The Joy of Giving No. 4: Your Moment of Peace

I have a tradition. Every Christmas - before, during or after the joyous festivities - I give myself a little gift: my moment of peace, tranquility and reflection. It can be as short as five minutes or a nice, long meditation session.

The Joy of Giving No. 3: DIY Turmeric Body Mask

Well, I have to admit I postponed this blog post to see what happens on this special Friday....so far, I'm still alive and kicking and the weather gods have just surprised me with light snowfall - what else can you wish for Christmas?

Since Christmas Eve is still "on", there's enough time for organizing or making last minute gifts. Today's DIY recipe is a wonderful, easy peasy Turmeric Body Mask. Why turmeric? This yellow spice does not only do wonders to your health but really improves your skin: it helps reduce pigmentation and the appearance of acne, increases elasticity and just makes your skin glow!

The Joy of Giving No. 2: DIY Pillow Oil

While family and friends were busy baking delicious Christmas cookies these days, I spent most of my evenings blending oils, creams, inhalators and body masks. So instead of vanilla, chocolate and sugar scents, our apartment was filled with Jasmine, Rose, Myrtle and Bergamot fragrances - very calming and soothing!

So, my DIY Christmas gift idea for today is a lovely pillow oil: just a few drops onto the pillow at night and your loved ones will sleep like a baby. Alternatively or simultaneously, this oil blend can also be applied on to the chest or neck area for extra relaxation.

Tea & Talk: Aromatherapist Shireen

Christmas is in exactly two weeks, so I thought it would be nice to give myself and of course you, my lovely readers, a pre-Christmas present! Yay! I'm very excited to announce that my wonderful aromatherapy teacher Shireen Calucin has agreed to sit down and share some of her vast knowledge with me.

Current Objects of Bliss...Christmas Bliss {1}

{Glitter Background by PuglyPixel}

So I'm officially starting the Christmas countdown with the first part of my top 5 favorite things for a blissful Christmas. Hope, you'll get inspired:

Why I love Thai Massages

{Nuad Thai}

Are you feeling the Holiday stress already? I do, but I think it's positive stress: crafting Christmas presents, scheduling Christmas parties and drafting my travel itinerary for Europe (tips for Berlin, anyone?) - all while humming the "Driving home for Christmas" tune. But recently my body gave me subtle signs of exhaustion with a cough and runny nose here and there. So, it's time for a break. My body requests exclusive pampering and undivided attention. After all, the coming days will be even more stressful.

The Joy of Giving No. 1: Delicious Sugar Scrubs

Yesterday I visited the first Christmas Bazaar of the month where I bought some handcrafted holiday decor and indulged in a cheese raclette especially imported from Switzerland; a tradition me and my Austrian/German expat friends enjoy once every year and really look forward to. This event also never fails to officially trigger my Christmas countdown mood for it means that my annual holiday back home with my family is very close. Only two more weeks and I'm back in good old Austria!

Current Objects Of Bliss...

My 5 favorite things for blissful living this week, you guessed it right, are heavily influenced by my Thailand trip - here we go:

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BYW Graduation & Blog Inspiration

While writing this post I'm enjoying a nice cuppa lemongrass tea from Thailand and listen to the heavy rain pouring outside. It's been almost a month since I've joined the BYW Bootcamp by Holly Becker and I kind of graduated....well, it simply means the course is over and now it's time for some reflection: What are the key things that I've learned? What and who inspired me?

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Chiang Mai: Redressing my equilibrium

Isn't it funny how things sometimes fall into place quite naturally? At first, they don't seem to connect or match, but after a while you realize it is meant to be that way. Please excuse my pseudo-philosophical ramblings today. It's just that I had one of these "aha" moments.

Tea & Talk: Physiotherapist Will

I planned to post this Tea & Talk a couple of days ago but unfortunately, the rush of packing and getting everything ready for my Thailand trip got in the way. But it's worth the wait because the following little chat is a very interesting one. Well, OK, I'm a bit biased because the interviewee is my brother-in-law.

Current Objects of Bliss...

Last weekend we went on a short getaway to Macau to enjoy the beautiful Banyan Tree hotel and its fab wellness facilities. The weather gods were kind enough to grant us two warm and sunny days so that we could still relax in the outdoor pool and on the lounging chairs. Albeit being stared at by Chinese gamblers in wool jackets who were just rushing by to reach the closest Baccarat table in the opposite Casino, we truly enjoyed a nice swim, the jacuzzi and complimentary servings of delicious chili prawns.

So here are the 5 things that made my weekend blissful:

Nighty Night DIY Shower Gel Zzzzzz

Upon request from one of my dear readers, I'll share with you an easy-peasy and fast DIY shower gel recipe. This one is for your relaxing shower at night before bedtime helping you to unwind and calm down after a long day.

Having a very sensitive skin, I shy away from any shower gels or baths you can buy at the beauty counter. Even if they claim to be soft on your skin and moisturizing, I find most of them chemical-laden. Hence I usually blend my very own shower gels. And instead of spending money on a big bottle with one scent only, I can mix it up depending on my needs.

DIY Shower Gel Recipe with Lavender and Bergamot Essential Oils (100 ml)

Exploring Hong Kong: New discoveries

Sometimes it's fun for me to explore Hong Kong from a visitor's point of view: discovering hidden gems, finding new places & spaces or just pretending to visit certain spots for the very first time.

I did this twice last week. Once with my girlfriend when checking out this brand new foot massage place in the Sheung Wan district. And the other time with my dad who just arrived in Hong Kong a few days ago for his vacation.

Current Objects of Bliss...

And here are my 5 favorite things for blissful living this week:

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Tea & Talk: Personal Trainer Lory

My little chat with the gorgeous Lory - my dear friend and kick-ass drill instructor - is the first of my new interview series where I meet up with people who inspire me to live a healthy, balanced and blissful life.

With a background in the fast and merciless fashion industry, Lory soon realized her true passion came to life when she was competing in ultra endurance races across the mountains of Hong Kong. So she traded handbags for backpacks and is now happily torturing her clients with burpees and cruel ab exercises. But they are oh so effective! Being very knowledgable about nutrition and healthy weight-loss, she also convinced me to go Paleo. I still remember when we were casually talking about our breakfast habits: I was gushing over my daily Viennese brekkie (coffee with toast, butter and jam) when Lory suddenly turned very serious and said: "This is not really healthy you know". Well, a in-depth talk about health, nutrition and exercise followed which left me inspired to change my eating habits.

Last week we met for a quick cuppa tea to talk more about her favorite healthy stuff:

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My first blog award!

Well, for today I had planned to do a DIY post but – sorry to disappoint you – this is not happening for the following 2 reasons:

- When checking my aromatherapy utensils this morning I realized I had run out of coconut oil. I’m serious, that’s not an excuse! Obviously, the time has come to start buying 1L bottles instead of 500ml ones. My aromatherapy teacher will be so proud!

- While eating my breakfast this morning, I got a tweet from the lovely Miranti from Pen & Peplum saying she nominated my little blog for the Liebster Award. Again, I’m serious; I’m not suffering from delusion!

So, according to the rules of the Liebster Award, I need to write a post answering 11 embarrassing interesting questions from the nominator, state 11 unknown facts about me and choose another 11 nominees for this award who have to answer my smart questions. Sounds fun, right?

Current objects of bliss...

So, I thought it would be a nice idea to share my current "objects of bliss" with you. Things that I love - some I own and some I wish I would - things that I find inspiring and things that simply give me joy:

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Yoga home practice: From procrastinator to addict

Photo credit: Yogaglo

For many years, I haven't been very keen on home yoga practice. My mantra was procrastination. I'd always find excuses for not rolling out my mat, even on weekends when it was really easy for me to squeeze in a nice, relaxing hour of yoga. Although I had tons of magazines giving me suggestions of  yoga sequences, it wasn't quite motivating for me to read first and then practice. I'd usually read the sequence, turn the page and keep on reading for another half an hour until every inch of motivation was gone. Even yoga dvd's became so boring after a while as I repeated the same sequence over and over again.

Sounds familiar?

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Foot Soak Indulgence: 3 easy recipes

When the days get longer and temperatures drop, I just love indulging in foot soaks. It's not only warming and soothing, but it helps me getting rid of any stress or worries. After putting my feet in the hot water for 10-15 minutes I usually sleep like a baby.

My Sunday: 108 Sun Salutations for Charity and a beautiful sunset

Wer hätte gedacht, dass ich jemals 108 Sonnengrüße in einem Stück vollbringe? Freiwillig sicher nicht, aber für einen guten Zweck gerne: "Off the Mat, into the World" und Organisatorin Vennes Cheng luden zum Charity Yogathon Event, dessen Einnahmen Opfern sowie Überlebenden von Zwangsprostitution in Indien und auf der ganzen Welt zugute kommen.

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DIY: My top remedy for neck & shoulder pain

self massage photo credit

Today is world arthritis day. Around this time last year, my doctor told me the shocking news that I - having just turned 31 - was suffering from early stage cervical osteoarthritis. At first I thought she had mixed up my X-rays. I mean seriously - arthritis is what old people have, like 60+ year olds or my grandma, right? 

But then it suddenly kind of made sense to me: this ongoing neck and shoulder pain, occasionally spreading out to my chest, stiffness of joints especially in the mornings - there had to be an underlying cause for these symptoms. One night, I could barely lift my left arm, I was crying because the pain was so excruciating. It was this incident that forced me to do a checkup.

"It will only get worse if you don't start doing something about it immediately!", my doctor warned me. So, how to prevent my neck and shoulder pain from becoming worse?

Ich bin ein Streber // I'm a geek...

"Bleistifte spitzen und Notizbuch raus!" - so werde ich seit gestern von meinem Blog-Drillinstructor Holly Becker von decor8 herumkommandiert. Und das ist gut so. Denn der von Blogging-Ikone Holly professionell gestaltete und - wie ich erfahren habe - fast schon legendäre e-course 'Blogging Your Way' ist für mich der perfekte Anlass, ins kalte Wasser zu springen (oder besser gesagt: gestoßen zu werden) und endlich meinen Blog zu starten.

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Blogger Glück // Blogger Bliss

...ein relativ unbedeutendes Ereignis im Blogger-Universum, aber ein großer Schritt für mich: mein geheimer Traum vom eigenen, kleinen Blog wird Wirklichkeit. Lange geplant, oft verworfen aber nie vergessen war die Idee, meine Interessen & Entdeckungen in einem Online-Journal zu sammeln und mit Freunden sowie weiteren Wellness-Fans zu teilen. Ich habe ja das große Glück, in einer Stadt zu leben, wo sich asiatische und westliche Heilmethoden treffen, sogar teilweise ergänzen. Mein Blog ist daher mein kleiner Reisebegleiter auf meinem Weg zu einem Leben voll Wohlbefinden, Ausgeglichenheit, Glück und Zufriedenheit....mit vielen Massagen und Verwöhnprogrammen! Ich bin ein Spa-Junkie :) 

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