Alyssa Bereznak

in speaking about this stuff, I often reference a 2023 Pew poll.

They found that 22% identified as not religious, but spiritual.

And when they asked sort of follow-up questions to understand like what that even means, they said that like these people believed that you have a soul or a spirit in addition to your body and that there's something spiritual beyond the natural world and that there are some things that science can't explain.

The fact that there are people with these beliefs, but people who are also maybe revolving their lives less around the traditional pillars of religion opens up the space for wellness to sort of fill those cups.

These offerings, these wellness offerings are often marketed in a way that speaks to us much more.

I think about my mom who grew up Catholic and who says that she still has internalized the sense of shame and guilt that came with being a practicing Catholic in Washington.

her particular church and a place like a yoga studio or a breathwork session or a sound bath.

It's all about radical acceptance.

So I think in terms of marketing, the more capitalistic wellness offerings can sometimes have an upper hand because they're only appealing to the customer as opposed to telling them they did something wrong.

Shaming them into joining.

Our previous Surgeon General in his departing message said, like gave a prescription to America and said, we need more community.

Sort of focusing on those individualistic aspects of wellness, like is my body functioning well?

Am I fit?

Have I meditated today?

Like all of these questions individually do not solve this larger problem of community.

Like there is a capitalist motive involved.

in sound baths or yoga or selling a spiritual card deck or a crystal.

Like ultimately, that's what you're investing in.

You're investing in the companies or the organizations that sell these things as opposed to donating at church on a Sunday.

And that money goes back into a community to sort of support the community.