Sustainable Indian Party Wear – tips!

Posted on March 5, 2023 by Bhanu Misra Marya

I’m the QUEEN of re-wearing my clothes on social media! I wear the same dresses every summer and take pictures of myself in new places with them (and then post them to my grid). I will often wear the same OOTD, week after week until I know all of my friends groups and family members have seen it! I do the same with my Indian party clothes.

When you have many Indian events (birthday parties, anniversaries and weddings – which are like 10 events each) it can get expensive and also environmentally unfriendly! For that alone I try and get a good amount of wear out of my outfits.

Here are some of the tips to make good use of your Indian clothes for all of your events!

Indian Wedding Guest, Indian Party Wear, Sari, Lengha, Desi Clothes, OOTD, FItcheck, Outfit

Rewear your wedding lengha on Karva Chauth. For us ladies who celebrate – it’s the perfect excuse to re-wear the outfit you thought you would only wear once. I’ve worn my wedding lengha at least 10 times!
Switch up your blouses & chunnis! I think this is most versatile way of making use of lenghas. I’ve worn a western dress top as a blouse and also my mom’s vintage 1980’s blouse – it can completely change the vibe of an outfit
Learn to open a stitch and use fabric no sew hemming options: your body changes over the years. Being able to adjust your clothes on your own will save you both time and money.
Take advantage of dress rental companies: I’ve yet to do this but I think this is a great way of creating sustainability in your community.

Personal Power & Growth books on my TBR list

Posted on March 2, 2023 by Bhanu Misra Marya

I’ve always been an avid reader. And I mean reading reading. Not just rom-coms or chic-lit – those of which I know book-tok made popular but I can only take so much of. I mean biographies, business books, classics and of course sci-fis. I like to change it up! But more so I like to give my mind good ideas to learn and innovate from.

Right behind reading sci-fi, I always gravitate to personal power books (some times negatively referred to as “self help books”). I feel like they allow me to interpret myself and my experiences in a positive way. Also they give me self-awareness so I can make more optimistic decisions or take better actions towards a goal.

Personal growth books help me expand. Make me realize that we are more alike then we think but also dares me to go to places I’ve never been before (both in life and in my thinking).

From reading personal growth books, I’ve come to realize that life isn’t just about external validation but rather reflection and of a introspective growth journey.

Today I’m sharing a few “self-help” books on my TBR. Things to help me expand my brain & nurture an opportunistic mindset.

What personal growth books do you have on your TBR?

5 side effects of running (that no one tells you)

Posted on February 28, 2023 by Bhanu Misra Marya

As much as I love running and want to do more of it, use it to challenge myself through stretch goals and discipline – there are some things about running I haven’t shared.

Just a quick fun/sarcastic take on the others side of running!

You are usually wanting to sleep by 10am
You probably feel guilty on rest days
You are always recovering from running (baths, foam rolling & theragunning)
You are always hungry
You are always doing laundry!

Activities to build mindfulness into my day

Posted on February 27, 2023 by Bhanu Misra Marya

As a working mom, blogger, etsy shop owner, wife, home owner – I’ve become really aware of how mindfulness plays into my day. My ability to focus, being intentional, doing this without rushing and not multi-tasking. I know mindfulness is important to me because it’s helped me have a greater enthusiasm for life and higher self esteem. Read on to learn some activities I’ve started incorporating mindfulness to help me observe my thoughts & practice the art of leisure.

Mindful art / art therapy

I’m still guilty of multi tasking. But I’ve found when I’m making art (painting, mixed media, photography) I don’t actually multi task! Making art is a great way to express myself beyond words. It encourages us to be present in the moment & experiences, through noticing the sensations we are experiencing as well as how our art (the way the paint moves or how the picture I just captured looks on my digital display) responds to our input.

Listening to solfeggio music:

Ever step into a spa and feel immediately relaxed? Spas help you relax because of their environment. And part of that environment is the music! I recently found solfeggio music and how the different tones can help you promote benefits to different parts of the mind and body. The use of tones and frequencies music dates back to ancient Sanskrit chants (read: Om) but the modern science is fascinating. Apparently DNA become more healthy (ie show increased UV absorption) when they were exposed to different tones (such as the Sanskrit chants). Further research confirmed that the certain frequencies of the Earth’s ionosphere matched that of the human brain wave patterns! (Notably the frequency that encourages cell regeneration & healing) Most musical instruments were tuned to match the earth’s vibrational frequency so by default listening to solfeggio music (specifically designed to recreate the earth’s & human brainwaves) can help you feel at ease and change the your DNA!

Deleting social apps

Mindless scrolling is the most obvious of activities to remove from your day. I delete social media apps which immediately stops the scrolling for no reason. This then improved productivity because I am more focused!

Anytime gratitude & visualization as often as I can

Being able to take control of your self talk/the voices in your head is an important way to be mindful. Not letting negative self talk run a muck in your mind can be prevent by training yourself to see the good (have gratitude) and be positive (visualize something that would be help you think the opposite of the negative self talk).

5 things I learned from my running streak

Posted on February 19, 2023 by Bhanu Misra Marya

I did a thing! I committed to a running streak!

So ….what is a running streak anyway? Essentially it’s a certain amount of time where a runner commits to running with no days off. Running more than anything is a mind game. It’s not about how fast or how far you can run…it’s always about taking the first stride, then the next and the next. It it’s about constantly reminding yourself about you why and finding the discipline to keep going.

Before I get into some of what I learned, I wanted to share a little about my steak.

I ran everyday, no days off
I ran a minimum of 2km, most days 3.33km and at least 1 5km run
I ran outside and on my treadmill
I live by my Nike Run Club app – I love that I can track everything there, I love that it captures my run details, cheers and guides me through different runs ++ I can see all the cool accomplishments I make happen!

Okay so here are the top 5 things I learned:

New habits should be approachable on a daily basis
This means, your daily “to-do” run should be something you can do without thinking. Granted running requires different kinds of training (long runs, sprints/farlek, hills, cross training & recovery) but for a running streak you need be ready to go without having to think too much about it.
Learn to list to your body
I am intuitive by nature, but my body gave me stronger messages when I ran consistently. I think thats a very important skill (tool?) to develop. It also made me become more aware of functional fitness and exercises that weren’t heavy but helped to developed the way my body moved.
Do the hard thing first
When I got my run done in the morning, the rest of the day seemed to go much smoother and my mind was able to focus. The same happens when you have a personal morning routine (wake up early, meditate, journal, sunlight etc). Getting up (late) to only check email and hustle just doesn’t make sense.
You always do things twice, once in your head and then in real life
Same goes for running. You literally see yourself doing it in your minds eye before you actually do it. For me it was seeing the trails or sideways I knew I’d run before getting out there.
Somethings can be multi tasked (but not everything)
For me it was running an errand. LITERALLY! Being able to run to the store to pick up something and then running back home with that something was such a delight!

4 quotes to inspire your Art of Leisure journey

Posted on February 15, 2023 by Bhanu Misra Marya

I’ve known from a very young age that I wanted to prioritize leisure over everything. I just didn’t know what to call it. And it’s not that I lacked ambition, but rather the opposite. I’ve always wanted to maintain intentional balance in my life: from family to pursing heights in education, to career and fitness. The art of leisure gives you the opportunity to excel in everything without feel like you are missing something.

So what exact is the art of leisure? Well I guess we have to start with what is leisure. Leisure should be considered the main activity (and not a sedentary one). Leisure is the functional engagement in pursuits that create a sense of contemplation, silence & introspection. Leisure is pursued for its own benefit instead of some higher goal. In our current society, work is prioritized over leisure and almost everything has been converted into a side hustle. But the art of leisure is about doing things that make you feel good without necessarily delivering value to anyone else or provide you with monetary gain.

The art of leisure is a definitely a practice and sometimes a good quote can get you in the right mindset to begin you practice. Be sure to save these to Pinterest or better yet print them and put them around your workspace as a reminder to let your idle time be leisure time for yourself!