Getting enough sleep is one of the most important ingredients for your health and happiness. A good night’s sleep will give your body a chance to repair and keep your mood in check.

The duration and quality of sleep will have a direct effect on our energy levels and how well you function during the day. It is best to try aim for eight to nine hours of sleep a night.

Good quality sleep starts before 12pm and although we should be in rhythm with the seasons - going to bed when the sun goes down and waking up with sunrise - this can be near impossible when working and living as we do. Try putting these simple tips in place and see if a better nights sleep makes for a better day.

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Rachel Winard is the founder of Soapwalla Kitchen and its cult product the Soapwalla Deodorant Cream. As a brand which has avoiding synthetic chemicals at the top of it’s ethos list, who better to ask for tips on going CLEAN. Here, Rachel shares with us her 4 favourite ways of welcoming Spring….

Every Sunday, I open all the windows and fill my apartment with clean outdoor air. I always keep the windows open a bit, even in the middle of harsh NYC winters, but I love being able to make the indoors and outdoors as seamless as possible in a 2nd floor walk-up.

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Who better to write a guide for keeping it together that the author of the memoir The Elegant Art of Falling Apart. Luckily for us Jessica Jones put herself back together and shares with us her tips for staying sane. Follow Jessica’s guide and stay sane.

‘After decades of in-depth research and field-testing (read: cancer; addiction; car-crash relationships; financial disasters and occasional fashion faux-pas.) I have developed Jessy’s Patented Daily Stress Reduction Programme. It is oh-so simple and takes a maximum of 30 minutes out of my busy, busy day.

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This weeks COME CLEAN focus is on mind and mood and how we can positively influence keeping it on right side of cheery. In this post we look at how colour can affect our mood….

Artists, designers and some complementary therapies have long understood how colour can dramatically affect moods and emotions. Used well, it can be a powerful communication tool and can even create a physiological reaction, including raising blood pressure or increasing metabolism.

Colour can have a positive and powerful affect on our general health and well-being. The seven basic colours of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet are all associated with different energy centres of the body - known as the seven Chakras. Colour can be used to balance and enhance our Chakras and  to help stimulate our body’s own healing process.  It is often used to re-balance the Chakras that have become depleted of energy. » Read the rest of this entry «

How often during your day are you conscious of how you breathe? Stressful situations can often find us holding our breath or breathing in a shallow rhythm. But the way we breathe affects our whole body. We asked our yoga expert Michaela Olexova from The Baoli to explain the ancient practice of Pranayama.

Pranayama (or a controlled breath) is like your best friend. It’s there for you when you most need it, whether it’s to energise, de-stress, improve your concentration or control your emotions. Not only does correct breathing have enormous physical health benefits, it also has a huge positive influence on your mental wellbeing and helps you deal with stresses of today’s busy lifestyle.

It is therefore so important for all of us to learn the basics of a proper breathing which is primarily governed by the movement of the diaphragm. Your aim is to inhale deeply, drawing the fresh air in through your nose into your abdomen and into your lungs while your chest expends. The strong and energising inhalation is then followed by a long controlled exhalation, pushing the stale air out of your lungs and getting rid of the toxic waste.

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