How to be Creative – Become a Contributor on our Blog

by Jeannie SalomonAll Posts, ResourcesPosted on Comments are Disabled

Being creative doesn’t require a college degree in journalism or English, although most college graduates who have a degree in journalism and English are creative people. The reverse is not necessarily true. We are all born with certain creativity in us. We have it to some degree. If you use it, exercise it, nurture it, it will become a more dominant part of you. At Cultural Society, we provide a platform for people to exercise this creativity. One way you can cultivate your creativity is by sharing your experience with us is through writing on our blog. If you have an interesting experience you want to share with others, please share it with us on our blog. You can submit your article to [email protected] and we will let you know once it’s published. It’s that simple. Some Inspirations to Get You Started on Your Creative Journey To be creative is to have faith, trust, hope, confidence, love, and a good attitude in yourself and in the higher being who created you. What is faith? Once all villagers decided to pray for rain. On the day of prayer, all the people gathered, but only one boy came with an umbrella. That is faith. What is trust? When you throw babies in the air, they laugh because they know you will catch them. That is trust. What is hope? Every night we go to bed without any assurance of being alive the next morning, but still we set the alarms to wake up. That is hope. What is confidence? We plan big things for tomorrow in spite of zero knowledge of the future. That is confidence. What is love? We see the world suffering, but still, we get married and have children. That is love. What is a good attitude? On an old man’s shirt was written a sentence ‘I am not 80 years old; I am sweet 16 with 64 years of experience.’ That is a good attitude. Now, you’ve come so far as to reach the end of this resource article. Put your creativity to work. Start writing and submit it to our blog. Look forward to getting your article and working with you! Contact us if you want to talk further.

So, You Think “Self-care is Selfish? Read on…

by Jeannie SalomonAll Posts, Health & WellnessPosted on Comments are Disabled

When it comes to self-care, most mothers don’t even want to think about it because the very word, self-care, conjures up an image of selfishness.  “How could I put myself before my child?  “Or my family?” These may be the thoughts that go through your head as you think of self-care.  Let me say it outright and be very upfront: caring for yourself is not selfish because you have to put on your own mask before you can put on someone’s mask, as it is said on the airline safety procedure.  Why is caring for oneself important?  Caring for oneself is essential.  If your own physical health or energy is lacking, you will not have the energy to care for others.  Therefore, you cannot care for them, period!  So, the next question you have to ask yourself is this: how should I care for those I love and care for myself at the same time? First, you have to debunk certain myths about self-care and get a healthy perspective of what self-care is.   Second, ask yourself, does the word self-care make you feel guilty?  If so, you definitely need to read on.  Third, ask yourself, do you have a pre-conceived notion of motherhood?   Or does being a good mother have certain pre-conceived notions to you? Do you know what these notions are?  [If you are feeling fussy about these notions, try to write them down, or check off this list.] Let me demystify some of the myths about self-care.  Self-care is selfish because I need to love my child before myself.   –  Yes, you are right about certain concepts.   We, as human beings, are selfish by nature (As stated in the Bible). In any emergency situation, it will show people’s true color of what their priority is.  The very fact that you struggle with this concept shows that you have an awareness of your selfishness. You are already ahead of the game. [Real selfish people do not even have an awareness that they are selfish.  Do you know that?]  Now, you just have to distinguish when you are selfish for yourself from when you are selfish for others?  What “selfish for others” means is that you are doing things for others.  If that is the case, are you still being selfish?  Probably not because you are putting others’ interests ahead of yours.  What is “selfish for yourself”? That’s when you have to do a close examination of these features.  Ask yourself, are you doing these things to glorify yourself, or to fulfill your own needs?  If you are glorifying yourself, then it’s real selfishness.  If it’s fulfilling your own needs but it also brings benefit to others, then it’s not selfish; it may be leveraging one area of your self-interest to help others.   Sometimes in complicated cases, it calls for our self-examination and calls for us to examine our motive.  Let me demystify some of the myths of mothers Mothers make all the meals at home from scratch. Mothers have to know their child(ren) at all stages of their development. Mothers have to be happy all the time. Mothers put the needs of their babies (or children) and husbands before their own. Mothers are strong all the time.  The list can go on… you get the drift?  Somehow, our society has inadvertently come up with these unspoken expectations of mothers.  No wonder it is so hard to be a mom these days.  One news source cited women are more likely to die from a stroke than men. Why?  Aside from the health condition differences between women and men,  women are more likely to make sure their family is all well taken care of before dialing 911 when they discover they have the symptoms. Women will make sure there are meals ready for her children and her husband in the refrigerator before going to the Emergency room when they feel symptoms of a stroke.  It is no wonder that women are more likely to die from a stroke than men for this reason.  If you are a woman and a mom, please find time to care for yourself! Take up courses or exercise programs that nurture mind-body connection. Find time to nurture your interests no matter how much your family needs you. Find some “me time”. Learn how to meditate and use it to de-stress yourself. I found it in my personal practice of yoga. It gives me a chance to renew and restore my body and mind. I always come out feeling refreshed and energized after a yoga practice. If you are feeling anxious and alone because of COVID-19 lockdowns, click here to learn how to mitigate those feelings. About the author:  Jeannie is a mom of two children and the wife of a busy husband. She is a certified yoga teacher at Cultural Society.  You can find her bio here.  

“Is Learning on Zoom the Same as In Person? Not to Your Brain?

by Jeannie SalomonAll Posts, LearningPosted on Comments are Disabled

My blog this morning is my comments on this article, “Is Learning on Zoom the Same as In Person? Not to Your Brain”  by Stephen Noonoo. A link to the podcast is given at the end of my post.  I think this is one of the most useful articles I read during this pandemic. For those of us who made a change from in-person classes to online classes in response to COVID-19, this article is very informative. I think in-person classes are best for younger kids and older kids have the ability to adapt. Children adapt more easily than us adults because they grew up with technology and don’t have to unlearn anything.  We, adults, have to rid of our attachment to the old ways of doing things and REALLY have to change. What children do need to work on is regulating their self-control with devices, but that is a different topic. My husband and I are both teachers. Our jobs didn’t stop because of the pandemic.  We moved our teaching online and tried to continue without disrupting our lives too much.  I guess I am thankful that both of our children are teens now and have been using electronic devices for their communication with their friends, school, and homework.   I am not the kind of parent who restricts our children from using devices.  Rather, I encourage them to use it wisely as long as they exercise self-control, not letting the device “control” them. They manage to get good grades at school, contribute to household chores, are respectful at the dinner table when all of us gather for meals, and listen to our online worship service on Sunday mornings with my husband and me.  They are not addicted to their devices and can leave them when it’s needed.    We don’t have many options in the middle of a pandemic but to utilize what tools are available to use to continue learning.  Just to reiterate these two things:  1) we are living with a global pandemic.  There is no known reliable vaccine out yet.  2) In order to contain the spread of this virus, we have to stay vigilant about how we interact with others.  We have to continue wearing masks when we gather with people outside of our family.   And most of all, in order to continue learning, especially for our school-aged children, we have to rely on technology.  Therefore, if we can remedy some of the problems with learning using Zoom, we can overcome the barrier to learning online and make our lives much more efficient. Response to Interview EdSurge: Can you briefly explain what Zoom fatigue is and why it’s a thing? Wiederhold:Sure. So it’s when you feel tired, anxious or worried after you overuse video conferencing. Part of the reason is there’s a slight lag. No matter how good your internet is, no matter how fast it is, it seems we have this millisecond—maybe a few milliseconds—delay. So the communication isn’t in real time, even though it seems like it is. Our brains subconsciously pick up on the fact that things aren’t quite right. And the fact that things are out of sync and we’re accustomed to them being in sync when it’s face-to-face communication, our brains try to look for ways to overcome that lack of synchrony. After a few calls a day, it starts to become exhausting. My Response: I think the remedy to the situation is by (1) using your cell phone with the video conference instead of using the audio on your computer.  This way, at least the voice on the other hand will come out as “real-time” as possible; there is no lag on our telephone.  (2) By using the telephone as your subsequent communication mean after the Zoom conference.  (Given that you have an ongoing relationship or meeting with the other party.)  I think sometimes seeing the person’s face once is enough.   All the other interactions can be carried out by telephone subsequentially. EdSurge: I hear the term synchronous learning in education a lot to refer to Zoom calls where the teacher is on with a class of students and they’re learning live. But synchronous might not be so synchronous after all? Wiederhold: That’s correct. So face to face, we have synchronous communication. We also have other things that help us feel good when we’re face to face in conversations. We have releases of dopamine. We have the hormone oxytocin being secreted. Those are feel-good hormones. Then we have all the body language and the cues. You see a person just barely move their eyes, do a micro-expression, things like that. We can pick this up very easily in person, but we don’t always pick up those little nuances when we’re on a Zoom call. And if we do pick them up, they’re out of sync. You see a person smiling after they smiled. My response: I am very grateful for this piece of information and how Dr. Wiederhold made us aware of this fact.  So now we know the shortcoming of this technology that it cannot completely replace human interactions.  So, all we have to do is to make allowance for it and be more understanding of the situation.  Just know that this type of learning is only temporary until we meet again or know that we have to supplement it with another in-person meeting sometime in the future but just not now.  EdSurge: There is also an element of multitasking as we’re constantly looking around the screen, searching people’s faces. Wiederhold: When clients that tell me they’re getting Zoom fatigue, I tell them first and foremost don’t multitask. If you’re on a call, be on a call—don’t be looking at your phone, don’t be looking at your email. Also, if, if you’re on a work call and somebody asks you a question and you haven’t been paying attention, it becomes a little bit embarrassing. The chat function can be distracting to some people, but it can also be a nice place to send document links.Yes, this is very …

Read more ““Is Learning on Zoom the Same as In Person? Not to Your Brain?”

Chinese New Years Foods Slideshow

by adminAll Posts, Culture & Heritage, ResourcesPosted on Comments are Disabled

Chinese New Year is the most important of all the holidays to the Chinese people. It is also known as the Spring Festival or 春节 (春節). In Mainland China, it is celebrated for 15 days. All government agencies and schools are closed for this holiday. The following slide show illustrates the most popular and traditional food that Chinese people eat during this festival. There is a reason for each food to be eaten on the Chinese New Year. Read on to find out why. On the 15th day of the first month of the Lunar year, it is also known as the Lantern Festival 元宵节 (元宵節), which marks the last day of the New Year celebration. There are many festivals in Chinese culture. Each is celebrated with different food. Previous Next This slideshow is original content and protected by copyright (© 2020 CSEBRI)

Resources for Yoga

by Jeannie SalomonAll Posts, Health & Wellness, ResourcesPosted on Comments are Disabled

The first three links give you resources for beginner yogis. These pages show you how to set up a space at home for yoga practice, props you may want to invest in, poses that beginner yoga classes teach. It’s helpful for people who are beginning yoga, especially during this pandemic time, to know. Hope these pages give you the inspiration to start your home practice. To Set up a space at home for your home practice https://www.evernote.com/l/AobDtUOw2qZCpbAFUYS3Xg2YEmf7c6tJW8w This page has everything you need to know on how to begin practicing yoga: how to get started, props you need, beginner poses to know, the styles & benefits of yoga. https://www.evernote.com/l/AoZXjMF4d-xAvqK-CvwM6awzBWMpp-YFEQs This page gives you specific poses for beginners. It’s great to know their names and see what the poses look like in pictures. https://www.evernote.com/l/AoYfeCVb5bJEtZktu_Uqp3G-GvTUUqsxbr0

How Yoga Trains Us to Deal with Stress

by Jeannie SalomonAll Posts, Health & WellnessPosted on Comments are Disabled

In her article, Kristin Diversi wrote: “When we think of yoga, we often think of a practice that is inherently relaxing: Lying on a mat and getting totally blissed out, feeling amazing from the first ‘Om’ to the final namaste.” “By and large, that is a very incomplete picture. The reason yoga works long-term is that the practice is designed to trigger our stress response. Think about it: what could be more stressful than holding a weird shape for an indeterminate amount of time, while your legs are burning and your arms feel like jelly? Even in restorative yoga you are being asked to hold a static shape—one that is probably not natural for your body—while you also release the thoughts you are holding.” “Yoga works because in the midst of these stressful situations, something else is happening: We are actively working to train our minds and bodies to relax, despite the stressful situation. We are reorienting our stress response from the innate (fast, heavy breathing, panicked thoughts, and tense muscles) to the learned (slow, deliberate breathing, calm thoughts, and engaged but not clenched muscles). By training our mental reactions, we are also modulating our physical reactions. ” Moreover, Kristin made reference to another article, “Yoga for Anxiety and Depression” by adding, “We are lowering our heart rates, blood pressure, and easing our breathing. We are letting our heart rates, blood pressure, and easing our breathing. We are letting the body become a secondary concern, rather than the primary driving force of our practice.” These articles gave me deep reflection on why I liked long distance running and why I had done it for so long even when it had brought me injuries from the repetitive movement. It’s because of the calm that it gave me. After realizing that yoga can give me the same result, I stopped running with gladness and not having to miss it because I found a substitute which give me the same calm if not more in yoga. Check out Cultural Society’s Health & Wellness courses and our Meditation courses to learn how to stay calm in the midst of life’s busyness.

Chinese Calligraphy

by adminAll Posts, Culture & Heritage, ResourcesPosted on Comments are Disabled

The following slide show will give you some background of Chinese calligraphy. You don’t have to have any Chinese background to learn Chinese calligraphy. If you are interested in taking Chinese calligraphy, we are offering a 8-week course this fall. Click here to register. We will begin with the basics. We will begin writing with a pen or pencil first. Then we will proceed to using the “magic cloth”. After plenty of practice, we will use the brush. We do it step- by- step and methodically.

Girl doing deep yoga

How to Deepen Your Yoga Practice

by Jeannie SalomonAll Posts, Health & WellnessPosted on Comments are Disabled

If you have been going to yoga classes for some time and have done some of the yoga poses, you know there are ways to deepen your yoga practice. It’s not just physically but mentally as well. The depth that yoga gives you is numerous. I am the first one to admit that I am not flexible when I first wake up in the morning. I am also not the kind of person who uses loud music to psych myself up to make movement and get into exercise. Soft, gentle and meditation music works best for me. It’s through listening to gentle and meditative music that helps me to get in touch with my mind and thus, get to my “higher mind”, the Anandamaya kosha. It’s a sanskrit word that means the “wisdom” layer. Yoga is not like any other “exercise” as we think of in the western culture. Yoga means union. It brings your mind, body and awareness all together in union. Read Dr. Rolf’s article on “7 ways to Deepen Your Asana Practice” will give you a deeper perspective on what yoga is and what yoga can do for you. Our meditation & yoga courses give you a starting place to cultivate this practice that would last a lifetime.

woman sitting with yoga pose and meditation expression

Why Breath Matters in Your Yoga Practice

by Jeannie SalomonAll Posts, Health & WellnessPosted on Comments are Disabled

Yoga means union. You may often hear a yoga teacher says “inhale your arms up” as a cue to remind you to coordinate your arms’ movement with your breath. “When we begin a yoga practice, one of the first lessons we learn is to breathe in and out through the nose. This is quite contrary to the way we breathe when we work out at the gym, which is often in through the nose and out through the mouth.” In yoga, we breathe through the nose for many reasons: 1) The nose has a smaller opening which means that less air can breathe in and out there. Often time, our breath is the gauge of how strenuous of our movement during a yoga practice. If you have to use our mouth to breathe during a yoga practice, that means you have pushed yourself too far. That’s a signal to you that you should pause and let your heart rate comes down a bit before moving on. 2) Yoga means “union”. If you have to push yourself beyond your exertion point during a practice and continue to do that during your practice, you are not achieving the “union” within yourself. 3) Our nose is lined up with hair. The air we breathe in through the nose is purified through the hair. Therefore we are breathing in cleaning air when we breathe through our nose. There are many more reasons why breath matters in yoga. Please check out this article: “Why Breath Matters – How to Breathe Well in Yoga Class If you haven’t found a place to begin your yoga practice, please check out our Course offering at Cultural Society where we teach yoga by addressing a different aspect of health that is related to you. Here’s our course offering. Email us if you have any questions.

Do Most People Come to Yoga to Relieve Pain? What is Pain Anyway?

by Jeannie SalomonAll Posts, Health & WellnessPosted on Comments are Disabled

As a yoga teacher, I constantly take courses for my professional development and further my knowledge in yoga. Recently, I took a webinar on pain and yoga. I was very surprised to learn from this workshop that most people (estimated 11% – 52% of US population) in America live with pain. This is just not temporary pain but pain that persists for more than 3 months. Furthermore, I learned that pain is only an output from our brain and it does not indicate that something is broken in us; it is merely a distressing experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage, with sensory, emotional, cognitive, and social components.” (Shelly Prosko). I often hear my students tell me that they have pain in their body. When inquired further, I learned that there are different types of sensations they feel but they call them all “pain”. In this article, you will learn what pain really is and how many different types of pain there are…etc. Depending on our terminology used, it affects how we feel differently. If you want to put theory into practice and put yoga to work in your life, sign up for our course in starting in December and learn a few asana to help relieve your pain, whether it’s on your back or other parts of your body. Learn about how yoga can relieve pain and bring you comfort.