The Smithsonian has hosted a Medical Yoga Symposium, discussing the transformational potential of yoga and integrative medicine. One of the keynote speakers was Dr. Dean Ornish:

"We tend to think of advances in medicine as something very new and high-tech and expensive, but what we've been able to show with over three decades of research is that ... lifestyle changes, which is including yoga and meditation, can not only prevent but reverse chronic diseases," Ornish tells The Huffington Post.

Yoga's many possible health benefits -- from improved cognitive function to a lower risk of diabetes -- are well-documented. Recent studies have even suggested that yoga and meditation could influence gene expression, maybe even limiting the expression of genes associated with inflammation. This year, research also showed that lifestyle changes including improved diet, moderate exercise and less stress might actually reverse the aging process at a cellular level.

As the research suggests, practices to reduce stress and calm the mind -- in conjunction with intimacy, community and social support -- may be as important as diet and exercising when it comes to maintaining good health, Ornish explains.

Via Michelle Clemons.

An interesting read about the application process during the early days of Harvard and the Ivy League schools.

A stroll through classified ads from more than a century ago shows that college was once a buyer’s bazaar for qualified students, and universities rolled out the welcome mat and reached out for the students they coveted.

Top-drawer universities like Harvard and Columbia advertised for students steadily through August and September right up to opening day and offered entrance exams the weekend before classes resumed to give students every chance of taking and passing them.

Harvard even played down the difficulty of its entrance exam in ads, reprinted above, that it placed in The New York Times in September 1870, noting that of the 210 candidates who took its test the June before, “185 were admitted.”

In other words, nearly seven out of eight candidates who sat for the exam made the cut, a statistic that few selective colleges these days would pay money to broadcast.

Entrance to Law School, Harvard University c1900. (Source)

In an ad hovering over a pitch for cured hams on Oct. 7, 1871, Columbia Law School assured applicants that (unlike some rivals) its graduates were “admitted to the bar without further examination.”

Harvard Law opted instead to drop the names of distinguished faculty members in ads it ran from 1868 to 1871. And Yale Law School, one of the most sought-after law schools on the planet, ran ads in August 1868, a time when its own future within Yale University was rocky, regaling students with reasons to consider New Haven.

They included “access to library without extra charge,” eight weeks of fall vacation, three weeks of spring vacation and a two-week recess “embracing Christmas and New Year.” And, the ad noted, “students can enter or leave at any time.”

Image of Harvard football team 1890 via IvyGate.

After seeing some amazing hand-painted murals for New Balance, I wanted to find out more about the artist who made them. Colossal Media, as stated on their website, paint large-scale photorealistic murals, art projects, advertising campaigns and more in New York City and nationwide. Their work is beautifully done and is in my opinion a great way to differentiate in todays digital world.

Behind the scenes:

Further viewing:

• Colossal Media on Tumblr
• Colossal Media on Flickr
• Colossal Media on Vimeo

Featured image: Nelson Mandela mural in Williamsburg by artist Jason Coatney.

Chicagotype is the name of the ongoing project by graphic designer Shawn Hazen who moved to Chicago in 2006, in which he captures and collects typography to be found all around the city. A great way to get to know your city!

Chicago has so much history, but isn’t too precious about it, so the city is just layer after layer of architecture and design. I’m a graphic designer, so this unique visual heritage continues to blow me away, specifically the commercial typography. I can’t help but snap pictures of all the old, cool, or quirky type. And there’s so much of it—I literally can’t got out to get a haircut or a hot dog without having to make a stop to shoot some funky sign.

Via Campsite.

Watching Jeremy Lin´s professional career starting to flourish in the documentary Linsanity, is truly inspiring. Also, a very good reminder to never count someone out too early. From the article 'Linsanity' documentary is a spine-tingling homage to Jeremy Lin by Ben Bolch for Los Angeles Times:

“Linsanity” diverges from “Hoop Dreams,” the gold standard for basketball documentaries, in several ways. Raised by Taiwanese immigrants in Northern California, Lin hails from a comfortable upbringing and never had to deal with the family strife that makes the plight of “Hoop Dreams” protagonists William Gates and Arthur Agee so compelling.

The flip side is that Gates and Agee never had to deal with race in the way that it affected Lin. He was largely dismissed going all the way back to his days as a club basketball neophyte who was later passed over by scores of Division I colleges and every NBA team in the 2010 draft before the Dallas Mavericks put him on their summer league roster.

Lin’s season with the Knicks was marred by bad headline puns and racial slurs. A handful of cringe-worthy moments are captured in the film, including Lin talking about how a security guard at Madison Square Garden initially wouldn’t let him into the arena because he didn’t believe Lin played for the Knicks.

Some may feel squeamish about a religious undercurrent that makes a literal splash in the film’s final moments when Lin is shown walking on water. But the fact is that Christianity is as essential to Lin as the pick and roll is to a point guard in D’Antoni’s offense; the movie would be amiss if it didn’t give religion its due.

“Linsanity” also appeals to the virtues of hard work and perseverance, which carried Lin through multiple stints in the Development League and dark moments when he was cut by the Golden State Warriors and Houston Rockets, who would later sign him to a three-year, $25-million contract.

Sometimes dreams really do come true.

The trailer:

Picture via LA AsianPac FilmFest.

Virginia Woolf on the benefits of keeping a journal.

I got out this diary and read, as one always does read one’s own writing, with a kind of guilty intensity. I confess that the rough and random style of it, often so ungrammatical, and crying for a word altered, afflicted me somewhat. I am trying to tell whichever self it is that reads this hereafter that I can write very much better; and take no time over this; and forbid her to let the eye of man behold it. And now I may add my little compliment to the effect that it has a slapdash and vigour and sometimes hits an unexpected bull’s eye. But what is more to the point is my belief that the habit of writing thus for my own eye only is good practice. It loosens the ligaments. Never mind the misses and the stumbles. Going at such a pace as I do I must make the most direct and instant shots at my object, and thus have to lay hands on words, choose them and shoot them with no more pause than is needed to put my pen in the ink.

Virginia´s writing hut at Monk’s House in Rodmell, Sussex:

Image credit: Virginia Woolf picture via @Malaika_Aleba. Writing hut picture via Writers Write Creative Blog.

Via @GOOD.

Related:

• The Daily Working Habits of Well-Known Writers
• Ernest Hemingway´s Productivity Trick to Avoid Writer´s Block

Artist Vik Muniz and artist/researcher Marcelo Coelho have created the smallest sand castle in the world.

After four years of trial-and-error experimentation, artist Vik Muniz and artist/researcher Marcelo Coelho successfully created drawings as tiny as they are tremendous: magnificent castles etched onto microscopic grains of sand—a complete and innovative reversal of building a sand castle.

At less than half a millimeter in length, crisp drawings appear on flecks of earth that seem inconsequential to the naked eye. Muniz, an artist known for works that alter perspectives based on context, used to create massive, 500-meter-long drawings that could only be seen from helicopter. At ground level, these sketches looked just like dug-out paths in dirt. About five years ago, however, Muniz began thinking in the opposite direction: what if he could make drawings both miniature and monumental?

Watch the process:

Julien De Smedt, founder and director of JDS Architects, created a living space that makes good use of it´s roof.

Elmegade district is probably one of the most densely populated areas of inner Nørrebro, Copenhagen. The triangular block Birkegade / Egegade / Elmegade has a very high density, turning its courtyard to a close to zero surface. When we were asked to design 3 penthouses on top of one of the block’s co-owned buildings our concept became to use the roof of the newly designed top floor to create the ‘missing garden’ for its community of owners. In order to qualify ‘the missing garden’, we looked at the Copenhagen typology of garden, which characteristically has an associated functionality.

The hedonistic rooftop is reflected in a playground with shock-absorbing surface and a playful suspension bridge, a green hill with varying accommodation backed by real grass and durant vegetation, a viewing platform, an outdoor kitchen and barbecue, and a more quiet wooden deck.

We seek to optimize and fully exploit the situations the site has to offer, and thereby design a potential for the future exploitation of the roof to the delight of all the co-op’s residents. Usually a roof defines a final measure of any construction. We imagine cities where people will be the last measure of the environment.

Here is a segment (video) from German television featuring Elmegade.

Swedish magazine Kollega lists 5 inspiring Ted Talks to watch:

8 secrets of success

by Richard St. John

Why do people succeed? Is it because they're smart? Or are they just lucky? Neither. Analyst Richard St. John condenses years of interviews into an unmissable 3-minute slideshow on the real secrets of success.

Got a meeting? Take a walk

by Nilofer Merchant

Nilofer Merchant suggests a small idea that just might have a big impact on your life and health: Next time you have a one-on-one meeting, make it into a "walking meeting" -- and let ideas flow while you walk and talk.

How to succeed? Get more sleep

by Arianna Huffington

In this short talk, Arianna Huffington shares a small idea that can awaken much bigger ones: the power of a good night's sleep. Instead of bragging about our sleep deficits, she urges us to shut our eyes and see the big picture: We can sleep our way to increased productivity and happiness -- and smarter decision-making.

How to make work-life balance work

by Nigel Marsh

Work-life balance, says Nigel Marsh, is too important to be left in the hands of your employer. Marsh lays out an ideal day balanced between family time, personal time and productivity -- and offers some stirring encouragement to make it happen. (Filmed at TEDxSydney.)

On being wrong

by Kathryn Schulz

Most of us will do anything to avoid being wrong. But what if we're wrong about that? "Wrongologist" Kathryn Schulz makes a compelling case for not just admitting but embracing our fallibility.

Yesterday I watched "The Nose – Searching for Blamage" (2013) about the perfumer Alessandro Gualtieri. It was fascinating to follow all the work involved creating a perfume. I give the film my highest rating. With great photography, music and a very interesting individual, you just can't resist this.

Alessandro Gualtieri is an Italian perfumer who calls himself 'The Nose'. He lives with his Dutch wife and children in Amsterdam. As an independent spirit in the big perfume industry, he only follows his own nose. He designed perfumes for major companies, but after being rejected more and more for his radical concepts, he decided to launch his own perfume line in 2007: Nasomatto (Italian for 'crazy nose'). Now his brand represents nine perfumes with intriguing names like Black Afgano, Pardon and Narcotic Venus, that are sold worldwide in high end perfume stores.

For his tenth and last perfume for Nasomatto he considers the title Blamage. He wants to design Blamage by making real mistakes and using coincidence, because he is inspired by some very famous perfumes that were created by mistakes during the process. The quest for Blamage takes him to the other side of the world, but the farther he goes, the more he is confronted with his restlessness and drive for perfection.

Some of the incredible macro images shown in the film by photographer Hugo Goudswaard.

The trailer: