The Wellness Revolution

First published in The Australian Newspaper
Republished November 2004 in Sunday Magazine

By Ruth Ostrow

When the King of Decadence - Lou Reed - was touring Australia last year he shocked his audiences, not with ‘sex, drugs and rock'n’roll’ but with something stranger.

In the middle of one of his Gothic, druggie songs, he gestured to an austere man in white who walked on stage and began doing advanced Tai Chi. “This is my Master,” Reed announced to wild cheers, as if he were introducing some exotic cross-dresser.

Reed, who for decades walked the wild side of our minds, had suddenly crossed the street. He was walking down the road of fitness and well-being. “I train with him every day,” he said, as fans roared their approval.

When rock stars start peddling discipline not decadence to the masses, we know that ‘the times they are a changin’. And they are. It’s being dubbed the ‘Wellness Revolution’ and pundits are tipping the trend to good living, healthy eating, prevention-not-cure philosophy, and all forms of wellness – body, mind, relationships and soul - will be worth a trillion dollars in the U.S over the next decade, and $75 billion in Australia.

The New York Times lead its business section late last year with the nascent trend. “Wellness,” it said, "a broad term for the multibillion-dollar arena that includes things like vitamins and Pilates exercises”- is the next big money spinner.

Marketers scrambling to have their businesses associated with this bourgeoning umbrella movement are calling it “the next Dotcoms”. The target market cuts right across the demographic spectrum, from GenXer’s and yuppie puppies to baby boomers who refuse to age and who are eagerly taking up the eastern mantra: “The body is the temple of the soul”.

Like cultural icon Lou Reed seems to have discovered, it took a lot less work to keep the temple in good condition twenty years ago. Now the narcissistic “Me” generation has no choice but to trade place-mats for yoga-mats, and cappuccino hits for wheatgrass shots, if they are to keep worshipping at their own altar.

As for the younger generations everything about them is beaming good health. No longer singing the anthem “gaunt is good!” the anorexic, victim-look is fast becoming as passé as suntans.

“Healthy” is the new “sexy”. Rock babes like Christina Aguilera have curves and attitude: “I am beautiful no matter what they say, words can’t bring me down!” she bellows through gleaming teeth in a show of emotional wellness. Supermodels like Linda Evangelista and Elle are allowing themselves to sport a few extra kilos, Christy Turlington, Gwyneth Paltrow, Naomi Watts talk about yoga as a religion, whilst icons like Madonna profess a balanced lifestyle which incorporates spiritual health through mysticism and prayer alongside emotional and physical health.

Sharon Skeggs, a director at the international advertising giant Saatchi & Saatchi says gone are the perfect, manicured models who used to represent what women and men yearned for. “Now the models we use are healthy looking, with confident, natural beauty. Women are more womanly, the bum is back. People are identifying with women who are comfortable in their bodies and minds. Gorgeous means healthy, with warm smiles, being content with who you are, being emotionally healthy as well.”

Meanwhile you can’t watch a TV commercial without an over-emphasis on health – shampoos no longer just make your hair shiny they are enriched with fruit proteins that “penetrate your shaft”, whilst face and body creams “penetrate your epidermis” so deeply, they are almost out the other side. Fast-food chains now have salad or fat-free options on the menu, and even bed manufacturers are targeting the osteopathic benefits of a good mattress over the naughty ones.

Skeggs says a hip marketing buzz-word is “nutra-ceuticals” - where nutrition meets pharmaceutical falls in love and marries. “This is the hottest trend in U.S marketing. You take a normal product like a soft drink, add herbs, and voila! create the image of a healthy carbonated drink, or you take margarine and make it out of olive oil. Everything we use or consume in the future will be health-friendly.”

Leading magazines like Time and The Bulletin are turning their covers over to meditation, yoga and downshifting. As Skeggs points out, “mental” and “spiritual” wellness are going to be as big as physical wellness, in the coming boom. Even in the cut-n-thrust world of advertising, Saatchi & Saatchi have started offering free meditation classes to staff.

The “Boomer Consumers” are now entering their most productive spending years. The kids have left home, but they’re still on big incomes and their houses have skyrocketed in value since they bought them.

No advertisers worth their iodine-free salt is going to let that dollar slip from their grasp. Especially with national Complementary Healthcare Council president, Christopher Dean, claiming that the number of Australians now using complementary medicines and services (including naturopathy, iridology, reflexology) at least once a year has doubled in the past decade, to around 60 per cent of the population, or a 14 million people.

All over the country, the whirr of juicing machines purrs alongside coffee grinders in café bars, as customers increasingly opt to start their days with a regime that is liver-friendly, whilst a plethora of new businesses – like The Bondi Wheatgrass Juice Company which supplies over 140 cafes and bars Australia-wide - start up to take advantage of the bucks.

After their wheatgrass hit, these happy chappies scoot off to work – which isn’t what it used to be. As evidence of how Wellness is permeating mainstream culture, the word “holistic” – once a fetishist term describing a small sub-section of the community – is now the catch-cry across the conservative corporate world.

Major companies around the country like Nokia, Flight Centre, IBM and Lend Lease, are increasingly treating staff to a range of “nourishing” Health & Lifestyle services under the banner of employee benefits, including free yoga classes, art classes, personal-growth seminars, even advice on how to manage personal finance and mortgages so staff can sleep well at night.

The point is that if staff are happier, and healthier, they’ll be more productive and there will be less absenteeism or resigning. IBM’s WorkLifeBalance includes flexi-working arrangements so people can spend more time with the family or at play. The company, a recognised leader in holistic work practices, maintains that when a person’s whole life is working, then that individual becomes a more creative asset all around, and everyone wins.

Mark Aponas, Flight Centre’s Global HR Manager, says the rewards to his company are obvious. Sick days have decreased by 25 per cent since introduction of the wellbeing program, and staff turnover is dramatically down, saving the company in excess of $250,000 per annum.

In the U.S where the Wellness movement is already worth $200 billion in product and service sales a year according to the New York Times, celebrity gurus are jumping on the bandwagon.

Wellness super-nova Dr Deepak Chopra is opening Chopra Centers at resorts around the country, TV psychologist Dr. Phil is busy putting his brand on everything from weight-loss products to relationship kits. Self-help multi-millionaire Anthony Robbins is involved in manufacturing natural and organic products.

The same enthusiasm is showing here. In his new book, "The Next Trillion," Paul Zane Pilzer, Reagan administration economist turned wellness guru – who regularly visits Australia - estimates that our national industry is currently worth $12-$15 billion in sales a year and will expand five-fold over the next seven years as baby boomers splurge on ways to feel better, and slow the effects of aging.

Our own identities are eager to follow their American counterparts. Antonia Kidman, mum of three, has launched a range of yoga videos preaching balance and a way to have it all. Greg Chappell is positioning himself to be one of health’s most passionate champions. He says: “I do believe this is going to be one of the biggest trends in the western world, as the focus changes from the “Sickness Industry” and treating sickness via the medical professions and drug companies, to the area of preventative medicine.”

Chappell, who’s health and fitness manual for men became an overnight best-seller, says he’s stopped on the street daily by people wanting to discuss his views. His new Internet site - dedicated to a holistic, healthy approach to cricket and lifestyle - had almost 2 million hits in its first year.

“Average people are hungry for well-being. They want to learn. Anything to do with wellness, including psychological wellness – such as anger and guilt management - is going to thrive, and I want to be at the forefront.”

Paul Zane Pilzer says: "People are tired of being manipulated by the ‘Sickness’ and related Fast-Food industries. About 60 percent of Australians and Americans are overweight due to bad diet and habits. Illnesses that come from poor nutrition fuel the “cure-it” industry.

“We are ready for prevention and for longevity,” he says. And the Wellness Revolution he is promoting certainly appears to be in excellent health.

Ruth Ostrow’s latest book is on matters of BodyMindSoul is called “Sacred & Naked” (Hardie Grant Publishers)