Home Opens the Door to Healing After Devastating Loss
Santa Rosa, CA, Dec. 8, 2020 — In the wee hours of October 9, 2017, the disoriented and panic-stricken Barnes family, with two little boys in tow, frantically scrambled to evacuate their Santa Rosa, California, home. Smoke burned their lungs. Ash stung their eyes. Nearby fires raged, engulfing homes as howling winds fed the flames. In the end, the Tubbs Fire, deemed one of the most destructive wildfires in California history, destroyed more than 5,643 homes, including the Barnes’.
They returned to the lot where their house once stood, to gain closure and confront the harsh reality that the house was truly gone. But seeing the empty lot had a profound — and lasting — impact on 7-year-old Brett.
When her search for relatable, child-centric resources to augment Brett’s recovery came up short, mother Carrie Lee Barnes used her family’s experiences to inform her compelling, inspirational book, Home: A Story of Resilience and Healing. Told from a child’s perspective, Home is one little boy’s account of the abrupt and devastating loss of his house and his emotional journey toward discovering the true meaning of home. Written primarily for young children from ages 3 to 7, Home is an uplifting story intended to bring hope and healing in the aftermath of a natural disaster.
“My goal is for this book to help comfort children as they find their new normal after the loss of their home due to any circumstance,” Barnes says. “When I read Home to my little ones, they immediately saw themselves in the story. It opened up a forum for dialogue and healing for my boys and allowed them to feel a part of something bigger.”
With wildfires, hurricanes and other natural disasters happening more and more frequently, it’s important for children to have age-appropriate resources for coping. Home is Barnes’ heartfelt contribution to this very worthy cause.
“My hope for Home is that it provides a much needed glimpse at an ending for natural disaster victims,” Barnes adds. “There is a moment when you find peace in the constants of the people you love who are around you every day. We need to find our center, the place we call home, in our human connections.”
Author Carrie Lee Barnes is a stay-at-home mom who previously trained surgeons on advanced robotic technology in the operating room. Home was written to help victims of natural disasters, especially children, who are emotionally affected by the loss of their home. She lives with her husband and two sons in Santa Rosa, California.
Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards recently recognized Home with a gold medal in the category of Best First Book: Picture Book.
Home: A Story of Resilience and Healing
Publisher: Round Tree Press
ISBN-10: 1949480097
ISBN-13: 978-1949480092
Available from Amazon.com, BN.com, Target.com, Booktopia.com.au and Copperfield's Books
Older Women and Minorities areIntegral to Healing Divided Country
New York, NY, December 7, 2020 — Now that America has voted in Joe Biden, who will be the oldest president ever in the U.S., and Kamala Harris, who will be the first woman—and of color—as vice president, what message is Biden’s team sending by nominating 74-year-old Janet Yellin for U.S. treasury secretary and 68-year-old Linda Thomas-Greenfield as Ambassador to the United Nations? With a clear stand on age and gender, Erica Baird and Karen E. Wagner, two successful lawyers (now retired) and cofounders of Lustre.net, an online community aimed at redefining the stereotypes of retirement for modern career women, share six tips each for Biden and Harris as they further shape their cabinet for the country:
For President-Elect Biden: 1. Deploy the advantages of your age. You have many decades of political and personal experience that allow you to think big. 2. Listen to our cohort when an issue affects people 65 and over. 3. Listen to our cohort when an issue affects people 65 and under. 4. Apply your problem-solving skills to give the people what they need. Most Americans, whoever they voted for, want the same things: an end to COVID, a good job, an excellent education for their children, a secure home and three meals a day, not necessarily in that order. 5. Use your gentle diplomatic approach to bring us together. Older people remember a “United States,” and our hope is that our country can still be a nation undivided. 6. Call on older women. We shouldn’t be dismissed. We’re an untapped demographic with huge intellectual and buying power that we typically don’t flaunt. We are here to enhance.
For Vice President-Elect Harris: 1. Diversity brings strength. Remember that diversity includes age. 2. Pay heed to those politicians who learned to be effective by listening to their adversaries. 3. Keep employing style to convey how a woman exercises power. 4. Channel the power of women to bring about a stronger America. 5. Break the stereotype that assertive women are “bitchy.” 6. Encourage Biden to bring younger and older Americans together to serve the country.
Lustre.net is an online forum founded by Erica Baird and Karen Wagner, two New York City retired attorneys. Together, Baird and Wagner are on a mission to redefine retirement for modern career women by confronting outdated concepts, defying stereotypes and raising our collective voices to ensure that retirement for all of us is shaped by women, for women. Baird and Wagner want women to “tap into our experiences and passions, forge new identities and find new purpose—and pass on what we know to the next generation.”
Stuck Inside? Try These Workouts From the Comfort of Your Own Home
Many people are preparing for the upcoming cold months by finding unique and positive ways to stay healthy from the comfort of their homes.
If you want to get into great shape while the snow and ice take over the streets, here are some at-home regimens that will sculpt your abs, burn fat, and leave you feeling great!
Online Spin Classes
Making it to the gym while it's wet and cold outside is no fun. Instead, many people are turning to online spin classes as a means of burning calories and getting a great workout in.
Before you sign up for any class, make sure you're using high-quality trainers, such as those at Plan 7 Coaching. Use trainers that are skilled and efficient at transforming the lives of newfound fitness clients. From elevating your heart rate to sculpting impressive muscle, getting a workout from your living room or garage has never been easier.
The High-Intensity-Interval Approach
One of the downsides of following a fitness plan is that it can become challenging to manage while juggling other responsibilities. From taking care of the kids to meeting the standards in the workplace, working out gets placed on the backburner.
Knowing this, why not try a high-intensity interval paradigm? High-intensity interval training -- commonly referred to as HIIT -- is a framework that taxes your system in a short time frame.
The basic philosophy is to perform 30-seconds to 1-minute of all-out effort, followed by a period where you relax and perform low-intensity cardio. You repeat this process for a duration of 15 to 20-minutes.
A brief example of this may be sprinting up a hill next to your home, followed by walking down the hill to start over again. The back-and-forth motion of your movements taxes the body, elevates your heart rate and builds lean muscle in a time crunch.
Moreover, HIIT has beenscientifically proven to boost your naturally-occurring growth hormone (GH). Growth hormone, in a general sense, helps you burn weight and heal inflammation throughout your body.
The methods listed above will help you get in shape in 2020 and beyond. If you're the type of person that's tired of falling short of your fitness and wellness goals, why not use the colder months as the foundation for your transformation? When you're ready, begin utilizing these tools to get the body of your dreams and feel good while doing it.
Make 2021 Your Best Year Yet: Choose Optimism
Philadelphia, PA, Dec. 7, 2020 — Emerging from 2020 is like coming out of a bad relationship. We all need to learn how to love life again.
From award-winning global diversity and inclusion strategist, international inspirational speaker and unstoppable optimist Kimberly S. Reed comes the encouragement and the tools to launch the new beginning we all need: Optimists Always Win!: Unlocking the Power to Reach Life’s C-Suite.
“Difficulties and struggles are unavoidable in life, but a person has complete control over one’s personal response to the situation,” Reed says. “This book offers readers a plan for responding with optimism for both the challenges and blessings that come their way.”
Optimists Always Win! isn’t another collection of platitudes and motivational mumbo jumbo. Reed’s book digs deep into her most powerful principles and life knockouts (LKOs) and walks readers throughan actionable process for building resilience and choosing optimism over anger.
Reed uses her own experiences, including her heroic battle with her mother’s terminal illness and sudden loss as well as her own subsequent battle with cancer, to show readers that it’s possible to rise above pessimism and hopelessness when faced with hardship.
Relying heavily on her faith in God and the optimism that she learned to cultivate, Reed teaches readers 10 “discouragement eliminators,” which helped her succeed not just in her fight against cancer but as she lives each day as her best self.
Reed’s inspirational messages touch on every aspect of life, to help readers grow in their faith, remove self-placed stumbling blocks and adopt the optimistic attitude needed for reaching the C-suite of life.
All book royalties are being donated to the American Cancer Society AstraZeneca Hope Lodge in Philadelphia and to a premier Academic Research Institution for Integrated Breast Cancer Fund and Patient Care.
Author Kimberly S. Reed, MEd, CDP, is an award-winning diversity, equality and inclusion expert, international speaker and corporate trainer. As founder of the Reed Development Group, LLC, she has developed a distinguished reputation as having one of the most distinct and powerful voices on the lecture circuit, engaging audiences on topics ranging from diversity and inclusion and talent innovation, organizational leadership, intrapreneurship, entrepreneurial leadership, and personal and professional development. Reed earned a B.A. in Political Science with a concentration in International Relations and Public Administration from Westchester University; a certification in Global Organizational Leadership, Human Resource Management, from Fox School of Business; a Masters of Education, Adult Organizational Development and Public Policy; and certifications in Training and Development and Communication and Conflict from Temple University. She has also been a senior partner and advisor for one of the world’s leading CEO branding companies, The Ascendant Group.
Optimists Always Win!: Unlocking the Power to Reach Life’s C-Suite
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – While Caeleb Dressel may not be a household name just yet, he is taking the swimming world by storm and projected to win 6-8 gold medals in the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
Dressel, a 24-year-old Olympic gold medalist from Green Cove Springs, Florida, smashed two world records and took home MVP honors while competing at the International Swimming League in Budapest, Hungary, late last month.
“Watching Caeleb swim is absolutely astonishing,” said David McCagg, founder and CEO of GMX7. “Michael Phelps, set the standard as the greatest Olympic athlete of all time and Dressel is now dominating the swim world and shredding world records, taking the title of the greatest swimmer on the planet today. The times he is producing are leaving all of us in the swim world speechless.”
Dressel, who had already broken Phelps’s world record in the men’s 100-meter butterfly in South Korea last year, set two more world records during ISL in Budapest, amazing the entire professional swimming world.
While many people may wonder how once impossible records are now being shattered, the experts at GMX7 credit part of his success to their new training device, the X1-PRO, which allows Dressel to train with true resistance.
“Our X1-PRO may look like a simple device, and while it weighs less than 5 pounds and can fit in a small backpack, it’s actually revolutionizing aquatic resistance training,” said McCagg. “What makes it better than anything before it, is that any level swimmer can take it with them wherever they go, clip into the existing swim lane markers and add resistance to their training at the level they are comfortable with.”
It’s not just Dressel who has seen major results since using the X1-PRO. Madeline “Maddy” Banic, who had been somewhat written off following personal struggles with mental health issues in 2017, exploded back onto the scene this year, breaking the American record in the 50 meter fly, and was recently ranked #3 on SwimSwam.com’s list of top 10 swimmers who broke through the 2020 ISL season.
“While we’re not taking anything away from Banic’s or Dressel’s undeniable athleticism, we are confident that the X1-PRO is allowing them to train at a higher level than previously possible,” said McCagg.
Currently, more than 75 anticipated Olympians from 10 countries across the world are training on the X1-PRO in hopes of qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics. Additionally, several collegiate level athletic programs, including the University of Florida and the University of Tennessee, where Dressel and Banic train respectfully, are also currently training on the device.
The X1-PRO is a small 6-inch long device with adjustable resistance that weighs less than 5 pounds and clips into the end-point connections for a pool’s lane lines. The X1-PRO is connected to the swimmer via a leash and travels on a line back and forth up to 50 meters in length.
“Consider the traditional rotary phone to the technology we have now with smartphones, that’s the leap we’ve made in comparison to resistance training in the water,” said McCagg. “The X1-PRO will help perfect the athlete's stroke efficiencies and alignment with zero drag, establishing an entirely new opportunity to gain a competitive advantage.”
About GMX7
Founded in 2018, GMX7 is based in St. Petersburg, Florida and is dedicated to changing the world of swimming by empowering competitive swimmers with the best aquatic resistance training devices ever created. GMX7 was founded by David McCagg, a 7-time gold medalist, former world record holder and winner of multiple national championships. The first device on the market by GMX7 is the X1-PRO. Designed by ROBRADY Engineering, in its first year has already been the recipient of several awards including the 2020 International Design Excellence Award and the 2020 Red Dot Award for product design.
The Perfect Holiday Escape: Cage Diving with Sea Monsters
West Palm Beach, FL, Dec. 4, 2020—Looking for a safe, unique and affordable vacation the entire family will enjoy? How about a virtual trip to a remote island where you can visit the most advanced state-of-the-art aquarium complexes ever conceived, holding the most terrifying prehistoric sharks and sea monsters that ever lived!
Welcome to www.SeaMonsterCove.com, arguably one of the most original and ambitious entertainment venues ever imagined. The creative force that recruited an international team of 3D animators, 2D artists, engineers, actors, producers and an ancient shark museum curator is Steve Alten, author of the NY Times bestselling MEGseries, the source material for the 2018 summer blockbuster, The MEG, starring Jason Statham.
“The story that runs through every offering at Sea Monster Cove, from the virtual aquarium experiences to the TV series and video game came to me back in December of 2019,” Alten recalls. “I remember waking up at 4 a.m. and lying in bed enjoying a rare moment of peace and calm — no rigidity or tremors. (Alten was diagnosed 15 years ago with young onset Parkinson’s disease). It was as if my mind had found its way into the eye of the neurological storm. What happened next was totally unexpected — a wave of creativity came to me out of nowhere as beats in an entirely new giant shark story. It was so good and so detailed I knew I had to get it down on paper before I fell back asleep. So I dragged myself upstairs to my office and began searching for the key to the entire story — a remote island that somehow I knew was out there … and there it was — Maug.”
Enter SeaMonsterCove.com and you are guided through a quick history of Maug, a remote (and very real) island located in the Northern Marianas. Five million years ago Maug's volcano erupted so violently that it blew the island apart, leaving behind three islets that had been the rim of the volcano and a lagoon where the magma chamber had flooded. Why place a virtual island resort here? That's where Alten's storytelling takes over. Eight years ago, a French marine biologist, Dr. Maxime Rostand, discovered superheated mineral water rising up through Maug’s lagoon (all true). Returning from an exploratory dive, the scientist and his two colleagues realize they are not alone — a pirated fishing trawler has entered the lagoon and is listing badly beneath the weight of their catch — an enormous pregnant Basking shark. When the panicked creature drowns in the shallows, Rostand and his team perform an emergency C-section on the mother, releasing 15 pups — all female. Only two survive: Snowflake (an albino) and Layla (dark). Max and his team will discover the deceased mother to be a prehistoric Mako known as a Black Demon shark and the source of the lagoon’s hot mineral water to be a primordial aquifer located 2 miles beneath the sea floor — its inhabitants dating back 380 million years.
Flash ahead eight years and you are now ready to meet the critters. “There are two major complexes on Maug Island,” Alten explains. Sea Monster Cove holds six marine habitats that date back to different eras in our history, while the O-Quarium is home to our star attraction, Snowflake.” The albino pup saved by Dr. Rostand is now a 63-foot, 25-ton monster that is best viewed via one of the suites at the Black Demon Inn, a 5-star hotel with suites that back up to the main tank. Snowflake is waiting for you there, circling outside your bedroom window.
At SeaMonsterCove.com, the special effects are motion picture-worthy, and the wildlife doesn’t just swim around in benign circles; in fact, they seem quite aware that you are watching them, and some of them clearly do not like it, especially when you enter their domain to do a little “cage diving.” In each of these heart-pounding, 360-degree experiences, the user controls the viewing angle, attempting to track the attacks as they happen (there are day and night versions available). The action is nonstop and the creatures so real that it is easy to lose yourself in a two-hour reprieve from reality.
Dr. Rostand’s adventures are told in Alten’s episodic TV series, Where Sea Monsters Roam. Most unique: what happens in the series also happens during your aquarium visits. Also in development and expected to launch soon is the Sea Monsters Roam video game where members will be able to experience what it’s like to venture into the prehistoric aquifer to hunt and capture these monsters themselves. There’s also an education center, and a private library offering enhanced versions of Alten’s novels as well as teacher curriculum materials for distance learning. Perhaps the most surprising element is the cost to enter: less than $10 a month for the entire household.
And Alten isn’t quite done with movies yet. The MEG sequel, MEG-2: The TRENCH, is in pre-production, as is The LOCH (a thriller about the Loch Ness Monster) along with one other underwater feature, which cannot be announced just yet (but the enhanced version of the novel is available in the website’s private library). Steve Alten is also the founder and director of the nonprofit Adopt-an-Author teen reading program, considered by many educators to be the most effective tool to get reluctant readers to read.
Takashi Nagao appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of Medicago
Medicago prepares for the commercialization of the company's vaccine candidates
QUEBEC CITY, Dec. 4, 2020 /CNW/ - Medicago, a biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Quebec City, Canada, today announced Takashi Nagao as the company's new President and Chief Executive Officer. Prior to becoming President and CEO, Mr. Nagao served as the Chairman of the Board of Medicago, where for the last four years, he has guided Medicago executives to get the company to where it is today.
Medicago, a research and development company for the last 20 years, is embarking on a transformative year, one that will see the company build on its R&D roots to become a company that also produces and commercializes vaccines and other immunotherapies. Mr. Nagao has extensive experience leading pharmaceutical companies through the pre-commercial and commercial process and is well positioned to ensure the successful launch of Medicago's COVID-19 and influenza vaccines, subject to regulatory approvals. Mr. Nagao will continue Medicago's evolution towards its goal of being a fully operational commercial entity, able to respond to the needs of the global public health community and medical authorities and professionals.
"Taking on this new role with Medicago during this exciting time is a great honour for me," said Mr. Nagao, President and Chief Executive Officer, Medicago. "I want our employees, investors, and stakeholders such as the Government of Canada to know that I will put all my efforts into seeing our COVID-19 and influenza vaccines through to a successful launch to protect as many people as possible"
From 2007 to 2017, Mr. Nagao oversaw the establishment of Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation's U.S. presence and led the team that successfully achieved NDA of RADICAVA®, the first FDA-approved drug in over 20 years for the patients with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). Prior to that, Mr. Nagao was a Managing Director in investment banking at J.P. Morgan and Deutsche Bank where he was responsible for global clients and leading equity and cross-border M&A transactions in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sector in North America, Japan and Europe. He has an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Mr. Nagao succeeds Dr. Bruce D. Clark, who held the position of President and CEO of Medicago since 2017 and was instrumental in the development of Medicago's COVID-19 vaccine candidate.
Medicago recently announced the start of Phase 2/3 clinical trial of its plant-derived VLP vaccine candidate for COVID-19 to evaluate its efficacy, safety, and immunogenicity, based on the positive Phase 1 results and subsequent allowance to advance to Phase 2/3 by the Canadian regulatory authorities. The company is also building a new facility in Quebec to increase Canada's domestic capacity for manufacturing vaccines, producing up to a billion doses annually.
"Medicago is at an inflection point. We are moving from a research and development focused organization to become a commercial entity supplying vaccines to Canadians and people around the world," said Mr. Nagao.
About Medicago
Medicago is a biopharmaceutical company and pioneer in plant-derived therapeutics. Founded in 1999 with the belief that innovative approaches and rigorous research would bring new solutions in healthcare.
Our mission is to improve global health outcomes by leveraging innovative plant-based technologies for rapid responses to emerging global healthcare challenges. Medicago is committed to advancing therapeutics against life-threatening diseases worldwide. Our team includes over 450 scientific experts and employees in Canada and the United States and academic affiliations in Europe and South Africa.
Medicago has previously demonstrated its capability to be a first responder in a flu pandemic. In 2009, the company produced a research-grade vaccine candidate against H1N1 in just 19 days. In 2012, Medicago manufactured 10 million doses of a monovalent influenza vaccine candidate within one month for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), part of the U.S. Department of Defense. In 2015, Medicago also demonstrated in principle that it could rapidly produce an anti-Ebola monoclonal antibody cocktail for the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
To learn more about our plant-based technology: Video / Website
SOURCE Medicago
5 Ways to Recover More Quickly From a Weight Lifting Shoulder Injury
There's nothing worse than jacking up your shoulder and having to step away from weight lifting until it heals up. Don't fall into the trap of trying to load up the weights and continue to push yourself as it will simply result in a longer recovery period. Instead, use these five recovery tips to speed up the healing process.
Don't Overlook Icing
We all know that swelling, also called inflammation, is one of the biggest causes of body pain. An ice pack can do wonders for reducing swelling to the shoulder and, in turn, reducing the overall pain you feel in the area. You should ice your shoulder multiple times per day. Ensure you only ice it for a maximum of 20 minutes.
If you ice it for longer than 20 minutes, your body will start to perceive the coldness as a threat. This results in the body sending more blood to the region to warm it up to protect against frostbite. When this happens, it completely undoes all the good the icing initially did. So, make sure you stick to 20 minutes max.
Perform Light Movements
Don't go into the gym and load up the bar. Instead, take it light for a week or two. You'll know when your shoulder is starting to feel better. At that point, you can slowly reintroduce weight to get back to where you were before your injury. Don't just avoid working out, as this will make your recovery take much longer.
Use Numbing Cream
There are a ton of pain relief products on the market. The idea is to use these products to alleviate pain from the injury and take your mind off of it. When you use hemp topical relief cream with menthol, it will provide a slight cooling sensation that can reduce your pain level. When your pain is reduced, you think about your injury less, and your body heals faster.
Talk With A PT
PTs, or physical therapists, are there to help patients recover from injuries. Think of them as a base of knowledge that you can utilize to learn the right movements and recovery tactics to get back to your regular workout. PTs will save you a lot of time as you won't have to scour the internet for recovery tactics. Plus, you can get instant feedback for your questions.
Stay Active
One of the biggest pitfalls that weight lifters can run into is stopping all their physical activity for fear of making their injury worse. The more you focus on your injury, the tighter the muscles will be in that area. Your brain, essentially, pushes your muscles into a protective mode. Don't let this happen. Simply continue to be active and perform regular movements that can be done pain-free.
Recovery from a weight lifting injury can feel like a long process. However, if you follow the tips above, you'll be able to speed up your recovery tremendously. Just remember to not let your injury cripple your lifestyle.
Work from Abroad – The Rise of Work Wellnesscations
The increasing prevalence of remote work and tighter social distancing measures has created a new travel trend; instead of working from home, wellness enthusiasts are taking holidays abroad where they can work remotely while pursuing healthy activities. Health and Fitness Travel, the wellness holiday specialists, has seen an increase in new bookings for clients who want to leave the living room and carry on working remotely from a luxury destination.
The rise in popularity is with good reason as studies suggest that productivity is enhanced; many destinations like St Lucia and Madeira are safer havens from COVID-19; both work and personal life become more flexible. As the winter intensifies and recent lockdowns mean those that can are once more working from home, with this we can only expect the work wellnesscation trend to continue to grow. The lead up to Christmas and January in particular is likely to be popular as remote working from holiday can be supplemented with annual leave for an even better getaway experience.
Out of the many possible retreats for remote work, Mindful Triathlon™ holidays are particularly popular with health-conscious, remote workers as they offer an entirely flexible programme which covers all aspects of health: activeness, mindfulness and wellness. Clients can engage with their health and fitness programme which is built around their work schedule with these super flexible holidays. They can attend morning or evening activities, spa treatments and personal training scheduled around their working day. Mindful Triathlon holidays provide the variety and flexibility necessary for a work wellnesscation.
St Lucia, Turks & Caicos and other Caribbean destinations are popular for their sparce population, secluded luxury resorts and sunny winter climates. Dubai, Croatia, Estonia and Barbados are also attracting remote workers as they offer ‘digital nomad visas’. These new visas allow people to spend up to a year at a holiday destination while working remotely. Within these countries, resorts which offer villas are the most popular as this style of accommodation is ideal for those looking to work remotely and maintain their social distance from others. Work Wellnesscations are not exclusively to these destinations as they can be taken anywhere visa and restriction permitting with strong Wi-fi and a good phone signal.
The phenomenon is likely to have a lasting impact on a variety of industries, not just travel. With a higher number of remote workers, demand for office space will be smaller. Public transport may suffer a substantially reduced revenue due to a lack of commuting. Air pollution and congestion in major cities may decrease substantially with fewer people working in urban centres. Work Wellnesscations may be a much-needed revitalisation of the wellness travel industry with a post-lockdown boom in the length of average stay and a rise in the number of guests. All of this is indicative of a radical change in the UK’s work and holiday culture. As more people leave the office and begin remote work, there will be a substantially large group looking abroad, a season at a time, for new healthier lifestyles.
Discover the most popular work wellnesscations which Health and Fitness Travel clients are booking:
BodyHoliday allows remote workers to achieve any health goals given the huge variety of onsite facilities: 3 swimming pools, golf course and yoga studios. Devoting time to specific fitness targets is made possible by resident personal trainers and easy access to the facilities. A work wellnesscation is particularly advantageous here because of its location on the island of St Lucia which has a very low COVID-19 risk warning. BodyHoliday provides the variety that remote workers want in their down time.
Health and Fitness Travel (0203 397 8891 healthandfitnesstravel.com) offers 7 nights at BodyHoliday from £1,815pp or £1,930 for single occupancy. Price includes full board, a wellness programme and return private transfers.
Galo Resort on the island of Madeira is a mecca for health that offers a wide range of fitness programmes and wellness treatments. While the sports and classes are an enjoyable experience, Galo’s 10-day Ayurvedic Immune Booster holiday offers remote workers the flexibility of scheduling spiritual classes and a strengthening of the immune system. A boost to the body’s natural defences will keep people healthy and able to work when they return to the UK.
Grantley Hall demonstrates that a work wellnesscation does not have to be overseas but can be a domestic country spa break. Grantley sports top-tier fitness and wellness facilities that are ideal for remote workers who are eager to dramatically improve their health in a salubrious retreat. After completing intensive personal training sessions, guests can retire to one of the stately rooms of this country house to begin work. Strong Wi-fi is guaranteed for a work environment that is effective and stylish.
The Retreat Costa Rica, buried in the lush jungle of Costa Rica’s Atenas province, is a natural resort specialising in yoga and low-intensity physical exercise. The natural setting and incredible views of the Pacific Ocean would make a remote worker’s new office the stuff of dreams. Remote workers from Costa Rica can do their work early in the morning, allowing them to enjoy a whole day of yoga classes and wellness sessions as there is a time delay of six hours.
Euphoria Retreat is considered one of the best wellness retreats in the world and accordingly would make a dream work wellnesscation for any fitness or spa enthusiast. Mainland Greece is currently under limited travel restrictions and the mountainous region where Euphoria is based in a secluded haven. Euphoria’s Immunity Reset holiday would also add extra protection to the immune system of visiting guests, making a work wellnesscation here a safe, healthy way of working remotely.
Health and Fitness Travel is a global luxury wellness travel company that originated in the UK in 2010 and is committed to providing healthy holidays that enhance and change lives. Created by Paul Joseph and Adam Heathcote as a result of their passion for health and fitness travel and offering bespoke holidays to improve people’s well-being to lead happier and healthier lives.
Health and Fitness Travel offers clients a tailor-made seamless service with the very best health and fitness holidays, handpicked by its expert team, together with exclusive and added value packages with the best deals. As leading specialists, Health and Fitness Travel has also created their own collection of trademark healthy holidays in various destinations which include Fusion Fitness™, Mindful Triathlon™, BodyBreaks™ and Discover Recover™, offering clients the best value and holiday experience. For more information visit:www.healthandfitnesstravel.com
Spirit of Christmas Shines through in Uplifting, Small-Town Romance
Nashville, TN, Dec. 3, 2020 — Build a crackling fire, pour a cup of cocoa and immerse yourself in the holiday spirit with Wrapped Up in Christmas Joy, a heartwarming, small-town romance from Hallmark Publishing author Janice Lynn.
Set in the charming little town of Pine Hill, Kentucky, Wrapped Up in Christmas Joy introduces readers to quilt shop owner Sophie Davis and former Marine Cole Aaron, whose lives intersect at Pine Hill's Christmas festivities.
The story begins when Sophie finds Cole’s journal among a box of books that had been donated to her church. She can’t help but peruse the personal entries, finding herself drawn to the stranger on the pages. As the daughter of a veteran and a seamstress who sews Quilts of Valor, she feels a deep connection to the former soldier who wrote the emotional entries, and she longs to heal his heart.
As a former Marine, Cole battled to find peace after returning to civilian life, and his journal was the conduit toward a truce with his past. Always needing to protect others, Cole now fights fires and is embracing his new life in Pine Hill. When Sophie shows up at the fire hall with his journal, he fears digging up the demons from his past and tells her to trash it.
Their paths continue to intertwine, with both Sophie and Cole volunteering for their community. But it’s hard for Cole to let down his guard, and he doesn’t need anyone’s pity. After all he’s been through in the past, can he find faith in a more hopeful future — one touched by joy?
Wrapped Up in Christmas Joy is the perfect small-town Christmas romance to warm readers’ hearts during the holiday season. It is the sequel to Janice’s first story, Wrapped Up in Christmas, and can also stand alone.
Janice Lynn is a USA Today and Wall Street Journal Bestselling author. She strives to write characters who evoke strong emotions and make readers want to go along on their journeys.
Her first sweet romance, Wrapped Up in Christmas, was a bestseller on Barnes & Noble, Wal-Mart, Amazon (hit No. 13 overall in paid fiction in Kindle) and ibooks (hit number No. 1 paid ebook fiction); was Hallmark Publishing's first release to hit the USA TODAY and Wall Street Journal's bestseller lists; and was a finalist in the Bookseller's Best Award. Janice also writes contemporary Medical Romances for Harlequin, and her books have won numerous awards, including the National Readers' Choice Award, the Golden Quill for Best Short contemporary Romance and for Best First Book, Romantic Times Magazine's American Title, and the Holt Medallion Award of Merit.
Janice lives in Tennessee with her Prince Charming, their seven kids, her vivid imagination, an adorable Maltese named Halo who's the true princess of the house and a bunch of unnamed dust bunnies who took up permanent residence after Janice started her writing career. In addition to writing romance, Janice is a nurse practitioner, a quilter, an exercise queen, a military mama and a member of and an avid supporter of the Quilts of Valor Foundation. Just kidding on the exercise queen.
