Conrad New York Downtown, beginning Monday, April 6, 2020 –
We are all learning to connect with people in a different way, and at the Conrad Hotel in Lower Manhattan, they are rethinking new ways to stay in touch.
Conrad Hotel has decided to try something virtually and will be launching its first-ever IGTV series, which will offer followers a unique set of content each and every day for the next four weeks.
The series outline is as follows:
Mixology Monday – Conrad New York Downtown’s expert bartenders will provide easy to follow cocktail recipes that will be accompanied by videos/photos so you can follow along.
Bedside Reading Tuesday – beginning on April 7, Conrad New York Downtown will highlight a captivating talk from one of Bedside Readings’ list of acclaimed authors. Bedside Reading, who normally places books bedside in each guestroom at the hotel, has arranged for four different authors to touch on relevant topics in our current unknown world climate.
Wellness (Yoga) Wednesday – Each Wednesday, a Corc Yoga mat Ambassador will teach a special yoga class, just for Conrad New York Downtown’s IGTV. Corc Yoga creates yoga mats from cork harvested in Portugal; they are 100% sustainable and made without rubber or plastic. Available in the Conrad New York Downtown fitness center, these mats are antimicrobial and hypoallergenic!
Photography Thursday – Lauren Listor of @laurelcreative, is one of New York City’s most famous Instagram photographers. If you follow an NYC based influencer, it is likely that Lauren took their photos at some point or another. Each Thursday, Conrad New York Downtown will feature a short segment from Lauren highlighting “How To” photography tips and tricks that you can use at home.
Foodie Friday – The incredibly talented culinary team at Conrad New York Downtown put together a few fun and different recipes for followers to try, which will appear on the hotel’s IGTV for the next four Fridays.
Calligraphy Saturdays – Sip & Script master instructor, Johana Paperieco (@jjpaperieco), will be teaching four amazing calligraphy classes, perfect for beginners or those trying to keep on their calligraphy A-game (no special equipment needed).
Walking Tour Sunday – each Sunday, for the next four weeks, you will be able to join NYC Tour Guide, Carly Feldman (@carlypfeldman) for a Historic “Walking Tour” of Downtown Manhattan.
Downtowners and New Yorker’s are used to being thrown into the unknown, we always come out smarter and better than ever, adapting is what our downtown businesses are good at, we are resilient and we will get through this difficult time.
Enjoy these guest postings from some of our favorite downtown businesses!
By: Adam Que, a fitness trainer, practitioner, former MMA fighter, and writer
Waking up late in the morning has its consequences. You can either skip your whole hygiene routine, devour anything in sight because you know it would provide you with energy, or throw on clothes that you know should be in the dirty laundry bag. Following by barging out of your apartment to be on a shoulder to shoulder status with other New Yorkers on the street or at the subway station.
I’m sure most of you have experienced all of the above. Of course, walking was most likely a big part of the problem since folks are taking Ubers, Lyfts, and cabs to their destinations nowadays. With this rush of stress and the bumps people are facing in life, how could anyone find walking beneficial? Well, it’s no coincidence Walking and Wellness both start with W.
Here are some key benefits of walking:
Prevents Diseases:
According to a review on the C3 Collaborating for Health, walking is an effective way to prevent or reduce the risk of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs), such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and Alzheimer’s Disease.
Photo credit: Daniel Reche via Pexels.com
Helps With Living Longer and Weight Loss:
Walking is also important for the longevity of life. In the same review, there was a case study on the Global Corporate Challenge that recorded 54% of participants who had high blood pressure showed low risk by the end of a 12-week walking challenge. As well as an increase of energy by 71% and a drop of 10% body fat on average for those who had body fat loss. Another case study recorded that 94% of the walkers part of the Heart Foundation Walking group (HFW), the largest free community-based walking group in Australia said, “HFW was essential for their physical well-being.”
Photo credit: Noelle Otto via pexels.com
Mental Health:
Besides the physical benefits of walking, I mainly believe it is amazing for mental health. Dr. Lars Madsen of The MindShift Foundation said, “It increases relaxation and can be equivalent to a sleeping pill, even for people with insomnia.” Walking also reduces stress, anxiety, improves cognitive function and can lift one’s spirit instantly, especially when doing it with friends or loved ones.
photo credit: Pixabay via pexels.com
So besides that gruelly commute, try to incorporate 15 to 30-minute walks throughout your week. Whether you missed a workout, your routine is discombobulated or you feel you’ve been out of whack due to the holidays kicking your butt, get to walking. If you find yourself walking in Downtown Manhattan locations like the Jerry Driscoll Walk, SoHo’s side streets, along The Highline or through Battery Park, take the time to envision a positive perspective and enjoy yourself.
Get to stepping strongly into 2020 to start that first quarter on a healthy foot.
A step into the Barber Surgeons Guild is a step into the past. The barbers look ready for a prohibition-era night on the town in button-downs, vests, and the occasional fedora. The back wall is a ’20s-era man-cave with lounge seating, a wall of period books, and a readily available collection of whiskeys. Yes, you’re welcome to grab a glass. From the chairs to the barber capes to the tile walls and light fixtures, there is an effort to transport you to another place and time.
Keep going far enough, though, and you step right back into the future. The back of Barber Surgeons Guild is a state-of-the-art hair restoration facility offering a variety of services for its clientele. Robotic hair restoration, PRP, scalp camo, and more–if you want more hair than you have, or are worried about losing what you’ve got, they have the tools to help.
The name “Barber Surgeon” might sound strange, but it comes from a tradition more than 1000 years old. In the middle ages, doctors or physicians had a lot more in common with a medical school professor, a family doctor, or both. If you wanted surgery, you had to go to the other medical professions, the only ones who traveled and carried the knives needed for surgery–barbers. For hundreds of years, the jobs of haircuts and surgery were shared by this strange class of professionals, even being enshrined in English society with the creation of the Company of Barber-Surgeons in 1540.
Ari S Goldberg, owner of the Barber Surgeons Guild.
The tradition, of course, fell off with the rise of the physician-surgeon and the surgeon-surgeon, but the archetype was fascinating for Ari Goldberg, the founder of The Barber Surgeons Guild. The company has two locations: one in Los Angeles and one in NYC. Downtown spoke to him about his unique business hybrid.
Downtown: Yeah, so you have a very unique aesthetic for a, I don’t know what the LA location looks like, but for the New York location I really liked the…it felt like a kind of 1920s theme.
Ari Goldberg: Yeah. The classic barbershop.
DT: How did that aesthetic come about?
AG: I think it’s just rooted in what we wanted to create with the brand. The vision was to combine consumer and medical. And then, from a brand perspective, I wanted to create something that was very much like a heritage program, like kind of a Double RL. It was rooted in history and timeless was a word that came up a lot. It all plays off of timeless. Or we would always say like a gentleman’s lounge. And then when you look at the history of the barber surgeon, you know, it’s a real thing.
DT: So why combine those two? Do you have a background in hair regrowth?
AG: No, I do not. My background is in marketing. My expertise is very deeply rooted in advertising. My initial starting point was to expand my career and my investment portfolio. I was interested in the convergence of consumer and medical. There were a lot of consumer brands but not so much the medical component.
DT: What inspired you to do that?
AG: I really just kind of seen the market opportunity. You know, I was the guy that cared about health and wellness and cared about style and appearance. I know there’s a lot of other guys like me. And having a healthy head of hair is obviously something that’s paramount, something of interest to a lot of us. There are a lot of snake oil salesmen out there on both the consumer and medical trends, and both come up with products and services. And I really wanted to create a brand that was good for the people around us–that had medical research and science to back it up.
DT: How do you convince people that you’re the real deal?
AG: Well, I think having a business partner that is a doctor was a big thing for me. I wanted this to be backed by medical research and science, you know, not some kid in Silicon Valley with that idea. Um, so that was it. Uh, you know, all of the ladies are verified. You know, we don’t sell snake oil, you know, “you put this on your head and your hair magically grows.” Like, it just doesn’t work like that. There’s no topical solution that you just rub on and magically you have a full head of hair. That’s why I’m trying to offer the full arsenal of products.
When we started the process, I said to them, you know, I don’t care about price right now. I want to create the highest quality products. That’s what we wanted to do as a brand.
DT: What specifically are you looking for in a barber?
AG: I think we’re looking for someone that’s obviously a master at his craft, who cares about it. You know, I think what’s great about the guys in (our shop). You know, they really see themselves as artisans and craftsmen. They take it seriously, which is great. We want them to be super personable and easy to talk to. We want them to have a trusting kind of bond with the client. A lot of times, especially as guys are starting to lose hair, it becomes a very sensitive subject. So we want someone that kind of shoots you straight, but you know, does it with a soft touch. And we want guys that are knowledgeable and interested in the products and services that we offer so they can educate the client on the options and the additional things that are available to them.
DT: what do you want people to know about your business?
AG: I want them to know that we created this for ourselves and for our friends and family. You know, we use these products every day. We want to create a product that we were willing to use, not something that we could just give to the consumer for the highest profit margin. It’s like you gotta be the customer you want–you gotta use the stuff too and believe it’s the best. And you know, we’re going out of our way. I use it every day because as far as I know, it is the best product out there. I get my hair cut (at Barber Surgeons Guild) because I think we have the best barbers. I think, in a way, it came from a selfish place because Justin and I are two guys and this is what we wanted and we knew that there were other guys out there like us and you know, we could formulate something around that.
New York City’s Barber Surgeon Guild is located at 345 W Broadway, New York, NY 10013
Photos courtesy of Mountainside Treatment Facility
For years, Leandro Carvalho won the Best Fitness Class in NYC award from New York Magazine. He was a personal trainer to the stars, and Victoria’s Secret angels, teaching his signature “Brazilian Butt Lift” and “Brazilian Groove” classes.
Today, he teaches a different kind of class. Rather than stars, his new trainees are members of the NYC recovery community. Carvalho is working for the Mountainside Treatment Facility, a rehabilitation center in Canaan, CT. A program graduate himself, he lives in an apartment in the program’s extended care facility. While there, he teaches fitness, yoga, meditation, chi gong, arts, painting, music, high, ropes, hiking, and spirituality. Every Monday, he teaches classes at Mountainside’s new NYC facility–Mountainside Chelsea–teaching fitness, wellness, and the arts which are open to anyone in the recovery community.
Carvalho’s classes and the students may be different. However, one thing has not changed: Carvalho still runs a fantastic fitness class. He brims with energy, leading by enthusiastic example as he directs a drum circle full of alumni. After 25 years, he still approaches every activity like it is his favorite new game that he has just discovered. It is an infectious attitude–one he and his students alike need to strive for. “Sobriety has to be fun,” he says.
Leandro
Carvalho first came to the US from Brazil 25 years ago to dance with Merce Cunningham. He stayed to get a Masters Degree from NYU in art therapy. As he learned, he taught as many fitness classes as he could. Carvalho rose to prominence as an instructor riding a wave of Latinculture, creating signature Brazilian-inspired fitness classes. He sold specials and DVDs and was even flew out to Sting‘s summer home to teach Sting’s family.
Then, a few years ago, a medical mistake nearly cost Carvalho everything. Lying in a hospital bed after the procedure, doctors told him that he would likely end up paraplegic or dead. His teaching career–and fitness career–was over. Carvalho had suffered losses and setbacks before–the loss his brother and his friends to AIDS in the ’80s, his own HIV positive diagnosis–but he had never turned to drugs. Back then, he threw himself into fitness, dance, and the arts. In one moment, that had been taken away from him, and he struggled to cope. “(Until that point) I didn’t realize how important wellness was in my life…It was everything I knew.”
Carvalho turned to drugs–meth–as an easy way to cope. It tore his life apart. His success, ironically, made it difficult for him to seek help. “I didn’t know how to ask for help. I was the guru, the trainer. I was embarrassed.” He reached out to Mountainside, whose staff he had trained several years earlier. They saved his life.
Carvalho has recovered physically, and he bounces as he leads a workout class or a drum circle. His sparkling energy is fueled by the knowledge that sobriety requires enthusiasm, and enthusiasm requires wellness. Relapse, he says, doesn’t start when you decide to drink. The relapse begins earlier, in your feelings. “My passion for wellness is because when I didn’t take care of myself–my body, mind, and spirit–I went down very quickly.” His goal, he says, is to pass the message that sobriety requires work on all three forms of wellness.
Kirk Myers and Rhys Athayde watch the Dogpound billboard in Times Square. Photo by Jade Gomez.
Dogpound NYC employees were greeted with a treat last night: a Times Square billboard showing gym and employee highlights and flashing the Dogpound logo. Trainers watched as their faces flickered 50 feet in the air, running, lifting, and posing in Dogpound attire. They let out a cheer, echoing over the sounds of the square where many had stopped to watch. It was the first of its kind for the fledgling fitness empire, and a dizzyingly tall “thank you” to their staff.
The Dogpound was already a global phenomenon when the billboard went up. In four years, owner Kirk Myers has grown the gym into a global brand, training all over the world with celebrity clientele. They opened their second permanent location in Los Angeles only a few months ago. The Dogpound’s NYC gym–where the franchise began–is a host to more than 50 trainers, masseuses, and other employees.
Amongst the employees and other guests was celebrity/Dogpound member/investor Oliver Trevena. “It was so amazing to be a part of such a monumental moment for an incredibly inspiring brand,” he told Downtown, “To witness the team’s reaction and the energy surrounding it was unforgettable & so excited to be an investor and part of the DP family!”
The crew gathers before their adventure. Photo by Jade Gomez.
The trip was organized with the help of Downtown Magazine’s CEO Grace A. Capobianco. She and Myers have known each other since the magazine’s launch. Myers is Capobianco’s personal trainer as well as Downtown’s fitness editor for several years prior to the launch of the Dogpound. Capobianco said that we are extremely excited to announce that “Dogpound by Kirk Myers Fitness” will once again be heading up our print and digital fitness pages starting with the Fall 2019 issue.
At 5:45 pm, the Dogpound staff gathered outside the gym. They crowded a coach bus, laughing and chanting. Only the management and select Downtown Magazine staff knew where they were headed or why.
30 minutes later they disembarked outside of Times Square. They were met with one of the Square’s most prominent residents, the Times Square Naked Cowboy. The stripped singer serenaded the team, turning his back to reveal a pair of Dogpound underwear worn for the occasion. The cowboy led his posse through Times Square, stopping in the center for pictures, chants, and more quiet speculation on the trip’s purpose.
A musical eruption interrupted the affair as a dozen Dogpound-clad dancers burst into motion, clearing a space for a spontaneous dance number. The Dogpound crowd, which had grown with late arrivals and guests, was now surrounded by a sea of onlookers who stopped to snapshots of the scene. At 6:59 and 55 seconds, the music dropped and the dancers froze, their fingers pointed up at a screen towering 100 ft above the square.
The Naked Cowboy in his Dogpound gear. Photo by Jade Gomez.
Dogpound dancers dominate the floor. Photo by Jade Gomez.
Downtown Magazine CEO and publisher Grace A. Capobianco and The Dogpound’s Rhys Athayde are serenaded by the Naked Cowboy. Photo courtesy of The Dogpound.
The screen went black and flooded with words in Dogpound brand black and white. Disbelief evaporated as trainers saw their faces on the screen–running, lifting, biking, laughing. They pointed and called out to each other. They chanted and cheered. The energy was electric.
“Having been born and raised in NYC by immigrant parents, Times Square is the world’s greatest stage,” says Rhys Athayde, The Dogpound’s Chief Experience Officer, “All I wanted to do was share the news with everyone. For our DP family, it was worth the wait to see the looks of shock, awe, accomplishment, and pride when we took over the heart of NYC.”
The billboard was only up for 20 minutes, but the staff sees it as a sign of more to come. As The Dogpound expands, it has its eyes on the world. For 20 minutes in the center of the world, that world had an eye on them.
Adaptogenic Duo: Tranquil Adaptogenic Capsules And Balance Hemp CBD Tincture. Photo courtesy of shopshanti.com
Adaptogenic Duo: Tranquil Adaptogenic Capsules And Balance Hemp CBD Tincture. Photo courtesy of shopshanti.com
Shanti Wellness will release a new line of Ayurveda-inspired CBD products this August. Ayurveda is a traditional medicine system which focuses on mind-body-soul alignment. With names like Tranquil and Soothe, Shanti Wellness products aim to help customers maintain a healthy balance in their lives.
Mohnia Patel, a California marketing coordinator, was under a lot of stress. Few jobs generate more stress than legal work. Working as the marketing coordinator for a law firm might be one of them. She was looking for relief. She considered pharmaceuticals but wanted an alternative. Her family had owned a health food store, and she wanted a natural solution. “That was always a part of my life,” she said, “What herb can you take? What pro-biotic could help you? What holistically can we use to make ourselves feel better?”
She decided to do her research. There were plenty of natural alternatives, but one stood out most: Cannabidiol, or CBD. CBD comes from hemp just like THC, but isn’t psychoactive–it doesn’t get you high. It does, however, cause the calming sensation associated with smoking pot. “It seemed really in-tune with what I was looking for, and I used it myself every day.”
She enjoyed the calming effects of CBD, but the taste of the popular gummy delivery system was terrible. She set out to find alternatives, a quest which eventually led to the decision to start her own company. “It’s just crazy how much (CBD) really helped me. I was passionate about the effects I had, and so I really wanted to provide that to others.”
She spent more than a year researching. CBD wasn’t as well-researched or as mainstream as it is today, especially outside of the area of California where she lived, but she studied everything she could find. She read the research and talked to experts.
Patel eventually landed on a product line–Shanti Wellness–inspired by Ayurveda, a cultural medical system from her Indian heritage. “East meets West is really what I am as an individual,” she said, “and that’s really what our product line offers, is cutting-edge science and technology in the West, with ancient rituals from the East.” Shanti Wellness products use traditional herbs such as ashwagandha–a traditional remedy which is part of the nightshade family–as well as minerals like magnesium. They come in softgels, tinctures, capsules, and balms.
Now nearly a year old, Shanti Wellness is releasing a new line of products. While the specifics of the products have yet to be released, Patel is excited about the prospect. “We have some exciting things coming,” she says, “I can’t release too much information right now, but it’s really gonna be deeply rooted in my Indian heritage, and that’s the next frontier for Shanti for sure.”
Shanti Wellness also plans to expand. Patel and her husband have focused on California, where lawmakers and consumers better understand the misleading connection between CBD and THC. Now that she’s more established, Patel is looking east–including to New York City–but also towards national distribution. “Right now we’re really in an expansion phase. We’re hiring, we’re growing, and we’re looking into office spaces. It’s really an exciting time because it’s so interesting to go from a direct consumer online e-commerce business to really having a much bigger retail arm.” New York is tough, she says, because of legislation surrounding CBD, but Patel says they are talking to a few stores in NYC.
