Bunny Yoga

Yoga with a rabbit, a dream come true or a nightmare because you think you’re going to accidentally step on it? Probably a mixture of these feelings. In Canada, they organized yoga classes where you could work out with a fluffy companion. The idea came forth from the need to raise money for an animal shelter and to raise awareness for abandoned rabbits. Aawwh. Rabbits are in abundance in this particular city, and that’s why many people leave them behind, often in nature. But because these rabbits are tamed, they’re not able to find their way in nature.

Now why exactly do we like doing yoga with our own, or adopted bunnies? I think because we seek cosiness more and more. And what is more cozy then bringing your own bunny to your yoga class? Two in one! You can now work out, and hug your bunny.  Recently, there are also new café’s opening, where you can bring your cat to, or where cats just walk around. That way, you can bring your home to a public space. Last year, I’ve discovered this trend, which I called ‘social home’. This trend was about being home in public spaces, and the so-called third places. Third places are social spaces, next to first places (your home) and second places (work). These days, these spaces are more and more blending into one place. You can take your work home, you can take home to your work, bring your cats to the café and now take your bunny to a yoga class.

What do you think? Do you like to do yoga class with your pet? I would like that I think, if my French Bulldog weren’t that hyperactive. Maybe nicer for cat-owners though, but still, a nice idea to think about, and it was for a good cause. The animal charity has raised around $1000, yay, happy bunnies!

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Slide Away

The last couple of weeks, I spotted two places where the main subject is: a slide! And not one of those for your children, but really big and scary slides, built in existing buildings. The first one I spotted was the one in the mall in Shanghai. To make people more relaxed from being tired with shopping, they built a 53-meter tall slide, which makes you go from the fifth floor directly to the lower floor. The slide is very steep and in 16 seconds, it’s over.

Another new slide will open on June 24^th, in London, in the Arcelor Mittal Orbit tower. This tower was build in 2012 in honor of the Olympic Games which were held there during that year. There’s a restaurant on top of the tower and now, an artist has been asked to make something with it. His plan was to make a super slide which is intertwined with the tower, two works of art becoming one. This slide has a so-called corkscrew and in the last meters, you will reach a velocity of 25 km/h.

Now where are those slides coming from? And why are only grownup people sliding off these things? I think this comes from the fact that we desperately seek for distraction. The world gives us so many interesting things, but also a lot of unnecessary things which our brains must cope with.  Then it’s nice to literally let your problems and thoughts slide away and experience a short moment of joy and adrenalin. Of course, this is also interesting from a human movement point of view. We seek new and exciting ways to go from place to place and are also looking for interesting possibilities to improve mobility in the cities of the future. So maybe, we’re all sliding away in a couple of years. Besides, it’s nice for the men who have to wait for their women while shopping, in the case of the mall-slide.

So, are you ready to slide away or don’t you think this is the reason why slides are emerging everywhere?

Source 1 , Source 2

Dance the evening away

People who go out often, know that you don’t have to show up at a club before midnight, and at more and more clubs ,you don’t have to go away either because they’re open the whole 24 hours. But now, the evening parties are upcoming in the area of Amsterdam. There are several clubs which organize parties which start at 7 and end at 11. The concept is the same, but it’s just a little earlier. In some cases, they even serve finger food to eat while you’re dancing.

The motivation why this works might have to do with the changing or our rhythms and routines. We can eat and drink anything when we like to. Back in the day, you used to eat bread in the morning or afternoon, and a hot meal in the evening. Now, we can eat breakfast all day, as even more breakfast restaurants seem to pop up. Now, there’s also a possibility to go and party straight from your work.

This concept increases the quality of life of the target audience – which is around 28-40 – because now, they don’t have to feel hung-over after coming home at 5 pm, because they now come home at 12. It’s an interesting concept which becomes more and more popular. In 2013, there already was a morning disco, but this has been in our country for a year now, and it’s gaining popularity.

In this busy world, we like to relax the way we want to, and when we want to. With these parties being so early, but just as fun, partygoers can enjoy their evening of drinking and dancing with friends in a responsible way.

Personally, I like the idea. I tend to be more attached to my free weekend when I’m working the whole week, so I can imagine that it’s very relieving to go and party a few hours, and then it’s enough. I hope all the clubs – or at least the ones I like to go to – will pick this up, so I can have a good night of sleep and be fresh in the morning, because, well, I’m becoming older and can’t cope with the feeling of being hung-over that well anymore.

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Strange art

It’s no surprise many people like to spend their free time by going to museums, but there are also people who don’t go to museums very often and then something fun happens.

Some boys had laid a pair of glasses on the floor of a modern art exhibition in San Francisco. First, nothing happened, but then a few people noticed them and started making pictures. At first, this maybe not very interesting, but the thought behind why people thought it was a work of art is very interesting. People go to a museum to be inspired, to see someone’s work who expresses their feelings through a work of art. Of course, at least I can imagine, works of art are rarely straightforward, they don’t seem to be what they look. That’s why the teenager who did this prank wanted to see what happened. A lot of art is strange (just admit it), and it’s interesting that people still think a pair of glasses can be something of value.

That, we see more often nowadays. People give value to what they find important. We tend to feel more then we think, and if we feel okay, then it’s fine. Decisions are often made with our hearts instead of our heads in these days, where everything seems to be about being in the moment, the now, the quick living style. It’s beautiful that people can give their own expressions to such ordinary objects.

Even though it was a prank, I might not even be surprised if this was a real work of art somewhere in this world. Add something like: be open, use your eyes to really see, such things, will work. But even without a subtitle, people will, as you see, think what it’s about for themselves. Several years ago, the same boys also had success with the same prank, but then by using a baseball cap and a bin.

I wish I could have seen the moment the boys took the glasses off the floor and walked away though…

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Not your average kind of hotel

Looking for an exciting hotel which is not just your standard Hotel California? Then have a look at this cool hotel in Amsterdam!

Hotel not hotel is a hotel which is completely designed by young designers of the Eindhoven Design Academy. Sleeping in a room is not just sleeping, it’s a whole new experience. For example they have a room named The Crow’s Nest. This room is very minimalistic and offers a change to climb a tower in your own room. Another example is the Casa No Casa, a Spanish themed room completely designed to bring you a Spanish experience.

What this hotel also does is bringing people together. It’s open to all kinds of people so they can meet. This meeting is possible in the restaurant or in the bar of the hotel where they serve sandwiches and cocktails. This aspect contributes to the idea of merging factors in the living sector. Making meetings possible is an aspect of combining work shop and play and also has a strong connection to the leisure sector. Hotel not Hotel wants to contribute to the boiling melting pot which is Amsterdam by bringing people together.

Experience is important these days and as you can see, normal hotels are boring compared to this one. So maybe in a few years every hotel looks like this? I hope so..

Blending Sectors

The city of Breda is been busy the last couple of years and it’s stil developing new things to improve the city’s experience. Last year they started building a whole new station to improve a traveller’s experience. Last week I heard about a new project which is about to be built in Breda. A new event location including a cinema, a kids hall, an outdoor area, mini golf and bowling facilities, an event hall and a huge sports store. In short: everything a person could want.

Seeing this from a Lifestyle point of view this is interesting in the sectors Living, Human Movement and Leisure. Lately we see more and more of these things combined in one location. More and more we see combinations between all sectors in one place, which is convenient for people because they don’t need to travel very far to satisfy their needs.

In this complex you can (some parts about to be finished in 2016) spend a whole day, as well as with or without the kids. For Breda this is a good thing, because with this complex you have everything in one location, which has a downside for for example the other cinema in Breda, because the new Kinepolis is huge and has about 20 million visitors a year. So this whole complex has a big influence on the leisure, living as well as human movement sector in Breda and its surrounding cities.

As for me, I think it’s cool that Breda is getting a new event hall, which means that big artists may come and perform here, as sports is not really my cup of tea.

Source: http://stappen-shoppen.nl/articles/425

True Colours

Something not very new but very entertaining and suiting in the experience economy: Dining in the dark. After successful restaurants all over the world there is a restaurant in Amsterdam where you can dine in the dark. This experience is very different from other restaurants. You don’t know what you get to eat and you have to trust your senses but your eyes. And trust me, it is difficult. I’ve been there last year and I had a great night. I never imagined how people react when their sight has been taken away. From that concept I came to something which is new. Besides dining in the dark there is also dialogue in the dark. An organisation which exist already since 1988 and lead people in a dark room where they are let to their other senses but their sight. What’s new is their addition to the concept: Concert in the Dark.
This is cool because this is something you’ve never had on a normal concert. The surprise element is very high and people like being surprised – in pleasant ways. In case of a concert the only thing that counts is the music. Not how the artist look and perform but only the music. That’s something else in this world where judgements are quickly made.

I think in the future this will grow bigger and bigger. This because in this digital world you have everything what you need and when you need it. Then it’s very difficult to trust on your own talents and senses sometimes. This experience allows you to listen and feel for yourself, without you being distracted by what you see. I think this is also suitable to the ideal beauty image these days. You don’t have to look good to be a nice person. This also counts for food and music. People like to be thrown back on their own senses and like to have everything how they want it – back to basics. This experience disables one of the major senses and that’s very exciting and full of potential. I can recommend everyone to go and ‘see’ for themselves (however, concert in the dark is in Tokyo, that may be out of your reach)!

http://www.ctaste.nl/

http://www.dialogue-in-the-dark.com/

http://www.concert-in-the-dark.hk/eng/