Watch Live at 4:40pm EST.

From the benefits of strength training for people in their 90s to the breathtaking accomplishments of world-class athletes and paralympians, we keep learning more about what the body can do, and why it pays to do it. Yet, in …

This is your time-honored image of a Parisian dinner party: Elegantly clad guests carrying on a sparkling conversation.

This month, two big dinner parties are turning that picture inside out.

On the evening of June 12, the annual Dîner en Blanc attracted 13,000 picnickers swarming over six city bridges. Beginning at 9 p.m., couples clad only in white arrived with folding tables and chairs, baskets of food and bottles of wine. They had been sent personal invitations, and notified barely an hour beforehand where the event would take place: the suspense is a big part of the evening’s charm.

There were extravagant white hats, white masks, white wigs, and white table settings. Homemade and gourmet food was laid out, shared, consumed; corks popped (only wine and Champagne are allowed); musicians entertained. A traffic lane was kept open where necessary, but cars flowed by slowly as drivers stopped to gape. The fête ended precisely at midnight, when everyone pitched in to clean up the debris.

This is the 26th year the the Dîner en Blanc has been held in France (always on a Thursday in June) and the first time on the Parisian bridges. Previous venues included the Château of Versailles, the Pyramid at the Louvre, the lawn in front of Les Invalides, and even the plaza in front of Notre-Dame cathedral. The Paris party has grown rapidly from the original one hundred couples, and many other cities are now copying the idea: New York, Toronto, Montreal, Los Angeles, Miami, Barcelona, Singapore, Tel Aviv.

The originator of the Dîner is François Pasquier, an obviously sociable Parisian whose son now coordinates other dinners from his Montreal base. Some cities, like New York, require municipal approval, but not Paris, where there has been no need for police surveillance. (And amazingly, never any rain.) Perhaps the pristine clothing encourages good behavior, and the fact that everyone is a friend of a friend of a friend.

Photo by Stéphane Renaud

The other unusual dinner will be held June 30 for several hundred guests at a large panoramic meeting space in Paris: the Dîner en Silence. No translation needed: it will be a four-course meal with wine and music, and absolutely no talking. The originator of this concept is a young woman, Coco Broc de la Perrière, who has studied Buddhism and meditation, and is eager to teach people the joys of silence and mindfulness.

She held a demonstration dinner for 30 journalists several weeks ago. She herself spoke from time to time, reciting inspirational passages, and two sopranos occasionally sang. But guests could not utter a word. We were asked to observe a small pea-like object on our plate, and then taste it. (I have no idea what it was!) Candles were lit, wine was poured, delicious food was carefully and quietly served.

The entire experience lasted just over two and a half hours. During that time, smiles were exchanged and a few small gestures, but not a peep. The silent room became a sort of sanctuary, and finally, when time was up, we simply embraced each other. The silence had pulled us together, far more powerfully than if we’d been chatting away all evening.

Of course, there’s a lesson to be learned here: We live in a noisy world, and that noise is both distracting us and dividing us. We are multi-tasking and rushing through our days. We are consigning our thoughts and memories to electronic devices. We are obsessed with the quantity of communication and not the quality. We are left with very little time to pause, to reflect, to dream.

These two dinners, so different from each other, illustrate the challenge of our lives today: The White Dinner, to create a safe and friendly sense of community; and The Silent Dinner, to discover a quiet and peaceful place within.

As I know it, being “Indian” — as indigenous People have been called in the West — means being deeply aware of one’s relationship to everything. Knowing that an unseen force appears when we live this way. One begins to understand that the divine live…

Everyone falls in love at some point. Whether that love lasts is a different story.

But as one Redditor reminded us Tuesday, even when coupled off, our hearts still belong to more than just our significant others.

Of course, by “more” we meant del…

Thomas Boisvert and Kathleen Davis are not professional sommeliers, nor do they have any formal experience in the wine business. “Although I did see that documentary Somm on Netflix,” Boisvert says. That hasn’t stopped them from opening a new spot to drink vino on H Street NE: Pursuit Wine Bar. In order to create their wine […]

Watch Live at 2pm EST.

Since Sam Kass became Senior Policy Advisor for Nutrition Policy at the White House five years ago, he has been at the forefront of Michelle Obama’s campaign to convince manufacturers to reduce fat and sodium and add whole grains to their foods. A legacy of the White House will be improving school lunches — if, that is, the improvements the White House won four years ago don’t get rolled back by a Congress that says fruits and vegetables are expensive and kids don’t eat them anyway. Kass will discuss the White House’s priorities and successful strategies, the far-flung effects of the Let’s Move! campaign and their unexpectedly heated recent fight to keep their lunch legacy alive.

Special Guests:

Sam Cass, Senior Policy Advisor for Nutrition Policy at the White House

Corby Kummer, Senior Editor at The Atlantic