As the summer sun mellows and fall approaches, this is my favorite time of year to go hiking. Hiking brings so many benefits, from lifting your spirits and relaxing in nature, to catching up with friends and spending quality time with family.
The physical health benefits of walking are well documented. Choose your terrain well, and hiking provides great cardiovascular exercise for all ages. If you have a sedentary job, walking around town can be an important part of what helps you to achieve and maintain a healthy weight. Read more
Andre Segovia playing classical guitar with excellent form
Neha Sajja with Esther Gokhale
June, 2016
From the Argentine romantic composing a tango to the K-pop star strumming for an audience of thousands, guitars are a favorite instrument around the world. In fact, the guitar is the second most played instrument after the piano. (source). Amateur and professional players use a variety of playing positions - some are significantly more ergonomic than others.
In the classical position, the guitar is sharply angled up so that the wide end of the instrument’s body sits against one leg and the neck is held aloft with the opposite hand. This position allows the musician’s shoulders to be square and resting more posteriorly in line with the back instead of rolled forward as in the modern style of playing with a horizontally aligned guitar.
This famous bust of Nefertiti (c. 1370 – c. 1330 BC) exhibits a forward-protruded head. Original image courtesy Wikipedia user Philip Pikart under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
In my travels, I enjoy visiting museums. In a concentrated space and in a short few hours, I am able to travel back in time and over large distances, and compare people from different cultures. What a remarkable gift from the craftspeople of the past!
Many museums have a well-developed Egyptian collection. The Egyptians’ expertise in preserving their dead as well as the dry Egyptian climate has yielded a bounty of specimens from... Read more