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William Hageman

Boost your well-being with these yoga poses

Last updated Monday, May 14, 2012 - 4:07pm

CHICAGO -- Ingrid Yang turned to yoga a dozen years ago as a way to deal with injuries she suffered as a distance runner.

"When I started stretching and doing some strength training -- not with weights, but with my own body weight -- I noticed I was becoming injured less and less," Yang says of her introduction to yoga.

Soon after, she started teaching yoga, eventually owning her own studio and teaching classes on both coasts. Yang has also, with co-author Daniel Dituro, recently released the book "Hatha Yoga Asanas."

Features, Well-being, Yoga Read more Comments

In a March 2, 2012 photo, Janet Batten holds her cat Noah outside her Toms Brook home. Batten credits her huge tabby with detecting an aneurysm in her brain. (AP Photo/Northern Virginia Daily, Rich Cooley)

Cat purring may bring down blood pressure in humans

William Hageman Chicago Tribune

Last updated Monday, March 12, 2012 - 10:39am

We know that pets are beneficial to our health -- they can lower a person's blood pressure, cholesterol and triglyceride levels, and provide opportunities for exercise and socialization.

In some cases, the source of the benefits is obvious. You walk a dog for two miles, you'll be in better shape. But some of the reported benefits are baffling.

A 10-year study at the University of Minnesota Stroke Center found that cat owners were 40 percent less likely to have heart attacks than non-cat owners.

Features, Cats, Health, Heart, Heart attack, Pets Read more Comments

BILL HAGEMAN/Chicago Tribune
This is one of hundreds of staircases in hilly parts of Los Angeles.

Stairways to the stars?

William Hageman Chicago Tribune

Last updated Sunday, January 15, 2012 - 8:29am

LOS ANGELES -- Every tourist destination has its so-called hidden attractions: off-the-beaten-path sites that visitors have to put some effort into finding. Several such locations are in Los Angeles, but it's impossible not to stumble across them.

They're the staircases woven through the hilly areas adjacent to downtown Los Angeles. Some are only a few steps, some are hundreds, and there may be upward of 400 staircases.

Features, Stairs, Travel Read more Comments

CALL IT A DOOMCATION: Celebrities relate where they want to be at world's end

William Hageman Chicago Tribune

Last updated Sunday, January 15, 2012 - 8:26am

The Mayan calendar ends a 5,126-year cycle on Dec. 21, 2012. That might not mean a thing. Or it could signal the end of the world. There's a lot of leeway here.

For the sake of this story, let's assume that this is it. Those know-it-all Mayans had it figured out, and humanity will reach its expiration date this coming Dec. 21.

What is a person to do?

Features, End of the world, Travel, Vacation, Celebrities Read more Comments