Nice Day for a Green Wedding
By Andi McDaniel
If you’d asked me in college whether I would consider wearing a traditional white gown with a train to my future wedding, I would have arched my brow, put my hands on my hips, and scoffed, “You have got to be kidding.” What planet- and self-respecting modern woman would be (continue reading...)

Celibate Good Times
By Dani Katz
“Are you sex positive?” Assigned the topic by the editors of this magazine, I asked every person I knew, and a few more I didn’t. Nobody knew what it meant, let alone if they were or not. And — aside from some vague notions involving Tantric eye gazing, three-ways (continue reading...)

The Marrying Kind
Conversations — By Rachel Dowd
At 5:01pm on June 16, 2008, Robin Tyler and Diane Olson made history. Four years after they had filed a lawsuit for the right to marry with the California Supreme Court, they became the first same-sex couple in Los Angeles County to tie the knot. When a reporter asked where (continue reading...)

Cupid’s Call
SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION
Bestowing your beloved with chalky, heart-shaped candies and short-lived long-stemmed roses is hardly the best way to say “you rock my world.” This Valentine’s Day, surprise your sweetie with a heartfelt gift that will nourish body, mind and soul. (continue reading...)

Night of the Living Dead
On Our Radar —
New flat screen TVs are in, so cathode-ray tube clunkers are out — especially since TV stations will stop sending out analog signals come February 17. But a nationwide boob tube swap out could spell an environmental disaster if old TVs are sent to landfill graves en masse. Analog TVs (continue reading...)

Peace, Lovin’ and Happiness
On Our Radar —
Looking for love in all the wrong places? Fear not, dateless one. Cupid is striking the warrior pose and launching love arrows from his laptop this Valentine’s Day. New cyberdating spot Gaia Soulmates (soulmates.gaia.com) aims to hook people up with a more meaningful matchmaking service, connecting singles with shared (continue reading...)

Get Active!
On Our Radar —
Feeling red with anger this Valentine’s Day? Sure, there’s a lot to be peeved about. You’re probably thinking about all those virgin rainforests being cut down for throwaway V-Day cards. Or cringing about the absurd amounts of pesticides dumped into waterways for long-stemmed roses that will only last four days. (continue reading...)

What Counts?
On Our Radar — Compiled by Jenny Rough
2,600: People who die in car crashes each year in the United States due to talking or texting on their cell phones (another 330,000 are injured). 80: Percentage of accidents that occur within three seconds of a driver distraction. 7: Number of states — Alaska, California, Connecticut, Louisiana, (continue reading...)

Urban Essentials
Urban Essentials — By Andrea Manitsas
Open Up And Say Raw You don’t have to live near one of Café Gratitude’s abounding Bay Area eateries to enjoy the indulgence of having their raw, vegan chocolates delivered right to your doorstep. The small box comes complete with two handmade Caramel Cups and two Coconut Fudge Snowballs. But (continue reading...)

Off the Mat, Between the Sheets
Healthy Living — By Kate Hanley
You already know yoga can give you greater flexibility, better muscle tone, a surefire way to release stress and maybe even enlightenment. But better sex? Really? Yoga offers myriad physical and emotional benefits that add up to more fun between the sheets and a more fulfilling, meaningful sexual relationship with (continue reading...)

Partner Yoga
Healthy Living :: Yogapedia — By Julia Levitt
Background: We often put a lot of pressure on our relationships, setting a high bar for how we look and act, and obsessing over how to keep our loved ones and ourselves healthy and happy. This Valentine’s Day, why not try breaking new ground? Get close to someone you care (continue reading...)

Hibiscus for High Blood Pressure
Healthy Living :: Body Talk — By Elizabeth Barker
Sipping hibiscus tea may help tame high blood pressure, recent research from Tufts University suggests. For six weeks, a group of adults with mildly elevated blood pressure drank three cups of the tart tea or a placebo drink daily. By the end of the study, tea-taking participants had significantly lowered (continue reading...)

Epic Burger — Not Your Average Burger Joint
Healthy Living :: Tastebuds — By Caitlin Elsaesser
A walk by Epic Burger on State Street reveals nothing remarkable. The hamburger restaurant advertises its name with simple, red neon letters. The interior features simple, neon orange chairs and cafeteria style tables. Like any other fast food chain. But Epic Burger is different. Its exterior doesn’t reveal the (continue reading...)

Valentine Beets for Cold Hands & Warm Hearts
Healthy Living :: Savor the Season — By Terra Brockman
The short dreary days of February are a good time to think about the foods, and the friends, that warm you up — body, heart, and soul. And what is more warming than soup? Soup is a true friend, one you can count on. It soothes you when you’re (continue reading...)

Sweet!
Healthy Living :: The Mindful Menu — By Mani Niall
More than a few years ago, I spent a summer in England as a private chef for a family with five children. Those kids could eat a lot of cookies, so I did a lot of baking. Rather than using as the primary sweetener in these treats the standard American (continue reading...)

Hot For Teacher
Tune In — By Carly Milne
Sure, love comes naturally. But sometimes, a little extra help in the arts of seduction can mean all the difference between a pleased smile and all-out blissful exhaustion. We don’t have to guess which one you’d prefer. And while we’re all for sexual expression and exploration, we (continue reading...)

The Age of Uncertainty
Prophet Motive — by Daniel Pinchbeck
Recently, I have taken as my personal mantra the not very transcendent phrase, “I don’t know.” The list of things I feel unsure about seems to be steadily increasing. For instance, I don’t know if our solipsistic species will survive much longer, and sometimes I am not even sure how (continue reading...)

Reviews
Art & Soul —
Food, they say, is an emotional topic — and nowhere is this fact of life more evident than in the constant controversy surrounding genetically modified foods. Heralded by some as a cure-all for hunger in the developing world and (continue reading...)

Me for You, You for Me
From the Publisher —
February is all about relationships. I told myself I was not going to mention the word “marriage” and then was immediately diverted into thinking about it. I recently read a statistic from the U.S. Census Bureau that roughly 6,000 marriages are preformed every day, but I would wager a greater (continue reading...)

Freddy Zental Weaver
People In Your Neighborhood —
Freddy Zental Weaver grew up in San Francisco and later in Hawaii where he went to Punahou — the same school President Barack Obama attended. Being raised in a tantric household laid the foundation for Zental’s interest later in life to become a TantraNova practitioner. He is an intimacy expert (continue reading...)

Hello, My Name Is...
Life, the Universe and Everything — By Kristy Lund
My co-worker, originally from India, blushes as he asks, “Do you know what your last name means in Hindi?” “No,” I answer. Could it be the name of a flower? Or perhaps artistic one? I muse. “Well,” he replies, staring at his feet, “I don’t know (continue reading...)