DJ Khaled is Launching Guided Meditation Series and CBD Self-Care Line

 

If there is one good thing that’s come out of this pandemic, it’s that self-care is becoming more vocalized, and in fact, many celebrities are launching different platforms to help fans get motivated through meditation.

Music producer DJ Khaled is launching “BLESSWELL CBD” grooming products along with a three-part audio-guided meditation – which he narrates himself – with aims of inspiring and motivating others.

Khaled told PEOPLE “I’m going to be able to give you that Khaled-feel meditation, and hopefully, you’ll be inspired and motivated.” He says the guided meditation series is where he’ll give listeners a ‘Cloth Talk,’ and give them “that vibe and love.”

 

 

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Khaled himself has been committed to self-care for the past six years. He does manicures and pedicures once a week, and since he got into it, he’s loved it so much.

“Just sitting in the backyard, where I’m at now, is self-care. Taking in the weather, taking in the blessings, taking in the light. It’s so much of it, we don’t realize how blessed we are,” the Grammy winner said. He advises his friends to not let the pandemic get them stuck in the pandemic. “When it’s over, you don’t have that pandemic mentality of, you know, thinking [and] sitting there being lazy. Use this time to stay healthy, be with your family, whatever your dreams are or your work is taking it to the next level. It’s your chance.”

For Khaled, his business venture BLESSWELL encompasses everything that he represents. His products, as well as the accompanied guided meditation, are now available online.

Watch below as he tells Jimmy Kimmel about the “Cloth Talk” that he had with former President Barack Obama.

 

Woman Gives Her First Official Haircut to a Homeless Man After Passing Barber Exam

 

A woman from Louisville who had just passed her barber exam gave her first official haircut to her friend Joe.

Lex Moran and Joe have been friends for years. Joe is homeless, so whenever they cross paths, she tries to make a point to take care of him.

“When I pull up, I try to feed him, give him a little money, make sure he has clothes and whatever he needs just to maintain through that day,” Moran said to WLKY.

When Moran spotted Joe at a bus stop in the Taylor Berry neigbourhood, he mentioned he wanted a haircut. Luckily, she had just passed her barber board exam that day, and her supplies were already in the car.

“He was talking about how his hair was longer and it was tickling his ears,” she said.

A near-death experience in 2016 changed Moran’s view on life. She was shot three times while standing on her porch, and this resulted in an 8-hour surgery, and physical and emotional recovery.

“He just shot four times in my direction and I caught three of them,” Moran said. “Having a second chance at life, it’s just sympathy and compassion even having an understanding for others, no matter the situation.”

Moran is now using this second chance in life to be a pillar in her community. She hopes to lead by example and send the message that the world can use more love and compassion.

“I’ve gotten so much love from just helping Joe and it’s almost unbelievable that it’s love out here in a world of so much negativity and so many shootings and killings,” she said.

After the viral moment of Moran giving Joe a haircut, she says the community has been stepping up to help him as well. He’s using a broken walker to get around and residents are working to get him a brand new one.

“If I can just be a little hope and a little change and a little love that is in the community, maybe I can lead other people to do the exact same thing as I am,” Moran said.

 

 

Apple Announces New Mindfulness Features for Apple Watch

 

During Apple’s live event earlier this month, the company announced new features for the watchOS 8, making the Apple Watch an advanced wearable operating system that will help users stay healthy, active, and connected.

Here are the new features that users can look forward to:

 

Tai Chi and Pilates

 

Tai Chi and Pilates are two new workout types that are being introduced in the new update. These workouts are beneficial for both physical fitness and mindful movement. The new feature is supported by powerful, validated custom-built heart rate and motion algorithms to provide users with accurate metrics.

 

A Re-Imagined Breathe App

 

The watchOS 8 has also added the Breathe app, which has become the Mindfulness app, bringing in an enhanced Breathe experience, with a new session type – Reflect. In the news release from Apple, it says that the Reflect session offers a “mindful intention to focus on for as little as one minute that can be done anywhere and at any time.” Each user will be welcomed with a unique, thoughtful notion to consider, with messages like, “Recall a time recently when you felt a sense of calm. Bring that feeling into this moment.”

The developer beta of watchOS 8 is available to Apple Developer Program members beginning today. It’ll be available to the public sometime next month, and will be available this fall as a free software update.

Watch below all of Apple watchOS 8’s latest updates:

 

Young Boy Sells Pokémon Cards to Help Save His Dog

 

A young boy from Virginia received a surprise package from Pokémon after a photo of him selling his card collection to raise money for his dog’s treatment went viral.

Bryson Kliemann, 8, is a huge Pokémon fan. When his siblings won’t play with him, his dog Bruce is always there to fill in.

But when Bryson was organizing his cards recently, he noticed Bruce had fallen ill. His mother rushed the dog to Southwest Virginia Veterinary Services. Bruce was then diagnosed with parvo, a highly contagious dog virus. When Bryson learned that the cost for the treatment was a price they couldn’t afford, he took matters into his own hands.

He began selling his Pokémon cards on the side of the road. It caught his mom by surprise.

“While I’m in school I get a text with a picture of him and a sign on the side of the road selling Pokémon cards,” his mother, Kimberly Woodruff told WCYB.

“I know everybody likes Pokémon cards so I just decided to sell them,” Bryson said.

Woodruff then created a GoFundMe page with a goal of $800, and posted the picture online to get the word out. In the end, donations exceeded $16,525. The additional money raised from the GoFundMe page will go towards medical expenses for other sick animals in Southwest Virginia.

With the community’s support and a week of treatment, Bryson was finally reunited with his friend with four paws.

Bryson’s act of kindness not only caught the community’s attention, but it also caught the attention of Pokémon employees, who sent a package of rare Pokémon cards that are hard to find in stores. They also attached a letter of appreciation that read: “Hey Bryson, we were so inspired by your story about selling your cards for your dog’s recovery, these are some cards to help you replace the ones you had to sell.”

 

 

Ex-NBA Player Wants to End Solitary Confinement in Prisons

 

Former UConn star and NBA player Caron Butler wants to strictly limit the use of solitary confinement and other forms of isolation in prisons. Back when Butler was a teenager, he spent days locked in a solitary confinement cell inside a juvenile prison. He dealt drugs and was arrested more than a dozen times before spending over a year in prison on firearms and drug possession charges.

Now, he’s gone to Connecticut’s state Capitol asking Gov. Ned Lamont to sign legislation limiting solitary confinement. The bill requires all inmates to be allowed at least 6 ½ hours out of their cells, and limits the use of certain restraints. It arrives as the state is closing its maximum-security Northern Correctional Institution, which was designed specifically to keep prisoners in isolation.

When Butler was 15, he got into a fight in prison and was thrown into solitary. He spent two weeks in a small cell, isolated for 23 hours a day.

Butler said in an interview with The Associated Press, “Mentally and spiritually, it takes away a lot. It dehumanizes you.”

He believes he survived because of a strong family support system. While in prison, Butler turned his life around when he discovered basketball. When he got out, Hall of Fame coach Jim Calhoun saw something in him and offered him a scholarship.

He went on to become the Big East Conference’s player of the year in 2002, and spent 14 seasons in the NBA. He’s now an assistant coach with the Miami Heat.

However, what Butler endured in prison, he says he’ll never forget it. He’s hoping that the Connecticut legislation will serve as an example for other states.

“There are people out there that care. There are going to be elected officials out there in the future that’s going to care about this community in real-time. There’s going to be change on the horizon. They are going to come up with ways to rehabilitate that never dehumanize people,” said Butler.

Amazon to Install Small “ZenBooth” Meditation Areas in its Warehouse

 

Amazon has announced it will be installing kiosks for overworked employees to destress in its warehouse.

Vice has reported that the kiosks will be a small room for employees to use as a meditation booth. They’ll be able to watch videos about mindfulness while a small fan moves the air around.

The “ZenBooth,” or “Mindful Practice Room,” is part of the WorkingWell program that was announced by Amazon on May 17. In Amazon’s press release, it says WorkingWell is a mix of “physical and mental activities, wellness exercises, and healthy eating support” meant to “help [employees] recharge and reenergize.” Its aim by installing the tiny booths is to allow overworked warehouse employees to have a momentary escape from the job.

Leila Brown, the Amazon employee who invented the booth, says in a video on Amazon’s Twitter account, “With AmaZen I wanted to create a space that’s quiet, that people could go and focus on their mental and emotional well-being.” According to Brown, the booth will be an interactive kiosk “where you can navigate through a library of mental health and mindful practices to recharge the internal battery.”

Watch the video below showing a preview of how the “Mindful Practice Room” will look.

 

This YouTuber Says Meditating Changed His Life

 

A YouTuber who meditated for 1,000 days straight says it’s transformed his mental health. Thomas Brag is part of the Yes Theory gang on the platform and is continuously advocating for embracing challenges that push you out of your comfort zone. In a recent video, he explained how one of his biggest obstacles in life has been trying to find inner peace, and what helped him was beginning to meditate every single day for the last three years.

Thomas takes on a lot of challenges on the Yes Theory page, but meditating wasn’t something he initially thought of turning into a video. For him, this was a way of seeking methods to help him manage the anxiety of his busy lifestyle.

“I think my learning disability probably taught me that if I wasn’t always preparing for working, then I’d either be falling behind or about to fail very soon,” Thomas told Men’s Health.

When a friend gifted Thomas a year’s subscription to the Headspace guided meditation app, things changed for him.

“Although I’d heard of meditation before, I wasn’t really interested. I think I assumed I was just way too agitated a person to sit down and meditate.” When he eventually gave it a try, he says he began to notice his own thoughts. His first session felt like a lifetime. “By the end of just one 10-minute session, I felt like I’d experienced true peace of mind for the first time in my life.”

 

 

Thomas kept trying to build this meditation practice into his daily lifestyle, and over the following months, he had some positive outcomes in his career. But those outcomes didn’t produce the fulfillment he assumed he would feel – leading to a realization that external success doesn’t bring inner peace of mind.

“I struggle with it to this day,” he says. “I create this illusion sometimes, and I have to catch it, that once I hit this future specific goal, that I’m going to be happy. Postponing our happiness in that way is one of the biggest mistakes that I think all of us make.”

When the pandemic hit last year, and the world went into lockdown, Thomas said it brought some of the panics that he hadn’t felt in years. “I once again fell into the trap of trying to use meditation to ‘get rid’ of these negative emotions, because I just didn’t want to experience them anymore. The problem that happens when we try to suppress emotions is that we get anxious about being anxious.”

Something that he has learned from this experience is that negative emotions don’t just “go away,” and there will always be things that are inevitable. “But there are things that we can control, we can control our reaction to these things, and focusing our attention on that creates a much better environment for peace of mind over time,” he said.

A Man Who Won $145,000 on ‘Wheel of Fortune’ Is Donating it all to Charity

 

California resident Scott Kolbrenner won $145,000 on popular TV show game ‘Wheel of Fortune,’ and he’s giving away his entire prize earnings to charity.

Kolbrenner told Good Morning America that this was his plan all along. “I said to my wife… ‘Anything that I get, let’s give it to charity. We’re very fortunate. Let’s see if we can support some others who aren’t as fortunate as we are.”

Throughout the entire show that aired on March 18, luck was by his side. After he scored a $3,500 wedge, he landed next on the Express Wedge and kept building. Towards the end of the game, he racked up a total of $45,000. For the grand prize puzzle, the category question was “What Are You Wearing?” The show’s pre-set letters were R, S, T, L, N, and E, and for this category, Kolbrenner chose P, H, G, and O.

As soon as Vanna White finished turning the tiles, there were only six letters that remained hidden. With only ten seconds to answer, Kolbrenner correctly guessed: “Flowing White Gown.”

It was then revealed that the grand prize amount was $100,000, bringing Kolbrenner’s winnings to $145,000 and making him the fifth-biggest winner in Wheel’s 46-year history.

 

Ex-NBA Player Wants to End Solitary Confinement in Prisons

 

Former UConn star and NBA player Caron Butler wants to strictly limit the use of solitary confinement and other forms of isolation in prisons.

Back when Butler was a teenager, he spent days locked in a solitary confinement cell inside a juvenile prison. He dealt drugs and was arrested more than a dozen times before spending over a year in prison on firearms and drug possession charges.

Now, he’s gone to Connecticut’s state Capitol asking Gov. Ned Lamont to sign the legislation limiting solitary confinement. The bill requires all inmates to be allowed at least 6 ½ hours out of their cells, and limit the use of certain restraints. This final legislative approval was received early Sunday, as the state is closing its maximum-security Northern Correctional Institution, designed specifically to keep prisoners in isolation.

When Butler was 15, he got into a fight in prison and was thrown into solitary. He spent two weeks in a small cell, isolated for 23 hours a day.

Butler said in an interview with The Associated Press “Mentally and spiritually, it takes away a lot. It dehumanizes you.”

He believes he survived because of a strong family support system. While in prison, Butler turned his life around when he discovered basketball. When he got out, Hall of Fame coach Jim Calhoun saw something in him and offered him a scholarship.

He went on to become player of the year in 2002 for the Big East and spent 14 seasons in the NBA. He’s now become an assistant coach with the Miami Heat.

However, what Butler endured in prison, he says he’ll never forget it. He’s hoping that the Connecticut legislation will serve as an example for other states.

“There are people out there that care. There’s going to be elected officials out there in the future that’s going to care about this community in real time. There’s going to be change on the horizon. They are going to come up with ways to rehabilitate that never dehumanize people,” said Butler.

Fraser-Pryce Becomes the Fastest Woman Alive – at 34

 

When high-performance athletes break barriers, they typically do it when they’re young. Michael Phelps set the Olympic record for most gold medals in a Games when he was 23. Usain Bolt was 21 when he set the world record in the 200m in Beijing. And when Simone Biles won 4 golds and 1 bronze in Rio, she was just 19 years old.

Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce was 34 when she competed at a track meet in Jamaica earlier this month. She was already the reigning world champion in the 100 metres (she won gold at the World Championships in Qatar in 2019), but she managed to set the bar even higher. She posted a time of 10.63 seconds, the second-fastest time ever and well ahead of Tokyo 2020 favourite Sha’Carri Richardson of the US.

 

 

Despite setting the track on fire – and despite Olympic gold in Beijing and in London – Fraser-Pryce is not yet a lock for the Jamaican National Team. (That gets decided at the national championships later this month.) But for right now, she’s finding joy in just competing, and in finally accomplishing one of her long-term goals.

“If I’m able to run 10.6 now … I’m just looking forward to what the process will bring,” she told Business Day. “I’m continuing the work because I did say that this year I wanted nothing more than to break the 10.7 barrier and I did it.”

If Fraser-Pryce does go to Tokyo and does somehow manage to win gold in the 100m, she’d become the oldest woman ever to win an individual sprint event. More than that, she’d become the only woman ever to win three Olympic golds in a single track-and-field discipline.

At the Olympics, of course, nothing is a given. World Champions stumble all the time, and the 100m leaves so little room for error. But, as the fastest woman alive, you’d have to think that Fraser-Pryce just became the favourite.