Contemporary Film
K.K. Barrett, Her

Fantasy Film
Andy Nicholson, Gravity

Period Film
Catherine Martin, The Great Gatsby

One-Hour Single Camera Television Series
Gemma Jackson, Game Of Thrones, Episode: “Valar Dohaeris”

Half Hour Single-Camera Television Series
Jim Gloster, Veep, Episode: “Helsinki”

Television Movie or Mini-Series
Howard Cummings, Behind The Candelabra

Awards, Music, or Game Shows
Steve Bass, The 67th Annual Tony Awards

Multi-Camera, Variety, or Unscripted Series
Tyler Robinson, Portlandia, Episode: “Missionaries”

Short Format, Live Action Series
Brian Kane, Battlestar Galactica: Blood And Chrome, Episode: “Pilot”

Commercial, PSA, Promo, and Music Video
Todd Cherniawsky, Call Of Duty: Ghosts, Episode: “Epic Night Out”

Cinematic Imagery Award
Martin Scorsese

Lifetime Achievement Award
Rick Carter

Hall of Fame Inductees
Robert Clatworthy, Harper Goff and J. Michael Riva

Sitting at a desk all day every day I am keenly away of how important the back is in everything you do!  I’ve found a wonderful book that gives us tool to keep the back healthy and feeling great so that it can support us in all of our activities.

Here’s an excerpt from “Natural Posture for Pain-Free Living: The Practice of Mindful Alignment” by Kathleen Porter:

DESIGN FOR LIFE

Who is more fit? Is it a small woman with elastic muscles and naturally aligned bones or a much larger man with six-pack abs and firmly developed pecs, deltoids, and biceps?

The small woman is able to carry heavy rocks on her head all day long, day after day, without strain. Because the weight of the load is distributed through aligned bones, the bones actually do the work of carrying the load. Her muscles are thus free to perform their primary job of moving the bones without strain. The musculoskeletal system functions as a dynamic interplay between bones and muscles that requires the bones to be aligned and the muscles to be elastic. This balanced interplay is the hallmark of true fitness.

This man is clearly strong in ways the woman is not. His power lies within his muscles alone, not in an overall integrated whole of fully functioning parts. The popular culture of fitness today is partly based on the idea that developed muscles are a requirement. Unfortunately, muscles that have been developed in this way are storehouses of contracted tension, making it difficult for them to lengthen and relax. This type of strength must be worked at continuously and is dependent on a regular maintenance routine. This man’s spine is shortened and compressed. His breathing is restricted because of a diaphragm that doesn’t move in a natural, efficient way. The range of motion of his shoulders and hips is greatly restricted. It is ironic that the strength he has worked so hard to acquire has also become a type of weakness.

The modern-day confusion about what constitutes authentic strength and natural, easy flexibility is at the root of most of the chronic pain experienced by millions of people every day. In the United States today, millions of people live with chronic aches and pain that severely limit their activities, affect their ability to work, cost them thousands of dollars in lost wages, and impair their enjoyment of life. Employers, insurance companies, and workers’ compensation funds pay billions of dollars each year for lost time on the job and benefits to injured employees.

Unnatural strength

– has its power in purposely developed muscles

– must be continuously worked at to be maintained

– limits the range of motion of the joints

– restricts elasticity of the diaphragm

– compresses the spine

Natural strength

– has its power in aligned bones

– is innate and reinforced in ordinary activities

– promotes natural, easy flexibility of joints

– elongates the spine

Whether pain is chronic and low level or severe and debilitating, it has become an enormous problem in our country. In fact, pain is so common that it has come to be considered a normal fact of life. The epidemic of chronic pain has given way to a new medical specialty–pain management–because it is assumed that, in many cases, pain is something one simply must learn to live with. Too often pain management relies on the use of prescription drugs that generate billions of dollars in profits for pharmaceutical companies, while driving a crippling addiction problem for millions of Americans.

The list of complaints is long and includes general unexplained lower back pain, hip and knee pain, arthritis, tendonitis, sciatica, fibromyalgia, plantar fasciitis, frozen shoulder, rotator cuff injury, herniated or bulging discs, degenerative disc disease, spinal stenosis, spondylolesthesis, temporamandibular joint disorder (TMJ), and chronic tension in neck and shoulder muscles. Much of this pain appears to be idiopathic, meaning it has no clear, discernible cause, making it difficult for doctors to know how to treat it. When asked what caused their pain, people will often say things such as “I shouldn’t have lifted that box of books” or “I’ve been running for twenty years, and my knees finally wore out” or “I’m not as young as I used to be.”

If any of these people knew what their bodies were actually telling them, they might respond with more accurate answers, such as “Bending to lift a box of books, my pelvis was tucked under, causing my spine to round and preventing my core from stabilizing my spine. This forced my back to strain rather than being able to rely on aligned bones working with the strength of my legs and arms to do the work.” Or, “Running for twenty years with misaligned bones has put persistent stress on my knees, causing the cartilage to wear out.” Or possibly, “This aging body is now paying the price for not living according to its natural design.”

It can be startling to discover that exercise in and of itself, and in spite of its obvious benefits, is seldom the solution for this kind of pain over the long run. In fact, because exercise can reinforce and embed unhelpful patterns of movement, it can, and often does, cause many people’s pain in the first place. Eventually we all pay the price if our bones have not been able to do the job of supporting us throughout the years.

Musculoskeletal pain is far less of a problem in some parts of the world, even in places where people do a lot of manual labor for years on end. The secret seems to be that some people never lose the biomechanical principles of the human design, something all healthy toddlers discover when first learning how to stand and walk.

In our popular quest for fitness and a culturally imposed standard of beauty, many of us unwittingly disregard the importance of skeletal alignment and create conditions that compromise our long-term health. A misaligned skeleton causes muscles that attach to the skeleton to either shorten or lengthen unnaturally. This creates chronic tension that restricts mobility of certain joints. It also impairs breathing, compresses vertebrae, puts pressure on and distorts the spinal cord (the primary neural pathway), and affects circulation. It would be hard to argue with the fact that all of these factors have far-reaching consequences for one’s health.

Bio: Kathleen Porter is the director of the Center for Natural Alignment in Portland, Oregon. She offers programs for people with posture-related pain and for children and teachers in classrooms. She has taught principles of natural alignment at the University of Hawaii at Hilo, the National College of Natural Medicine in Portland, Oregon, and the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, New York. She lives in Portland, Oregon.

Availability: Usually ships within 1-2 business days

Price: $21.95

To purchase this book visit B&N.com, Amazon.com, InnerTraditions.com, or your local bookstore.

Natural Posture for Pain-Free Living by Kathleen Porter © 2013 Healing Arts Press. Reprinted with permission from the publisher Inner Traditions International. www.InnerTraditions.com

According to Ayurveda, India’s 5,000 year old Science of Life, there are three pillars of good health: Sleep, Food, and Relationships.  All of these things are intricately related.  The foods we eat have an effect on how well we sleep.

When we’re having a hard time getting to sleep, it may be that our bodies are not producing enough serotonin or melatonin.  By eating foods that stimulate the production of serotonin and melatonin, our mind and body can better relax to get the sleep that we need.   Here are some suggestions for foods you can eat to help you settle into slumber: 

-Dairy products contain tryptophan, an amino acid which helps the body produce both serotonin and melatonin.  About an hour before bedtime, that warm glass of milk that mom recommended might just do the trick!  Lowfat yogurt or a small scoop of cottage cheese are also good choices.

-Both tuna and turkey contain tryptophan and can be helpful for sleep.

-When tryptophan is paired with complex carbohydrates you can get even better results.  This is because the complex carbohydrates help the brain to release insulin, which clears the way for the tryptophan to be absorbed.  So maybe have a grilled cheese sandwich on multi-grain bread, or some turkey and crackers.  Pasta with tomato sauce and cheese is also good a couple of hours before bedtime.

-Cherries and mangoes contain melatonin, and now researchers are saying that some red grapes may contain melatonin, too.  Melatonin is an antioxidant that helps the body to regulate circadian rhythms and sleep.  This is especially good to know when we’re traveling and have to deal with jet lag.

-The University of Wisconsin recently did a study that found potassium might be one of the important elements responsible for sleep.  They studied fruit flies and fruit fly sleep to get this information.  So foods like bananas, which contain both tryptophan and potassium might be especially good for sleep.  Again, paired with a complex carbohydrate it may be even more effective.  Try some sliced bananas on whole wheat toast.

-A nice cup of chamomile tea will help you to relax and de-stress.  Chamomile is a flower, so it’s not really tea.  Real tea contains caffeine, so you want to avoid that.  Just a small amount of herbal tea will do the trick.  Don’t drink too much before bed, or you’ll be up during the night to go to the bathroom and that can interfere with your natural sleep cycle.

-Eat a light snack or very small meal about 1-4 hours before bedtime.   A meal with carbohydrates will help you to fall asleep more quickly, but can also cause weight gain if done on a regular basis.  You also don’t want to eat too close to bedtime because then your body will be busy digesting instead of settling itself into sleep.

-Avoid spicy and fatty foods before bedtime.  Spices are stimulating, and can keep you awake.  They may also cause heartburn and interfere with sleep.

May is Better Sleep Month!  Lots more sleep tips at http://www.bettersleep.org

Hunger

Food is huge right now.  We’ve got The Food Network with programming around the clock, cookbooks flying off the shelves as people spend more time in the kitchen, and chefs are the new rock stars.  And yet, for 1 in 8 people in the United States hunger is a reality.  Worldwide the statistics are much worse.  The World Health Organization estimates that one-third of the world is well-fed, one-third is under-fed, and one-third is starving.  Approximately 800 million people in the world suffer from hunger and malnutrition, and about 8 million actually die from it each year.

September is Hunger Action Month.  And there’s no better time to take action than right now.  Feeding America, formerly named America’s Second Harvest, is one organization that is working hard to solve the hunger crisis.  It is a network made up of individuals, local food banks, and national offices, as well as corporate and government partners.  Feeding America secures food and grocery products on a national level and distributes as needed to local food banks.  For every $1 donated, Feeding America provides 10 pounds of groceries to hungry people.

Many children in the United States rely on free or reduced-priced school lunches during the school year.  And this is often the only meal they get each day.  During weekends and school vacations these children go hungry.  Feeding America has come up with the “BackPack Program” to help these kids.  The program started at the Arkansas Rice Depot, after a school nurse asked for help because hungry students were coming to her with stomachaches and dizziness.  The local food bank began to provide the school children with groceries in backpacks to carry home with them.  Now the program serves more than 90,000 children each year.

Action Against Hunger is working on a global basis.  Their program areas include nutrition, water and sanitation, food security, health and advocacy.  They have started the Campaign to End Malnutrition.  They say that the loss of life from malnutrition is all the more tragic because acute malnutrition is preventable, predictable, and cost-effective to treat.  And they have a plan in place to save lives.  Visit their website for all the details.

And while we’re online, there’s something we can do, once a day, everyday, to help eradicate world hunger.  Just go to TheHungersite.com and click on the “Click Here to Give – it’s FREE” button.  Since June, 1999, more than 300 million visitors have given more than 657 million cups of staple food.  The food funded by clicks is paid for by the site sponsors and distributed to those in need by Mercy Corps, Feeding America, and Millennium Promise.  100% of sponsor advertising fees go to the aid of hungry people around the world.  Besides clicking the button, which costs visitors nothing, we can also help by shopping in The Hunger Site store.  With each item purchased, shoppers generate funds for the hungry.  The store offers a wide variety of items to show support as well as fair-traded and handcrafted items from around that world that help families and communities pull themselves out of the poverty and hunger cycle.

Here’s another innovative way to help solve the world food problem.  I love it when I find a site where I can have fun, learn and also do something good for the world, and that’s just what I found at FreeRice.com.  With freerice.com you play a game to improve your vocabulary.  For every word you get right, 10 grains of rice are donated to hungry people through the United Nations World Food Program.  The game is challenging, even though it is multiple-choice.  If you correctly guess the meaning of a word, you get a more difficult one next.  If you get it wrong, you get an easier one.  If you’re online playing games anyway, you might as well play this one.  You’ll learn some new words, and help feed people in need at the same time.

Knowing about all the hungry people in the world gives us more reason to be grateful every time we sit down to eat.  And now we can take action to help feed people every time we sit down at our computers.  Every dollar counts, every click counts, every grain of rice counts to those who are hungry.