11/25/2025
What we see on the surface of modern Western “wellness culture” are things like fad diets, dream catchers, the idealization of thinness, whiteness, and wealth—manifesting as $25 yoga classes, Lululemon pants and “namaslay” merch. This is not wellness.
It’s a cultural illness: cultural appropriation, spiritual bypassing, individualism, patriarchy, white supremacy, and the commodification of entire cultures. And I say this as someone who used to go to hot yoga almost every day. If I missed a day, I didn’t “feel well.” But… is that wellness? Or is it a more insidious version of our addiction to grind culture disguised as self-care?
Yoga was meant to connect our mind, body, and spirit to “universal consciousness”. But somewhere along the way, it became a workout where we’re praised for pushing past our limits instead of listening to our bodies—bodies that might be asking for softness, rest, and slowing down.
Yoga studio culture often celebrates showing up to as many classes as humanly possible, instead of asking, “Are you okay?” when someone walks in for their seventh class of the week. Let’s start to unravel some of this…
Keep your eyes peeled for a collab between Integrative Life Therapy and Electric Cottage Collective, where we’ll dive deeper into all of this and explore what really practicing yoga and collective wellness could look like.