I read an article called 'The Wellness Industry Has No Use for My Cancer Diagnosis'... Here is my response.

I recently read an article called 'The Wellness Industry Has No Use for My Cancer Diagnosis', by Sue Williamson.

As I took in the author's words, I found myself nodding my head... 'Wow', I thought. 'She's right'.

And it breaks my heart.

As I enter into my fifth year of working in the 'well-being industry', I've heard the same complaint may times, often spoken on tear-stained lips.
Williamson articulates it well: 'I thought I had found community. Then I got sick.'

The problem is, we've (yet again - hmmff!) turned health and the goal of feeling well, happy and healthy (however that appears to us!) into a commodity. The lure of money - moreover greed - yet again takes its siren-like seat at the head of the table, captivating souls and projecting a shiny, bright falsity over everything it comes into contact with. If the energy of Money were personified, I imagine her as a cruel mistress; with beautiful flowing jet black hair, a smile that could shatter a thousand hearts, and eyes so spellbinding they coat everything she casts her gaze upon in 'perfection'. 'Come here' she sings, 'everything will be perfect as long as you have me'.

Now this alone isn't an issue, but when it infiltrates what should be a basic, core human right such as health, we have a problem.

Our Western societies have become so used now to the image of health being matching Lululemon sports bras and leggings, the newest meal replacement shake, a £1,000 per month yoga studio membership and the perfect figure for #hotgirlsummer Instagram competitions, that for many people, 'health' feels completely illusive and unattainable. 

I've seen it, time and time again. Like the Mean Girls table of the canteen - if you don't look and act in this certain way, 'you can't sit with us!'... and this exclusive, judgemental, money-driven approach to health is only further promoted by the gyms, yoga studios and wellness centres that often promote their spaces with this exact target market in mind.

Of course, this is nothing new - Hindu cosmology would state that we are currently in the Kali Yuga stage of our turn around the Solar System - the furthest away from the Sun (source) and the lowest point of vibration for our whole planet, leading to a humankind led by greed, manipulation, ignorance and materialism.... which feels like it makes sense!

As the original article outlines, this hot girl wellness summer also only appears to apply if you are in fact not only already 'hot' (what does that even mean?!) but also already 'well'.

While inclusivity is becoming more considered, yoga teacher trainings still have a tendency to teach for a very specific clientele: light skinned, 12 stone or under, and able to bend into a pretzel. Even the more inclusive trainings rarely offer completely alternative options for traditional yoga asana such as chair yoga - this is something you have to seek out yourself and pay more money for extra training after the fact.

Many teachers don't feel comfortable working with somebody in a wheelchair, for example, as they don't feel equipped with enough knowledge to feel able to safely support that student - which is a fair concern and, I would always argue, much better to err on the side of caution if you feel you don't know enough - aiming to either learn/train more or to direct that student in the way of another teacher who might be able to support better.

Equally, I know of a few massage therapists (as in Williamson's original article) who don't feel comfortable to treat people with cancer, or with other specific illnesses or diseases. Then there's the concern about client's suing if something were to go wrong, which in this day and age is a real, major concern! Some therapies aren't even covered in insurance for cancer diagnosis.

The Cambridge Dictionary outlines the word Wellness as 'the state of being healthy, especially when it is something that you actively try to achieve', but it appears to me that the state of being healthy is often depicted as only something you have access to achieving through natural means if you already have the funds, health (...) and very particular lifestyle to accommodate it... Which feels like complete and utter - pardon my French - b*llocks!

So, how can we change something, if the people who are in the most desperate need of accessing these alternative natural therapies are feeling alienated and even more alone in their healing journey? I've been there myself as I'm sure many people have: desperately needing something to change but unsure where to start. Needing to slow everything down and possibly work less but unable then to financially access the support I need as it's not covered on the NHS.
On top of that, I can't imagine how isolating it must feel to be told 'you're too unwell for me to help you to feel well'.

I truly believe it has to come through a shift of awareness in society, and that has to come from a shift of priority. While we place health as a commodity, we view it as a luxury. When we view it as a luxury, the intention of the service becomes primarily focussed on money and aesthetics, and less focussed on health as a basic human right. We (and our governments) need to place health as the foundational layer that everybody has access to, rather than the shiny medal at the top of the podium when you've climbed the career ladder high enough to be able to afford it.

And before anybody starts with 'but we need to be able to make money from our services', I agree. Do I believe we should give everything away for free? Absolutely not. Our skills and expertise deserve to be fairly compensated, but there should be an equal balance of inclusivity in the arena, I think, which currently there's not (or at least it's not easily discoverable).

Through this societal shift in what we prioritise, then perhaps the focus of teacher trainings / therapy trainings would shift back to the body/mind/soul of the individual, rather than just the certification, or the Instagram filter. On real sustainable health that doesn't discriminate, and that looks at each person as a 'whole', and so is able to treat the person from a bottom-up approach, and that doesn't just turn a blind eye to people who desperately need to feel held, and heard, and seen, especially in their hour of pain.

We need our expertise to be seen and known about, and we need community within our fields, over competition - to bring the focus back home to healing over money - and to share our voices. This way when somebody comes to us as practitioners with an illness or health concern that we don't feel equipped in that moment to deal with, we have a pool of people we can turn to to say 'hey, how can we help this person?'.

No person should ever feel like they are untreatable or beyond help and support - this is a hill that I'm willing to die on... But we all have responsibility to play a part in that. To become more aware, more inclusive and more together in our approach to health.