New year, new goals

Downtown Austin hotel hosts goal-setting and mindfulness event to start 2023 off right

ATX Yoga Girl Cynthia Aguillon Bernard is co-leading a Vision Board Workshop at Hotel Van Zandt this weekend.

Courtesy Hotel Van Zandt

If you've already broken some of your 2023 resolutions ten days in, have no fear: There's never a bad time to re-evaluate your goals and meet like-minded people with a similar vision. Perhaps that's why the Hotel Van Zandt's Vision Board Workshop is taking place a full two weeks into the new year, on January 14, to ward off the annual pressure to start fresh on New Year's Day.

Since health and wellness are usually top of mind this month, the event is a partnership with author Gustavo Padron and ATX Yoga Girl founder Cynthia Aguillon Bernard. Rather than setting abstract or unreachable goals, the Vision Board Workshop is designed to help attendees visualize their goals, get clear on their 2023 vision, and start the new year off with peace and mindfulness.

Taking place this Saturday, January 14, from 10 am to 11:30 am in the Merriweather Ballroom inside Hotel Van Zandt, the workshop will begin with gentle breathwork and a vision quest meditation. Afterwards, attendees can craft a vision board to ground their goals in more physical and tangible forms.

A soundbath experience will conclude the event, intended to help attendees expand and elevate their visions as they are immersed in the sounds and vibrations of crystal and quartz bowls.

As well as being a yoga and meditation teacher, personal trainer, and author, Gustav Padron is also a mindset and manifestation coach. He is fiercely passionate about helping people reframe their thoughts and heal their limiting beliefs by applying the tools and practices in his published journal, grounded practice.

Meanwhile, Cynthia Aguillon Bernard is the creator of ATX YOGA GIRL, a mobile yoga studio bringing wellness to the community. A teacher, guide, and facilitator in yoga, meditation, mindfulness, and sound healing, she specializes in children and family yoga, creating community and positive experiences in a safe, nurturing environment.

The Vision Board Workshop is the latest in health and wellness programming at Hotel Van Zandt, which provides a complimentary yoga mat in each guest room as well as access to the 24-hour fitness center and fourth floor pool deck.

Tickets to the Vision Board Workshop are $70 per person and can be purchased via Eventbrite.

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Defensive Driving

Austin-based Tesla faces new probe focused on remote driving feature

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The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is investigating 2.6 million Teslas.

Federal regulators have opened an investigation into 2.6 million Teslas after reports of crashes involving the use of company technology that allows drivers to remotely command their vehicle to return to them, or move to another location, using a phone app.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration also said Tuesday, January 7 that Austin-based Tesla did not report any of the accidents. Tesla is under order to report crashes on “publicly accessible roads” involving vehicles being operated through its autonomous driving technology.

The new investigation follows another probe launched in October looking into the company's “Full Self-Driving” system after getting reports of crashes in low-visibility conditions, including one that killed a pedestrian. That investigation covers 2.4 million Teslas from the 2016 through 2024 model years.

Tesla did not respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press.

One driver filed a complaint after a crash while using Tesla's “Actually Smart Summon” technology and NHTSA is looking into another three similar incidents based on media reports, the NHTSA said. The agency is looking into 12 total incidents reported by users of the technology.

Each of the vehicles failed to detect posts and other parked vehicles, according to the NHTSA.

Regulators say the vehicles struck objects because the users had "too little reaction time to avoid a crash, either with the available line of sight or releasing the phone app button, which stops the vehicle’s movement.”

Shares of Tesla Inc. slid more than 4 percent in late afternoon trading Tuesday.

Musk has complained that U.S. regulations are too onerous and are holding back the development of self-driving cars. Ethics experts are worried that once President-elect Donald Trump takes office, Musk will push him to ease oversight of Tesla, which just suffered its first decline in annual sales in more than a decade.

Musk donated an estimated $250 million to Trump's presidential campaign and is a frequent guest at Trump's Mar-a-Lago, vetting cabinet nominees and meeting with foreign heads of state. Trump has put Musk in charge of an advisory group, the Department of Government Efficiency, that will recommend where to cut government expenses and staff at federal agencies and reduce regulation.

The NHTSA said it will look into the top speed that Teslas can reach when users deploy its “summons” technology, as well as restrictions on public roads and line of sights requirements. It also said it expects to check for any “connectivity delays" with the app that could result in increased stopping distance.

Tesla’s Model 3 owner’s manual says that its “summons” feature is designed for use only in parking lots and driveways on private property and is disabled on public roads.

The new probe covers 2016-2025 Model S and X vehicles, 2017-2025 Model 3, 2020-2025 Model Y equipped with Tesla's Full Self-Driving driver assistance system.

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