Editor's Choice: May Favorites

Body. Mind. Soul. Joy.

Emotion of the Month: Joy

In the early 2000s, I walked into the Egyptian desert with a group of „seekers“ and Bedouins and did not come back the same person.

It was a vision quest, nearly a week hiking through the Sinai, sand and silence and sky in every direction. For the first few days, nothing came. Just the desert doing what deserts do: stripping everything away until only what is essential remains. And then, somewhere between one mountain and the next, it became clear. My vision. My mission. The thing I am here to do.

Bring joy. To my own life first. And then to other people's lives.

Joy is a practice, a direction, a form of defiance. In May - with more and more light returning, the body wanting to move, summer crouching just around the corner - joy feels closer to the surface than at any other time of year. We can feel it in our hearts, can’t we? This month, we are leading with it. Because why not? 

Soul food of the Month:

On being done with the nice-girl performance.

I have been thinking about rebellion lately. The quiet, personal kind. The kind that has nothing to do with grand gestures and everything to do with the slow, deliberate decision to stop shrinking.

For a long time - longer than I care to admit - I played by rules I never agreed to. Rules about how to behave, how much space to take up, how loud to be, how much to want. I was good at it or at least I was good at pretending. Most of us are. We are trained from childhood to be palatable, agreeable, easy. To make ourselves smaller so others feel more comfortable. And somewhere in the process, we lose the thread back to ourselves.

I am fed up with it. Fed up with a world that rewards performance over truth, fed up with the noise of people who have appointed themselves the authorities on how everyone else should live. The only antidote I have found - short of becoming a full-time activist - is to live as fully and authentically as possible. To take up my space. To say what I mean. To stop apologising for wanting what I want. Life is genuinely too short for the nice-girl act, and it took me far too long to fully understand that.

This is why I keep returning to Untamed by Glennon Doyle. I have read it twice and will read it again. It is the book that showed me, with uncomfortable clarity, how deeply conditioned I was  to make myself small, to follow rules that were never mine, to earn my place rather than claim it. Doyle writes about the cheetah - the wild animal pacing in a zoo -  performing tameness for an audience, having forgotten what she actually is. So many of us are that cheetah.

"You are here to decide if your life, relationships, and world are true and beautiful enough for you. And if they are not and you dare to admit they are not, you must decide if you have the guts, the right - perhaps even the duty - to burn to the ground that which is not true and beautiful enough and get started building what is.“ -  Glennon Doyle, Untamed

I am still finding my voice. Still working out which rules to burn and which to keep. Thank Goddess, I am further along than I was, and getting more comfortable with the unfinished nature of it all.

"When a woman finally learns that pleasing the world is impossible, she becomes free to learn how to please herself.“- Glennon Doyle, Untamed

Untamed is on the nightstand this May. If you have not read it yet, start this weekend. If you have — read it again. Something new will crack open. It always does.

Movie of the Month: Barbie

I have just re-watched Barbie for the third time last week.  It touches something deep in my heart and it keeps getting better and better. Beneath the pink and the humor is one of the most precise films made recently about what it costs women to perform a version of themselves the world finds acceptable and what becomes possible when they stop and fully embrace their power. Patriarchy fully exposed, thank you very much. Watch it as a companion to Untamed. The conversation between the two is worth having.

Movement of the Month: Lagree Pilates

I just started Lagree and I am genuinely surprised by it.

I have tried most things over the years - yoga, reformer Pilates, weight training, HIIT, long walks through Griffith Park which remain non-negotiable. Lagree is somehow different. It feels less like a workout class and more like a conversation with muscles I had forgotten existed. The method uses a machine called the Megaformer - essentially a heavily upgraded reformer - to create slow, controlled, high-intensity resistance work. The slowness is deceptive. You will feel it in places you have never felt anything.

What makes it particularly interesting for women over 40 is the resistance component. Muscle mass declines naturally with age, and maintaining it is one of the most evidence-backed things you can do for your metabolic health, bone density, and long-term independence. Lagree builds it without the impact on joints that heavier lifting can bring. It is resistance training dressed as something almost meditative, well almost. My body feels different after a session - more awake, more present, more mine.

If there is a studio near you, book one class. Go in with no expectations and feel what happens.

Supplement Spotlight: CoQ10 (Ubiquinol)

Your cells run on energy. That energy - in the form of a molecule called ATP - is produced inside your mitochondria (the power plants), and CoQ10 is one of the essential components that makes the whole process work. Think of it as the spark that keeps the engine running.

Here is what most people do not know: CoQ10 production declines naturally with age, and the decline accelerates after 40. At the same time, the body becomes less efficient at converting standard CoQ10 into its active, usable form - called ubiquinol. Which means if you are supplementing with standard CoQ10 after 40, you may not be absorbing as much as you think. The form that matters for women in midlife is ubiquinol specifically.

Research suggests ubiquinol supports cellular energy metabolism, cardiovascular function, and may help counter the cognitive and energy effects associated with hormonal shifts in perimenopause and beyond. It is also worth knowing that statins (for lowering cholesterol) - increasingly prescribed to women in their 40s and 50s - deplete CoQ10 levels directly. If you are taking one, supplementing with ubiquinol is worth a conversation with your doctor.

A typical dose is 100 - 200mg of ubiquinol daily, taken with a meal that contains some fat for better absorption. I take it in the morning alongside breakfast. It is one of those supplements where the effects are cumulative and subtle rather than immediate but consistency is the whole point.

Nourishment of the Month: Chia Gel & Strawberries

If chia gel is new to you, May is the month to try it.

Chia seeds are one of the most useful things in the kitchen - rich in omega-3 fatty acids, soluble fibre, and a small but meaningful amount of plant protein. When soaked in water, they form a gel that can go into almost anything: smoothies, soups, yoghurt, overnight oats, salad dressings. They add thickness without flavour, and nutrition without effort.

Basic Chia Gel
Makes 3 cups | Prep: 10 minutes + 6-8 hours to set

2 cups water
1/3 cup chia seeds

Combine chia seeds and water in a mason jar. Stir well and leave for 5 minutes, then stir again to remove any lumps. Refrigerate for 6–8 hours or overnight. Keeps for 7 days in the fridge.

Once you have your gel, the possibilities are many. This is the one we are drinking in May:

Strawberries and Cream Chia Drink

2/3 cup almond or coconut milk
1/3 cup fresh strawberries
1/3 cup chia gel
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
Liquid stevia to taste
Pinch of salt

Blend the milk and strawberries until completely smooth. Pour into a glass and stir in the chia gel. Drink immediately or chill for 30 minutes. Ruby pink, lightly sweet, and genuinely satisfying.

Did You Know: Chia seeds contain roughly 10g of fibre per 30g serving - around a third of the recommended daily intake. The soluble fibre forms a gel in the digestive tract that slows glucose absorption, supporting steadier blood sugar and longer satiety.

Recipe of the Month: Vegan Chocolate Mousse 

Our May recipe is a vegan chocolate mousse with fresh strawberry sauce — rich, deeply satisfying, and built on ingredients that your cells will actually thank you for. Full recipe coming shortly on the blog.

The HWell Takeaway

Joy is something you cultivate. You practice, protect, and sometimes fight for it. The desert taught me that. Glennon Doyle confirmed it. May keeps reminding us.

Move your body because it is the most alive conversation you can have with yourself. Take your ubiquinol. Make the chia gel. Read the book. And somewhere in the middle of all of it, ask yourself the question Glennon asks every woman who picks up Untamed: are you living the most authentic and beautiful life you can imagine for yourself? 

Celebrate it with all your might. May is a good time to start building a life you really love.

💚 Gaby

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