My experiments with woo wellness
The Hindu
From sound baths to clearing chakras, many rituals are getting popular for that post-pandemic aura makeover
I began writing this story on a full moon night, right after a conversation about tantra on Clubhouse. If 2020 was the year of reality checks, this year I’m running away from this dystopian world, indulging in sound baths, charging crystals, clearing chakras, cutting chords, manifesting, earthing, and dabbling in white witchcraft. I’m obsessed with the school of woo-woo wellness, which is sometimes seen as magical but mostly as pseudoscience or an alternate belief system, thereby eliciting skepticism and several eyerolls. It doesn’t help that Gwyneth Paltrow is its poster child, with her ear seeds, ice plunges, jade eggs, and vaginal steaming. But even though people love to hate woo and Gwyneth, I love them. Why? Because this type of wellness is more playful, palatable and doable. And while some people recharge with a vacation, I like to explore new rituals.
Covid-19 has amplified the need to get better, shifting priorities from work and money towards physical, mental and emotional health. Because of this reason, the wellness industry in general is seeing an upswing. According to a 2021 McKinsey report, the 1.5 trillion-worth global wellness market is growing at 5-10% every year, with 72% respondents believing wellness is important and 42% making it a top priority.