It’s back to the basics everywhere: from avant-garde menus celebrating the healing traditions of the Himalayas to indigenous curative techniques and herb-based formulations that are rapidly making way to our self-care caddy. Remote work and healthcare ensure our emotional, physical and mental well-being lies in the hands of apps and in a deeper, self-narrative that defines wellness for us. Call it hybrid well-being, or overall wellness.
The Dip
The organic mart has grown manifold, across the board from the demand for pure, local, seasonal, fresh produce to preservative-free beauty care products escalating by the day. We have risen the ranks readily, in search of that elusive healthful balance in life, post the pandemic puzzle. Rediscovering the goodness of the Vedas, celebrating nervine preparations with Indic ingredients including saffron and ashwagandha; burning herbs like jatamasi and guggool to purify the environment and even grabbing a self-narrative in skincare that is making use of rituals and ingredients like khumani oil, walnut oils, kumkumadi tailum, use of pre and post biotics to strengthen our skin, and cannabis oil to zap away ailments. Co-owner and CEO Shubhrata Anil of Trikuta, is fortifying her century-old business, started way back in 1932, passed down generations from her great grandfather.
The pure oils she procures from the Himalayan wilderness have burgeoning takers in urban climes. “Hybrid well-being for me in the truest sense of the word is a perfect amalgamation of ancient real-life techniques and trends in today’s new-age lifestyle. We have been practising these for years in the hills, and these preparations are connecting with the people more, at an innate level now, with our revised focus on wellness. For instance, our aanchi ka tel (apricot oil) as it is locally called in Leh, where it comes from is a light, quick-absorbing vitamin E oil that has moisturising and skin lightening properties,” she shares. The Kashmir walnut oil is winning hands as is the locally sourced Gurbandi almond oil, with mint new mothers and their newborns.
“As our grandmothers practised with us, even now the precious mamma almond oil is relished by kids in their warm milk at night, and then even used as a scalp nourishing tonic,” she shares, of the exotic oils that are extracted by the age-old method of being cold-pressed. There are no chemicals, parabens or bleaching agents used which ensures each person using the oils or scrubs gets a freshness of the hills—some of the exotic nuts come from the Pir Panchal ranges, part of the Trikuta hills where the deity Vaishnodevi resides.
The Move
There is a greater emphasis on the right workings of the breathing techniques in yoga now than on the statistical rendition in a minute of a 100-odd suryanamaskar or simply signing up for aerial renditions of yoga. Even the Vijaya, also commonly known as cannabis, is fast gaining ground as an ailment zapper. Says Shivam Singhee, CEO and co-founder, Awshad, “The pandemic refocused our attention from our busy lives into looking inwards, compelling us to realise how fragile our lives are.
Working out every day, eating nutritious and healthy foods, taking the right kind of supplements and meditating can positively affect our wellbeing,” says Singhee, adding, “I struggled with insomnia for close to a decade and had tried all kinds of sleeping aids. I was wary of using the stronger medications for long because I was afraid of the side-effects and addiction, which was rampant in the US where I was studying at that time. That’s when I came across CBD or cannabidiol products that were gaining popularity, and the spark for starting Awshad happened,” he shares.
Tacit needs and relaxed serendipity are powering discoveries and innovations in that bid to realise well being, the true essence of holistic living Sure, Kareena Kapoor has expounded enough benefits of rubbing malai and besan all over the face for natural exuberance. But getting ghee into the vanity caddy is a revelation in slickly packed balms and creams. Nandeeta Manchandaa, founder, ENN Beauty explains, “While the world was running on the battery of chapsticks, our lip masks in jars changed the pout on everyone’s face. Ghee is a wonderful Indian superfood, synonymous with nourishment and auspiciousness. We understood the virtue of this ingredient and have been creating products that are loved by people in the Indian subcontinent. Our 100 times washed ghee moisturiser is based on the Ayurvedic recipe of shata dhauta ghrita and has the goodness of saffron.”
While the collagen- prompting cow milk, skin-plumping narangis, and bakuchial (rooted in the goodness of the complexion clarifying herb, babchi) leap up, there is a growing decided shift towards clean eating, balanced lifestyles.
As we begin moving towards bettering our physical and emotional elasticity, let’s also streamline the chemicals in our ecosystem. It is all a part of slow healing.
Quick tips
✥ Balance nutrition with your lifestyle
✥ Discover inner peace through schooling your senses
✥ Detox and reboot to trim urban rooted inflammation