My Favorite Things: Mirrors & Within - the Salon

I arrived in India on Dec 10 fatigued from my year of career ups and downs, motherhood, wifehood, househood, and the many other things that kept me busy, fulfilled and stressed during the year. Got on the plane at Dulles airport with a ten day old manicure, ten days since my last eyebrow grooming, carrying around weight I didn’t want but stress and exhaustion placed around all the wrong places, and the will to let go, release, escape into the sky and a new warm land.

We left the snowy chill of the US and Europe behind, landing in Bangalore on a balmy (chilly for them) day, pre-dawn . A few days of sleep, good food and walks in the fresh air, and I was eager for one of the highlights of every of my visits to India: the Mirrors and Within beauty salon in Bangalore.

Located in the Galleria of the Leela Palace Kempinski Hotel, this salon is a gem for me for several reasons. Foremost, the people. In particular, two women who manage and run the place: Mary and Pushpa. I first came to know them more than ten years ago when I first began traveling to India to visit my parents with some regularity. They were, at the time, at the beauty salon in Bangalore’s Oberoi hotel. When the new Leela Palace was opened, I was lucky enough, through my mother and her friends, to find them again.

I always get hair color,highlights, style; eyebrow threading, manicure and pedicure. Mary and Pushpa personally attend to me and this year, to Adriana who for the first time at this salon, also wanted a manicure and pedicure. The head and neck massage during the shampoo alone restored me- I felt negativity and stress seep out of my body and out the door and probably for the first time in the year, I fully breathed, relaxed my shoulders, unburdened my brain and softened my jaw. No worries,no cares. It was one of those times of purely being in the moment because nothing was more interesting nor compelling. To feel completely cared for, completely beautiful, fully connected and at peace – that is what I want to carry with me in this new year. Thank you, my friends Pushpa and Mary. Thank you, India.

PHOTO OF ADRIANA AT SALON from phone