Inclusivity is a word that is bandied about in the wellness industry, as individuals and companies work to acknowledge and address the inequalities that exist in society and the unequal access to resources and opportunities that marginalized communities face. “It’s no secret that the wellness industry caters to upper-class white women,” says Ariane Resnick, a special diet chef, certified nutritionist, and wellness expert. “However, all genders need wellness, and people in marginalized communities who have the least access to it need it the most.”
Resnick also points to ways that companies in the wellness space often miss the mark, such as a particular wellness app that focuses on a body part of people assigned female. “The app excludes trans women, all while having a claim on its website about how they don’t tolerate transphobia,” says Resnick. “So many wellness companies miss the mark in huge, harmful ways.”
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While there isn’t a one-size-fits-all prescription to even the playing field, there are many ways to improve access and inclusivity. “In order for the wellness industry to be more inclusive, we need to raise awareness outside our own zip codes, gender, ethnicity, economic status, age, size, and shape to share the tools we have as teachers and business owners to creatively provide access to wellness,” says Anna Haddad, a yoga instructor and founder of ONEYOGAHOUSE. “We also need to expand our awareness of what wellness looks like. We need to make it easier for our communities to experience and observe what other people and organizations are doing to make wellness more inclusive, because it means different things to different people.”
Provide Access to Nourishing Foods
One way the industry can promote inclusivity is to rethink how it addresses healthy eating. Prioritizing a healthy diet can seem like an expensive proposition to many, as organic and farmers’ market produce are typically more expensive than their processed counterparts. People also confuse costly health food brands, pricey protein powders, and expensive clean-eating meal plans as being necessary to a healthy diet.
“We need to change the dialogue about what eating healthy means,” says Resnick. “It doesn’t mean you need 100 superfood powders in your morning smoothie or having the time to make your own nut milk. That’s privilege, not health, and the two are currently very conflated by the wellness space.”
Make Wellness Offerings More Accessible
In recent years, it has become apparent that not everyone has the same access to health and wellness offerings. It’s no surprise that the wellness industry has struggled with the inclusivity issue. Fortunately, there are many in the industry who are tackling uncomfortable topics and bringing them to light.
Anusha Wijeyakumar, a wellness consultant, motivational speaker, and author of Meditation With Intention: Quick & Easy Ways to Create Lasting Peace, wrote an eye-opening piece for InStyle, titled We Need to Talk About the Rise of White Supremacy in Yoga. Earlier this year, Glamour also published Yoga’s Got a Racism Problem and Jessamyn Stanley Knows You Don’t Want to Talk About It. Stanley is a yoga instructor with nearly half a million follows and author of Yoke: My Yoga of Self-Acceptance. In these articles and others, we’re seeing the industry face a reckoning that it doesn’t always practice what it preaches.
However, many in the industry are striving to change that. Kim Knight and Shanelle McKenzie, founded The Villij, a wellness community for women of color to feel seen and heard. The affordable and culturally adapted digital wellness platform for women of color provides access to a community of BIPOC wellness practitioners, on-demand and live movement classes, guided meditations, wellness workshops, and conversations about wellness.
“We created The Villij to uplift women of color,” says Knight. “After meeting in the corporate world, we connected through our shared experiences of navigating wellness spaces that lacked accessibility and representation.” Realizing that communities of color were underserved, Knight and McKenzie decided to create the change they wanted to see.
“Through our digital membership, Inner Villij, women of color can access yoga classes, guided meditations, fitness classes, mental health workshops, healing circles, and community,” says McKenzie. “It is authentic, approachable, culturally adapted, and most importantly, accessible.”
According to both Knight and McKenzie, making wellness more accessible and inclusive to people of different walks of life needs to be prioritized. “Wellness companies and practitioners can begin by recognizing their role in the harm they may cause,” says Knight. “It’s important to understand the privilege and the systems that support it. They can also go out into different communities to learn and unlearn. Only then, can the wellness industry begin creating spaces, services, and products that reflect our society in its entirety.”
Market to a More Diverse Audience
One of the biggest roadblocks to access is the fact that underserved communities often don’t feel welcome in the wellness space. Resnick suggests brands think about the visuals they use on their platforms. Representation matters. “They can ensure their branding includes all bodies, not just that of young, thin, white women,” she says. “Wellness brands can create products that don’t only cater to one gender.”
Lin Chen, founder and CEO of Pink Moon, a New York City-based consultancy that is working to uplift and transform the beauty industry, is focused on creating an inclusive community. “I created Pink Moon because I wanted women to feel the same sense of safety and self-discovery that I found through self-care,” says Chen. According to her, inclusivity can be achieved in various ways. “Currently, my webshop is composed of 30 percent WOC-owned brands,” says Chen. “Helping diverse female entrepreneurs achieve greater visibility in the beauty space is so rewarding, and I hope that it helps our clients appreciate the diverse perspectives that women from different backgrounds bring to product formulation.” She encourages brands to examine how they are representing diversity in their marketing materials, the diversity of their team, and the language they use when speaking to the public.”
It’s also important to think about who you may be leaving out of the conversation and how to send a more welcoming message. “There has been an elitist approach to marketing wellness, which subliminally creates a disconnect for many individuals,” says Knight. “It makes us think we need to be rich to be well, which simply isn’t the case.”
Make Wellness More Affordable
Although financial means should never be a barrier to wellness, it’s hard not to see the connection when it comes to accessibility. Knight and McKenzie point out the financial barriers that exist to accessing wellness opportunities and ways they’re working to overcome them.
“The cost of treatment often limits who has access to wellness services, such as mental health,” says McKenzie. “Even with insurance, it is still costly. We would love to see more funding and mindful payment structures, such as sliding scales and scholarships. At The Villij, we incorporate these practices into our business model.”
It’s important to think about the cost of wellness. “The wellness world has a reputation of being extremely cost prohibitive,” says Chen. “As a boutique owner, it’s important to me to seek out high quality brands that have an accessible price point—trust me, they exist. As an industry, we need to work hard to demystify that wellness is only for affluent communities. We need to work to promote resources that encourage holistic health and wellness that are attainable.”
Resnick suggests wellness professionals consider donating their time to those who can’t afford their services. Sometimes the greatest thing you can offer is your time.
Increase Inclusivity by Supporting Like-Minded Organizations and Brands
Prioritizing accessibility and the idea of paying it forward, Haddad is partnering with Edible Schoolyards NYC this spring and summer and will be teaching free yoga workshops to kids, families, and staff members of PS 216, which is located in Grave’s End, Brooklyn. “One of the goals I have with my yoga studio and with my teaching is to reach under-served communities by partnering and collaborating with organizations and brands that have already paved inroads in their respective communities and provide them with support,” says Haddad. According to her, the kids, ages four to 10 years old, represent 23 cultures.
“In our yoga workshops, we will plant the seeds of intention together as a community by celebrating the diversity of cultures and introduce them to the benefits of yoga and meditation,” she says. “We’ll move together as a community with yoga poses that imitate animals and nature and breathing techniques to provide tools to ease anxiety and create space. We’ll share the social and emotional aspects of what this year has brought to the forefront of their lives, so that they feel seen and heard and continue to have important conversations at home and at school. I teach kids’ yoga, and trust me, four-year-olds have plenty of feelings to share and express.”
