You don't hate holistic wellness.

The terms.

Wellness - “The act of practicing healthy habits daily to attain better physical and mental health outcomes, so that instead of just surviving, you're thriving”

Holistic - “characterized by the treatment of the whole person, taking into account mental and social factors, rather than just the symptoms of an illness.”

AKA: In regards to wellness, a slur.

Aesthetic - “Concerned with beauty or the appreciation of beauty”

AKA: In regards to wellness, a celebration.

The Perfect Wellness Routine

Let’s imagine your “perfect” wellness routine. You wake up after 8 hours of sleep, drink a glass of water, use your red LED light mask, and go through your aesthetic dental care routine. How you make your dental routine aesthetic is beyond me - but you somehow find a way. Then you proceed with a $300 skincare routine which will last you 3 months, and a clean-girl, simple makeup routine. (With the feature products being Dior foundation mixed with Rhode Milk - a trend you just saw on TikTok).

Now, this is a great routine. Just add cameras and it’s ready to go viral on social media and perform incredibly as a little square pin on Pinterest. It’s perfectly aesthetic - exactly what you were going for… Far from what your mother would do in her holistic wellness routine. But are the two so different? Maybe they aren’t - and it’s vital we, as women, shift that perspective. 

Let’s go through what holistic wellness really is, the standards that are presented with it, and how (in addition to the holistic wellness trends we see today), you can implement more practices into your routine that will not only make your wellness enhanced but your routine more aesthetic - if you can believe it.

LIGHTS, CAMERA, WELLNESS:

You either find matcha deliciously intriguing, aesthetic, and perfect, or grass-like and dull. Despite this black-and-white outlook, it’s the perfect example of holistic wellness resurging in a very unexpected way. It was a traditional ceremonial tea until brands and influencers like Matilda Djerf and Emma Chamberlain started serving it in neutral ceramic cups, perfectly positioned next to their journals and MacBooks. Suddenly, everyone started drinking matcha. 

No, really - the industry is growing rapidly, set to hit $2.2B valuation by 2028. So why are we obsessed with holistic tea from the 1100’s? Not because it suddenly became more effective – it's the same matcha it's always been – but because it became aesthetic - and filmable. 

The same thing happened with a gua sha. This traditional Chinese medicine practice existed for centuries, but it only went viral when it got the clean girl aesthetic treatment. When influencers started showing how to incorporate it into an aesthetic morning routine, suddenly everyone needed a rose quartz gua sha tool.

I'm a Pinterest addict.

And - let’s talk about Pinterest! If you’ve been following along with Club Studios for a while, you know this is our favorite place to pull data from because it really encapsulates the effect of aesthetics on Gen Z specifically. When 42% of Gen Z uses Pinterest, and according to Pinterest, searches relating to “aesthetic wellness” grew in popularity by 235% last year alone, we know one thing: It simply reigns supreme when influencing wellness culture.

So, it’s safe to say that this commodification of wellness - from influencers promoting it to a large percentage of Gen Zers searching it to shop on Pinterest - is pretty addicting. It’s okay - we won’t judge. We’re probably addicted to aesthetics too.

So... Why is this harmful?

We know that at this point, holistic wellness has been on the rise - it’s just been using a different name. “Mindfulness” and “self-care” are really taking over the words for this space we call wellness. And, in turn, the term holistic is left in the shadows - forgotten about by our generation. And, this is backed up by fact, too - the National Institute of Health found that the word “holistic” has an inherent negative connotation. It’s seen, to our generation at least, not modern enough - not new enough, and by extent - not clean girl aesthetic enough.

Gen Zers aren’t forgetting about wellness, they’re just missing huge aspects of it that could seriously benefit their health. So, let’s do a little word education:

Holistic wellness doesn’t mean “unaesthetic wellness practices”, it actually has to do with multiple wellness practices - physical, mental, and spiritual - all working together to make you as a person more well-rounded, balanced, and focused

By ignoring the term “holistic”, we miss out not only on holistic wellness practices - but a better, more balanced approach to wellness that aesthetics simply don’t offer.

3 words: Women need this. A survey conducted by the American Holistic Health Association found that 75% of women who practiced holistic wellness reported improved mental health, including reduced symptoms of depression and anxiety. In addition, women who prioritize holistic wellness practices that target physical aspects of well-being, like acupuncture, are more healthy overall and have less chronic pain. 

While aesthetic wellness is incredible for short-term photos, maybe some self-care TikToks, and satisfying your pinterest-addicted mind, there are more aspects of wellness that need to be destigmatized. Holistic wellness CAN be filmed - let’s just reframe our minds.

I'm in! How do I do it?

If you’re looking for ways to integrate more holistic wellness into your routines, without it being gross or cringey, we have a few tips!

Firstly, come up with a new name for it. If holistic is still embedded in your mind as a bad word, we get it. You can try adding “aesthetic” to it, or you can simply retrain your mind to find it as appealing as just “wellness”. Whatever you choose - the stigma stops here!

Now that you’re warmed up to it, like all other practices in holistic wellness that are popular today, make any given practice aesthetic. We all know that you don’t want to have the same routine as your grandmother - despite it possibly being a very safe and effective wellness routine. So find little ways to make it more pinterestafiable. (Yes, we know that isn’t a word - but it seemed fitting!)

All of us can do this; in fact - it’s time for me to do it too. Coconut oil, used for the practice of oil pulling - a holistic teeth whitener - has been sitting in my online shopping cart for weeks. And, of course, it’s because the bottle just wasn’t “Pinterest” enough. It wasn’t giving Goop. But, the important thing to realize is that it’s up to you what you make aesthetic. In this instance, when I get the coconut oil, I can simply put it in a different jar! (Gwyneth Paltrow would be proud)

EVEN MORE TIPS!

Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. These are some more methods that can destigmatize holistic wellness practices:

1. Treat the process like any other wellness trend you’ve seen online. They truly aren’t that different! Just because you’re drinking Ningxia berry juice and not matcha, you’re still being aesthetic by just caring about yourself. Remember this: what makes a trend online is how it makes you feel. Self-care is always going to feel good - so be empowered by the fact you’re actually taking care of YOU!

2. Instead of being addicted to the aesthetic - become addicted to the results. While relaxing on an acupuncture mat like the BioMat isn’t exactly filmable, the results are incredible - and those are where the aesthetics come in. Embrace the practice.

3. Commit to the practices you like, and leave the ones you don’t. Getting into holistic wellness doesn’t mean that you’re leaving all the aesthetics behind, deleting Pinterest, and going to live on a farm. There can be both! Harmoniously, in fact.

YOU CAN DO THIS!

It’s time to look past our aesthetic-driven mindset and see what wellness truly is. It’s not a trend. It’s not a Pinterest vibe, and it’s not supposed to be as complicated as refusing a practice just because of its name.

Holistic wellness is valuable, and with enough de-stigmatization, we can make new practices - not just already aesthetic matcha - incredibly normalized!

Think of it this way - you’re simply hopping on a trend before the rest of the celebrity it-girls pick it up, and if that doesn’t convince you to try out at least one of these trends right now, I hope it one day will. It for sure is making me more accepting of oil-pulling. (Maybe I’ll even vlog it)

You owe this self-care to yourself.

Xoxo, 

Ella, Club Studios