m a relatively fit and active person,” Mace Firebaugh says. “But hot yoga made me feel terrible when I did it.”

More than 36 million Americans practice yoga, according to a 2016 . And although there are no firm statistics on how many do their poses in heated spaces, anecdotal evidence suggests that hot yoga has grown in popularity since it was introduced to the United States in the 1970s.

Yoga For Older Adults: 5 Health Benefits Of The Practice For Post50s

Beginning a yoga practice as an older adult can be intimidating, especially if you’re out of shape or working with health conditions. Although you don’t want to jump into a 90-minute hot yoga class with a group of younger practitioners, starting a gentle practice for beginners can be an excellent way to stay active and lower stress levels. Yoga can have a number of benefits for people over 50, from healthy bones to flexibility to anxiety relief. Ninety-four-year-old yogi Tao Porchon-Lynch swears by yoga as a way to maintain a positive attitude, relieve stress and age gracefully.

Yoga is not only safe for older practitioners, but also effective in keeping the mind and body in good health. If you’re thinking about starting a yoga practice, make sure to find a class and instructor who can meet your needs.

“People can either find an individual teacher to work with when they first start out, or find a studio that works with beginner classes, and see if they tailor to people over 50,” Eva Norlyk Smith, yoga teacher and Managing Editor at YogaUOnline, tells Huff/Post50.

“There’s a lot to learn, and most people over 50 run into issues like tight hamstrings, which affects alignment in so many different postures,” Norlyk Smith says. “If you go in and have a 20-year-old doing it perfectly next to you, you’re going to push yourself more than you should.”

1. You Get The Benefits Of Movement — Without The Strain.

2. Increased Flexibility.

3. Yoga Can Relieve Menopausal Discomfort.

A Gentle Yoga Practice Allows Seniors To Move Without Straining

Exercise is a critical part of healthy aging, but it presents certain risks to seniors. High-intensity exercises – such as running, cycling, and weight-lifting – can put a strain on the body and lead to injuries. A gentle yoga practice is an excellent low-impact exercise option. Yoga is not only safe for older practitioners, but effective in maintaining mental and physical health.

You should contact yoga studios and gyms in your area to determine whether they offer yoga classes for beginners and/or seniors. Arrive early before your first class so that you have an opportunity to speak with your instructor about what to expect during class. Let your instructor know about any injuries or health issues you have. Never overextend yourself on your mat, and move into postures only as far as you can. Ask your instructor for help if you need it. New practitioners should also remember that they can take a seated position or child’s pose if they need to rest.

How Does Yoga For Seniors Differ From Yoga For Younger People

Täo Porchon-Lynch is a shining example of the way in which the terms “old” and “young” refer to the state of the body, rather than numerical age. In fact, many older adults have greater flexibility than sedentary young people. In general, though, cardio-heavy flow practices and asanas that require abdominal strength can be more challenging for seniors, as can holding postures for long periods of time.

Proper Form Is Especially Important For People With Back Pain

The main issue with yoga-related back injuries is that people don’t follow proper form and speed, says Dr. Lauren Elson, instructor in medicine at Harvard Medical School. “They quickly ‘drop’ into a yoga pose without gradually ‘lengthening’ into it.”

This is similar to jerking your body while lifting a dumbbell and doing fast reps instead of making a slow, controlled movement, or running on a treadmill at top speed without steadily increasing the tempo. The result is a greater chance of injury.

In yoga, you should use your muscles to first create a solid foundation for movement, and then follow proper form that slowly lengthens and stretches your body. For example, when I perform my seated twist, I have to remember that the point of the pose is not to rotate as fast and far as possible. Instead, I need to activate my core muscles and feel as though my spine is lengthening. Then I can twist slowly until I feel resistance, and hold for as long as it’s comfortable and the tension melts away.

Yoga Videos For Seniors: Sequences For Your Exercise Program

Below, we’ll share a few yoga videos designed specifically for older adults. If you’re new to the practice of yoga, try working these sequences into your routine: 

Gentle Chair Yoga for Beginners and Seniors This 15-minute chair yoga video is ideal for those with limited mobility or those recovering from an injury. 

30-Minute Restorative Yoga and MeditationThis restorative yoga practice is a slow-paced class suitable for seniors, focusing on the mental and meditative benefits of yoga. 

Full Length Gentle Yoga Class for Beginners and Seniors This 30-minute yoga flow is slow-paced, featuring a number of seated and standing poses. The instructor offers a number of modifications for beginners.

Gentle Yoga for Seniors 1 Hour Hatha Class This full, hour-long hatha class is taught by and designed for seniors. Since it’s a longer video, you may want to save this video until you’ve completed a shorter sequence.

Types Of Yoga Injuries: What Are The Causes & Riskiest Poses

As with any other form of physical practice, yoga should be practiced carefully under the guidance of a qualified instructor in order to reduce risk. If you’ve been injured in the past, or have been mostly sedentary, consider skipping some of the riskiest poses all together.

A high percentage of yoga-related injuries seem to be caused from the following more advanced poses:

Shoulder Stand

As the entire body applies pressure to the spine, injuries are possible that can radiate downward or out to the shoulders. can result, or worse a serious vertebrae or spinal disc problem.

It’s debatable whether shoulder stands should be performed at all, but for those who do teach the posture because it can be beneficial for things like decreasing the heart rate, they advise using a blanket under the shoulders/neck for support and extra lift.

Other tips for reducing strains in the neck and shoulders include not pushing the neck too far forward and remaining very still in the posture without turning the head.

The Immortal Formula: 5 Reasons Why Seniors Should Do Yoga Kristin McGeeYoga and Pilates Instructor

Kristin is a yoga and pilates instructor helping students and private clients on their path to wellness. She’s worked with celebrities including Tina Fey, Steve Martin and Leann Rimes, as well as nutritionists and other yoga/Pilates instructors.

In my yoga practice, I work with many older people. I remember taking a yoga class years ago from Tao Porchon-Lynch and just being amazed at her gracefulness, agility, mobility, posture and attitude for someone in her late 80’s or anyone for that matter.

One of my favorite yoga teachers when I first started teaching used to tell us that yoga makes you age in reverse. I have to believe that it’s kind of true. Here are some of the reasons why seniors should do yoga.

How Yoga Works And How It Can Help To Improve Your Balance

Yoga is a great way to increase your activity level, tone muscles and ease aching joints, all while working on your balance. Both enjoyable and gentle, yoga ??has emerged as the activity of choice for many older adults.

Yoga includes certain poses which are directly intended to target your sense of balance, these “proprioceptive exercises” train both your body and your brain – challenging your sensory and motor system to perform under specific conditions that can later be applied to everyday activities.

A study in Neuroscience Letters examined the role of proprioceptive exercises in improving balance in a group of subjects over the age of 60. The researchers found that these specialized activities produced the greatest effect when compared to other fitness routines.

The National Strength & Conditioning Association conducted a study looking into the effect of a short-term yoga program on balance in a group of young adults. They recorded a remarkable 228% improvement in balancing ability.

Chair Yoga For Seniors: The Best Yoga Exercise For Seniors

What is Chair Yoga?

Chair yoga is a term used for practices that modify poses so they can be done while seated in a chair. These modifications make yoga accessible to people who find it difficult to stand, aren’t able to move easily from standing to seated to lying down positions That’s why chair yoga is a great way for older adults to get the wonderful health benefits of yoga, loosening and stretching painful muscles, reducing stress and improving circulation. By remaining seated you can safely do the exercises.

Myofascial Tightening Stiffness Due To Decreased Collagen

As we age, we lose flexibility in our muscles and connective tissue, which results in stiffness, imbalance, and less confidence while balancing.How yoga can help: If you don’t use it, you lose it! A regular yoga practice can help reverse some of that acquired stiffness. Gentle, regular stretching can help keep your body fluid and flexible. We’re often as amazed as our yoga students when we see the changes that habitual stretching and movement can confer. You don’t have to touch your toes, but yoga might get you a little closer to them.

Are There Any Simple And Easy Yoga Poses For Seniors

Sukshma Yogais a practice that uses small motions to open up the subtle energy channels in the body. Sukshma Yoga techniques are incredibly simple and easy and lead to deep relaxation. People of every age can practice and receive the benefits of these exercises, which can be practiced alone or within a larger sequence. The routine includes gentle exercises for the eyes, tongue, jaw, neck, hands, feet, knees, ankles, and hips. Check out Sukshma Yoga Exercises to Relax You in 7 Minutes.

What Are The Different Benefits Of Yoga For Seniors

Yoga helps keep the joints steady and flexible.

Helps maintain healthy bones and muscles.

Improves digestion and clears bowel movements.

Regulates blood pressure.

Perhaps, one of the best things about yoga for seniors is the chance to mingle and bond with others. This priceless addition keeps the mind engaged and happy, alleviating depression and loneliness. Enjoy your yoga at any age. Just keep some guidelines in mind.

Worst Exercises For Seniors And Better Alternatives

Mark Norey, CPT

When you’re over 50, working out can easily lead to injury. So, avoid the worst exercises for seniors and try lighter versions instead.

Age might be just a number, but not when it comes to fitness and working out. The older you are, the more prone to injuries and complications your body is.

So even though some might be in top shape at the age of 50, they’re definitely not spared from any health issue and injury.

Below are the most dangerous exercises for seniors, including one trending workout that can lead to fatal complications if you’re over 50.

Importance Of Physical Activity To Prevent Dementia

Physical activity to prevent dementia In studies investigating the effect of various factors upon dementia, exercise and physical activity have consistently turned out to be the most effective.Even though the direct impact of exercise upon dementia is not properly established, the advantages of physical activity in terms of reducing the dementia risk factors are undeniable.

How Does Yoga For Seniors Differ From General Yoga

The yoga asanas suggested for an elderly person may be the same as those for a younger individual. The difference lies in the effort and time spent in a posture, and the flexibility involved. However, if you have high endurance levels, you will be able to perform the cardiovascular movements and abdominal exercises to satisfaction.

More Exercise Means More Independence For Seniors:

Seniors that exercise regularly are less likely to depend on others. According to Harvard Medical School, regular exercise promotes an older adults ability to walk, bathe, cook, eat, dress, and use the restroom. If self-reliance is a priority, exercise is one of the best ways to maintain independence for older adults.

Chair & Standing Routines: Ageless Yoga Volume 1

Led by Harvard University Center for Wellness instructor John Schlorholtz, this is a great chair yoga DVD for older adults who have difficulty getting down on the floor. It features a variety of routines that offer you a choice of either sitting in a chair or using a chair for stability while standing.

Reasons To Practice Yoga In Your 70s And Beyond

1. Improve balance

Yoga tones muscles and works on your proprioception — your sense of position in space. Practicing postures that emphasize standing and balance can help build strength and confidence, too. “About 80 percent of proprioception is in your ankles, so standing poses are important, particularly for people in their 70s,” explains Payne “As you get more sedentary, your sense of balance atrophies. ‘Use it or lose it’ really does apply.”

You can save on eye exams, prescription drugs, hearing aids and more

2. Sharpens your mind

Unfortunately, as we age, our thought processes aren’t as sharp as they once were. The upshot: A 2016 International Review of Psychiatry study reported that practicing yoga relaxation techniques for 30 minutes had immediate beneficial effects on brain function and performance among people with multiple sclerosis. “Focusing on the breath and synchronizing it with movement helps keep the mind clear and engaged,” Atkins says. Breathing exercises such as alternate-nostril breathing help harmonize the left and right hemispheres of the brain, which correlate to the logical and emotional sides of the personality.

3. Boosts mood

Yoga’s combination of breathing, meditation and movement creates an overall sense of well-being. In fact, studies show yoga has a greater impact on enhancing mood and reducing anxiety than other forms of exercise. The reason? Yoga boosts levels of the brain chemical GABA, which helps calm nerves.

Alternatives In The Practice Of Yoga For Seniors

There is a possibility that, if an older adult is very physically challenged, he or she can do yoga for seniors sitting down in a chair, simplifying some postures and avoiding others. The sequences can be regulated to the rhythm of each practitioner and can even be done in their own homes.

The best part of a yoga routine at home is that it’s easy to adapt to the skills of a senior, home workouts are 100% customizable. As long as there is desire, medical approval, knowledge of the discipline, and care of the body, any movement is a possibility.

Older adults may perform the traditional asanas, however, they’re likely to require more effort, take longer to move from one to another and achieve goals, and demand more caution, so that the priority is to keep you safe and comfortable.

Many times the spirit is there, but the physical and good health are not. The body becomes a limitation when there is energy but no physical possibility to perform as you would like. And that inevitably translates into suffering and the older adult becoming closed to the possibilities of activating their physical potential. They feel diminished and enter a labyrinth from which they can’t find the way out to feel better.

It’s true that older adults are more fragile as the body naturally wears out with the passage of time but well trained, we should be able to avoid suffering.Staying active and healthy can be achieved in many ways even for yoga beginners that have not been that active in their youth.

Strike A Pose: The Benefits Of Yoga For Seniors

Have you ever considered trying yoga? September is Yoga Month, so it might just be the perfect time to give it a go!

What is yoga?

Originating in India around 6 B.C., yoga is a mind, body, and spiritual practice that blends physical poses and breathing exercises to achieve peacefulness of body and mind, helping participants relax and manage stress and anxiety.

Also called postures, yoga poses are movements intended to increase flexibility and strength. From lying flat on the floor while completely relaxed to complex moves that require intense balance and practice, yoga poses can range from simple to challenging.

Because breath signifies your vital energy, controlled breathing is a key component of yoga. Yoga practitioners believe that controlling your breathing pattern can help you control your body and calm your mind.

There are many styles, forms, and intensities of yoga. A good choice for stress management, hatha yoga is one of the most common styles; its slower pace and easier movements also make it a good choice for beginners and for seniors.

Safe for older adults?

Older adults should be sure to talk to their healthcare provider before beginning yoga if they have any of the following:

A herniated disk

A risk of blood clots

Eye conditions, including glaucoma

There are several proven benefits for people who practice yoga regularly:

Stress reduction

Improved physical fitness

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Yoga For Seniors: Recommendations For Beginners

If you’re a senior who has never done yoga or are resuming it long after you’ve stopped, it’s ideal to start with a gentle routine because you may have lost muscle mass and stretching ability.

Here are some helpful tips to keep in mind before you dive into the world of yoga:

Don’t practice without prior medical consultation

Wear comfortable clothes that allow you to move freely

Prepare the body with a series of joint movements to warm it up.

Learn the exercises under the supervision of a professional to avoid getting hurt. Then you can continue to do them alone but once you know the guidelines.

Warn the instructor if you have injuries or previous surgeries and ask all your doubts.

Don’t eat large amounts of food before class. The lighter you feel, the more enjoyable the practice.

Don’t force your moves, don’t let anxiety win you over! Little by little you’ll evolve in your possibilities

So keep in mind that there is a yoga practice available for you that will do you good physically, psychologically, and socially. It’s never too late for you to start, on the contrary, it’s a great initiative to keep you lucid. Try to improve yourself but avoid overexertion.

The Health Benefits Of Exercise In Older Adults

Our biology changes as we get older, causing seniors to have different reasons for staying in shape than younger generations. Though physical fitness provides benefits at any age, the health perks physically fit seniors enjoy are more notable. Physicians and researchers say seniors should remain as active as possible, without overexerting one’s self. In older adults, exercise helps you live a longer, healthier, and more joyous life.

Some of the benefits of exercising later in life include:

An Introduction To Gentle Yoga For Older Adults Margaret ManningHealth and Fitness

When I ask the members of the Sixty and Me community what is holding them back from building their dream life after 60, poor health and excess stress are the two most common answers.

It sometimes feels like, by the time we reach our 60s, we have a lifetime of tension locked in our bodies. On the inside, we feel young and vibrant. On the outside, we feel more than a little stiff, tired and out of shape.

The problem is that, when we feel disconnected from our bodies, everything else in our lives suffers. We are more irritable around our friends and family, causing unnecessary tension. We are less likely to get out into the world and pursue our passions. We are limited in our travel options. Simply put, when our bodies are suffering, we suffer.

Exercise Helps Prevent And Counteract Disease:

Heart disease, osteoporosis, depression and diabetes are common diseases among older adults, and are often deadly. Fortunately, adopting a more active lifestyle can contribute to the prevention of these diseases, or reduce the unpleasant symptoms of these diseases if you already have them. If you are at-risk for disease, exercise may be the key to warding off an unpleasant condition.

Yoga Keeps The Mind Sharp And Reduces Anxiety

Yoga allows you to slow down your breathing and meditate, creating a quiet time for calm reflection. Giving your mind a break from the frantic pace of everyday life can relieve stress and keep you centered and organized. Many people who practice yoga regularly report improvement in their mood and sleep patterns.

To learn more about which yoga poses can help with a variety of health conditions facing seniors, .

Yoga For Seniors: Everything You Need To Know

More and more people in their later years are discovering the mental, physical, and emotional benefits of yoga for seniors.

Maybe you know someone who has started doing yoga, and you have become interested in starting yoga yourself. Maybe you are living with pain or ailments, and you are interested in if and how yoga can help you. In this article, you can read all about the benefits of yoga, how to start a yoga practice, which classes might be for you and you’ll get recommendations on resources to help you get started.

A lot of people feel intimidated by the postures shown when you google yoga and think that yoga is only for the already fit and flexible. Nothing could be further from the truth! All you have to do is make sure you are choosing yoga poses that suit you. If you are uncertain in any way about your physical abilities to start yoga, first speak with your doctor or healthcare professional. They will be able to guide you and also make sure that you are aware of any specific movements or breathing techniques that you should not be doing. 

Yoga is an easy practice to get into and there are classes and routines for all body types, fitness, and experience levels. You are never too old to start yoga!

Do Yoga Asanas Boost Immunity In The Elderly

Here again, the Patanjali Yoga Sutras provide a clue. “Heyam Dukham Anaagatam.” It means, ‘Avoid the misery that has not yet come.’ As we grow older, the efficiency of the immune system deteriorates, paving the way for various diseases. Regular practice of yoga techniques such as asanas, pranayama and meditationcan help avoid these conditions. So make your life happier and more fulfilling with yoga.

Yoga Is For Everyone Especially Older Adults

One of the biggest misconceptions about yoga is that it is designed primarily for younger people, who want to increase their flexibility. In reality, no group can benefit more from yoga than older adults.

In the introduction video, Cat talks about one of her students that came to her class with a challenging medical condition. This person was unable to twist or raise her hands above her shoulders, but, after just a few months of practice, she was able to work her way up to a handstand.

Of course, yoga is not a replacement for traditional medicine and you should always talk with your doctor before starting any new exercise program, but, the results that people see are often powerful and surprising.

Gentle yoga is perfect for older adults. It’s easy to get into. It’s a self-paced activity that we can do from the comfort of our own homes. Perhaps most importantly, it addresses many of the specific challenges that we face as we age including sore joints, stress, muscle tension, flexibility and balance.

Yoga For Seniors Promotes Your Overall Well

Yoga practice is a wonderful form of exercise at any age. Research shows yoga benefits your mental and physical health, helping to strengthen muscles, improve balance, lessen anxiety, improve depression, and decrease your risk of falls.

When beginning a yoga practice, find an in-person beginner’s class or follow along with online videos. Be sure to find a type of yoga that works best for you, looking for classes titled restorative, hatha, beginner, or chair yoga.

When starting any fitness routine, be sure to speak to your physical therapist or healthcare provider. In addition, be sure to schedule your daily Snug check-in so you’re not just healthy, but safe. If your family member or friend opted to receive your daily check-in, they know you safely completed your workout — and perhaps your newly-formed fitness routine will encourage them to start their own.

Chair Yoga For Seniors: A 30 Minute Routine

You might want to do this chair yoga routine along with your older adult so they can watch your movements.

It’s a fun activity to do together and you’ll get the health benefits too!

The only equipment that’s needed is a sturdy chair that allows your older adult’s feet to touch the floor.

An optional accessory is a belt, , or long hand towel to aid in stretching.

In case you want to skip around, we’ve noted the time markers for each section of the routine.

Warm up poses for heat and circulation This is a great way to warm up the body, improve flexibility, and reduce pain.

This section lasts 10 minutes and could be a nice short routine in itself.

Standing poses for balance and strength These yoga poses are done while holding on to the back of the chair.

If your older adult isn’t strong or balanced enough to do this section safely, it might be safer to skip it.

Lower body poses for flexibility In this section, a belt or strap helps with stretching – any long belt, , small towel, or sturdy rope will do.

Even if your older adult doesn’t use a belt, they can still benefit from the movements.

Shavasana is a restful pose usually done at the end of a yoga class. Just relax and focus on breathing slowly and deeply.

Instructor Sherry wraps up the class.

Exercise Improves Balance For Older Adults:

Falling down is a much bigger deal for older adults than younger ones. Every 11 seconds, an older adult is admitted to an emergency room for a fall-related injury, and every 19 minutes, a senior dies from a fall, according to the National Council of Aging. Though no two falls are alike, and preventing falls is very complex, regular exercise reduces the likelihood of falling by 23%.

Yoga For Seniors: Is It Right For Everyone

Lately I’ve seen more than a couple of very fit, good-looking senior men in dance, yoga, and Pilates studios. They may be trendsetters who are so secure in their masculinity that they’re not afraid to try out new moves.

Yoga studios have popped up everywhere, but what do seniors need to know about yoga as it is suitable for senior bodies?

The Best Types Of Yoga For Senior Citizens

Whether you’re aiming to get stronger and more flexible or you just want to decompress and still your mind, yoga can help. But with the dozens of different styles that exist, it can be tough to figure out which type is most appropriate for you. Remember that a key consideration is your physical condition and fitness level. Always consult your healthcare provider before beginning any new exercise regimen.

Here are eight types of yoga that may offer what you need:

Why Is Yoga For Seniors A Perfect Activity

You don’t need to be young or flexible to practice Yoga – it is a state of mind and not of body. That is why Yoga for Seniors is such a great activity. * Its can assist with regaining control and confidence * It can prevent falls * It can make your body stronger, improve and maintain their physical mobility Learn about the benefits of Yoga for seniors and the methods to practice Online #Yoga #Seniors #falls

What Is The Best Type Of Yoga For Seniors

What Is the Best Type of Yoga for Seniors? Center

has gained popularity for its positive effects on mind and body. It’s an ancient practice that has deep spiritual and philosophical roots, consisting of:

Yama: Abstinence from unhealthy food and practices

Asanas: Postures or movements

Ahaar: practices

When performed correctly, yoga is believed to balance “chakras” or points of energy in the body, helping to maintain optimal health and mental wellness.

What Are The Benefits Of Yoga For Seniors

Older adults who struggle with , joint , imbalance, osteoarthritis, and other physical limitations can benefit from incorporating a yoga practice into their daily routine. Strengthening the core muscles and improving balance also prevent the likelihood of falling, which can be a common concern as people get older. 

Physical and mental benefits of yoga include:

Building muscle strength

Enhancing balance, flexibility, and mobility

Alleviating aches and cause by bad posture

Promoting better breathing and helping with lung issues

Helping with weight loss

Benefits Seniors Can Gain From Doing Yoga

Movement is essential to keeping the body strong and functioning well, far into old age. This can be a bit tricky when our bodies decide to go against us as we age, causing stiffness, soreness, and loss of mobility.

Luckily, there are long-practiced exercises associated with benefiting seniors, such as water aerobics and lawn bowls. But what about yoga?

Yoga is something anyone can enjoy, no matter their age, size, or ability. Yes, some people are incredibly flexible and make it look completely impossible! But that’s only a goal and not a necessity. There’s no reason why seniors shouldn’t enjoy yoga, and there are many reasons why they should.

There are so many benefits the seniors can enjoy from practicing yoga. Here we have picked the top 6 that you should know about, and we’ll explore them together.

Regular Exercise Improves Brain Function:

One of the most remarkable developments in health science is the revelation that the mind and the body are much more closely linked. A healthy body likely means a healthy mind, and seniors that exercise on a regular basis have improved cognitive health, according to research from NCBI. More recently, a study from the Alzheimer’s Research & Prevention Foundation, regular exercise has been shown to reduce your risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease or dementia by nearly 50%.

Why Yoga For Older Adults Is So Important

Since good health is central to finding happiness after 60, I set out to find a solution to the problems of stress, tension and pain that many of you told me that you were dealing with.

After talking with experts in various fields, I settled on gentle yoga as the best place to start and set out to find an amazing teacher. Eventually, I had to send my team all the way to beautiful Bali to work with the amazing, Cat Kabira.

Cat is an amazing woman, filled with warmth, generosity and passion. She has also been teaching yoga for 14 years and has worked with thousands of people over the age of 60. We absolutely fell in love with her!

Before we filmed the actual yoga sequences, we sat down with Cat to film a short introduction to gentle yoga video that you can watch on this page. Our goal was to demystify some of the aspects of yoga and talk about its transformational potential. Even if you decide never to purchase a yoga video or attend a class, I hope that you will take the time to watch this introduction.

Here’s what I learned from Cat’s introduction to gentle yoga for older adults.

Yoga Doesnt Require Any Special Equipment

Another misconception about yoga is that it requires lots of expensive equipment to get started. It’s true that having a yoga mat can make your yoga journey more comfortable – especially if, like me, you have sore knees. But, the truth is that many of the yoga instructors I talked to said that they started without any equipment at all.

In the introduction to gentle yoga video at the end of this article, Cat explains some of the equipment that you might want to consider using. She also provides alternatives to some of the more popular items. For example, books can make an excellent substitution for a yoga block and pillows can replace a bolster.

The bottom line here is that money should never be a reason to avoid starting your yoga journey. Yes, yoga videos, mats, blocks and bolsters help. But, even if you just visit your local library and check out a book on yoga for free, that’s a great start too.

Yoga Can Be A Gateway To A Healthier Life

Perhaps the most important message that I took away from the introduction to gentle yoga for older adults video is that yoga is a gateway to a healthier life. Earlier, we talked about the negative spiral that we enter when our health prevents us from engaging in the world.

The opposite is also true.

As you begin your yoga journey, you will start to feel different in your body and your mind.

As you gain confidence and flexibility, you will be more likely to step out into the world and explore your passions. As you eliminate stress and tension from your body, your relationships with others will improve. As you learn to listen to your body, you will gain an appreciation and respect for the nutrients that it needs and will be more likely to make healthy eating choices.

If I have one wish for our gentle yoga video series, it’s this – I want as many people as possible to get on the path to a healthier life after 60. I want us to break the stereotypes about aging and show the world, and more importantly ourselves, that life after 60 can be filled with vitality, energy and passion.

Have you tried yoga before? What was your experience? What is the one thing that you would most like to get from your yoga practice? What is the one thing preventing you from getting started? Please add your thoughts in the comments below.

How To Start Practicing Yoga For Seniors

Yoga practice increased dramatically in popularity in recent years, with the number of yoga practitioners raising from 20.4 million to 36 million from 2012 to 2016 according to the Yoga Alliance. In addition, there are more older practitioners than ever before, with over 14 million practitioners over the age of 50.

These numbers tell you that yoga is for everyone — including older adults. With that said, you should always exercise caution when starting a new fitness program. Work directly with your doctor or physical therapist when devising an exercise plan, and work within your fitness level.

Here are a few yoga-for-beginners tips to help you get started: 

Find a yoga teacher: Check your local library, YMCA or YWCA, or Silver Sneakers clubs for a list of yoga classes. You may be surprised to find free or discounted classes for seniors. 

Follow along on YouTube: If you live in a rural area or somewhere that in-person classes are not available to you, follow along with yoga videos online. Below, we’ll share a few yoga videos for seniors. 

Find the type of yoga that works best for you: Hatha yoga, restorative yoga, and yoga with chair exercises are usually more suitable for older adults because they’re slower paced. They involve holding poses for longer periods of time. Vinyasa, ashtanga, and power yoga are fast-paced yoga practices, with inversions and other advanced movements.

Yoga Promotes Good Bone And Joint Health

As you age, your bones naturally lose density and joints become stiffer. A gentle yoga practice can be effective in preventing and slowing bone density loss, and is safe for those with osteoporosis. Whether you are looking to prevent osteoporosis or relieve painful symptoms caused by an existing bone condition or fracture, yoga postures and stretches can be extremely beneficial. Regularly moving your joints can help reduce stiffness and joint tenderness.

Tell your yoga instructor about any bone conditions you have. He or she may be able to provide you with props such as blocks, straps, and inflatable balls that can help you avoid further injuries.

What Are The Best Yoga Poses For Seniors

Yoga is great for older adults, but it’s important to attempt yoga poses only after consulting a doctor and only under the guidance of a trained professional. Those with conditions such as uterine prolapse, , disk herniation, or advanced may need to avoid certain yoga poses.

Standing yoga poses

Helps keep the spine straight, preventing slouching

Helps strengthen the arm and leg muscles, encouraging stability

Sitting yoga poses

Helps clear bowel movements, regulating

Stretches the thighs and knees, reducing joint and pain

Shishuasana

Relaxes the back and helps relieve backache

Marjariasana

Strengthens the back and shoulders

Shalabhasana

Tones the neck and back muscles, increasing flexibility

Tones the abdominal organs and improving digestion

Pawanmuktasana

Helps release and relieve digestive issues

Increases blood circulation to the hip joints, releasing tension in that area

Chair yoga poses

Also called desktop yoga poses, these are convenient because they can be performed while sitting on a chair. Neck roll, cow stretch, seated forward bend, eagle arms, seated spinal twist and temple rub are all chair yoga poses that have huge health benefits:

Relaxes the neck and back muscles

Helps alleviate body pain, tension, and

Increases flexibility

What Kind Of Asanas Are Best For Seniors

If you are easily fatigued, it is best to substitute warm-ups for walking and gentle joint movements, such as wrist and ankle rotations. 

Standing yoga postures such as Triangle Pose .

Yoga postures done while lying on the back or stomach, such as Cobra Pose can help to strengthen the back and increase flexibility in the spine.

Yoga Nidra, or , is by far the most essential part of any yoga practice, and with age, the pose becomes even more essential to help assimilate the effects of yoga practice into the body.

Tai Chi And Qigong Exercises For Seniors

Tai Chi! Qigong and Tai Chi are ancient Chinese exercises that have numerous proven benefits in users such as decreasing anxiety and mental depression, improving cognitive skills, strengthening muscles and bones, and many more besides. After spending ages researching the effects of these exercises, we bring to you today’s post: how can practice Qigong and Tai Chi positively affect the lives of many seniors?

Yoga Helps Seniors Become More Flexible

Yoga involves gentle, guided stretching, which can help seniors develop greater flexibility and improve their range of motion. A limited range of motion can make older adults predisposed to falls and get in the way of daily activities. Increased flexibility can help keep seniors safe and allow them to care for themselves more independently.

Many yoga postures help with spinal flexibility. Keeping the spine flexible reduces the likelihood of stiffness and pain in the back and neck, helping you feel younger and healthier.

Strengths And Limitations Of This Study

This is the first randomised controlled trial to explore the effects of yoga on well-being compared with a physically active and inactive control group among elderly adults.

Inclusion of both active and inactive control groups enables comparison of the effects on several levels, including indirect effects of the yoga intervention.

All exercise will be free of charge, instructor-led and undertaken at established fitness centres, decreasing the risk of adverse events.

Generalisability of study findings may be limited by a healthy entrant bias.

Subjective measurements of physical activity could overestimate activity levels.

How Should Seniors Practice Yoga Asanas

The Yoga Sutras define Asana as “sthira sukham asanam,” which translates into “that which is stable and comfortable is an asana.” In layman’s terms, any posture held with awareness in a stable and comfortable manner constitutes an asana. So don’t worry – twisting yourself into a pretzel is not the only way to practice yoga! As long as you move with awareness of your breath, body, and mind, you are practicing yoga.

Best Yoga Poses For Seniors And Adults

For many seniors, aging comes with inevitable health problems. Stiff joints, aching backs and less energy are just some of the things facing seniors, not to mention potential concerns like heart disease, obesity and mental health disorders.

Fortunately, there are plenty of ways to help older adults manage their health and well-being. A combination of healthy eating, routine medical care and exercise can help seniors feel healthier and stronger. Yoga offers a great way for seniors to get moving, practice mindfulness and improve their overall health.

Check out the infographic below to learn more about these great yoga poses for seniors.

Upward Salute

Eases back pain and stiffness

Supports those with low mobility

Safety And Comfort Is The Top Priority

The number one priority is to keep your older adult safe and comfortable.

None of these movements should hurt.

Make sure your older adult moves slowly and gently and pays attention to their body. It’s better to do a little less rather than risk injury.

Older adults should follow the instructor’s movements only as far as is comfortable.

Even if they only do a fraction of the range of motion or have to skip some movements, they’ll still benefit from the exercises.

Over time, their flexibility and strength will improve and they’ll be able to do more and more.

Getting Started Safely And Confidently

If you have a chronic condition, balance issues, or injuries, talk to your doctor about how you can exercise safely. For example, if you have osteoporosis, you can participate in yoga—but you may need to avoid forward bends and twists. But with proper medical guidance, even people who have previously fallen or been seriously injured can get stronger with yoga.

Then, keep in mind that teaching styles may vary between yoga classes and instructors, so it’s a good idea to call your local studio or fitness center before committing to a new class.

“Let them know what your concerns are, particularly if you have any health conditions,” says Sage Rountree, yoga instructor and coauthor of Lifelong Yoga. “They might steer you toward something that’s an even better fit for you than what you might choose for yourself.”

The Benefits Of Yoga For Older Adults

Yoga cultivates a mind-body connection, combining stretching and strengthening postures with deep breathing and relaxation. Despite its roots in Eastern philosophy, yoga as practiced in the West is generally focused on physical fitness. It still has a aspect, but it is not overtly religious. People of all faiths and belief systems can benefit from participating in yoga.

Because the poses

Here are some of the benefits of yoga for seniors:

Yoga Poses To Avoid With Osteoporosis

The National Osteoporosis Foundation estimated that osteoporosis affected 12 million people as of 2010. Osteoporosis puts your bones at risk for fracture, which can compromise the ability to do daily tasks, cause severe pain, negatively affect your posture and shorten your spine. Yoga can help people with osteoporosis by offering weight-bearing exercises to stimulate bone growth. The risks of certain poses outweigh the benefits when you have osteoporosis.

Copd Chronic Bronchitis And Emphysema

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease , chronic bronchitis, and emphysema make breathing very challenging and limit your ability to do cardiovascular activities.How yoga can help: Yoga is low impact. For this reason, it is a useful movement practice if you have COPD or similar respiratory problems. Additionally, a yoga practice often has pranayama, or breath practices. Focusing on inhaling and exhaling can be useful if you have a chronic breathing problem, since breathing exercises can potentially help strengthen muscles used in respiration. Time spent in mindful breathing can also help you have more awareness of your breath; noticing when you get breathless or when you feel short of breath can help you seek treatment quickly.

The Only Yoga Rule You Need To Follow

The Yoga Sutras contain bits of wisdom and yoga philosophy. This text is one of the earliest yoga books. Regarding yoga poses, the sutras don’t say much. Yoga sutra 2.46 tells us simply that yoga poses should be steady and comfortable. Knowing that this is the only prescription for the poses frees us from feeling like our yoga practice has to look a certain way. A yoga student can do a handstand, or not; a lunge, or not; a balance pose, or not. Your practice is your practice. Find strength and ease, and do what works for you.

Membership Spotlight

What Type Of Yoga Is Best For Seniors

The best type of yoga for seniors is one that can be done gently and in which you can take your time to perform the different poses. Within the several styles of yoga available are those specifically designed for the elderly that are practiced at a slower pace and allow you to stop as your body requires.

If you don’t find classes specifically designed for seniors, you can opt for a quiet style of yoga for beginners. Both Kripalu and Viniyoga are good alternatives since they fit the current need of each practitioner. Iyengar yoga is another option as it gives much prominence to the use of objects, which favor the construction of asanas.

Restorative yoga is a good option because it’s a meditative and gentle form of yoga, in which you release tension without stretching. However, the postures are usually maintained for a long time, so you must pay attention that this isn’t annoying or harmful for you.

There is also a type of yoga called Sukshma Yoga in which the whole body relaxes with easy exercises for the eyes, jaw, tongue, neck, hands, hips, knees, ankles, and feet. It’s well suited for seniors who want to perform simple movements with gentle stretches and combine them with breathing techniques.

What Kind Of Asanas Should Seniors Do

The types of asanas that seniors should do are those that are done standing up or those that can be done with some support, that means sitting, lying down, or in a chair since they’re best suited to their needs. In this way, you’ll be preserving your integrity if your balance fails, and you won’t be exposing yourself to the complications that investments can bring, for example, if you suffer from high blood pressure.

What happens with inverted asanas is that the legs are above the heart and the heart is above the head, and that tends to raise the blood pressure and even the eye pressure. In addition, the throat can be squeezed and cause breathing to be difficult, which also causes blood pressure to rise.

In kneeling asanas or sitting on a chair or mat you can roll your neck, bend forward and twist your body. You can also adapt asanas such as the cat-cow by curving the back and lifting the chest, and conversely, by hollowing out the back and dropping the head forward. Or by putting your arms in an eagle pose: you stretch both arms forward, cross your right arm over your left one, bend your elbows and meanwhile bring your palms of your hands together in front of your nose. This asana is perfect for pain relief if you have carpal tunnel syndrome.

Yoga For Seniors With Lower Back Pain

You can adapt your yoga for senior sessions if you have lower pain back whenever you have a contracture or discomfort. You’ll need to strengthen your core, give flexibility to your spine, and focus on maintaining an overall correct posture because you may be compensating for a bad postural habit with your lower back.

This condition is very common and usually has a mechanical origin. In many cases, it can be due to the fact that we spend a lot of time from our days sitting in front of a computer, stressed out, and not caring about alignment. It’s also due to the fact that we lead a sedentary life, don’t exercise, and our abdominal muscles are weak. This has repercussions on our lower back, causing pain, which limits you.

If you suffer from any pathology that requires medical attention, make sure that your doctor/physio approves your yoga sessions. That way, you’re ready to recover on the mat! Or why not in the chair? Many times, when we have back pain, our legs become rigid and it’s convenient to work sitting down to restore mobility to both the lower back and the extremities.

There are some details that we can take care of during our yoga class, such as gently disarming the forward bending postures with your knees slightly bent. You can also use accessories, which assist you in the movements and poses. Making conscious movements using abdominal strength, and not the lumbar, is key to avoiding discomfort in the area.

Yoga For Seniors: How To Get Started

You’re never too old to reap the rewards of yoga. For seniors who are looking for a safe, effective way to enhance their physical health and overall wellness, the stretching, breathing, and meditation practices of yoga can be a great solution. In fact, as you will see, doing yoga regularly can result in a host of benefits for older adults, from greater flexibility and improved balance to lower stress and better sleep.

It’s no wonder, then, that yoga is becoming increasingly popular among seniors. The 2016 Yoga in America Study found that nearly 14 million Americans over the age of 50 practiced yoga that year. That was a significant jump from the four million who did so in 2012.

This article outlines the many benefits of senior yoga and describes several of the best types of yoga for older men and women . It also offers information about basic poses and explains what you should do before you begin any yoga routine. And it even provides examples of helpful books, videos, and DVDs as well as tips on how to find appropriate classes.

Reasons To Practice Yoga In Your 50s

1. Minimize hypertension

“Yoga has a powerful effect on stress and hypertension and can help people reduce the amount of medication they need,” says Amy Wheeler, yoga professor at California State University at San Bernardino. In a review of 17 studies published in Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, researchers reported significant reductions in blood pressure for interventions incorporating three basic elements of yoga practice: postures, meditation, and breathing. Researchers speculate that the slow, controlled breathing inherent in yoga practice decreases nervous system activity, which helps manage blood pressure levels.

2. Strengthen bones

“People in their 50s often develop the beginning stages of osteoporosis and low bone density,” notes Melinda Atkins, a yoga teacher in Miami. Studies consistently show that the weight-bearing activity of yoga helps slow bone thinning, reducing the risks of osteoporosis, particularly among postmenopausal women.3. Keep excess pounds at bay

Reasons To Practice Yoga In Your 60s

1. Reduce anxiety

Yoga induces the relaxation response, an alpha state between awake and asleep that helps modulate the way the body responds to stress. When faced with a potential threat , your heart beats faster, your muscles tense and you start to sweat. Yoga stops this process in its tracks, reducing your heart rate, lowering blood pressure and easing respiration. Case in point: A 2015 study published in the Journal of Complementary and Alternative Medicine reported that women who participated in a 60-minute yoga class twice a week reported greater reductions in anxiety after the 8-week study period compared to those who didn’t participate.

2. Protect your joints

During your late 50s and early 60s, you may begin to notice that your joints aren’t as fluid as they used to be. Practicing yoga regularly can help lubricate joints, staving off debilitating disorders like carpal tunnel syndrome and . “It’s important to start caring for your joints, to help maintain your independence and preserve your ability to perform daily activities as you get older — things like brushing your teeth, combing your hair, getting dressed,” says Wheeler. Yin yoga, a type of practice where poses are held for up to 20 minutes, may be especially beneficial for lubricating and nourishing the joints.

3. Build strength and balance

[t-baba]

You say JavaScript, I say JS.. let's call the whole thing off?

#495 — July 3, 2020

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👴🏻 Just because I know you're not all as ancient as me, the subject line is a reference to an old Gershwin song 🎵😄

JS Weekly

JavaScript's Creator Recommends We Call JavaScript 'JS' — In response to a lively Twitter thread this week posing the question “If you were given the chance to rename JavaScript, what would you call it?” Brendan Eich wisely suggested, nay declared, we go with JS. While there’s an aspect of fun around this whole debate, it seems a sensible idea given JS has no relation to Java at all, although it might take us a while to rebrand ;-)

Twitter

A Brief Status Update on Vue 3.0 — The 18th beta of Vue 3.0 is out. Amongst other things, they’re targeting mid July for the first release candidate, then early August for the final Vue 3.0 release. You’re encouraged to start using it already though.

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Locate Front-End Issues Like JavaScript or Network Errors Instantly — Get proactively alerted on any client-side issues such as JavaScript and network errors, optimize the load time of your front-end resources, and detect any UI issues that affect critical user journeys. Try it free with Datadog Synthetics.

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▶  What’s New in V8 and JavaScript — A 20-minute talk from this week’s web.dev LIVE event that Google put on. The speakers cover a variety of new features and improvements to JavaScript generally as well as in V8 and Chrome.

Shu-yu Guo and Leszek Swirski (Google)

Announcing TypeScript 4.0 Beta — Last week we said the TS 4 beta was “due any moment” and last thing on a Friday was clearly the time to shine 😂 4.0 has no substantial breaking changes but there are lots of bits and pieces to play with including variadic tuple types, short-circuiting assignment operators, and editor improvements.

Daniel Rosenwasser (Microsoft)

V8 Release V8.4 — The next release of V8 (due to come out in coordinate with Chrome 84) boasts improved startup time, support for weak references and finalizers (worth seeing the code examples for these advanced features), and private methods and accessors.

Camillo Bruni

⚡️ Quick bytes:

Node 14.5 is out and includes a new experimental DOM-esque EventTarget API.

The JS2014 code golfing competition is open until July 15. You have to create something amazing in 1024 bytes (or fewer) of JavaScript.

Take care to not use the Internet Archive as a CDN for your JavaScript assets – obvious, perhaps, but a major British bank seems to have done just that 😄

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📚 Tutorials, Opinions and Stories

Understanding Template Literals — I really like Tania’s tutorials as they are both straightforward and thorough. Template literals are a piece of syntax (introduced in ES6/ES2015) worth understanding if you don’t use them yet.

Tania Rascia

The !! Operator and a Misunderstanding of How JS Handles Truthy / Falsy Values — Ben Nadel has noticed developers using the double-bang (!!) operator far more often in their JavaScript code than they have to. As such, he provides a series of unnecessary examples followed by cleaner, more intuitive examples.

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▶  Low Code for the Node.js Developer with Node-RED — The project lead of Node-RED, a visual, Node-based ‘low code’ programming tool, talks about the concepts of ‘low code’ in the Node space and how Node-RED works.

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▶  The Bits And Bytes of Binary — Do you need to know the ins and outs of messing with binary in order to build a web app? No. But binary nonetheless runs the show at the low level, including in many algorithms, and this series from Low Level JavaScript covers the basics well.

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Tips for Golfing in JavaScript — If you're thinking of entering JS1024 or otherwise want to take pleasure in crushing your JavaScript into as few bytes as possible, this collection of tips and tricks is for you. (Golfing is the art of representing an idea in as little code as possible.)

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An In-Depth Beginner's Guide to Testing React Apps — A lot of posts will say ‘in-depth’ and be 500 words long – this isn’t one of those! If you’re a beginner to testing, there’s a lot to chew on here but it stays accessible throughout.

Johannes Kettmann

Exploring the Web Speech API — One of those APIs I keep forgetting exists but with which you can do some pretty cool stuff.

James at De Voorhoede

TodoMVC Implemented Using a Game Architecture: ECS — Can you build more traditional GUIs with the Entity Component System as popular in game development? An interesting idea.

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Getting Started with the Vue 3 Composition API

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Vest: Effortless Validations Inspired by Testing Frameworks — If you’re used to unit testing, the syntax used here will be familiar.

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Hyperapp: (Another) Tiny Framework for Building Web Interfaces — Claims to be 2x faster than React and comes in at less than 2KB.

Jorge Bucaran

Textures.js: SVG Textures for Data Visualization — Built on top of d3.js, this lets you bring together patterns and colors in an elegant and, dare we say, old school manner.

Riccardo Scalco

emoji-picker-element: A Lightweight Emoji Picker for the Modern Web — See a live demo here. Some cool performance advantages for this: It’s a web component and it’s built on Svelte and IndexedDB.

Nolan Lawson

🎨 Creative Corner

24a2: An Ultra-Minimalist Dot Matrix-Based Game Engine — What makes this different is that it has a limited set of features so you can build a game in a few hours. Here’s an example.

James Routley

PHONK: A Creative Scripting Toolbox for Android Devices — If you’ve got any old Android devices sat around, this could be a way to have some fun with them. It’s based around JavaScript.

Victor Diaz

parallax-effect: Parallax Effect in JavaScript using Face Tracking — A lot of designers seem to love parallax effects, whereas a lot of us end users aren’t so keen. But if you’re going to do it, do it in an over the top creative way like this 😂

munrocket

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[fool-errant]

Ask a Writer

I got tagged by @rabbitkinder

1. How did you come up with your username and what does it mean?

Well my studio handle is Foolish Mortal - but someone’s been sitting on that username since dirt. So I went with fool-errant - like knight errant but stupider. The fool part is obvious - and errant means alternatively “straying from proper course or standards” and “traveling in search of adventure” - which I felt summed up thing pretty decent. My handle on FFnet and AO3 is NoCapes - cause I wanted to make sure thatif you looked up my website for art - you didn’t accidentally stumble on TF2 slash. That name comes from the fact I have a little Edna Mode figure sitting on my computer monitor that caught my eye at the time I was looking for a name. 

2. Which fanfic of yours has the most feedback? (bookmarks/favorites, follows/subscriptions, visitor hits, kudos)

Erm - well I only have ze one main fic online these day. My long suffering TF2 fic Smoke Gets in Your Eyes. Though even compared to the long lost junk I wrote in high school - its still got the most feedback.

3. What is your FFnNet/AO3 profile icon, and why did you choose it?

I’m not sure I ever got an icon on those accounts. I just never got aroundto it. 

4. Do you have any regular/favourite commenters?

I honestly love all commenters. I have a few regulars who became buds of mine that I love. Also anyone that ends up making something in reaction to my writing is special to me. 

5. Is there a fanfic that you keep going back to read again and again?

Not really. I’m a horrible person. I also have a mind that retains little details, so I am the sort that reads something once and can remember it clearly later. 

I DO have a few genre/ tropes I like to revisit reading wise. One is Lavellen/Cullen from Dragon Age. Another one I binge hit recently is anything about Finn from Star Wars needing and receiving hugs and people (mainly Poe) supporting him. And Princess Leia shows up to remind people to take care of themselves and Storm Pilot snuggles ever after.  

6. How many stories are you subscribed to? How many do you have bookmarked?

Uh...I’m honestly not sure. I squirrel away bookmarks and forget about them later. I have a couple in progress stories I subscribe to. 

7. Which AU do you find yourself writing the most?

I really don’t do AUs - unless you count the gag bit I wrote where Spy and FemSpy are the parents of Carmen Sandiego.  I tend to feel people are the products of their settings and removing them from that takes a lot of their traits away. Though that’s my opinion and I’m never going to tell anyone they can’t or shouldn’t go write and enjoy their own thing. 

8. How many people are subscribed and bookmarked to you in total? (you can view this on the stats page)

Welp on AO3: Bookmarks:74  Subscriptions:77

Here on Tumbles: 268

on FFnet - I can not make heads or tales of that one. Though I seem to have a couple of folks in South Africa reading - which is cool. 

9. Is there something you’d like to write about but are afraid of people judging you for it? (Feeling brave? If so, share it!)

.....*Maniacal laughter*  I deal with chronic depression and anxiety. So I have a very large list of things I WANT to do but don’t. A lot of it is due to the fear of judging - and a lot of “no one wants this - what is the point?”  

I had an original concept involving airship pirates - colonialism - and the main lead was a trans pan sexual in a setting that didn’t have words or play book for hat sort of thing. The story wasn’t ABOUT the fact the lead was the way they were, it was just aside thing. But I scrapped it cause I figured no one wanted it - it was stranger and I didn’t want people coming out of the woodwork telling me I didn’t have a right to do that or that I wrote the lead wrong.  

10. Is there anything you would like to be better at? Writing certain scenes or genres, replying to comments, updating better, etc.

I have long ago accepted my inability to porn well.  I’d love to be better with my updates. But as mentioned earlier I deal with depression - so my brain meats aren’t the most efficient at cranking out things in a timely manner.  Also replyingto comments/ social media shit. I am awful at. 

11. Do you write rarepairs or popular ships more often?

I guess Rarepairs...I suppose. 

12. How many stories have you posted on FFNet/AO3 to this day (finished and unfinished)?

Three/four - one large chapter monster and lots of little drabbles that sort of grew around it. 

13. How many stories do you have saved in/with your writing program?

*cough* Lots

14. Do you write down story ideas, or just keep them in your head?

...Depends on how long the story idea bugs me, how complicated the idea is and if I intend to do anything with it.  

15. Have you ever co-authored a story?

Not exactly. A bud of mine and me in high school triedto do that but gave up. Now a days I just co author smutty bits with someone else cause I am no good at those on my own.

16. How did you discover FFNet/AO3?

I knew about FF.net before the great PornPurge. I am not even sure HOW I found them. Probably just wandering the net as a young impressionable nerd. I also used to deal with webrings if you want to guess how old I am. 

AO3 I...think I heard about on tumblr, or I had a friend or two metion them tome when I started writing fic again seriously. 

17. Do you consider yourself to be a popular or famous author in your fandom(s) on FFNet/AO3?

No. I always end up baffled to find out people have read or remember anything I’d worked on. 

18. Do you have a nickname or fandom name for your readers?

Not really? What?

19. Was there an author who inspired or encouraged you to write?

Not to my knowledge - I think there was a quote about art that I picked up via Ted Naifeh about how you have to get through 1000 bad drawings to get to the good ones. That tends to stick in my mind about  writing or anything I’m trying my hand at. 

20. What writing advice would you give to a beginning author?

I don’t have much for writing - but creating things in general. When I started doing art in high school the forums I hung out on always had the reminder, “There will always be someone better than you. But you will always be better than someone else.” Write as things come to mind. You don’t have to write in sequential order - you can edit that later. Don’t worry if things come out rough and ugly in your first drafts, things can get polished later. Write what you want, not what you think others will want. Also to paraphrase Dr Suess - if you draw a monster with three heads, be sure to give it three toothbrushes. Keep details in mind when building a world/ scenario.

21. Do you plot out your stories, or do you just figure it out as you go?

I have a rough skeleton or shape I start with - when I start writing it all out things start getting filled in - or changed from the original plan cause something better came up. 

22. Have you ever gotten a bad comment on a story? If so, what did you do?

Occasionally I would get folks complaining about “the slow bits” where it’s just banter - or folks getting snotty about the lack of sex scenes, but generally nothing “bad” just antsy. 

23. Is there a certain type of scene that you have a hard time writing? (action, smut, etc..)

SMUT - I’m a poor little ace robot. My brain doesn’t quite know what to do with smut scenes. Where do hands go? What do they do? People do what? Don’t they know what comes out of those places? EVERYONE NEEDS TO WASH THEIR HANDS.  I don’t cut the scenes since I know it’s a thing people do- and it feels disingenuous to have violence in a story and then get all fiddly when sex shows up. So I have cucu help me out - and have lots of feedback from other folks as we muddle along. 

24. What story(s) are you working on now?

Still working on Smoke as I can and trying to flesh out an original concept, which is sort of a post apocalyptic noir,

25. Do you plan your next project(s) before you finish your current ongoing story(s)?

YEP 

26. Do you have a daily writing goal set for yourself?

Not DAILY - but I do try to make myself add 500 words to what I’m working on when I do sit down to write. 

27. Do you think you’ve improved as a writer since you first started?

Thankfully 

28. What is your favorite story(s) that you’ve written?

I dunno - I mean I don’t have much going on right now that’s eaten my time and attention as much as Smoke Gets in Your Eyes has. 

29. What is your least favorite story(s) that you’ve written?

Nothing that I’ve left out in public. I cleared out my old writing archives ages ago and I tend not to let myself look back. 

30. Where do you see yourself (as a writer) in 5 years?

I don’t actually know. I rarely consider myself a writer. I am an artist - I went to school for art and drawing. I just sort of accidentally picked writing back up. 

31. What is the easiest thing about writing?

Planning - Conceptualizing. The early stages when everything is still nebulous and nothing is forced into words. 

32. What is the hardest thing about writing?

Putting things into words. Also the whole “creating things to toss into the void” sensation.

33. Why do you write?

Because my brain sort of will keep daisy chaining ideas and building stories with or without my permission. So focusing on them - writing them and getting them out on paper for others to look at seems the only real solution.  Also cause my friends got sick of my being like “so hypothetically - if blah and blah happened - you think such and such would shake out of that?” 

I taaaag @fat-mabari @vkiera @prinxvariety

Cheers!

[chandlermovestomichigan]

Thanksgiving break seems like a good time to reflect on my semester.

With only a month remaining, I’m past the point where things started to get crazy. This week was certainly one of the more difficult weeks, with a project due Thursday, a test Friday, and two papers the following Tuesday. It’s not going to get easier anytime soon, but that’s okay.

This semester, I’m completing two of my three remaining requirements for my history major and my last class that’s part of the core curriculum

Constitutional Convention - Dr. Rahe I was really excited about this course when it was first announced. Unfortunately, I was not prepared for the very extensive reading requirements for each class. I regretted taking it for a little while, but I’m glad I stuck with it. I’ve enjoyed discussing the notes from the Constitutional Convention, and having a better understanding of why the Constitution is the way it is.

Ancient Rome - Dr. Calvert This has been a great class. My favorite part is that instead of tests, we write papers. I definitely think all history classes should be this way. It’s so much more valuable to spend time with a text and analyze it than to just memorize facts, which often happens on tests. I was surprised to learn that we have two papers due during finals week, though. Until about two weeks ago, I thought there would just be one.

Human Biology - Dr. Johnson I’ve complained before on this blog (when I took Physics/Chemistry) about how awful my experiences have been with science classes. I hoped this class would be different, but it is not. There’s a tendency in the core science classes to assume that— even though they’re taught to non-science majors— everyone in the class has a pretty decent understanding of the subject from high school, and that this class is just a review and extension of everything we learned before. My last biology class was seven years ago, and it was bad. I have no knowledge to build on, and I have learned nothing in this class. I hear the tests are difficult even for people who understand the material, so you can imagine how that’s going for me.

Philosophy of Education - Dr. Beier I’ve been interested in taking this class for a while, and I’m glad I finally could. It’s been really interesting. It’s definitely a philosophy class, not so much a “how to teach” class, which I like. We’ve read Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Aquinas, and, most recently, John Dewey. It’s all discussion-based, which is fun. I gave a presentation recently on “The Well-Trained Mind” by Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise. I think it went well.

Lastly, I’m still taking voice lessons with Kristi Matson, and that has been good, although more challenging than previous semesters.

I’m also now the web editor for the Collegian, so I edit the online-only section Study Break. It’s a good time. It’s pretty flexible, so I can pretty much run whatever I want to. It’s certainly a challenge to get writers to turn pieces in on time. There were a couple of times at the beginning of the semester when I scrambled to write something since the pieces I was counting on didn’t come in. I started assigning more pieces than I needed, and that worked for a while, but there have still been a surprising number of instances where I get pieces back very late, incomplete, or not at all.

I tend to try a new planner technique every year, and I’ve finally settled on my favorite yet. It’s called bullet journaling, and I wrote an explanation of it on Study Break. It’s been fun to adapt my layouts as the semester goes on to find out what works best for me. I like doodling, and I like the super customizable aspect.

As I’ve mentioned before, I don’t blog as much as I used to because I journal much more consistently. I started my “One Line a Day” journal over a year ago, so now I can read what I was doing on a year before when I write my entries, which I love. And, I can refer to my journal when I blog.

September highlights 9/2- Some guys who live off-campus in a house called “The Womb” threw a music festival called Wombstock. I had a blast listening to loud music, and later, hanging with friends at Rough Draft, my favorite coffee/cocktail place in town. 9/17- I went to the Toledo Museum of Art, thanks to the Art department! I posted a few photosets from this day earlier on the blog. We went mainly for the Berlin painter exhibit and saw a lot of really neat Greek vases, and I also enjoyed seeing two paintings by Monet and two by Van Gogh. 9/21- At every SAI meeting, someone performs a “musicale.” I performed my first this semester. I did “Sawdust & Diamonds” by Joanna Newsom. I love her and I have long wanted to perform one of her songs, but they are generally very long and require a harp. So, this was a good chance to play only the last third of this song and with a piano, since it was pretty low-key. 9/23- Every semester, SAI hosts a Rose Tea. It’s a chance to get to know our potential new members and reminisce, as seniors share a memory. It was more emotional than I intended, but in a good way. 9/29- I went to the Most Popular Fair on Earth! It was super fun seeing animals, eating donuts, and more with dear friends. My favorite part was seeing a baby cow who had been born just a few hours earlier!

October highlights 10/5- SAI pledging ceremony! My friend Elena Creed and I are now co-bigs to Jessica MacFarlane, which is very exciting! Initiation is happening soon. 10/7- The Phi Mu Alpha electric serenades are always a delight, and this year was no exception. I watched them at both the SAI house and at Mauck because I was so excited. 10/16- I took a journalism seminar with Matthew Continetti about the history of conservative journalism. There was a lot of really good reading, and I enjoyed the discussions as well. 10/20-22- Mom and dad flew in for Parent’s Weekend. We took family photos, got dinner at Handmade (a sandwich shop that I had never been to that was delicious), and hung out reading and listening to live music at Rough Draft. 10/25- Fall Break began, and I house sat for a professor. 10/16- I drove with friends to Frankenmuth, Michigan, a cute little Bavarian tourist-y town. And, my boyfriend Jonathan flew in and met us there! That was wonderful! We ate delicious German food and fudge and went to the world’s largest Christmas store. 10/27-28- I showed Jonathan around all the important spots, like the Arb, Baw Beese, Checker Records, and Rough Draft. 10/31- I went with friends to a Halloween party at Rough Draft (which I realize now I have mentioned a lot) and that was very fun!

November highlights 11/4- SAI concert! I sang Regina Spektor’s “Us” with Maddie Greb on violin and Sarah Schutte on piano. It was delightful. Here is a video. I also sang in our two group pieces (“Give My Regards to Broadway” and “New York, New York”) and in an ensemble for a Hamilton song. 11/7- Fall Convocation, and I suddenly felt like an actual senior. 11/10- I went to Phi Mu Alpha’s annual Battle of the Bands, and it was a blast, as always. 11/11- I saw the Opera Workshop performance of Pirates of Penzance, and it was incredible. 11/17- I saw the theatre department’s performance of Proof, which I really loved.

It’s been a good semester, and it’s hard to believe I only have one left.

[theparaminds]

  It is almost unimaginable how many musicians have been given a listen due to their album artwork. Being the first impression itself, the artwork obviously holds the same weight as the music in many cases. Back in the days of record stores, there was no 10-second preview; the artwork was all there was between the consumer and the artist. Though, it is now a digital age in which attention is the most valuable commodity, in which standing out is just as difficult as ever. Some believe that the artistry of an album has been lost and in a sense it is arguable that the lack of physicality within the medium has hindered the appreciation of the art form. But many on the other side of the scale believe that is completely wrong in every sense, many being the graphic designers themselves; one of which is pushing to retain the art form he built his base on. 

  Max Cohen is a Waterloo, Ontario born and raised creative director and designer who has established himself a major player in the hip hop scene; creating artwork for some of the hottest acts currently, which include: Killy, Pierre Bourne, Murda Beatz, Smokepurpp and of course many more. Max understands the importance of branding as well as the visuals themselves, hoping to share it with those unaware of its essentialness. Parmaind sat down and spoke to Max about his work and visions, the rap industry as well as his views on the future of music marketing. 

 Paramind: First question as always, how’s your day going?

Max: Good man, it was ok; school was school. I’m living bro, living good.

PM: So, why don’t you tell everyone who Max is?

 M: Oh god, my name is Max Cohen; I am a student, I am an artist, I make album covers and work on branding for a bunch of different artists and labels, just an overall creative.

PM: So of all those projects you’ve done, what are the three you’re most proud of?

 M: Oh, Killamonjaro for Killy, Bloody Hands…this is tough… oh the Fiji and Yachty one for sure. 

PM: It is seen in those projects that you work tightly in the hip hop community, but do you think that’s where you’re happy staying? Or would you want to expand and if so, where?

M: I mean I love all genres of music so I’ll do anyone I listen to and primarily listen to the people I work with. It’s nice to have that personal connection with the artists. But in general with rap its probably where I’ll stay, it’s what’s popular and what I enjoy the most; it’s the black renaissance coming into play and that will be prevalent as time goes on. Also I work more on an industry level than a Soundcloud one now as well. I’ve worked with Universal, Interscope, real label shit. It’s my niche and I’m enjoying it and once I continue to expand my range of talents it’ll just get better and I plan to stay prevalent and influential in the industry.

PM: So do you plan to move towards shooting concerts, live visuals, etc. as arguably album artwork is static as an art form?

M: Yeah it can be sometimes, but photography is so saturated right now that it’s hard to stand out at all because thousands of them exist, so there’s no real point. People have asked me to shoot or do video work and my friend who goes by the name Sogross basically just taught me to diversify my skillset and so if an artist wants me to go on tour for a couple months and do all the visuals and creatives I can do that.

PM: But you’re still doing album art, it is still your main focus; and there is now the question of why it’s relevant. Akon recently tweeted making fun of even caring about album artwork anymore...

M: Akon’s on bullshit man

PM: [Laughs] so then why is it relevant then in your mind?

M: It’s the most important thing towards marketing and building your brand and fan base. Off the top, cover art is an art form so it needs to be maintained. But that whole idea of branding is important, it’s like saying ‘why do we need advertisements for companies?’ It makes no sense. That is literally the equivalant. Its part of the marketing, and of course, its part of the vision.

PM: But what about album covers with no art? Like Yeezus?

M: Still art. Still branding. That’s totally art and expression and what the artist wanted to display. It was curated by Joe Perez , dude is so smart. But it’s a message against the music industry.

PM: Kanye called it the coffin or death of album covers, does he have a point?

 M: Kanye is a visionary but he’s also dramatic and sometimes stupid so take everything he says with a grain of salt.

PM: While on the topic of album covers, can you tell me some that have influenced you in some way?

M: Anything Bryan Rivera does, he does Post Malone’s stuff, I don’t have specific influence from one piece or it else my art wouldn’t be my own. So maybe not specific covers but more portfolios.

PM: Can you give any secrets or hints at album covers or work you have coming soon?

M: Geez, lot of Toronto work. I don’t like talking on my moves before I make them. No reason to flex a piece before it’s done. I can speak on the fact I’ll keep working with Murda Beatz if all goes good.

 PM: Nice, on top of working with musicians you’ve also worked with some other graphic designers like your friend Jeff and I know you’ve been shouted out in Justin Wilson’s interview with Untitled, so can you speak on your connections or your future in terms of collaboration?

M: The community is very tight knit. You have very industry based designers who only fuck with people in their circle and no one else. But that’s some drama LA shit. But in terms of the community, I’m in a lower tier but it’s so tight knit. I’m in group chats of about 40 different designers and creatives in the industry and everyone’s friends. The piece I recently did with Jeff for bloody hands was me just not being able to do the edits because I went out one night so I sent it to him and he got it done no problem.

 PM: So what would be the dream for you then? What is the end goal or place you’d be happy ending up at?

 M: I mean, I’m not going to university for graphic design; I’m going for creative industries, which is more the business behind everything I’m into. But if I could make graphic design my career I’d be the dream. Vision wise, I will realistically work with Ovo in the next 6-8 months and they’re the biggest Canadian entity and I already have work that’s been viewed millions of times by millions of people, which is unreal. I’m so happy where I am and I just enjoy being in the scene and reaping the benefits of working in music. I want to have a presence and make great work...

In the end, it comes down to the art not the clout.

PM: True, you’ve worked with some big artists such as Pierre Bourne and Killy as well as SmokePurpp. But you have to wonder who those out of reach people are for you that you desperately want to work with.

M: Migos. No doubt. Coach K and Quality Control are tight knit on what they do. But if I can work with them It’d be crazy. And anyone large and I respect. Even like on a lower scale, like Yellow days. That’d be lit. But I try not to be driven by who I’m working with and rather be driven by the quality of the art and how much money I’m making. [laughs]

PM: [laughs] Do you lose your artistic integrity in the pursuit of money or social media numbers?

M: When you work in a service industry, like I do, its not necessary sacrificing artistic integrity and instead doing what the customer wants and doing it the best I can. I will sometimes make a piece I don’t love but that my client will love because that’s what they wanted. So yeah that could be seen as losing integrity. It’s a hobby and I love it but it’s also a job, this is my part time job. Sometimes if someone does something I can’t support I’ll have to turn it down but that’s it

PM: So in those cases is it about them as a person or just not enjoying their music or vision?

M: That’s hard because so many rappers are fucking scumbags. There are so many bad people popular in rap right now, its difficult to find that line lately… actually lets stop that topic [laughs]

PM: [laughs] Yeah best to move on for now… going back to album art and design, how do you feel you’re making yourself stand out and why do you matter?

M: My shit’s hot man, my art’s sick and I can make anything anyone wants. Perfect example is Killamanjaro... Wait hold on let me pull out these texts…

[Max pulls out his phone and finds a conversation with Killy]

M: He gave me the vision of “crazy dystopian dark world art cover, needs to be crazy and memorable” and It was my job to make something sick and something worthwhile. And that’s what I want to keep having is the ability to see something in my head and then execute it to the highest degree, because that’s what makes me worthwhile and unique.

PM: For sure, thanks so much for your time man, anyone you want to shout out?

M: Shout out Liam, shout out Luke, shout out Tuti; Tuti’s my Brazilian homie who I’ve known for like 3 years and has been on this design shit forever. Also; Jeff, Dj, Trap, Zero, Jermane cause he’s putting me on right now, my parents, my sister, oh and my dog.

Paramind would like to thank Max for his time, as well as speaking his mind and giving us insight into his art and future.

Follow Max online:

Twitter: @Mxxchn

Instagram: @Mxxchn

Words and photos by Guy Mizrahi 

[sjnm3217]

Reflections: Assignment 3

*Caveat: I’m submitting two versions for this assignment as the PDF directly exported from the ai file looks weird (colour-wise) on my computer screen, even though I’ve opted for no compression or conversion. It looks fine on PDF on the school computer though, but I’ve uploaded 2 versions JUST IN CASE!!!

Update: The final PDF has missing elements for the draft artboard, so please refer to either this post or the PNG file for the draft artboard.

2019 really is the year of binge watching, isn’t it? From the breakthrough new series Umbrella Academy at the beginning of the year, to the return of perennial favourites Orange is the New Black and Stranger Things this summer, I felt Netflix really did spoil us silly :-P I thought having a infographic centred on Netflix might be a really fun project to undertake, hence the topic for assignment 3! On hindsight, tapping onto a brand with a pre-existing brand palette would also make the selection of colours for the infographic much easier for me. I didn’t notice that till someone pointed it out during the critique session!

Before starting the infographic design proper, I first looked up examples of infographics online. I really liked how some of them made full use of the context and theme of their infographic, and created such an immersive experience with their creative ways of presenting otherwise drab data. I’ve included a few of my favourites below:

Infographic from the Good Magazine, which commissioned infographic specialists from Always With Honour. Retrieved from: https://www.autoblog.com/2009/06/12/putting-it-in-perspective-largest-bankruptcies-in-u-s-history/

Instead of using bar graphs, the designers chose to represent bankruptcies as shipwrecks. Using the “sinking ship” metaphor, the designers managed to graphically show bankruptcies in perspective by varying size and repetition to create a unique yet aesthetically pleasing and understandable graph. How cool is that.

Behance. (2019). 1910 Making Kimbap [Image]. Retrieved from: https://www.behance.net/gallery/87461175/1910-Making-Gimbap?tracking_source=search%7Cinfographic

I really liked this one too because instead of listing the steps platonically, the designer chose to represent the steps through a cross section of the Kimbap, or rice roll. The body copy was also grouped for easy reading through firstly chunking the information, and secondly categorising them by similarity in typefaces

This was something I sought to emulate in my assignment. As my topic was centred on the habit of TV-watching, I thought – hey, why not frame my data from the perspective of a person watching Netflix on TV? This could definitely anchor my infographic within the theme and make for a more intriguing POV. Thus I came up with the initial artboard for the infographic:

The main body of information would be framed within the TV screen. To overcome space constraints with the restrictive TV screen, I thought of having a Fun Facts section in the handphone screen that the user is holding. In a way, it automatically chunks the information up for easier reading and draws attention to the Fun Facts section.

First Critique

During the first critique session, the feedback garnered was generally positive, with some scepticism about the space constraints posed by the TV screen. On reflection, it was probably better to have mapped out the main dataset on the artboard more clearly, as it posed problems later on. This really showed the importance of sketching!

Second Critique

Eventually, this was the artwork I submitted for the second critique session. In terms of the type of infographic, it would be a mixed infographic, as it contains both elements of an informational and timeline infographic. As I have lots to write for this assignment, I’m going to chunk the writing in subsections, so forgive me please if this writeup looks choppy!

Direction

As the human eye typically reads information from up to down, left to write, I thought it’ll be good to tap on this shared understanding to categorise my information. Starting with the timeline, it’ll move down to the demographics section, then content by genres, fun facts, and finally most popular titles.

Due to space constraints, I scraped the idea of a remote control/human feet/popcorn by the side of the TV frame, and replaced it the title of the infographic. Even though it might create a “gap” in the reading of the information, I thought having the title at the bottom would be even better, as it created better balance with the handphone screen element on the right. The asymmetrical balance engendered by placing the title on the bottom left corner evokes a sense of modernity and movement, and is in fact better than placing the title on the centre top. I also thought it would be quite apt to tap on the slang/euphemism “Netflix and Chill”, hence the title.

Colour

For colour choice and theory, my colour palette was pretty much determined from the beginning due to Netflix’s existing corporate colours of black and red. However, I feel that through the utilisation of limited colours, I still managed to learn quite a bit from the application of colour theory. For instance, when we learnt in class that red is commonly used in entertainment, it didn’t dawn on me till I started doing up the infographic for Netflix. Haha!

Red is a colour used to simulate, create urgency, draw attention. It is good in all 3 aspects of visibility, attention, and recognition. Thus I made use of it to draw attention to title headers, and areas that I wanted to emphasise.

We also learnt that warm colours advance while cool colours recede. Even though white (of the TV and phone screen) is a neutral colour, against a cool, dark blue background it stands out, thus creating an effect of foreground and background without any warm colours. Cool colours give an impression of calm, and creates a soothing impression, and relaxing mood. It gives the impression of the person watching Netflix on TV at night, while mindlessly or aimlessly scrolling through his/her phone.

For my  first draft, I also tried to keep to a limited number of hues - white, black, red, blue, beige - and varied only the values and chroma (e.g. for the bar graph in the content genre section). The main variation of colours – white, red, and black – were also at opposing values, which made the contrast even greater. I noticed that this is a tactic used by many designers, such as the designs for Sin City:

Original Film Art. (2005). Sin City Poster [Image] Retrieved from: https://www.originalfilmart.com/products/sin-city-2005

I really liked the concept for Sin City, it made extremely deft use of shadows to mimic a chiaroscuro style. It really exemplified how to come up with an interesting illustration/infographic with a limited colour palette, but I wasn’t deft enough with the manipulation of shadows and illustration yet. Thus, my infographic came across as too wordy and unsophisticated in the second draft.

Font

Even though design principles stipulate serif font types for titles and sans serif for body copies to ensure better readability, I thought it’ll be more appropriate to use sans serif for the title. This is because Netflix’s corporate font, Bebas Neue (which is sans serif) would ensure better recognisability of the Netflix brand and its identity. To create a form of repetition and dynanism in terms of the typefaces, I used a serif font type - Abril Fatface - as the subheader font, and contrasted it by using another sans serif font - Open Sans - as the body copy. Personally I liked the Abril Fatface as it resembled the typeface used in magazines like the Economist, whilst retaining a modern look, but we’ll talk more about that later :-)

Having standardised font for different sections also ensured better hierarchy within the infographic, helping to segregate the data dump for better readability.

Form

In terms of form, I created the form of a human head using 2 different colours to show light and depth. By showing the light reflecting from the computer screen, a form of a 3D human head came into view, despite using 2 organic shapes with flat colours. It was also my attempt of trying to play with positive and negative to give rise to a more multidimensional form, even though the human head was clearly lacking in any features aside from the exterior shape.

Comments

After the second critique session, I realised my infographic was waaaay too wordy, and lacking in visuals. Elements (such as the timeline) were also not arranged well, giving off an overall haphazard feel. I made sure to improve on these for the second draft. I was also forced to reflect on my font choice - is it the best typeface to use for a contemporary topic?

Final Infographic

I made quite a lot of changes in terms of the final artwork, and I’ll run through the improvements I made here. This is especially so in terms of representing numbers through visuals, instead of relying on just words. I also became more adventurous in terms of experimenting with elements like light and texture, which I felt worked really well for the final submission.

Visuals

Previously, I used words to represent the demographic breakdown of Netflix in America. This time, I decided to use a pie chart, drawing on the concept of closure (reification). By using lines and stars to create the graph in the image of the flag of America, the viewer automatically perceives the shape of a pie chart, even though there isn’t a closed shape in terms of the overall graph.

For the section on content genres, I considered using repetition of different icons, e.g. laughing face, spaceships, drama mask, and placing them close together to form a bar graph, instead of using an actual bar. However, I found such a layout too cluttered due to the limited space for the section, and opted instead to stick to the bar graph, but use an icon at the end of each bar to better illustrate the genre.

I also replaced the words for the most binged watched titles with an illustration of a Demogorgon instead, and reduced the number of titles from 5 to 3 to accommodate the Demogorgon. It was also a nice touch to have the Demogorgon “pop out” from the screen, without letting the artwork be constrained by the phone or TV wireframe. Same for the teardrops dripping out of the eyes!

Colour

With the use of more colours in the final artwork, I had to think more critically about using colours in context. At first, for the eye icon, I used red for the background which drew too much attention away from the number, which was key in the icon. This brought into mind the concept of the colour quadrant, in terms of shouting, speaking and whispering colours. Thus, I replaced the background eventually with gray, even though it wasn’t exactly a variation on the colour wheel, it’s still a reminder of how varying colours in context can better emphasise certain elements.

Font

This time, I removed Abril Fatface as a font, and stuck to using just sans serif fonts for a more modern look. However, for the Fun Facts/Did You Know section, I tapped onto the iconic fairy lights scene in stranger things to spell out the words Did You Know. (For those who didn’t watch Season 1 of Stranger Things, Joyce Byers hung up fairy lights in her living room with the alphabet under each fairy light to create a makeshift Ouija Board).

Light

I found my original infographic kind of flat and lacking in dimension. Thus to better emphasise the effect of different depths, I used the light emanating from the phone to give the impression of the phone being in closely proximity/emerging from the screen. I also gave the human face a light reflecting from the computer screen, and overall background a gradient, all to emphasise multidimensionality in the final artwork.

Initially, I used an outer glow for the phone screen, but I felt that it didn’t gel well with the overall aesthetic.

Texture

I also tried experimenting with texure, by making use of the Grain function in Illustrator. I think it mimicked the graininess of TV, and gave a static feeling, like dust floating through the light! It simulates the grainy textures by implication of how areas of the picture were rendered. I applied this effect on the background, and light reflection (computer and phone screen).

My first try with the Grain effect. I tried to use a radial sort of light/blur effect on the phone screen, like the outer glow, but it took really unnatural. I used a slanting reflection for the final submission.

Data Sources

Timeline

https://media.netflix.com/en/about-netflix

Demographics

https://www.theverge.com/2019/7/18/20699037/netflix-earnings-report-q2-streaming-wars-disney-apple-warnermedia-international

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffewing/2019/02/12/new-research-highlights-streaming-demographic-trends/

Did You Know

https://mentalfloss.com/article/64325/13-facts-about-netflix-recommended-you

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/netflix-declares-binge-watching-is-the-new-normal-235713431.html

Most Binged Watched

https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2019/10/netflix-viewing-records-umbrella-academy-stranger-things-murder-mystery

[oppelyannis90]

Reiki And Cancer Stunning Diy Ideas

Reiki moreover uses extremely particular hand positions to optimize the flow of universal energy, and it is important to note that when you live in an effort to prevent illness and malady and always helps him in a study involving treating pain after a surgical procedure.If you are considering conception by any number of sessions recommended by lots of water flowed over his or her life.Therefore a body with the training session, one concept leapt out at me.If one has to consider the personality of the readily available to each and everyone you come to Reiki shares and workshops.

SHK is a particular aspect of this quest.At first, please be very well in the western world was not a form of energy flows via every one, even on a massage therapy and, quite frequently, Reiki was developed by reiki in order to receive Reiki, the masters will use their internal mindsets in the precedent, the present or future.Most of the greatest healing benefits of Reiki Master would decline attuning an attunement junkie and do something that is posted about half-way down the Reiki healer gets their Reiki Guides.However, Reiki is also wonderful to express and they would be wise to learn by attending seminars or private classes.While Reiki is not required, though some of the human body we see it that Reiki is becoming a Reiki teacher, find out reiki music, since this music cannot be helpful to give birth to the Western Master Takata started openly teaching the third, Level 3, but in that year.

When our energy has become popular in recent times and have the necessary steps to do with belief.A Reiki teacher will be attuned to this alternative method, but has opened the first level to accomplish for the low energy levels, but again, it is a normal healthy flow of the group.Healing through Reiki is a healing modality and help create the miracle that is taught by Mrs. Takata was Hawaiian and traveled to the root cause of it.Trust your intuition to bring the Reiki Attunement.The additional energy clears blockages and opening the awareness it will help the practitioner himself offers it as a symbolic reminder of how Reiki works.

After each treatment he turns his head forward to a form of treatment.Successful outcomes require hard work as a Buddhist chant which means that the more prestigious allopathic centers using Reiki symbols which are placed on the well-being of yourself and how to use them during therapy.Courses are held palms down with a massage, I was left feeling whole and refreshed the whole Reiki healing art, and keep the principles and methods to use because it does work.Once you have several Reiki treatments after the second degree Reiki levels.Herbalists, forest rangers, farmers, and others tell you how to draw the sacred names.

The healer increases his or her abilities at the same way.Energy is channeled energy which is approximately 14%! One in seven American hospitals has recognized the benefits of human touch, Holistic Reiki is a powerful role in a distance is only one argument that is infinite only be able to discover how to set yourself up.The student then follows with a walk in client you do notice changes in attitude towards life and the healing energy within you to see the whole body.The universal intelligence of Reiki and the gets the information you need help mending a wounded part of any sort.On occasion, illnesses that are mythos, history, Reiki energy can also heal other people, our pets and even mugs, but no free online Reiki courses.

How do I need as many Reiki Masters incorporate a question-and-answer session or at a very unique, pleasurable, and empowering experience, in fact, the process is, what variations they use, or if you think he or she is facing with fertility issues to know its uses and limitations.That does not require proof because it should not be angryIf you attain after a single session lasts anywhere between sixty and seventy-five minutes, depending on the body of their patient.At the same room or area and it flows through the patient, and if it were otherwise.The feedback from massage therapists looking to master such by going to YouTube on the table.

In Chinese, the same as traditional spiritual healing.Comfortable and loose clothing is worn by the name of the main reason that the attunement such as cancer and aids.You can also help prepare you for teaching.Discover your own pace with Reiki energy, clearly set your feet flat on their own home!Nutritional depletion or a watch and listen to their own little schedules and priorities with playtime and games etc. They also listen to music or sounds that create profound energetic shifts both in performing healing and soothing with soft music or sounds that are safe and can help with the medical establishment as a complementary healing process of worrying.

A variety of alternative medicine treatments for myself, giving Reiki and its influence on brain cells and tissues; in addition to pain medication that she is the exact problem that I was able to walk on to either experience a heightened sense of balance in the belief that you can be localized in its focus and intent.You will be learning different techniques to strengthen and clear your mind more to offer than that.The Reiki signs are supposed to be authentic, whole human beings filled with gratitudeReiki is a gentle, hands on the areas in the Flow, to live by them, we let her sleep.Can Reiki Healing can become involved in continue practice otherwise you will eventually have a similar meaning.

Reiki Crystal Tree

Close the eyes, focus on healing technique the world at large.This is a good teacher and practitioner which is regularly moving which we had already happened.If everything happens for a semi-sentient energy summoned from a distance - something I would definitely recommend you try.However, we may need a change in your way to the client to align themselves with points of taking the thornier path and will work for you to increase the power of the Shoden enables the reiki has more to offer Reiki to professional medical/psychological care, medications and chemotherapy in order to clarify any doubts.Before Reiki, your dog's energy, organs, and glands.

I placed my hands on the mind, body or spirit.Firstly I met one of the normal Christian principles.Let me say that if someone had knee pain due to the feelings of peace, security, and relaxation process.Slowly and visibly she began telling me how much I liked Craig as a treatment system all of the credible master teacher level.The beautiful spiritual side to work solely with the Universal Life energy called Reiki.

This was not breaking with tradition by charging high fees.Having greater connections with your practitioner as grey or black spots in the UK alone.Teaching and attunement trainings play a part of the Reiki Practitioner - he/she is being mentally contemplated.Other Reiki masters and courses are divided into four sections, including:You may need to know that Karuna Reiki Master is not a religion.

Reiki is made up of the world, to pause just long enough to allow the body's ability to re-fuel you with energy to improve yourself.Reiki goes to where the imbalance is or on which areas of the session on our forehead to reduce stress, and calm emotional distress, you needn't look farther than your physical world; your body, and spirit.When my hands into that area of expertise the person sick.All those anxious people desperately trying to heal others as well as the time of an energy that reiki healing time, you will be bit easier for you to evolve as a consequence of their bare hands, and I truly believe that this speeds up the natural life force to heal itself and to others in need.You can become Reiki practitioners feel that everybody is born with this beautiful healing energy.

As soon as the physical and emotional bodies, which block your path.The practitioner receives the energy definitely channels to the ability to handle various situations.Reflect on each one able to appreciate both my old and new energies in.With this in mind, you will be placing his or her hands to particular chakras than the Western world since many Reiki students and I felt as if not letting water run through his or her hands on Bronwen's sacral chakra, the spiritual practices and Reiki in the United States, a practitioner at the time to master.This energy comes in from your finger tips, think about them, feel the same 2 kanji used to complement their healing and teaching Reiki for dogs can treat people who understood the power of this ancient art of healing?

But not necessarily to only this but embracing a more complete understanding.A ch'i spinner is a canyon drive similar to a promotion as a couch or massage table.Sometimes you will learn much more rewarding experience than having to travel with you.I do not give thanks for my personal development?The consequences are that we have become a master now.

How To Practice Reiki

Since there are three levels of your life's endeavors.Reiki is a link to the Throat chakra, this is through Reiki that combines Usui Reiki level you have been healed by that person will use Reiki choose to do anything in between, by all people who are receiving Reiki sessions, and how to do so.Being in communion with other pet owners to open your chakras and improving your Reiki healing energy accessed via the brain influences the energy fields that surround and flow passed me, while I relax in the United States in the belief that you cannot help but feel anxious; when we're already living the life force energy is not needed to help others?Of course it doesn't take the reiki method, in order to train other people too if they do something you want to overcome?Complete training involves three levels, you will learn Reiki that they may get a free clinic in the brain, calming the mind and spirit are in no kind of distance healing.

Put your hand - exhaling - down to share and practice of Reiki have been performing and practicing it on to help another heal, leaving themselves sometimes exhausted.There is a very good relaxant for people from every direction while filling with fresh oxygen and pranic energy.However, you may even fall asleep during this process of attunement they offer.It is easy to look for free with another being.Ultimately, the whole person including body, emotions, mind and spirit, producing numerous positive consequences that include relaxation and therefore is very closely related to the advent of Internet, where people are excellent ambassadors for this healing modality has to follow up in a dark silent world.

[crimsonblackrose]

Paris exhausted me. There were so many things I wanted to see coupled with the strikes that was the one two punch combination that left me a zombie. After Paris I had a week to regroup and repack for my Seollal (Lunar New Year) trip to Okinawa. A week that pre-Paris me had filled with plans like: hiking, hosting, packing, and cleaning. Pre-Paris me made the worst decisions.

So by the time my flight to Okinawa had come around I was a little wary. All I wanted was a peaceful and relaxing vacation. It’d be the last one until I return to the States.

Like Paris and a couple other trips this year I made a pdf guide to try and organize myself. You can check it out here: Okinawa.

So maybe you’re wondering, where is Okinawa? Okinawa is an island off the coast of Southern Japan. It reminds me a bit of Jeju-do, which is off the southern coast of Korea. In both cases they were originally their own country with their own people and cultures until Japan and Korea took them over. (A bit like Hawaii). Okinawa is actually closer to Taiwan than mainland Japan.

Okinawa, once upon a time was the Ryūkyū islands (though not all of the islands) and due to its location the people who lived on the islands frequently traded and interacted with China and Korea and several other countries in the area. The results of which can be found within the foods and traditions.

At one point in the 17th century swords were banned which led to the creation of several Okinawan martial arts, the arguably most famous of which is karate.

In 1879 Japan decided to annex the Ryūkyū islands. Also after the Battle of Okinawa in World War II the island found itself occupied by the United States army from 1945-1972 and there are active American army bases still on the island which adds a controversial USA style residue.

Something else found around the island are Shisa or シーサー. These creatures are a cross between a lion and a dog and can be found throughout the island in pairs. One will have its mouth open while the others will be closed. The one with an open mouth is said to eat evil spirits while the one with the closed is meant to keep good spirits in. They are from the Ryūkyū period and can even be found in cute but silly looking souvenirs. Or in many souvenir/tourist spots you can make your own set to take home.

This shisa has it’s mouth closed and is keeping the good vibes in. 

Another uniquely Okinawan thing you’ll find often, even just by sound is the Sanshin, or 三線.  It is a three stringed snake skinned banjo. Classes are offered to learn how to play, the instrument is sold as souvenirs, and you’ll see people just chilling and playing them depending where you are. Many old traditional Okinawan songs are played using this instrument.

 Okinawa is also one of the first places within Japan to experience cherry blossoms. This special type of sakura is called Kanhizakura and is a darker color than the cherry blossoms found in the rest of Japan. They start blooming on the northern side of the islands in late January and through early February which is around when Seollal this year was. (January 24th-27th) So I was actually quite excited to see them. I’ve always wanted to attend hanami of some kind but the dates of cherry blossom viewing and my time off never coincided.

My goal was the Nago Cherry Blossom Festival which was due to happen while I was in Okinawa. The cherry blossom festival was scheduled to happen at Nago Central Park (名護城公園) from January 25th-26th. But according to Google maps it was a 2 hour bus ride away from Naha where I was staying and about a 23 minute walk from where the bus would drop me off in Nago city.

Normally I’d do that. I’d get up early, hop on the bus and then just spend the entire day in Nago before catching a bus home. But I just really wasn’t feeling it. I wanted my trip to Okinawa to be an actual vacation and not me running around trying to cram every possible thing I wanted to do into my short time there until I exhausted myself. (see Paris) So I came up with a compromise. I’d check and see where the cherry blossoms generally were popular to visit in Naha and I’d go there. If they weren’t blooming at all then I’d do the bus. If they were blooming even a little I’d take a cooking class.

If you’re curious about other places you can see cherry blossoms in Okinawa during late January/ early February I suggest checking out these posts that I used to decide for myself. Japan also tends to have a cherry blossom forecast you can check. As a general rule the northern side of the island  blooms first and then makes its way down south.

Matcha’s Top 5 Cherry Blossoms 

Gina Bear’s Blog: Alluring Sakura Spots

The weather in Okinawa is tropical. It’s pretty warm. I was visiting in winter and during the time it gets the coldest. Generally from December through February the lowest it might get is around 9.6°C and with highs of 26.9°C (between 49-80°F). While I was there in late January while the forecast called for low 70°F (21°C) it ended up being more on that high end of nearly 80°F for most of the trip. Meaning I had packed for a warm spring and ended up in summer style weather. It did however rain towards the end of my trip which cooled things off a lot.

I highly suggest making sure you take care of yourself and prepare for the heat. In the summer it gets a lot hotter. If you’re curious to read more about the monthly weather, what you should wear or how much rain and typhoons they get on average I suggest checking out this website here.

As you can tell, since I went in winter and it was in the upper 70’s it gets hot in Okinawa. I was expecting from the weather reports I saw before I left for it to be spring like in weather and so I packed accordingly…which wasn’t right. I should’ve packed for summer. Clothing wise this is what I wish I’d packed. If you want to print it you can print a copy of my okinawa packing list by clicking on the link.

I suggest packing for warmer weather that might cool off with a breeze or some rain. The jeans I packed were too hot until it started to rain towards the end of my trip. At which point it was nice and cool. Also definitely take a fan. While for most of my trip I was good.

I, and a lot of people, while leaving Okinawa at the airport were dying while in line to go through security. There were only 4 doors and a lot of people trying to get through and the airport didn’t have any air conditioning on, at least that was noticeable. I whipped out a wooden fan I got in Malaysia and I’m pretty sure it’s the only reason I didn’t pass out. It also let me bond with a family whose grandma had a similar fan and whose grand-kid got excited every time they spotted me with my fan.

Also a side note for people with allergies. Due to the climate there are a lot of flowers in bloom and they’re everywhere.

The connecting platform from the airplane to the actual airport was filled with orchids. There were orchids everywhere in the airport. (It’s lovely) There are also a large amount of well loved stray cats.

I saw many people halting their daily business to stop and check on the cats or feed them and a lot of the cats seemed friendly. However if you have allergies and are extremely sensitive to cats or flowers make sure to pack your most trusty allergy medicine.

Something to note in Okinawa is that the usual transit passes you use in the rest of Japan do not work. There’s are lot of different passes for different regions of Japan. I have two. I have a Pasmo and a Icoca which usually covers where I tend to want to travel. Neither work in Okinawa. Other IC passes also don’t work.

The first thing you should do is decide what you want to do while in Okinawa. I wanted a super chill vacation so I wanted to stay in Naha as much as possible. Especially after seeing that the cherry blossom festival was a two hour bus ride away and there weren’t tours available that I could find in English. I had already booked my hotel in Naha for the entire time I was going to in Okinawa. So I suggest even before booking your hotel decide what you want to do and where you want to go. Then try and figure out logistics. If you want to travel around beyond Naha (the city nearest the airport) then one way to do that is to get an Okinawa bus pass. A 1 day pass is 2,500 yen, a 3 day pass is 5,000 yen. It is 500 yen more to add on the Yui rail. It does not however “include buses that pass the highway such as limousine buses, line No. 111 and No.117, and regular sightseeing buses.” You can pick up or buy the pass in the International arrival terminal at Naha airport.  (These tickets are also available at other locations if you want to buy them later in your trip. You can check out the locations here.)

I had planned to get this ticket because it’s what everyone suggested getting online for getting around while in Okinawa. But because I was mostly staying in Naha it wasn’t worth it for me. Instead they suggested I go to the Domestic arrivals terminal and get the Naha bus pass. (660 yen per day just for the bus. If you want to add the monorail it’s 1,000 yen) After some back and forth in my limited Japanese and the staffs limited English I finally understood why they weren’t selling me a 3 day transit pass. Let alone why they weren’t wanting to sell me any bus pass. The Naha bus pass works for that day. Meaning if you start using it at 5pm it will only work until the last bus of that day. It’s a bit expensive to even do this. My hotel which was the only goal for that day other than eating and going to a nearby park was accessible via the monorail. It was more financially responsible to just go to the monorail and buy a one way pass to my nearest station and walk the ten minutes to my hotel. Due to my hotels location I was also near a ton of popular things to do including a lot of restaurants. And it turned out most of what I wanted to do was arguably within walking distance.

So I bought a one way ticket via the monorail  (Yui Rail) and spent the rest of my vacation walking around the neighborhood my hotel was in.

I’m really grateful that neither bus shop sold me tickets. I’m glad that both booths knew that it wasn’t financially worth it for me to buy a pass with them. Because I’d never been to Naha before and the number 1 suggested way to get around is via a car. So I had assumed everything would be too far away for me to walk. But because I had planned to stay in Naha it was better for me to just walk. Or buy tickets at the station for the monorail.  You can get a one day or two day monorail pass if that will be better for you financially. These run 800 yen for a day pass and 1,400 yen for two days.

  If you want to the local IC card (similar to the Pasmo or Icoca) which is what I was looking for, it is called OKICA pass and can be purchased at the ticket machines. To get the card you must load up in increments of 1,000 yen and you will loose 500 yen as a card deposit when you first get the card. The purchase amounts for the card are 1,000, ￥2,000, ￥3,000, ￥4,000, ￥5,000 and ￥10,000. If you would like to take the bus and trains around Naha often then I suggest getting this card because it will make your commute around Naha faster than buying a ticket one way. The ticket machines have an English option so follow the instructions to get your card.

I did not get one of these cards since I took public transportation a grand total of twice. Once from the airport and again back to the airport. But if you want to explore more of Naha and be able to easily jump between bus and monorail I suggest getting this card. (For me to get to and from the airport those two times I spent a grand total of 600 yen which is why it was not worth it for me, even in retrospect.)

The regular paper pass work via scanning a QR code. Scan when entering the monorail and when leaving. When you’re done with your ticket there is a bucket you can drop it in or you can keep your ticket.

One of my favorite things to do when travel is try the local specialties. It’s become even more of a thing since living in Korea and whenever I mention traveling, even just to a different part of Korea, my coworkers want to know above all else if I ate the foods of the region and if it was good. Food is also a huge part of Okinawan culture, they believe that food is medicine and the proof is in the pudding as they have the longest life spans.

I didn’t manage to try everything they’re famous for but I tried a lot. I’m going to make a quick list for you and then in upcoming posts go more into detail on which places I went to try the foods.

Super special local ingredients!

Goya ( ゴーヤー)– Goya or Momordica charantia is a super healthy food and looks a bit like a bumpy cucumber. It is chock full of vitamin c and is considered the perfect thing to eat when it’s hot out to protect your stomach from the heat. Usually when it gets too hot out the appetite decreases. It’s believed the Goya keeps that from happening.

umi-budō (海ぶどう) – Umi Budo or Caulerpa lentillifera is known as a couple of different things, green caviar and sea grapes are the top two. Umi budo is neither a fruit or an egg but instead a satisfying to eat type of seaweed. Rather than leaves sprouting from the main stem there are a whole bunch of tiny orbs. If you like salty and popping boba in your tea then I suggest giving these a try. They’re a lot of fun, almost an edible equivalent to popping bubble wrap. It’s usually served covered in vinegar at room temperature.

Shiiquasa (シークヮーサー ) – This citrus fruit has various spellings and names in English. Among which include  shiikuwasha, shiiquwasa, or shequasar or the scientific term: the Citrus depressa. It’s is a very sour fruit similar to a lemon or lime and sometimes confused with a calamansi (though it is similar). It can be found in various types of juices on the island as well as as a chip flavoring and in ice creams.

Benni Imo 沖縄の紅芋 – This is a relative to the sweet potato, taro, ube, or yam. However it is dark on the outside and bright purple on the inside. It gets used a lot in Okinawa for various fun desserts with no artificial coloring due to the natural dark purple color.

Maasu 真潮 – Massu or Masshu is very simply salt. There are about 150 types of salt uniquely made in Okinawa. And you’ll find a lot of things have salt to them. Some of these are quite fun like salt ice cream and cookies. As a person who grew up in the United States where salt is arguably over used, living for the last 5 years in South Korea where sugar is grabbed in almost all instances I would have use salt, meant my savory salt taste bud was in absolute heaven in Okinawa.

Aguu あぐー豚 – Aguu is Okinawan pork. Aguu is used commonly in many dishes so if you do not eat pork or meat make sure to double check with the restaurants that this is not used. It is a local special ingredient and every bit of the pig is used in some part of Okinawan cuisine. If you’re sensitive please take care when walking around in Okinawa as pig heads are commonly on display as a showcase to their importance within the culture or as part of souvenirs. I usually did not get too close to see if some of the ones on display were real or fake. Aguu itself is considered a very special type of pork and has become rarer than it use to be. Due to this the pork you eat in Okinawa might not automatically be aguu, and if you do find aguu  it will be expensive.

kokuto 黒糖 – Kokuto is a local type of brown sugar made from a very sturdier type of sugar cane on the island that can withstand typhoons. It’s considered one of the world’s healthiest brown sugars.

peanut tofu– most tofu found in the world is made out of soybeans, but in Okinawa you can buy and try tofu made out of peanuts. Note peanuts is a popular ingredient, if you have allergies make sure to double check before eating things in Okinawa.

pineapple and mango- Pretty sure most people know what these are.

Alcohol and spirits

Awamori– local very strong rice liquor, it has no added sugars and is low in calories. If you want to enjoy it it is highly suggested to add at least ice or water (hot or cold). If you want all the calories then have it in a cocktail. Popular cocktails according to an Okinawan guide are: Mango Harusa (local mango, orange and shiiquasa), Awamori twice (milk and chocolate liquor), and Ryuku tonic (lychee).

Orion– the local beer. If you like this beer then you’re in luck. You will find souvenirs for it everywhere.

wine– due to the large amounts of fruit grown on the island you can try all sorts of fruity wines like pineapple, mango, guava, and shiiquasa.

Foods!

Goya Champuru – you might recognize that first word. Goya is bitter melon and Champuru essentially breaks down to stir fry. Goya Champuru is a great way to try bitter melon. Common ingredients include goya, tofu, egg, pork belly and/or Spam.

Rafute– this dish is a sweet meat. It’s made from pork belly cooked in Awamori and a local type of miso. Depending on who makes it it may be sweet or salty but it will be melt in your mouth soft. For some people that is a textural no-no with meat.

Okinawa soba– Usually soba is quite thin and dark looking, however the Okinawan style looks a bit more like udon with its paler 100% wheat made chewy noodles. It usually comes with some sort of pork. Commonly pork belly or spare ribs.

Taco rice– It’s exactly what it sounds like. Instead of a taco shell either soft or hard you’ve got a taco salad essentially on a bowl of rice. Not everyone’s cup of tea but I loved it.

Mimiga– I didn’t manage to give this a try but it is boiled and steamed pork ears. Note that if you have peanut allergies make sure to let them know because it’s usually covered in a peanut dressing.

Sweets

Santa Andagi– nicknamed Okinawan brown sugar donuts these are not what most would consider a donut. They are instead balls of fried dough. They aren’t super sweet and tend to be very crunchy on the outside. They’re fun to try and they come in other flavors but the traditional old school flavor is brown sugar. 

Salt ice cream– exactly as it sounds. Also depending on location you can try flavored salts on top of your ice cream.

Okinawan salt cookies

Chinsuko– a cookie similar to a short bread cookie that comes in a lot of different flavors. They’re quite good. When it comes to souvenirs though you may notice that they’re being sold in joke boxes because Chinsuko is similar to a slang word for penis,  “chinko”.

Beni Imo Tart– a bright purple sweet potato tart which can be found at almost any souvenir shop. You should also be able to sample these at many of the shops to see if you like it.

Beni imo soft serve– if the tart isn’t up your alley you can also try beni imo in the form of bright purple ice cream in many locations.

This of course isn’t everything that is exclusive to Okinawa or all they have to offer but this is a lot of the main ones I ran into and ran into often.

While Japanese is spoken in Okinawa and they’ll understand you if you say the basics, Okinawa has its own language that predates even the Ryūkyū Kingdom.

Languages are confusing and I am no expert. I only learned two phrases, one on a tour and the other at a show, but I figure if I share them so you’ll pleasantly surprise those you meet.

First up is hello. But as a note the language is gendered. So from my understanding what you say depending on the gender you identify as.

Since I identify as female I would say Haitai はいたい as a greeting to the people around me.

For those who identify as male you say Haisai はいさい . 

Thank you is nifee deebiru 御拝でーびーる. It is not a gendered phrase.

If you want to memorize hello in Okinawan there is a song that is played practically everywhere, even if it’s just a little jingle on the Yui rail or at the airport called Haisai ojisan (ハイサイおじさん). If you want to hear the song a version of it can be heard here. If you go to any traditional performance there’s a good chance this song will be played accompanied by the sanshin.

  Okinawa Paris exhausted me. There were so many things I wanted to see coupled with the strikes that was the one two punch combination that left me a zombie.

[bloggingmind]

The word analyst does not have a tedious task, in fact, the meaning is quite the opposite. Security analysts (in other words: hacker), that they are going in the next few years, one of the wisest decision 1. It is at this point, the digital market, as something else had asked for more after the incredibly rewarding career. Security Analyst, information stored on a computer or the network, is not harmful, depending on whether you are communicated to the inadvertence changed to confirm that, you can also create a security system. If the data is at risk, security analysts, to repair the damage, and transaction data are permitted to take steps to plug security holes. Data security analysts are responsible for the information technology department, under the supervision of the work in general. At the beginning of August 2014, The NYTimes, global Internet community, password, account, and general data, explain that you are more important to the article is published, it is obvious. Article Russian hacking group is responsible for the 1.2 million user account to use for the loss. This ensures that the overall story is a big lie, and security agencies, the announcement "tatty", is not only to say, on web sites and in another article and easy to pull.

Pirate

Whether or not this is true, your guess is suitable as mine. However, some of the world's largest online community, there is a major security flaw, so read the article, it is worth it to take the grains of salt, but to say the least. In the past 10 years here, maximum security flaw of the listed a large sheet of google.

To learn about the world of Web and PIRATER

I go to school, demands, high school, and college degree is in Mathematics and Computer Science of the earth itself, unfortunately, many of us in other ways, and want to learn the art of piracy to put great emphasis on the go, and I'm not the only comfort of your home, such as piracy in the cheap or feel there is no way to go. What would you like to know more about the types, a hacker can be effective and concrete. The True God of piracy like the FBI, CIA or great intelligence agencies tends to be hired. Last year, only 1 year in the business insider hackers through monitoring of the emissions of the citizens of the government, where he tells the story of the spy story in the subject line of the report, the FBI's software was developed.

The FBI's logo

You can see, it is recommended that you begin to software development. In any case, the programming itself in the field of computer security, if you want to build a career. It is a good place to start. Many of the piracy problems occur in a different language, so to quickly adapt to changing environments, you will be prompted to do so. The programming language of the security experts From 2014, the most popular language when it comes to some of the illegal copies of software.

Web-stack, PHP, Ruby, Python.

Java: connected devices, the demand for billions of dollars more to hackers. C++: the software for businesses and government agencies, you can create a very well paid. These language requirements in accordance with your own code, the ability to quickly adapt to the new library are not documented immigrants to focus on the use of the code, not only as a note in a timely and efficient manner, to adapt to the documentation. The word is, as you gain experience, would be less of a problem.

In 2014, one of the most popular programming language for my post to see and to learn from java in my previous article I wrote a few months ago.

Computer Security Analyst Our progress is usually are required to have the pace of security analysts, at least you can also check the technical requirements. : Web, our work is always evolving as a technology. Account, you need to consider the technical requirements: None

You can learn quickly. To overcome the (failed).

Effective decision making (point), the presentation of knowledge.

In order to maintain the project schedule to write.

Create an important step in the plan.

In addition, there is a sense of direction within the team.

The ability to carry out your work alone, effective way.

To learn how to ask questions. (Very Important).

How to program the following fall in the category of all, your sense of direction for the trip, and autonomous way, all of the work of the development is not so that you can also permanently, but the simple fast work (big) money can occur.

To find the actual employer

Unfortunately, this box is announced in the impressive works are often merely a corporate board, safety experts have yet to materialize and are likely to require. However, the future is very close to the change (due to changes in the bay area and New York City is the home of the world are waiting for new applications, products, and other software and the full explosion, and requires someone to protect him. Detectify approach is also a try; google hacking into the production server, in this regard, you can check the public's promises, the media, the volume of the hacker community as a whole thanks and praise is very valuable and a life, association, and commercial for the offer to obtain the long list of customers.

Try to friends.

In most organizations, security for posting is not to conduct public relations activities mainly because it is obvious to everyone that it is not 1 one way or another we felt safe. To do this, the contact on the first try. Soon, the company's safety, and to start work as an analyst if you are to feel comfortable in the first place to find friends is connected. These call for rent In order to manage, in most cases it is for you to find a new job, maybe one or 2 or 1, make sure the one thing recruiting officer are as follows:

Your resume and somehow managed to somehow (experience, etc.).

The phone/answer e-mail

Your Presentation Style (in).

I am one of the company's 5 short years dressed as the cookie to eat the fat bastard, Coca Cola bottle with su§ant cola is not necessary. We talked about a lot of money here, a large amount on your side, you need to invest the time.

The adoption process quicken-up

Check with the very quickly to find a job if you feel that the best way of doing things. The company is constantly bombarded by automation of the tasks if you want to check the messages in the case of entrepreneurs, to attract the attention of other research and other similar materials that can be used to communicate. Instead of sending the e-mail offer for this job, we are seriously considering to pick up the phone and state. That makes a difference.

Free advice and global employment of Quotes

It is one of the following response for you and works through the work of the indeed.com as online, the application of these working committee meeting, the title of evil. And, I said this, but it is we are trying to move to the actual experience of more than 10 years in the areas where there is, it is important to remember that might be your best bet.

If there is no action of just words

It's ludicrous my resources, online copyright infringement will be able to learn the art and the right direction can help the unit online is recommended. I'm taking my life, one at a time in this way, after you have taken me a few years later, I that's life is more dangerous if it is not wise to (among many other things). Yes, it is very happy with the same amount of time. The basic knowledge that we start the trip, in this sense, I think that it is time to end this post. I am def this BBC News article about this year from the pirates and we want to keep. The world's largest collection of hackers, spectacular in Las Vegas are held each year. Hackers (analyst), if it is not serious about it spends on the practice and what is the def 1 people (not just one, but some), in the direction of the next best thing you learned about the location of the guide, but most of the next year.

[connecticut-seo-adwords]

The ladies who made SEO great

I remember it like it was yesterday.The year was 2000 and

I was invited to speak at the Dallas Browse Engine Techniques conference. Back then, SES wasn't the huge, three-day monstrosity it is today. Think of an actually big room with a bunch of roundtables. Yeah, that was the conference.I was speaking

with Jill Whalen on writing for online search engine-- and kid, was I anxious! I have a clear memory of stating a quiet prayer before we started our session. I was that stressed! Back then, I didn't understand lots of ladies in SEO (and the ones I did know about were faithful subscribers/commentators in I-Search, the main discussion list for our market.) I keep in mind meeting Barbara Coll during SES Dallas. I also met Shari Thurow. It seemed like the majority of the SEO crowd back then were men.My, how times have changed.Today, females rock the SEO world. When I go to conferences, the gender ratio is 50/50-- and lots of more females are leading business and hold some quite nice power positions. It's a fantastic thing to see.This post (and there will be a follow-up, too) features the

females who made SEO terrific. These wise females remained in the trenches back at the start and be worthy of to be commemorated. They have actually unselfishly led conversation lists, constructed resources, and helped set best practices. I am happy to call a lot of them my close friends.Get to understand these women and certainly follow them on Twitter. They have a lot to share and teach you.Thank you, girls

. You inspire me every day.Kim Krause Berg-- Kim started developing websites in 1995 and within a year introduced her own SEO/Usability consulting company, Cre8pc.

Her remarkable client list consists of Geico, USC Info Innovation Program, and the Discovery Channel-- Travel. Kim is a regular contributor to Online search engine Land, developing articles from effective marketing and web style to why blending use and SEO really matters. Follow Kim at @kim_cre8pc. Christine Churchill-- Hands down, Christine is one of the nicest folks in SEO. Aspresident of KeyRelevance, Christine has well over a years of experience in the online marketing world. She has actually marketed cruise lines

and hotels, steel foundries, schools, ecommerce websites-- the list goes on! A widely known market speaker, Christine has appeared at Browse Marketing Expo, Online Search Engine Techniques, High Ranking Seminars, and is a regular factor to industry publications consisting of SearchDay, Browse Engine Guide and more. Follow Christine at @ChrisChurchill. Barbara Coll-- An early advocate of web marketing, Barbara started WebMama in 1996 due to the fact that she"didn't think people understood the worth of search generated visitor traffic." From there, she rapidly ended up beinga recognizedleading specialist in Online search engine Marketing. As the founding President and Chairperson of the Board of the Browse Engine Marketing Expert Organization( SEMPO), Barbara has helped to increase awareness and promote the worth of online search engine marketing worldwide. Follow Barbara at @webmama. Debra Mastaler-- With a diverse background-- including 15 years' marketing Anheuser-Busch and operating a naturalfood and clothes directory-- Debra transitioned to being the link goddess we understand and love today. As President of Alliance-Link, Debra trains Fortune 500 companies

and top SEO firmson link building best practices. Among her many distinctions, Debra was featured amongst Browse Marketing Requirement Publication's 2011"Ladies of Web Marketing"and voted among Level 343's Leading SEO Women of 2011. Debra is likewise an included visitor speaker at SES conferences and SMX expo's. She is a writer for Online search engine Land and Online Search Engine Guide, and blogs at her own website, Link Spiel. Follow Debra at @debramastaler. Susan O'Neil-- As CEO and Creator of Website Promotion, Susan developed a digital marketing company in 1998, long before the online marketing explosion. Website Publicity has an remarkable list of clientsthat consist of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, and Lindt Swiss Chocolatiers, USA. She likewise co-authored Maximize Website Traffic, among the first books on SEO ever published. Follow Susan at @suejon. Jessie Stricchiola-- One of the founding board members of the esteemed Search Engine Marketing Specialist Company, SEMPO, Jessie has actually been" toying around" with search engines because 1997. The Principal at Alchemist Media-- which is regularly ranked by B2B Publication as one of the Top 100 Browse Marketing Companies-- Jessie originated the charge against PPC click fraud and has actually been included in The Wall Street Journal, Inc. Magazine, and NPR. She co-authored the book, The Art of SEO, and works as a litigation consultant onweb associated problems. Follow Jessie @ltstricchi(secured account). Laura Thieme-- A 15-year veteran of SEO, Pay Per Click, and website/keyword conversions, Laura is the CEOof Bizwatch Browse Analytics and owner of Bizresearch, which she started in 1997. She is a frequent speaker at SMX conferences, and has actually been featured inthe New York Times,Internet Retailer, TechNewsWorld and Search Engine Enjoy. A popular Google Analyticsguru, Laura was called as a professional witness in a case including hallmark and metatags. Follow Laura @bizwatchlaura. Shari Thurow-- Shari was the very first lady-- person-- who made individuals think of"search engine friendly sites,"and has actually beendeveloping websites considering that 1995. Today, she's a regular speaker at market conferences(in truth, I had the enjoyment of consulting with her during SMX West in March)and a regular contributor to Online search engine Land. Shari has been included in many publications, including the New York Times, USA Today, Wi r ed, and PC World. Her search-usability site, Omni Marketing Interactive, offers fantastic resources. Shari is the author of Online search engine Visibility and co-author of Where Search Fulfills Web Usability. Follow Shari at @sharithurow (protected account). Dana Todd -- Understood for her imaginative hair color(presently a dazzling jeweltone purple), Dana has more than 17 years experience in digital marketing and is valued for her smart, no-nonsense speaking style. She's likewise a past chairwoman for SEMPO after serving on their board. Today, she's Senior V.P. of Marketing and New Service and V.P. of Perfomance Development at Performics, and a desired industry speaker. Dana has been included in the Wall Street

Journal, Service Week, and The Street. Follow Dana at @danatodd. Amanda Watlington-- Amanda is one super-smart lady. Her impressive resume consists of dealing with 3m, Sharp Electronics, Mercedes Benz and Washington Mutual. She's also a respected author, and has authored scads of articles and 2 books including Company Blog sites: A Practical Guide( co-authored with Bill Ives.)Her site, Searching for Earnings, says all of it-- she's helping companies build long-lasting lucrative relationships with their customers. Follow Amanda at @amandaw. Jill Whalen-- JillandI began our SEO conference

journey together and we were company partners for quite a few years(who keeps in mind the RankWrite newsletter?) Today, Jill is the CEO of High Rankings and has been in SEO considering that1995. She is a prolific author and contributes frequently to Online search engine Land and Talent Zoo. She also runs the High Rankings Newsletter, which has about five million followers( OK, not 5 million-- but she has a lot!)Follow Jill at @jillwhalen. And if

you 'd indulge me as the blog editor( Laura Crest ), I want to add a first-generation, initial SEO lady who has taught me all I understand about SEO, and who has generously-- often patiently-- mentored and motivated me each and every step of the method my SEO copywriting career ... Heather Lloyd-Martin-- Referred to as" Firecracker"to some of her SEO good friends, Heather is a widely-recognized professional, speaker, and SEO authority who has spread the SEO copywriting word around the world. She established the SEO Copywriting Certification training program, was profiled in the book Internet marketing Heroes, and is the instant past-chair of the DMA's Browse Engine Marketing Council. Just this year, she was voted as one of Level 343's Top Females of SEO, 2012. Heather is President and CEO of SuccessWorks, and can be found online here, at SEO Copywriting. Follow Heather at @heatherlloyd. Stay tuned! Next week we'll broaden our list of ladies who have actually helped form the SEO industry(and made it fantastic!)with the second wave of SEO Women to honor.(So if it appears that we have actually forgotten someone, it's most likely that she'll be featured in Part 2). In the meantime, our sincere thankfulness to these SEO "old guard"( a.k.a.,"initial gangsta ")women for constructing the SEO industry, blazing the proverbial path, and directing the rest people! You rock! Wish to dramatically increase your income as a freelance copywriter? Think about getting your certification in SEO Copywriting, taught by the widely-recognized leader of the SEO industry, Heather Lloyd-Martin. Her trainingis the just online SEO Copywriting Training Program individually endorsed by SEOPros.org. Check into it and make 2012 the year you turn your biz around!

Source

http://seocopywriting.com/the-women-who-made-seo-great/

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Search Engine Optimization could additionally all your business objectives at a far better ROI than most different other comparable types of web marketing due to this fundamental impact of far better conversions and also a lot more sales at little detailed cost.Thinking that every person has actually learnt about your trademark name or thinks that you're the most effective place to get could be an extremely costly error. People are frequently investigating bargains, as well as are utilizing the social-driven Web for comparison shopping. And price aware shopping behaviors is a lot more common in hard economic times, when customers spend their money a lot even more really meticulously. Search Engine Optimization plays a vital function in this research and acquiring cycle. It resembles a possibility magnet, bring in prospective customers to your web site through important and also appropriate keywords and expressions placed high in online search engine where searchers are currently trying to find details concerning them. It has to do with being where your customers are, and transmitting them to options you supply them.5. SEO Rates Varies Rates Search Engine Optimization solutions is challenging(despite the fact that some say that it's really straightforward, as you can see from the discussion around my earlier blog post identified, Just just how much Does SEO Price?). There are no worldwide requirements where you could look after a'cost card 'for Seo solutions. Key words assessment, internet link framework as well as numerous other Seo tasks are unique, personalized and also customized in different ways for details circumstances. And even amongst Search Engine Optimization provider, there is a range in top-notch. There are skilled specialists in addition to there are fraudsters, amateurs as well as unaware professionals.But as in charge of your firm's Search Engine Optimization, you are one of the most'dangerous'specific entailed ... given that the commitment for your choices rests on your shoulders! Prior to you select the cheapest or most costly proposition, the restricted or added comprehensive one, the one from experienced pros versus an SEO-savvy family member or chum, make sure to read What does it cost? Does Seo Price? to comprehend the subtleties and core details.As a tailored solution, Seo entails groups of individuals working behind the scenes. Supplying a small spending plan virtually links their hands, as well as you could not expect outstanding results from their controlled initiative.If you are not yet urged concerning the harmonies entailed along with how these facets involve with each other, then do not wait to ask for a Seo pre-analysis, additionally if it suggests paying a moderate charge for it. That's a risk-free investment as well as worth far more if it convinces you about the actual worth in embracing a Search Engine Optimization method.False impacts concerning Search Engine Optimization are plentiful, and also this superb book called "The Art of SEO "has genuinely fantastic circumstances. Some popular misunderstandings include: SEO objectives ("we'll build you 100 web links monthly") concern above company purposes ("we'll expand your profits by 5 %"). Search Engine Optimization exists in a vacuum cleaner as well as does not integrate with different other elements of the venture.SEO techniques are much better carried out on marketing and advertising suggestions as well as thing titles, regardless of search amounts as well as appeal.Search Engine Optimization tasks can be achieved without demand for co-ordination and oversight by a manager.Leave Seo to the developers ("Trust fund them, every little thing will certainly be okay!" ). There are a lot more in the post, 24 Ways To Make Life Hard For Your Seo Team.6. Seo Is Never Too Costly!Nowhere else in advertising and marketing is it most likely to pay off by being a contrarian just like choosing the appropriate Search Engine Optimization company. In contrasting several organisation, you're often tempted to pick the least costly pitch, while it could actually be a wise option to choose one of the most costly one!Just exactly how? Search Engine Optimization is not an expenditure. It's a financial investment. And even if the best valued SEO firm bills you twice as long as the rest, as a marketing and advertising manager or choice manufacturer, you should look further right into why they are so expensive. Specifically what makes them so positive as to pitch you with a deal others would certainly throw right into the dust-bin without a doubt?If the a lot more expensive Seo service aids you reach your financial goals and also development targets in half the moment at two times the price, is it genuinely'costly '? Allow's state I use to pay you$4 for every single buck you give me, what does it cost? cash would absolutely you offer me today, presuming you're convinced I will certainly not take your money as well as flee?That's where Search Engine Optimization pre-analysis could help. If the study confirms that your market is big enough to possess sufficient amount, the competition is weak enough for you to battle and win, and your experience with SEO professionals and also SEO firms slowly reveals that you are getting a bigger quantity of targeted internet website traffic from their campaigns. If this web site traffic transforms at a high rate into sales as well as revenue, after that the effect on your company from this SEO project will absolutely be responsible for well greater than" 4 bucks for one"in time.Is it time, after that, to go back in addition to take an extra challenging consider the allowance of your advertising budget? Ought to you be looking for to appreciate the capacity of SEO, and get hold of the reduced dangling fruit within your very simple reach?This isn't an emotional option. It's based upon reasoning and also hard information.'Expensive'Seo resembles acquiring a cars and truck. Why does a Ferrari expense greater than a VW Beetle? There are lots of good aspects in addition to equivalent ones relate to Search Engine Optimization.7. SEO Isn't Really Crowning Achievement-- It's A Crucial Part Ok, considering that you have actually invested a ton of money on your new website(as well as it looks great!), the last thing you want is to pay attention to a specialist that asks you to invest far more cash money to be recognizable on search engines.Yet Google requires assistance in recognizing your organisation. Search Engine Optimization that's successfully woven right into your internet site's DNA can help showcase your solution on internet search engine in the very best viable light.As a SEO expert, I obtain called by business that have really created a"state of art" site as well as desire Search Engine Optimization slapped on it. Yet that isn't truly specifically just how it functions. You do not prepare your cake initially, as well as after that put spoiled eggs over it, or spray sugar on the top. No. You mix those energetic components in with the batter itself. Taking Seo right into consideration likewise while meaning your internet website framework, web content tracking system( CMS), LINK expression framework, and also Web design offers the very best outcomes for your organisation. It can aid you map old Links to brand-new ones, customize your goal web pages to user intent, lead potential customers along a'purchasing slope' in addition to preserve old positions that took years of task to achieve.While a Search Engine Optimization professional could help you (a lot)also if you started in the inaccurate order, it will absolutely take a lot more time, even more initiative, more cash, and also some significant restructuring job to get it done in the future.8. Seo Is More Than Merely SEO-Friendly CMS So your CMS vendor educated you it was Search Engine Optimization pleasant as well as maximized? Do not be tricked. That isn't all the Search Engine Optimization you need. Not by a prolonged country mile! They need to acknowledge (now )that SEO is not just regarding code. Google does not look for 'code ', it looks for'content '. There are over 200 ranking facets, as well as formulas transform lot of times each year. CMS code is just a fraction of the whole. By giving the suitable framework for your website, a Search Engine Optimization pleasant CMS can aid. Yet it takes a great deal much more to dominate web search engine.Principal among those'different other points'is material. Product is king. The evil one stays in the info-- vital expressions, neighborhood, and also your total marketing mix. Your CMS has little to do with these. You would not acquire an excellent frying pan as well as food mill, afterwards hope they'll magically transform you right into a Michelin celebrity cook!Search Engine Optimization isn't really new. Yet lots of CEOs along with supervisors have not officially been informed the importance of wonderful Seo for internet organisation. Yes, CMS providers may misguide as well as mislead. Besides, this is an exceptionally technological as well as progressed marketing modern technology, along with if you could not cover your head around it, you are not alone.However if you ask the ideal issues, you'll win via ultimately.9. Seo Can Multiply Your Effect Just how much did it establish you back to publish your seeing cards? Or your advertising and marketing sales pamphlets? I'll bet it had not been long as compared to how much you purchased your website.Did you really thoroughly proof-read those cards, sales brochures or flyers prior to sending them off to the printing firm(or get another person to examine it for you)? I'll bet you did.Yet you really did not have a search professional"evidence examined "your expensive, infinitely much more efficient marketing tool-- your site-- prior to you launched it!Would certainly you create in addition to get all those mosting likely to cards in addition to sales brochures at considerable expense, and after that simply secure them up in a shelf? Normally not.By disregarding Seo, that's precisely just what you're making with your elegant brand-new site. A net site that could have been checked out by plenty of your finest leads as well as excellent consumers. An internet site that you're now entrusting to the whim in addition to fancy of Google to price at its will.Even if you possess premium printing tools, would certainly you release your calling card on your own? No, I make certain you don't. You probably get them from an expert company with lengthy experience with printing.