Hi besties,
Harriet here, and what a week it's been! I turned 41 on Friday š and landed back in Dubai after three pretty extraordinary days at a Joe Dispenza retreat in Switzerland.
As a trained rapid transformational therapist and hypnotherapist, this work is at the heart of everything I do professionally. But as often happens when you spend your life in a space, it can be easy to operate from the head rather than the body - knowing the theory deeply while the lived experience quietly takes a back seat. This retreat was a beautiful reminder to come back to that. And more than anything, a powerful reminder of just how extraordinary our brains are. I've come home feeling energised, inspired and with so much to share - but that deserves its own space. More soon. š¤
Speaking of which, a few of you have been asking us to share more of the bigger wellness events happening further afield. Think retreats, immersives and international experiences genuinely worth travelling for. We hear you, and we'll be sharing more of those here on The Wellness Drop too. š (On that note, we have just ONE spot remaining for our next luxury wellness immersion at JOALI BEING in the Maldives! Click HERE for all the details, and simply reply to this email if you'd love to join us.)
We've also been busy over on Instagram! You loved part one of our wellness gadgets series so much that we've gone and made a part two. And, for those of you who have been following the saga, a very important update: Harriet has FINALLY managed to get her hands on the Mirumi Robot bag charm. (Three days at a manifestation retreat and look what happens. Make of that what you will. š)
Back in Dubai, the weather is FINALLY starting to turn, and we are HERE for it. This week's Local Lowdown is stacked with events worth leaving the house for, so scroll down and get something booked while the temperatures are kind.
And over in the Wellness Wire.. this is a week you donāt want to miss. We're diving into the HYROX story that's been stirring up controversy in the wellness world, the activewear wars heating up, whether AI can finally solve meditation appsā drop-off problem, and why men are quietly having a wellness awakening. Plus plenty more.
Let's get into it.
With love (and a slightly jet-lagged but very full heart),
Harriet x
šĀ Organic Foods & CafĆ©
The food shop weāll happily take the kids to
You know when you go in for a few things and somehow emerge with a full trolley? Thatās basically us at Organic Foods & CafĆ©.
It gives us that nostalgic London organic supermarket feeling. Loads to browse, brands you donāt always find elsewhere and approximately 47 things you suddenly decide you absolutely need.
But the real reason we keep going back? Itās actually quite fun with the kids. There are mini trolleys for them to push around, play areas at selected locations and cafĆ©s too, so you can turn the weekly shop into a bit of a family outing rather than something everyone is trying to escape from.
WHAT WE ACTUALLY GO FOR
First up: the meat.
We rate it so highly. Katie stocks up on the beef mince every time. Genuinely the best sheās found in Dubai. Itās become one of those things we buy in bulk and chuck straight in the freezer. OFC also has its own in house butchery.
Then, obviously, the kidsā snacks.
School lunchboxes are a full time job at this point, so anywhere that makes the weekly snack stock up easier gets our vote. Thereās loads to choose from for lunchboxes, after school snacks and the inevitable āMummy, Iām hungryā approximately seven minutes after leaving the house.
Gluten free girls, this oneās for you.
Thereās a genuinely good gluten free selection, which means you can actually browse and find new things rather than staring at the same sad three options.
And the gluten free chocolate brownie mix is a WINNER. They are RIDICULOUSLY tasty and such an easy dessert to take to a dinner party when you want to turn up with something that tastes homemade without actually having to do very much.
And then come the extras you absolutely did not go in for: fresh produce, supplements, skincare, household bitsā¦ you know how it goes. OFC carries everything from groceries and supplements to personal care and home essentials.
AND IF YOU REALLY CANāT FACE A SUPERMARKETā¦
They also have an app and website with two hour delivery, which frankly feels like important information on a school night.
THE WELLNESS DROP VERDICT
One of those shops that has quietly become part of our regular rotation.
Go for the meat, freezer stock up, kidsā snacks, lunchbox bits, gluten free finds and the brownie mix. Stay because your child is pushing a tiny trolley around like they own the place and youāve somehow ended up having a coffee.
And we have a little perk for you too: use WELLNESS15 for 15% off on the OFC app or website. You can use the code up to three times and it canāt be combined with other promotions.
This weekās plans are looking particularly fun. A restorative yoga session that comes with a WHOOP, a sober rave, face yoga with 111SKIN, the return of the sauna party and a silent disco run followed by pancakes. September is certainly not going out quietly. Hereās whatās made our shortlist this week. š¤
šæĀ Recovery Ritual + A Month of WHOOP
Wednesday 23rd September, 6:00 PM ā 7:00 PM
HWH Studio Delano
Restorative yoga, breathwork and essential oils, with a WHOOP thrown in for good measure. Youāll receive a device with a complimentary one-month membership, so you can actually see what all that resting is doing to your recovery. We do love a wellness ritual with receipts.
To book, click here
šŖ©Ā Upaya: The Conscious Sober Rave
Saturday 26th September, 4:00 PM ā 7:00 PM
Sohum Wellness Sanctuary
A sober rave with ceremonial cacao, soulful house and a Boiler Room-style dance floor? Weāre listening. Come early for the icebreakers, stay for the music and grab something from Sohumās kitchen afterwards. Boho chic is encouraged and little ones can come along too.
To book, click here
āØĀ Sound & Sculpt: Sound Healing + 111SKIN Face Yoga
Saturday 26th September, 6:00 PM ā 7:00 PM
HWH Studio Delano
Sound meditation followed by face yoga with 111SKIN might be our favourite kind of facial. Youāll start by switching off before moving through targeted facial exercises to release tension, get the circulation going and work those facial muscles. Thereās ALO gifting at the end too. Sold.
To book, click here
š Full Moon Cacao & Sound Healing
Saturday 26th September, 6:00 PM ā 7:30 PM
Samadhi Wellness
If your ideal Saturday night involves cacao and sound bowls rather than cocktails and a late night, this oneās for you. Expect a Full Moon-inspired cacao ceremony followed by sound healing and a little time for reflection. A very different kind of Saturday night plan.
To book, click here
š„Ā The Sauna Party Is Back: LOAM x Rejuven8
Saturday 26th September
Rejuven8, Dubai Marina
The sauna party is back for round two. Think sauna rounds, cold plunges, mushroom elixirs and music, with only 14 people getting a spot. Basically Saturday night plans, wellness edition. If you missed the last one, hereās your second chance.
To book, DM @loamblends
š§ Silent Disco Run + Pancakes
Sunday 27th September, 8:00 AM
Boxica Palm
Running, but everyone gets silent disco headphones. Much more appealing. Take it at your own pace, listen to the shared soundtrack (or your own playlist if you prefer), then head to Neighborhood Cafe afterwards for coffee, pancakes and a proper Sunday catch-up. We could be persuaded to run for pancakes.
To book, DM @boxica or find the session on ClassPass
Ā INDUSTRY TRENDS AND NEWS
šŖĀ GymNation Just Put Emergency Gym Passes on the High Street - and We Love It
GymNation installed "Break Glass" emergency boxes on high streets across Dubai, Riyadh, Jeddah and Bahrain, each containing free three-day trial passes and one instruction: "In Case of Overpriced Membership, Break Glass." A QR code did the actual work - 2,678 scans in 48 hours and a 67% jump in new membership leads. It was rooted in real insight: their 2026 regional fitness report found 58% of non-gym-goers cite cost as the single biggest barrier to joining.
Our Take:Ā After the Muscle Thobe and the Class in the Dark, GymNation continues to be one of the most creative fitness brands in the region. This one we're fully here for. Making fitness genuinely accessible isn't just good marketing - it matters.Ā
Read More
šāāļø The HYROX Story Everyone's Talking About - and the Debate It's Opened
By now you've probably seen it. At HYROX Beijing on 12th September, a world champion athlete experienced bowel incontinence mid-race and continued competing, finishing first. The incident has since been handled - she retroactively withdrew, forfeited her points and issued an apology. What we're more interested in is what it revealed about HYROX as an organisation. Amateur athletes have been disqualified from HYROX events for spitting, yet in a situation where there was a genuine hygiene risk to every competitor following on shared equipment, no official intervened. That inconsistency is striking. As the sport scales toward Olympic ambitions with 1.4M participants globally, the question isn't really about one athlete's decision in an extreme moment - it's about whether HYROX has the protocols, the trained officials and the clear governance to handle situations like this appropriately.
Our Take: New rules are apparently now in place. Good. But for a sport growing this fast, robust athlete welfare protocols aren't optional - they're essential. The conversation HYROX needs to have is less about what happened on the track and more about what happens in the room when officials face a call like this. šāāļø
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š§āāļøĀ Headspace Just Got Acquired - at a Fraction of Its Peak Value
Sword Health, the AI-powered musculoskeletal care platform, has agreed to acquire Headspace in an all-cash deal valued at around $300 million. That number tells its own story: at its peak, Headspace was valued at $3 billion. The deal brings one of the world's most recognised meditation brands under an AI health platform - with Sword hoping to integrate mindfulness into its broader care model. It's a significant moment for the mental health app space, and potentially a smart one: combining Headspace's brand trust and content library with Sword's AI infrastructure could be genuinely powerful.
Our Thoughts: We love Headspace - and meditation absolutely works. But retention has always been one of the industry's most persistent challenges. People download, try it for a few weeks, and quietly stop. Whether AI can solve what human-led content couldn't will be the real test of this acquisition. We're cautiously optimistic.
Read More
šøĀ Evvy Just Raised $40M to End the Era of "Unexplained" in Women's Health
Evvy just secured a $40M Series B to expand its vaginal microbiome platform across women's care. The numbers speak for themselves: their AI-powered platform delivers accurate diagnoses to over 90% of symptomatic patients, in a category where women typically face misdiagnosis rates above 50%. Now serving 100,000 patients and 3,000 practitioners, the platform is expanding beyond vaginal health into fertility, preterm birth, gynaecological cancers, PMOS and menopause -with a vision to make vaginal microbiome testing as routine as a Pap smear.
Bottom Line: Every "unexplained" complication in women's health is just an incomplete picture. Evvy is building the infrastructure to complete it. The vaginal microbiome is one of the most underutilised biomarkers in medicine. US only for now - but watch this space for international expansion.
Read More
ā½Ā On Just Made Its Biggest Move Yet
On - the Swiss performance brand that built its empire on running shoes and a cult following - just officially entered football, signing Kylian MbappƩ as global ambassador. And not just any signing: MbappƩ is exiting a 20-year partnership with Nike to join On, alongside tennis star Sydney Joy Schertenleib and newly appointed director of football Thierry Henry, who will shape product development. On is extending strategically beyond running into tennis, IRONMAN and now the world's most popular sport - all in pursuit of becoming "the world's most premium global sportswear brand."
Our Take: Now this is a statement move. On has spent years building credibility through performance and aesthetic - and football gives them the global stage that running, however beloved, never quite could. MbappƩ leaving Nike after 20 years for a brand that didn't exist 15 years ago tells you everything about how quickly On has arrived.
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š®Ā TREND TO WATCH
šļøāāļøĀ The Activewear Wars Are Getting Interesting
The activewear market is still growing - wellness spending intent is up 17% and 94% of wellness consumers buy clothes to move in - but the double-digit growth era is over. That slowdown is forcing every major brand to fight harder for relevance, and the strategies couldn't be more different. Nike lost $200B in market cap and fell out of the S&P 100, now going hyperlocal while simultaneously confusing everyone with SKIMS collabs. Lululemon hit an eight-year stock low after leggings sales dropped 20% (turns out Gen Z wants baggy silhouettes!) Alo is quietly upselling lululemon's original persona with Kylie Jenner and branded yachts. On is going the opposite direction - avant-garde, artistic, cultural cachet through Zendaya, Loewe and Erewhon. Athleta is going all-in on feminism. Adidas is winning culturally with TimothƩe Chalamet and Bad Bunny.
Our Take: Activewear has become an identity play rather than a product one. The brands winning aren't just selling leggings - they're selling a version of who you are. Katie rounded up some of her favourite athleisure picks on the grid this week if you need some inspiration - go and have a look.Ā šĀ
Read More
š¬Ā RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT
šµĀ Men Are Quietly Building More Intentional Lives - and the Data Is Fascinating
Pinterest just released its 2026 Men's Trend Report - and it paints a really interesting picture. Gen Z men now drive 62% of male search activity on the platform, with searches up 17% year on year. And what they're searching for tells its own story: "running club" up 749%, "offline hobbies" up 551%, "vinyl listening room" up 407%, "wellness retreats" up 83%, "easy woodworking projects" up 316%. Men are planning retreats, building analogue hobbies, creating dedicated spaces to sit with records and simply be present. Less optimisation, more intentionality. The broader context matters too. Men are more likely than women to be lonely, suicide rates are up 25% since 2001, and the lifespan gender gap has grown from 4.4 to 5.9 years since 2016. Wellness culture is only just beginning to genuinely build around men's needs - and this data suggests men are already quietly building it themselves.
Our Thoughts: We're a women's wellness newsletter at heart - but most of you have men in your lives you care about. A world where they feel equally able to prioritise their health, seek connection and build intentional lives? That's better for all of us. We're watching this shift with genuine warmth. š¤
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