Global wellness trends have been evolving rapidly over the last decade, it is hard to keep up with it all. Here at the Orenda Collective, we have been doing a little bit of research into what is new for 2020….
Of course, there are hundreds of new trends. To mention a few:
- Forest bathing (yes you heard it right)
- Ear seeding
- Sound massage
- Clean breathing
- Nutritional Genomics
- Face workouts
But today we are going to focus on a broader trend. A trend that makes wellness ‘multidimensional’. We are breaking free from ‘Physical Wellbeing’ and moving to a more holistic approach, with the next biggest focus being ‘Emotional Wellbeing’.
A post from Well-to-do Global back in February quoted three things that brands could learn from the latest ‘Wellness Warriors’ and we want to use these statements to look deeper into the trends for emotional wellbeing and give you guys a heads up on what you could be implementing for your business.
Discard the narrow definition of what it means and looks like to be healthy
To get things straight, the shift to focus on emotional wellbeing does not mean that physical wellbeing is no longer important so don’t think if you are a personal trainer of fitness instructor that it is time to throw the towel in, you are still very much needed. Our health is just bigger than just physical wellbeing.
The ultimate view of health used to be eating clean, exercising intensely and putting a smile on your face no matter what was going on in your mind.
We are focused now on a more ‘Balanced’ approach to health. This is nothing new, we are always aiming for balance, and there have been murmurs about mental health a lot over the last decade but now we are seeing the wellness world around us incorporate balance in their classes. For example, Heal Haul in Brooklyn now offers classes such as “Breathwork for self-forgiveness’” and “Heart Coherence meditation”. Mindbody have predicted that “more fitness classes and wellness treatments will incorporate mindfulness and emotional healing—making it that much easier to commit to this important wellness dimension” and we agree.
We have started to accept and embrace our flaws and failures openly on a quest for a more realistic and inclusive approach to wellness.
The reason we are telling you this is so you can check in with your business to ensure you are in line with the trends (if you want to be of course).
A few things to ask yourself:
- Have you identified anywhere in your offering an element of emotional wellbeing?
- Are you offering a holistic approach to wellbeing? Would you like to be?
- Who are your target market and is emotional wellbeing important to them?
More help can be found in our help sheets in the Resources section.
Shift focus from wellness likes to wellness for life
The view of ‘wellness’ has shifted from the short wins of fad diets and intense training to a longer term focus on overall health. We are seeing lots of companies offering a bigger focus on overall health for example big corporations investing in employee wellbeing; our very own Emily works for ‘Lift Your Wellbeing’, which is one of very few companies building programmes specifically for employee wellbeing. But why are we seeing big corporations investing in their people? It is because the people are starting to care, they are starting to focus on one of the new wellness trends ‘Self-care’.
Self-care has become a massive buzz word over the last few years (it was the most popular app theme in 2018) and it has shown no sign of slowing down since. Meditation apps have seen growing popularity over the last few years but now we are seeing more people investing their time in prioritizing mental health practices. We are seeing people making more time to keep their minds as healthy as their bodies with activities like journaling, hobbies, meditation, and therapy, and spending less time on social media.
What we want to draw your attention to here is two things.
Firstly, are you taking care of yourself, in the midst of running your own business? Could you benefit from investing in self-care?
And secondly, is there anything your business could be offering to enhance the self-care of your clients?
See our resources for our help sheet on self-care.
Prioritise feelings over achievements
Our third focus is on prioritising our feelings over achievements. If we think about the sections above, we have become more open to understanding mental health and have a more holistic approach to our overall wellbeing. What these both have in common is that we are focusing on our ‘emotions’, on the way we feel and by being more aware of ourselves and our feelings we are taking a step away from focusing on rigid goals/achievements and instead are feeling big wins when we feel good, when our mind feels good. A large part of this is due to a more widely accepted view of allowing others the space to express and acknowledge one’s feelings.
What we want to highlight here is how you can incorporate this into your business and the goals you are setting yourself. We are all looking for overall happiness, right? When you are setting goals for yourself or your business that goal needs to ‘feel’ right as well as offer something that meets your customers need. If it feels right, you are going to put healthier energy into it and you will achieve it!
2020 is your year to focus on what you really want for yourself and your business, use the trends in the market to your advantage and offer a way for your clients to find splattering’s of emotional wellbeing, of long-term wellness goals and self-care within your business.
The Orenda Collective was put together to help us all make an impact to change the world in positive ways and we can’t wait to see how your businesses are going to evolve in 2020 to have a massive positive impact on the wellbeing space!!!
Abbie & Emily
