“To Feel Your Best” does what it promises. This supremely soothing set of sounds weaves a kind of underwater orchestral tapestry that can be just as meditative as you want it to be. It all runs over a simple chord progression, pausing a bit for an off-kilter set of vocals that eventually find their beat to integrate into the ambient sounds– all very orderly and satisfying. Kinda makes you think, what if songs were named for their functional benefits, like the menu at Moon Juice? Something to kick around.
We’ve all had enough news about coworking spaces, but there’s a slightly new model we should address. Alma is a new space in Manhattan just for therapists seeing patients. Practitioners pay a monthly fee for membership and use of the space, and after that, they’re all independent, each with a different rate, methodology, etc. But by uniting they give new patients a full roster of therapists to choose from, and a lovely space to visit in lieu of winding through halls to some cell rented in a random office building. What they haven’t set up is a way to collectively take insurance, which you’d think would be the primary benefit, but we can dream. (But heaven forbid we dream of, oh, single payer.)
Zimbabwe started a sweet program called Friendship Bench that employs grandmas to provide talk therapy. There aren’t many therapists in Zimbabwe but there *has* been a fair amount of trauma, so all these ladies around the country have received light training to talk through issues with people in their communities– a huge deal when most people to don’t have access to mental health support. Trials say the program is working, and it has expanded to places like Malawi, where grandpas also provide support, and to New York City, where the program matches listeners and talkers who have common experiences like loss or addiction. Yes please, more of this.
One last brain thing: Four Sigmatic makes functional drinks out of mushrooms so you can stimulate, calm or soothe your mind with your coffee or afternoon matcha. They’re especially jazzed about their Lion’s Mane coffee, which is formulated to help with focus and productivity. Tis the season– give it a try.
