Does the Wellbeing Industry provide a real response for spiritual renewal?
Answer. Yes. Part One of Two
A social change currently takes place, barely noticed by those caught up in the ongoing political, social and economic crisis. Year by year, this crisis of priorities affects more and more of the global population.
Personal and social wellbeing have significance for all citizens on this Earth.
There is a response going on. This two part article addresses developments and details shadows in the wellbeing industry.
Headings
A Spiritual/Global Crisis
How does the wellbeing industry compare with other global industries?
What does the wellbeing industry offer?
Reaction of the Medical Industry
Wellbeing in Totnes and Comittment in the Family
See What Works for You
Principles of Non-Duality Apply
A Personal, Spiritual and Global Crisis
We abide in the midst of a personal, spiritual and global crisis. Science, religion, politics and conventional health services seem to have little to offer as the means to address this crisis.
The search for a depth of wellbeing, interconnectedness and spiritual values abide outside the scope of science/politics/religion/psychology. Our major institutions seem tied down to self-interest and ongoing resistance to transparency.
The wellbeing industry does not have THE answer to the crisis but I believe it is making an important contribution.
We need a fundamental change of consciousness in our relationship to life on Earth. Desires in the form of consumerism, blame and fear have become our dominant states of mind producing suffering for the individual, others and society. We witness an ongoing destruction of the natural world, loss of habitat and decimation of one species after another.
I believe the wellbeing industry has the capacity to make personal and social change for the welfare of one and all.
How does the Wellbeing Industry compare with other Global Industries?
Take a look at the financial figures of growth of the wellbeing industry in a decade from 2015-2024. Wellbeing industry has doubled its size in the UK since 2015. A similar significant growth has continued in other wealthy countries.
The current market size of $6.3 trillion in 2023 represents 6% of global GDP rising from $4.9 trillion dollars in 2019 – despite the impact of the lockdown during the period of intense Covid between 2020 to late 2022. Economic forecasts shows the wellbeing industry will approach $9 trillion within five years.
THE GLOBAL WELLBEING INDUSTRY IS NOW
• 60% the size of global health expenditure
• More than three times larger than the global $1 trillion pharmaceutical industry
• A larger industry than information technology
• Larger than the sports industry
• 30% larger than the Green economy.
There is much information on the website below on the wellbeing industry www.globalwellnessinstitute.org/press-room/statistics-and-facts/
The above website states the Global Wellness Institute (GWI) is recognised as the leading source for authoritative wellness industry research.
China, Germany, Japan and USA experience a significant growth in the wellness industry. We witness a global phenomenon leaving behind other industries struggling to maintain their share of the market. UK market in wellbeing industry expanded 15% (second only to Mexico) in the space of two years.
What does the wellbeing industry offer?
First, the industry offers a remarkable diversity of approaches to physical-mental-spiritual wellbeing, with an expanding range of resources, especially from Asia. I know this from experience having spent about 12 years in Asia, mostly Thailand and India, including periods of sickness, pain, weight loss and infections.
Alternative medicine came to my rescue, possibly life safeguardingm and conventional treament. I experienced a venomous snake bite at the edge of a remote rice paddy in Thailand. I paid the price for relying on moonlight to see my way. The antivenom injection may also have kept me alive. Asia has a long history of diverse practices for healing, harmony and renewal.
Those who dismiss wellbeing as a fad, a superficial relevance and out of touch with the real world, reveal a state of mind clearly disconnected from the resources of the wellbeing industry.
Wellness of heart, mind, body and spirit has become a priority for more and more people trying to resolve suffering/pain and make sense of life. In some prominent countries, wellness ranks as the foremost priority.
More and more people trust in their first-hand experience. If they experience sudden changes/transformation, or take gradual steps, bringing about a welcome change, they have no need to rely on medical science, often intent on undermining their experience. A person’s experience is their authority, not social scientists, not scientists in white coats.
Reaction of the Medical Industry
Generally speaking, medical science in the West continues to undermine other forms of reducing/ending of suffering and pain. The medical establishment will dismiss healing power found elsewhere - from genuine shamans (religious or otherwise) to herbal medicine
Big Pharma spends big sums of money to make every effort to discredit complementary/alternative medicine and wellbeing practices. Those employed in a range of medical establishments experience as much pain and suffering as any other category of people. They also turn to alternatives ways for their wellbeing.
Scientific researchers may come under the influence of their paymasters in shaping the results of treatments to develop wellbeing. Unwelcome results from scientific research, revealing direct benefits from another kind of treatments, may get squashed.
Big Pharma and medical science can store away such information in a file, possibly in a remote corner of a harddrive, named Not for Publication. Scientific evidence can appear in the public domain when it supports a view the business sees the benefit for themselves.
Wellbeing centres, often located on the high street or in the nearby countryside, aim to provide a quality of attention to the challenge and experience of the individual or group. Renewal and healing can come through one-to-one consultation or the group with a coach/trainer/teacher.
The consultation time with a doctor in the UK is 10 minutes. Sometimes, the patient gets much less than that. One in 20 patients may have to wait four weeks to see a doctor for less urgent health issue. Meanwhile, the health issue can get worse for the patient waiting weeks to be seen.
The wellbeing model of quality time and quality sharing stands in sharp contrast to a visit to your local medical health clinic.
Do medical scientists always get it right? The infliction of isolation/lockdown on the entire population had a painful impact for many and a time for wise reflection for a few.
Did the lockdown work? Did it spread the virus or reduce the spread? Shoppers carried the covid virus back into their homes, where the virus could land on objects or in the air for two or three hours in small spaces – toilet, bathroom, hallways, kitchen, bedroom, one room flat and more.
To safeguard people from infection, would it have been prudent of medical science to encourage people to maximise time out of doors in fresh air? A person could spend time alone or with others, not infected with a virus, while keeping metres of space from citizens in exploring their local area.
Why don’t we now continue to encourage people to spend more time outdoors for exercise, renewal and connecting with people, habitats and the natural world?
Lockdown triggered a deep wish for many to join small groups. Wellbeing centres provide the opportunity for participants learning much from others, as well as their teacher, coach or guide. Lives change for the better through shared experiences.
The cost of attending a group reduces the cost of a one-to-one with equally transformative power possible in the group. Groups for wellbeing are rarely available in the privatised world of medicine and psychology.
Wellbeing in Totnes and Comittment in the Family
I have lived since 1982 in Totnes, well known for its progressive and creative initiatives, spiritually, socially, politically and economically.
Totnes (population 9800) in south Devon launched the first Natural Health Centre in the UK in the mid 1970s, much funding came from Ruth Ash of Sharpham House, Ashprington, outside Totnes. Situated in the high street, the centre planted seeds for the immense growth of practices for wellbeing in a diversity of ways.
Here are a few ongoing Totnes and area activities - Consciousness Café, Reeconomy Centre, spiritual bookshop, Natural Health Centre, Dartington Estate, Steiner School, Gaia House Buddhist Retreat Centre, Sharpham House, Transition Town Totnes, the Barn Community and events in St. Mary’s Anglican Church in the high street.
Reconnect Magazine for Totnes and south Devon devotes itself primarily to wellbeing. The bi-monthly A4 size glossy magazine has numerous short articles on and advertisements recognising the diversity of needs for wellbeing.
During lockdown, posters, flyers and meetings faded away but the town gained a rebirth. You will see today more than 150 - 200 posters on poster boards, walls and windows. Nearly all have a direct connection with the wellbeing for the individual, the group and the many.
What one small town has accomplished in a generation or two can serve as a role model for towns and cities.
Mindfulness programmes occur in schools, prisons, clinics, hospitals, charities and businesses.
2.
Nshorna, my daughter, was brought up in the radical culture of Totnes. She is the CEO/founder in 2021 of the Wise Lotus Centre, London Colney, a beautiful village outside St. Albans, Hertfordshire, 25 minutes on the train north of London. Her wellbeing centre offers a range of sessions, classes, workshops and courses. See:
In August 2024, Nshorna posted on Ticktock, a 20 second clip on her mobile phone of her first session of teaching Floating Soundbath. Nshorna gave a session in a local swimming pool including mindfulness practice, Tibetans bells, horizontal stillness on an air bed on the water with reiki therapy for participants.
To her surprise, 20,000 viewed the clip within a matter of hours. She added further short clips after more floating soundbaths. Views went up by 100,000 in a day.
Before the end of August, 3.6 million had viewed these short clips. A floating soundbath or another kind of session may spark an ongoing spiritual quest for the deep welfare of oneself and others.
This is a testimonial on Nshorna’s website after a floating soundbath.
"Thank you so much for last night. I suffer from severe insomnia. I slept from 10pm to 7am this morning. The first full night's sleep in 9 years!"
Mel, Herts.
See What Works for You
Cynics may dismiss such approaches to wellbeing. Sometimes a total change of activity changes the energy and consciousness, a depth of calm and clarity with staying power. Sometimes the first step is the everlasting step of the exploration of the human experience supported by wise counsel.
You are encouraged to explore diversity of wellbeing. See what works for you.
Sessions range from hourly rates, to cheaper costs per person in a group, to teaching on donations.
When the pandemic faded from the public mind, the focus on well being centres grew in leaps and bounds.
Often with shop fronts, these centres, big or small, are often within easy access in the centre of a city or town, To a degree, wellbeing centres have replaced the church and the clinic, as the first point of call for peace of mind and healing. Those who join a session, a course or a programme may experience a significant improvement in their quality of daily life.
Wellbeing centres have an important social role to devekop. Teachers /facilitators in centres can encourage participants/clients/patients to make use of medical facilities in the private and public sector. This might include health screenings, annual or biannual health checkups, checkups for seniors, blood pressure, blood tests, urine tests and more.
Principles of Non-Duality apply
In basic language, principles of non-duality mean the absence of feeding projections and prejudice into becoming identified with approaches in wellbeing and rejecting surgery, prescriptive drugs and medical treatment or vice versa. Successful alternative treatments can sageguard patients from side-effects in the approach of the medical industry.
Wellbeing practices often offer a preventive approach to sickness, pain and suffering, as well as healing elements. We cannot rely exclusively on Big Pharma and the medical industry for healing and health. Diagnosis continues to be a strength in medicine but with nowhere enough emphasis changing the primary/secondary causes and conditions for pain and suffering,
Causes/conditions arise due to behaviour, states of mind and environmental impact from specifics, such as pollution, accidents, a virus, grief or aggression.
May the wellbeing industry and the medical industry develop a depth of service to society with wellbeing for those engaged in public service, as well as patients, clients, practitoners and citizens, young and old.
Part Two of Two includes a list of 101 approaches to wellbeing and details shadows in the wellbeing industry.
Thank you,, Christopher, for this comprehensive article! all good. Ros Langdon.