Amy Bess Cook

Growing up in small-town Oregon, Alison Sokol Blosser didn’t know quite what she wanted to be when she grew up. She was clear, though, that she never wanted to work in the wine world.

As the crow flies, the distance between the Oakland suburb where Justin Michael Williams spent his childhood and his more recent Los Angeles home is not vast—but his journey has been epic.

Long before the outbreak of coronavirus, tens of millions of people worldwide suffered from sleep problems—ranging from insomnia to sleep apnea to night terrors—to the point that The Center for Disease Control officially declared sleep disorders an epidemic.

Transformation can be painful—but its rewards, immense. Just ask retired firefighter paramedic, executive coach, and iRest trainee John Christy.

As a military veteran, sexual assault survivor, cancer survivor, and mother of three who has completed more than 50 marathons and triathlons, Renee Champagne Davis is an undeniable force. It was reckoning with vulnerability, however, that sparked her awakening and now compels her to guide others toward their own awareness.

Growing up in the foster care system in inner-city Detroit, Antwinae fought severe depression and survived multiple suicide attempts. She struggled to get the help she needed. “In the Black community,” she says, “depression is considered an attitude problem.”

As many continue living under a shelter-in-place mandate, the risk of depression and anxiety runs high--particularly for folks in solo quarantine. One solution is journaling, which helps refocus the mind and radically enhance health and wellbeing.

Meditation works, even in small bursts. Weaving regular meditation into your life in digestible bites enables you to experience its transformative power.

Beloved country crooner Willie Nelson once famously said, “When I started counting my blessings, my whole life turned around." It can be awfully tricky to be thankful when life isn’t going our way.

The arrival of a typical school year conjures eager anticipation along with inevitable undercurrents of anxiety. This, as we all know, is no typical school year.

Long before he was an influential scholar and teacher, Lorin Roche was a carefree surfer and student. While in school at the University of California at Irvine, Roche signed up to be a subject in a social sciences experiment that involved regularly sitting alone for hours in the dark. There, he discovered a newfound “wonder and delight."

Why can it be so hard to just lie still?

“You are fundamentally OK.” These reassuring words must appear a dozen or so places in the first two chapters of The Book of Rest: Stop Striving, Start Being by James Reeves and Gabrielle Brown. Truly, can we be reminded too many times?

Most of us like the idea of community. Are we willing to work for it, though? As she prepares to celebrate her 25th jubilee (or holy year) with the Catholic Church, Sister Pat has not only dedicated her life to serving the community around her, but has lived closely in community with fellow sisters along the way.

In a world where health risks lie hidden, we are all vulnerable. While there is no cure for the coronavirus, immunity offers some protection and the opportunity to move through each day with greater confidence.