The total home-spa experience

We can all do with slowing down a bit. Life is not a race. So silence the phone, shutdown the computer, unplug the TV and put the world on hold.

With very little effort, you can give your home the feeling of a top-notch retreat. A place in which to pamper yourself, relax, refresh and recharge.

The secret to achieving the home-spa effect, lies in creating a total sensory experience.

Sight: Lighting is key to establishing an instant atmosphere of calm, quiet contemplation. Keep it low and moody. Draw the curtains and shut out the world, switch off the overheads and create inviting pools of light with a lamp or two. Enhance the ambiance by firing up a few well-placed candles. There is nothing quite like the flicker of flames to set a meditative mood...

Whether you're looking for plain and simple pillar or taper candles to group decoratively on your coffee table, ornamental tealight holders to dot around the house or some exotic lanterns, you'll be spoilt for choice at THE One.

Indulge in their unusual AELLA hanging tealight holder or their Moroccan-inspired TOUJDA hanging lantern with its arabesque cutouts, to produce a dappled firelight effect dancing across the walls.

Smell: Never underestimate the importance of aroma. Scientific studies have proven that certain fragrances have the power to evoke feelings of relaxation, exhilaration, sensuality, happiness and even self-confidence, thanks to stimulating the olfactory pathways to the pleasure centre of the brain.

So, think 'aromatherapy' for your home to create an air of fragrant harmony and blissful wellbeing. Let it filter into your mind and pervade your soul.

From scented candles and diffusers to aromatic oil burners and room scents, your options are endless.

THE One's YIN & YANG range of diffusers, for example, is available in eight fragrances blended with fruit and herbal extracts, lasting up to four months. Or why not try their all-new MOSAIC catalytic diffuser for an evolved perfuming process?

Simply fill the mirror-finished glass bottle with your favourite essence, light the wick, snuff it out and the fine fragrance will fill the air! While you're at it, give their new eco-friendly scented soy wax candles a whiff. Containing more than 50% natural soy, they help reduce our dependency on crude oil... Soothing in every sense.

Sound: Compose a personalised soundtrack to complete the peaceful picture. Besides setting the tone with your favourite chilled out background music, the gentle murmur of water bubbling from a mini fountain will help melt away stress and strain. If you're in search of some new music for the 'new you', treat your ears to THE One's EARGASM double CD compilation.

As for Taste and Touch, once the scene is set, brew yourself a nice cup of herbal tea, curl up in a fluffy bathrobe (THE One has some super Bamboo ones) and fill up your senses with your very own Total Home-spa Experience!