While being near or in the ocean brings me infinite amounts of joy, I couldn’t say the same when it comes to the majority of the news about it. Every time I open one of the news sites, I see another article on how a whale has washed up with a belly full of plastic bags or how our oceans are in great danger and the news is even more heartbreaking today, on World Oceans Day.

The land of old-school Hollywood glamour, ambitious beauty queens and (last but not least!) James Franco, it is also the cradle of modern organic nutrition and natural plant-based health and beauty products that are yet to take the world by storm. 

Some yogis compare hips to the body’s junk drawer, storing emotions we were not able to cope with. On a psycho-spiritual level, the hips are the seat of our sexuality and our individuality, both of which are deeply connected to our emotions and relationships to others (and ourselves).

According to the yoga expert Mahua Deb, the inverted yoga poses help regulate endocrine glands and target those specific female hormones that so often affect our wellbeing. We tried 21 days of Halasana. The verdict: it works. 

Oxford Dictionary defines “me” time as “time spent relaxing on one’s own as opposed to working or doing things for others, seen as an opportunity to reduce stress and restore energy” and often there is no amount of medication that could heal as quickly as 60 mindful minutes do.

Apart from its strength, collagen is also celebrated for its elasticity and that alone is the one desired characteristic of youthful skin. When skin ages, it looses its elasticity, which consequently leads to wrinkles and that well-known dullness that can at best be described as “grey and glow-less complexion”.

People who include more vegetables and fruits in their diet experience a boost of motivation, vitality and energy. Who wouldn’t want that? We included a rainbow of (at least) five different fruits and veggies to our diet every day for a week. Results?

Perhaps a wardrobe update, a run in the park instead of the usual studio pilates? Or just a nod to some simple tricks that might turn your health-routine upside down? We flipped through the list of remedies, most commonly used in modern ayurvedic medicine and found three small ingredients that make a big difference. Here’s our spring “must-try” list. 

I always keep my mat on the same spot right next to my bed. It is the first thing I see and feel under my feet when I roll out of bed in the morning. Its bright and happy colors fill me up with energy and immediately pull me into some easy asanas. I have a few different mats at home and I change the one placed in front of my bed from time to time so that I don’t get too used to the sight of it. You know how it goes - new gear, new motivation!

At Melon & Lime we believe in relaxation. We also believe there is no single right way to relax. Some relax through intense physical exercise, some through gentle yoga, others through simply lying on the ground, breathing deep. The truth: every approach that makes you feel good is the right approach.