Mind/Body

Let’s talk about the BA50 mind/body. The perfect cocktail of sex, hair, fitness and fashion stirred together with a happy and positive attitude and a pinch humor.

OLLY and L-Theanine: Benefits, Risks, Sources, and Dosage

Sometimes it just happens when I have alot on my mind and the thoughts are thrumming through my brain and I can neither quiet them nor tuck them into a compartment. The mind chatters incessantly and I wake each morning exhausted. Normally, I'm pretty chill and believe that whatever sleep I get is enough but these past few weeks have tested me and I've been pooped. I asked a friend who is going through some tough stuff how she was sleeping and she told me that she sleeps just fine. Her cocktail of choice is a gummy and melotonin. My last visit to Boston I tried to find those gummies but couldn't so on I popped into Whole Foods and asked about sleep supplements with melatonin.  I was shown the many shelves and many options of sleep aids and selected one that I knew nothing about but it was a gummy and I mostly understood the ingredients.  It's been a game changer....
Woman doing yoga at sunset

My Michael Phelps Moment: Why I’m a Yoga Convert

Let’s start with the fact that I have a crush on my yoga instructor. (Because, really, what’s the point of taking an exercise class if you don’t develop a crush on your instructor?) She’s warm and encouraging and has this lovely, mellifluous English accent. It’s like taking a class from a giant bottle of jojoba bath oil. She’s also great at giving you step by step instructions. She’s positively obsessed with making sure that your three middle toes are lifted during all postures, something which turns out to be surprisingly difficult. I was a reluctant convert to yoga, even though my husband and several close friends had been doing it for years. Part of it was that the whole yoga gestalt seemed too groovy for the likes of me...
Hugging

Hugging, The Cuddle Hormone Is Back In Action

Hugging, the cuddle hormone is back in action. Did you know hugging creates a feeling of calmness and relaxation. That's because of oxytocin, which is sometimes called the "cuddle hormone." Oxytocin is released when people or pets snuggle up or bond socially. This release can have a domino effect throughout the body.... That's great news for huggers who are now feeling pretty liberated in the past few weeks as Covid restrictions have lifted. Raised by demonstrative huggers, I have sorely missed the hugging dance. I couldn't be happier that hugging is back.. ...
Bra

Help: Life Long Search For The Perfect Bra For 38D

I have more than a handful, more even then if said hands can palm a basketball.  I am a tall woman with a sturdy back and when it comes to bras, nothing is simple for me. I think that I have regular criteria: lift (somewhere between elbow and shoulder); separation (no uni-boob); something I can wear it all day; pretty. Is it too much to ask for a bralette?  'The internet,’ I thought. ‘Surely it would reveal a solution.’...
Ronna Benjamin

Body Image Acceptance: Boobs, Cancer, and 10 pounds

It has been over five years now since the end of treatment, and the whole experience seems like a nightmare that happened to someone else. I have truly put it in a box in my mind that opens shortly before my annual mammogram, and then closes again. Since that time, my husband and I moved onto our sailboat and lived a life full of adventure. I have short silver hair that I love. And when I look in the mirror, I am still just fine with my boobs. It is still that extra 10-15 pounds on my ass and hips that I hate....
Ginny Poleman

How Finding Three Moments of Joy A Day Gave Me A Lift—A New Year Reminder

I liked the idea of moving throughout my day from joy to joy.....Since my divorce, my life is so different from those days when my calendar was full with after-school activities and my husband’s work events. Now, instead of rushing the kids off to school, my mornings are similar to Susan’s with her morning coffee and newspaper, except I wake up looking forward to my favorite smoothie: chocolate flavored protein powder with a banana and sugar-free sunflower butter—a healthy, morning treat that tastes like dessert........
Woman embracing life standing outside in beautiful meadow with h

Better After 50 Changed My Life

Because of the healing that started from writing for Better After 50, I am now writing freelance for a local magazine in Minnesota, became an Ordained Minister, Teach Life Purpose Coaching for Christian Women and became a mentor to women who were emotionally neglected in childhood. I submitted my first writing to Better After 50 about five years ago. It was the first time I ever shared my story of being physically abused at my Christian School. Writing that story helped to pull off the 30 year old scab that had formed over my emotionally broken spirit. Then having it accepted and printed created a deeper level of healing....

Tattoos: Never Say Never, Even After 60

I grew up in a world that was divided into two kinds of people: those who had tattoos and those who were afraid of people with tattoos. In the movies, prisoners and gang members, carnival workers and criminals had them. They marked reckless, defiant outsiders…tribal members with a shady moral compass.  Nazis tattooed people. End of story. Then in the 70s, the stigma dimmed a bit. Fashionable, creative, adventurous celebrities like Cher, Peter Fonda and Janis Joplin displayed their ink. The chests and arms of those “in the service” in Viet Nam showed their proud affiliation. For the first time, although far from my thing, I saw tattoos as an indicator of something relevant to a person’s individual story, a canvas of their experiences....

Body Shaming: I’m Not Going to Be That Mom Until I Was

I was shopping with my preteen daughter in LuLuLemon.  I was tired and not in the best mood but she wanted to show me this jacket she liked, a trim fit, hot pink zip up.  The saleslady stood outside the dressing room as she tried it on. She zipped it up and I immediately noticed her slight outward curve in the middle. She doesn’t look perfect. What do I say to her? “I think she needs a bigger size.”  I told the saleslady. “Can I come in?” she responded....