TED TALKS: Inspiring Website & Food for the Mind and Soul
I recently discovered (and have been mesmorized) an amazing organization and website called TED Technology, Entertainment, Design. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from those three worlds.
TEDTalks began as a simple attempt to share what happens at TED with the world. Under the moniker “ideas worth spreading,” talks were released online. They rapidly attracted a global audience in the millions. Indeed, the reaction was so enthusiastic that the entire TED website has been reengineered around TEDTalks, with the goal of giving everyone on-demand access to the world’s most inspiring voices.
Today, TED is therefore best thought of as a global community. It’s a community welcoming people from every discipline and culture who have just two things in common: they seek a deeper understanding of the world, and they hope to turn that understanding into a better future for us all.
Although it is easy to get entranced for hours by the fascinating minds showcased on this website, these three talks I found particularly inspiring:
Worldchanging.com founder Alex Steffen offers a fast-paced round-up of radical (but possible) answers to our planet’s greatest challenges, ranging from green cities and buildings, to digital collaboration tools, to ingenious tools for the developing world (flowers that detect landmines; straws that purify water as you drink; merry-go-rounds that pump water using the energy expended by children at play). As Western-style consumerism spreads to developing countries, we must re-imagine our world.
What is happiness, and how can we all get some? Buddhist monk, photographer and author Matthieu Ricard has devoted his life to these questions, and his answer is influenced by his faith as well as by his scientific turn of mind: We can train our minds in habits of happiness. Interwoven with his talk are stunning photographs of the Himalayas and of his spiritual community.
Sir Ken Robinson makes an entertaining (and profoundly moving) case for creating an education system that nurtures creativity, rather than undermining it. With ample anecdotes and witty asides, Robinson points out the many ways our schools fail to recognize — much less cultivate — the talents of many brilliant people. “We are educating people out of their creativity,” Robinson says. The universality of his message is evidenced by its rampant popularity online. A typical review: “If you have not yet seen Sir Ken Robinson’s TED talk, please stop whatever you’re doing and watch it now.”
Enjoy exploring this website, follow your own curiosity!
Bikram Yoga, the Perfect Compliment to Bicycling
During the winter I take off time from long rides on my bike (although I still commute by bike) to cross country ski, lift weights and practice yoga. Cross training for cyclists is key and I believe yoga is extremely beneficial for cyclists as it helps stretch out and relax VERY (sometimes chronically) tight cycling muscles, especially the hamstrings and back that actually get shorter from months in the saddle. Yoga is the YANG of Cycling’s YIN but both are about flow, alignment, balance, centering and deep breathing. Yoga combined with Cross Country skiing has been my perfect preparation for a stronger and longer cycling season in 2008. In fact at our recent guide meeting, while my guides can outsprint and climb me on the hills, most of them could not even touch their toes, forget about geting into a deep, relaxing Frog pose. As we stood around waiting for Marcello to start his cycling clinic talk, I just started doing yoga as they watched in amazement but agreed that AM morning YOGA stretches would be a good addition to our tours.
For many years I have taken yoga classes here and there usually following a style, time or instructor that worked for me. Friends had sworn my Bikram yoga at Baron Baptiste Studio in Cambridge, MA but the thought of the high temperatures and close quarters kept me away. Finally this winter I gave it a try and LOVED it. Listening to my body, I was pleasantly surprised at how much my muscles deeply loosened and felt so good. I love the way you start out slowly and steadily progress towards very deep stretching, opening up all the tight spots. I had ACL reconstruction two years ago and my knee continues to feel stiff and sore. Not in Bikram yoga! Although I have to be careful in some positions but in general I am able to work on the micro muscles and ligaments that surround the knee and if feels much better, looser and stronger.
Because the room is so hot, it really feels like an internal massage and an external body facial—you can keep stretching farther than you imagined getting into the tiniest but tightest creaky spots of your whole body. After each morning session I not only feel like I got a perfect “work out” but I feel amazingly relaxed and ready to peacefully start my day. I started with one session a week and quickly moved up to two and now three, energizing 90 minute sessions each week.
What is Bikram, or Hot, Yoga? Hot Yoga is done in a room heated between 100 and 115 degrees and usually kept at 60 percent humidity, depending on each studios individual policy. Although, as should be expected, you have to be in good physical health to participate in hot yoga.
The Mental and Physical Health Benefits
Despite the sweat and sometimes light-headedness that comes from this extreme workout, the benefits to your physical and mental health are just too plentiful to ignore. Your body burns fat more effectively when it is warm. Body fat may be redistributed and burned as energy during the class. Also, your metabolism speeds up the breakdown of glucose and fatty acids.
The heat produces a much easier stretch because warm muscles are suppler and more malleable, therefore allowing for greater range of movement in joints, muscles, ligaments and other structures in the body. This is the effect that I have appreciated most. The cardiovascular system gets a very thorough workout too. Capillaries dilate more in the heat bringing oxygen more efficiently into the tissues, muscles, glands and organs and helping in the expelling of waste. The long term effects of hot yoga are also too good to pass up. For instance, muscles and connective tissue become more elastic and allow for greater flexibility with less chance of injury and improved resolution of injury. Sweating leads to detoxification through the skin – which is the body’s largest eliminating organ. It is really like a BODY facial!
Just as when your body raises its temperature to fight infection, the raised temperature in the room will assist in improving T-cell function and the proper functioning of your immune system. While the rest of my family (and 30% of Arlington) was very sick with the flu this winter, I know that Bikram yoga was helping me fight off the nasty bugs that were floating around. I did Yoga one morning with a blocked sinus and finished feeling clear and purified
Quite possibly the most important plus are the mental health benefits. You can enjoy greater willpower through discipline, self control, concentration and determination. Also, the effects on the stress in your life and how you manage it are incredible. You will learn techniques to control reaction to the stressful stimulants that are encountered throughout the day.
Birkram, or Hot, Yoga is one of the most popular practices for physical and mental well-being in our society today, and for good reason. For a great total body workout that can be performed on all levels and enhance your spring cycling season, give Birkram Yoga a shot and get ready to roll.
In 2007 Ciclismo Classico successfully launched its first Meditation in Motion YOGA and CYCLING tour in the gorgeous Sabina hills. The guides, the mythical Dana and Frank, and our guests enjoyed this wonderful blend of morning yoga and cycling in the Sabina hills. The group also enjoyed getting off their bikes to enjoy yoga poses facing the invigorating and inspiring views. If you are interested in this wonderful YIN YANG combo, join us this fall.
Ciclismo Classico’s favorite yoga expert, Luciana Lo Presto also has an excellent yoga program in Italy, check it out: www.yogatrips.com
If live in the Boston area and you are interested in sampling a variety of yoga classes, check out Davide Magone’s Inside Yoga (rated one of the TOP 25 yoga studio teachers in the world by Travel and Leisure Magazine).
CC Guides Paolo and Simone demonstrate the Art of La Morra
Ciclismo Classico Annual Guide Meeting
What is it like spending four days talking, learning, eating and cycling
with 28 Ciclismo Classico guides?
How about inspiring, crazy, engaging, fun, interesting, warm and intense? Each year I spend several days in Tuscany with our guide team, bonding, learning and sharing new ideas as well as best guide practices. Oh yes there are always fun and games like when Paolo Taberetti (we call each other cugini since he is from Fano, the town that my grandfather was born) and Simone Scalas showed me how to play the Italian “Morra” ( a hand game, involves strategy, tactics and energy brought to Italy in the 16th century from Turkey).
Outside of my own crazy family, there is no group of people I feel more akin with and amazingly proud of than this wonderful group of super talented, affectionate and passionate Ciclismo guides.
This year our meeting was based at beautiful La Fattoria degli Usignoli, one of most popular hotels panoramically perched in the hills near Regello in the Pratomagno. Not only are our guides talented but also they are super loyal to Ciclismo, many have been with us 8 years or more. Almost every region of Italy was represented at this guide reunion Tuscany, Piedmont, Liguria, Lombardia, Abruzzo, Tuscany, Lombardia, Reggio Emiglia [Emilia Romagna], Sicilia, Sardegna and my family’s origins: Le Marche. I love hearing their distinct regional accents
and the way they playfully make fun of each other. There were also four Americans, Irish and Spanish guide to round off our team.
In addition to learning and sharing, this gang is like a one big family who really knows how to have fun. They tease, hug, laugh, yell, and share pictures, stories, jokes and most of all they share a bottomless wild passion for what they do. On Saturday morning we all took a bike ride along the “mitico” Strada dei Setti Ponte to Castellfranco where we piled into a small café for a ritual and one of the many “Sosta di Café” (coffee break).
Running the show this year was European Manager, Davide Marchegiano, Italian base manager Suzie Regul and the one and only Paolo Nicolosi “della Sicilia” who with his affectionate commands of “CAFÉ” and “A TAVOLA”, made sure that we got a steady stream of coffee and three delicious four course meals. No meeting has better food for sure! Andi Nufer, Suzie’s right hand gal, was busy trying to take meeting notes while interpreting wild gesticulations, Italian sarcasm and linguistic regional nuances.
In addition to amazing native guides, what differentiates Ciclismo Classico from other operators is our dedication to making every guest a better cyclist. Quality coaching requires teaching from the best such as Super athlete and new papa’ Marcello Bonino [Bonini] who gave an EXCELLENT cycling skills clinic session. Colorado native, Italian import and Campagnolo devotee, Franco Yantorno (one of the best mechanics on the planet) gave a four-hour session on how to fit and fix almost everything on a bicycle. My new general manager Stephen Lang and controller Scott Robertson were there to witness the passion play up close; they were amazed as I always am with this amazing group of talent.
Are you joining us on a tour in Italy and have some extra post tour travel time? Are you traveling on your own to Italy and wish to have a very unique experience? Would you like to really get up close and behind the scenes of the Italian culture? If so I highly recommend that you hire one of our SUPER knowledgeable guides for a very special and 1-2 day private walking or driving tour. Our guides are also full of unique ideas for private tours and are willing and ready to put together a one-of-a-kind custom tour for you and your friends. Feel free to contact me and I can help match you with one of our Ciclismo Classico guides
My life has revolved around cycling for as long as I can remember. My company Ciclismo Classico, the bicycle tour specialists, is now in its 20th year and inspires people of all ages to embrace cycling as an inspiring part of their daily lives. - Lauren Hefferon (AKA Bici Pazza)
