En Es
Are We Consuming Wellness... or Learning How to Live?
  • Carolina Gaviria Salazar
    journalist and communication strategist

"You can’t cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water" .Rabindranath Tagore


A few years ago we started counting our steps, then calories and then hours of sleep. Today we count minutes of meditation, glasses of water, yoga sessions, conscious breaths, ice baths and pages written in a diary. Never before have we invested so much time and money in the concept of "feeling good".
And yet, never have conversations about anxiety, burnout and mental health taken up so much space in our everyday lives.
Well-being has become a trend.
Perhaps the most interesting question is not why it is fashionable. Perhaps the real question is: Are we learning how to live... or are we just consuming well-being?
For years we thought that the wellness movement was born within Instagram, podcasts or luxury retreats. In reality this movement is much older. More than two thousand years ago, in India, there were already philosophical systems dedicated to answering questions that continue to haunt us today: how can we live with less suffering? How can we train the mind? How can we find balance in the midst of chaos?
Long before there were meditation apps, smart watches or viral morning routines, texts such as Patanjali's Yoga Sutras proposed yoga not as a series of physical postures, but as a way to quiet the mind and better understand one's existence.
Ayurveda, developed more than 3,000 years ago, understood health as a balance between the body, the mind, food, the environment and daily habits, a vision that is gaining relevance today even within the World Health Organization, which in 2022 inaugurated its Global Center for Traditional Medicine in India to promote scientific study and the responsible integration of this knowledge.¹
Meanwhile, the global wellness market has not stopped growing. According to the Global Wellness Institute, the wellness economy reached a value close to $6.3 trillion in 2023, and could surpass $9 trillion before 2028.2 Never before have so many people been willing to invest in products, experiences and services related to feeling better.
Paradoxically, this growth coexists with another fact that is difficult to ignore. The World Health Organization estimates that about 970 million people live with a mental disorder, with anxiety and depression being two of the most frequent conditions in the world.³
However, it does not state that yoga, meditation or wellness practices don't work. Quite the opposite. Scientific evidence has shown important benefits on stress management, attention and emotional well-being.⁴ What happens when a philosophy ends up becoming a product?
In many Indian traditions, well-being was never an end in itself. It was a consequence of living with greater awareness, cultivating inner discipline and understanding the relationship between the self and the world. Yoga was not born to tone the abdomen. Meditation did not arise to increase labor productivity. Silence was not a technique to sleep better. They were paths of personal transformation.
The West did something extraordinary: it managed to democratize many of these practices and bring them closer to millions of people. But it also did a curiousthing: they turned them into an industry.
Today we can buy incense with same-day shipping, download apps that promise inner peace in seven minutes, attend weekend retreats or measure our calmness through a smart watch. And there appears a paradox that is difficult to ignore.
We live surrounded by tools to slow down... but we feel like we never have time.We consume wellness content for hours... while checking our cell phones hundreds of times a day. We are talking about presence... but it's getting harder and harder for us to stay present.
Perhaps the problem is not that well-being has become popular. Perhaps the problem is that, along the way, we keep the rituals and forget the philosophy, because meditating is not simply about closing our eyes. Doing yoga is not just about stretching the body. Writing in a diary is not just about filling pages.
All these practices were born to answer a much deeper question: How do we want to live?
I believe there is a lesson that India has been trying to teach us for centuries: well-being is not something that you buy, nor an application, nor a trend. It is a way of relating to ourselves. And that difference, even if it seems small, can change everything.

References:
  1. World Health Organization (WHO). WHO Global Centre for Traditional Medicine. https://www.who.int/initiatives/who-global-centre-for-traditional-medicine
  2. Global Wellness Institute. 2024 Global Wellness Economy Monitor. https://globalwellnessinstitute.org/industry-research/2024-global-wellness-economy-monitor/
  3. World Health Organization (WHO). Mental Disorders. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/mental-disorders
  4. National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NIH). Yoga: What You Need to Know. https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/yoga-what-you-need-to-know
  5. Patañjali. Yoga Sutra. (Classical text of yoga philosophy, c. 2nd century BCE–4th century CE.)
  6. Charaka Samhita. One of the foundational texts of Ayurveda (c. 2nd century BCE–2nd century CE).
You May Also Interested
Middle East Conflict 2026: External Shock, Domestic Pressure — A Survey-Based Assessment of Economic and Food Security Risks
The evolving phase of the Middle East conflict in 2026 is no longer perceived as a distant geopolitical disruption. For countries across the Global South, it is increasingly experienced as an immediate economic and social reality—one that travels through energy prices, supply chains, and household consumption patterns.
Venezuela at a Strategic Crossroads: Crisis, Perception, and Pragmatic Realignment
This expert survey, organized by a Social Research Center, examines Venezuela’s current situation, which reflects a complex intersection of internal institutional strain and a shifting global order defined by strategic competition, energy security, and geopolitical recalibration
Lula, Markets, and the Indian Factor in Brazil’s Economic Strategy – 2026
In 2026, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva faces a paradox that has become increasingly characteristic of emerging market democracies
Holi in Latin America: Diaspora Heritage, Cultural Adaptation, and the Festival of Colors as a Bridge Between India and the Americas
The Hindu spring festival Holi has long been recognized as one of the most vibrant cultural celebrations originating from the Indian subcontinent.
Latin America–India Relations Toward 2026: Strategic Diversification, Electoral Variables, and the Expanding Security Nexus
This analytical assessment is based on a structured expert survey conducted by the Social Research Center, bringing together twelve specialists from Ecuador, Peru, and Costa Rica across fields including international relations, public administration, academia, business, and supply chain management. The survey examined the evolving trajectory of Latin America–India relations toward 2026, with particular focus on economic diversification, geopolitical pressures, electoral dynamics, and the growing role of mercenarism in shaping regional and interregional security environments.
Venezuela at a Critical Juncture: Expert Perspectives on Political Change and Regional Stability
he developments that unfolded in Venezuela on January 3, 2026 did not occur in isolation, nor did they arrive as a sudden rupture. Instead, they intersected with longer-running regional trends—political polarization, contested governance, migration pressures, and renewed strategic competition in Latin America.
From Amritsar to Brazil: How One Indian Yogi Has Spent 15 Years Building a Spiritual Bridge Across Continents
This interview is based on a survey conducted by a Social Research Center documenting Indian cultural ambassadors and diaspora voices in Latin America.
Are We Consuming Wellness... or Learning How to Live?
A few years ago we started counting our steps, then calories and then hours of sleep. Today we count minutes of meditation, glasses of water, yoga sessions, conscious breaths, ice baths and pages written in a diary. Never before have we invested so much time and money in the concept of "feeling good".
Latino Fiesta: A Ritual of Cultural Transmission from Generation to Generation
Loud music, a conglomerate of silhouettes of legs moving with great rhythm over rustic tiles of vivid colours, the invasive smell of a banquet about to be served, prepared by a network of expert cooks gathered in a house's kitchen
Is Latin America Really Becoming More Right-Wing? Citizen Frustration Behind the New Political Map
In recent months, several Latin American countries have held electoral processes in which centre‑right or right‑wing candidates have emerged victorious.
The New Frontier Is No Longer Wealth. It Is Knowledge
For much of the twentieth century, we learned to divide the world into two categories: rich countries and poor countries.
India's Recent Tariff on Colombian Coke Leaves a Lesson for All of Latin America
India's decision to impose an anti dumping tariff of US$118.55 per tonne on Colombian metallurgical coke is not only a heavy blow to one of Colombia's most important industrial export products.
The New Map of Power is no Longer Drawn With Oil. It is Drawn With Lithium, Copper, and Rare Earths
"While the world continues to talk about oil, the real geopolitical race has already changed its protagonist. And Latin America is sitting on one of the largest reserves of that new power."
Synthetic Drug Cocktails Overtake New Substances as the Primary Health Threat in Latin America
A report from the Inter-American Drug Observatory reveals that the market is no longer defined by the emergence of new compounds, but by toxic and unpredictable combinations spreading at hemispheric speed.
Colombia Doesn't Need Less Polarisation. It Needs More Emotional Intelligence.
Every time elections approach, Colombia seems to enter a state of war. Not a war of ideas, but a war of identities.
Are We Educating Children for a World That No Longer Exists?
While a ten‑year‑old child can use artificial intelligence to solve a task in seconds, many schools continue to assess them as if memorising information were the most important skill of the 21st century.
Show more