The mind is a powerful thing. It conjures up unwanted thoughts that are so tenacious that, try as we might, we cannot shift them. It defines our perception of ourselves and our surroundings, even if that perception is harmful. But you can banish those thoughts and change the way you view the world, using that same power of the mind. All it takes is a few tweaks, says clinical hypnotherapist Laila Saif. A simple exercise...
How do you make a difference in the world? How do you actually bring about a change for the better? How do you do good things? We asked three UAE residents how they implemented their ideas for bringing change not only to their own lives but also to the lives of others. Tatiana Antonelli Abella is the founder of Goumbook, an information resource on how to live in a greener, more eco-conscious way. After losing...
With my previously disordered relationship with food, I shouldn’t be attempting a 72-hour water fast. This experiment however, is focused on the power of the mind. It is not a weight loss strategy. And I trust myself enough to know there are no ulterior motives. It’s been long enough since that complex relationship with my body and food was put to rest. Several studies have linked water fasting with some impressive health benefits, including a...
Fourteen years of working in the wellness industry gave Dubai-based Stacey Elizabeth Sharp, a STOTT-qualified Pilates teacher and nutritionist, a leg up in founding Retreatmi.com. The new wellness platform helps users source getaways which specialize in innovation, inclusion and productivity. Bringing together unique locations from The Philippines to the Czech Republic to South Africa, retreatmi.com allows you to customize your holiday with as many services as your need or desire. Retreatmi.com offers to do the hard...
Before I get into why a naysayer like me tried Reiki, I’ll begin with a statement of fact: I am hopeless at yoga, pilates, meditation and all the rest of it. If I don’t sweat, I don’t consider it a workout. And if I’m not able to tip the contents of my mind into a mental landfill, I don’t consider myself meditated. I’m not your prime candidate for anything related to holistic healing, energy tapping...
“You have to have the courage to be disliked,” says Carolyn Cowan. The 59-year-old London-based psychotherapist and relationship therapist, whose career has spanned more than three decades and many fields (including fashion design and photography), talked about self-love and self-care during a recent visit to Life’n One. She’ll be back at the Dubai wellbeing centre, founded in 2014 by Eda Gungor and Seva Bhagti Kaur, twice next year, too. She’s answering my question: “How do we...
What do you talk about when you’re with your closest friends? Do you discuss modern philosophy? Grumble about annoying colleagues? The shocking ineptitude of same-day deliveries? Or where you should go for your next group holiday? We cover a wide spectrum of talking points with our chums, but I can guarantee, you don’t talk in-depth about money – at least not in personal specifics. Right now, the global economy is on its knees and the...
We are fed a lot of platitudes on positivity. From looking for silver linings to faking it till you make it to rising and shining before dawn breaks, the list is endless. However, motivational fridge magnets don’t carry the same clout as a seasoned wellness expert and successful entrepreneur. So when the JW Marriott Marquis brought a group of industry leaders together for a positivity panel called Gather, livehealthy.ae tagged along. And we came away...
Meg Nakagawa-Hoffman knows about mental health challenges: the New York University Abu Dhabi student was diagnosed with depression at the age of 17. She sought out a psychiatrist and has been on medication ever since. Then her cousin, who suffered from mental health problems, took his own life. And she became determined to put mental health on the map in a productive way. Now 20, the political science and legal studies major – who is originally...
There’s a lot of happiness in having less. As Fumio Sasaki’s teaches in Goodbye, Things: “There isn’t a single person who was born into this world holding some material possession in their hands.” As an expat, I’ve have long wrestled with the “I might be moving soon” predicament, keeping the number of things I own to an almost bare minimum. Right now, I am in the throes of a contradictory issue. I am having a...
I’m a minimalist, which means I love doing something you probably loathe the very idea of: cleaning. Never did I have to be forced to clean my room as a child. I took to the task merrily, happily, purposefully. I make a mean bed – throws, pillows, configurations, tightly tucked sheets – and I do it upon waking. Likewise, hoovering is an exfoliation, removing the dead home cells to let the lively ones underneath come to surface...
