6 mins

Let’s make wellness essential in 2021

Jean-Guy de Gabriac elaborates on how spa therapists could elevate their skills as “Wellness practitioners” to become guides and mentors. 

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OVID-19 has been a mega disruptor – resetting the world and decimating the hospitality and tourism industry with tragic consequences for businessowners, aestheticians, therapists, and most of all, families who grieve a loved one.

As 2020 has drawn to an end, let us pause and rethink our value proposition for ourselves, our organisations, and our cities for 2021, so that we can shine as ‘wellness champions’ in our local community. While the world looks forward to the vaccine, let us highlight that wellness is a path to improving the situation with grit, resilience, and innovation. We can all be part of the solution, enhancing vitality, serenity, immunity, creativity, and solidarity.

Health is a relationship between our body and mind with a medical doctor, while, wellness is a relationship between our body and mind with ‘ourselves’. It is our responsibility to add “self-care” and “take care” to “skin care”.

In Paris and Brussels where I live, all spas, salons and fitness clubs have closed for the second time, alongside all “non-essential” businesses even though research about the benefits of wellness treatments and programmes are abundant and well documented. So, how can our profession be recognised as that of an ‘essential’ worker, by local or state officials (mayors, governors)?

How can we aid the situation so that spas may remain open and clients safely come back to enhance their vitality, serenity, and immunity, with thorough sanitization procedures?

Although the media only focuses on the number of people tested positive, admitted in ACU or who succumbed, the following numbers show that we are not facing one pandemic with COVID-19, but several:

• Sleep pandemic: Sixty-two per cent of adults worldwide feel that they do not sleep well, with consequences on mood, cognitive faculties and possible long-term conditions as Alzheimer and Parkinson (World Health Organization)

• Obesity pandemic: Thirty-nine per cent adults aged 18+ were overweight in 2016 (1.9 billion) and 13 per cent were obese (650 million) (World Health Organization).

• Sedentary pandemic: According to the Mayo Clinic, “Sitting is more dangerous than smoking and kills more people than HIV!” According to Eurostat, 46 per cent Europeans have no physical activity!

• Stress pandemic: Seventy-five to ninety per cent of the doctor visits in the US are related to stress.

Chronic diseases (heart, stroke, cancer, diabetes, and respiratory diseases) killed prematurely 35 million people in 2010 (one person died every 0.9 seconds).

Not only could people live 10 extra years, but countries and cities could save billions on health costs. The CDC shows that 90 per cent of the healthcare cost of $3.5 trillion in the USA is spent on chronic diseases that are mainly caused by inflammation and could be avoided!

The problem is not that people do not know what to do to get better, it is just that they do not do it, or their efforts are short-lived. Few people have the discipline or the support group to hold them accountable and encourage them to stay the course.

Fear can prompt people to start moving, but it is fun and pleasure that keeps them going!

This is why World Wellness Weekend is making hope and enthusiasm contagious, connecting people with professionals near them in 543 cities in 109 countries with a map and a locator (www.wellmap. org). In 2019, we generated 430 mentions in the media with a global reach of 224 million people, promoting five pillars of wellness: Sleep and creativity, nutrition and immunity, movement and vitality, mindfulness and serenity, sense of purpose and solidarity.

We do not want to scare or stress people with more adrenalin and cortisol, we want them to be more active, more often with their friends or family (we call them “Wellness Buddies”) so they can experience how great it feels to be well, with a rush of endorphins, serotonin, and oxytocin. It really is powerful (“dope” as Millennials say), and it is legal!

No matter where you are, the key driver to resetting our profession is not “location, location, location”, but “vocation, vocation, vocation”! Our vocation is not just “touch skin”, but to touch lives. We need to facilitate and accelerate the implementation of small steps towards lasting healthier and richer lifestyles.

As wellness professionals, this is our chance to rise to the occasion, and become agents of change and position transformation for people in our communities in alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN.

Specifically, wellness professionals (hospitality, spas, salons, fitness clubs, yoga therapists) should partner with their local officials to implement actions to support SDG3 (Good Health & Well-being for All):

• On an individual level: Guests, clients, members can connect with the best version of themselves through therapeutic massage, energy healing, sessions on stress management to alleviate anxiety and emotional traumas.

• On an organisational level, companies to instill a culture of wellness, infusing trust, leadership, creativity through guided meditation, sessions on resiliency, change management with CAM professionals, consultants specialised in behavioural change, and organisational change.

• And cities could care for local communities like the Dubai fitness challenge, which runs in November with 30 minutes of exercise during 30 days.

One positive outcome about COVID-19 is bringing to the fore the topic of mental wellness – which is not a new topic, but grew much worse in the face of it.

Hopefully, our industry will find a way to partner with private insurances companies, like in Canada to promote prevention and save billions in preventable health costs.

With proper strategic planning, marketing acumen and thorough on-going education, the following initiatives can be implemented, spa therapists could elevate their skills as “Wellness practitioners” to become guides and mentors:

• Train in traditional therapeutic modalities: Reflexology, Aromatherapy, Energy healing (with Shiatsu, Tui Na, Chi Nei Tsang), Trigger points, and Pranayama, sophrology, guided relaxation, EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), Haptonomy.

• More weekends of wellness should be organised as staycations for locals or short getaways for people and for executives focusing on leadership, cognitive enhancement, brain training, resiliency, and creativity.

• More online tutorials to stay connected with previous guests, and keep in touch with future guests to help them stay the course (like at home with six senses that gathered up to 30,000 people per online session) about vitality, serenity, immunity, and positive psychology.

• More packages and wellness programmes with local businesses to boost grit, peak resiliency, creativity, and efficiency of teams.

One positive outcome about COVID-19 is bringing to the fore the topic of mental wellness – which is not a new topic, nor due solely to the pandemic, but grew much worse in the face of it. The Global Wellness Institute estimates that the mental wellness sector was 120 billion in 2019. Just imagine how fast and strong it is going to grow in 2021 with health and wellness on everybody’s mind?

There is no going back to the “old normal”, let us not fight the change, let us unveil the opportunities and move forward. Why wait for the light at the end of the tunnel, when we can all become lights in the tunnel, helping each other, guiding, and inspiring each other?

Wellness does not start with “me”, but “we” and it grows with all of us.

Under stress, our brain activates our reactive mindset (fight or flight mode) that limits creativity, our confidence in ourselves, our trust in others and our peripheral vision, with only a narrow sight. We need to connect to our ‘creative’ mindset, ignite meaningful conversations, initiate positive collaborations with other local businesses. Then, together, we will be able to see opportunities, meaningful actions to get out of the tunnel with the “emergency exits” on the side.

Let us surround ourselves with people that lifts us up, let us be the light we all want to see.

Jean-Guy de Gabriac CEO, TIP TOUCH International since 2004, is an award-winning educator elevating guest experience through workshops for spa, wellness, and hospitality professionals. He founded World Wellness Weekend, celebrated by thousands of venues in over 100 countries (September 18-19, 2021) and serves as co-Chair supporting the UN’s 17 SDGs (GWI Initiative), is the Board member of the International Massage Association, and Member of the Wellness Tourism Association. He can be contacted at: jean-guy@weekendwellness.com****

This article appears in the PBHJ Feb-Mar 2021 Issue of Professional Beauty/ Hairdressers Journal India

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This article appears in the PBHJ Feb-Mar 2021 Issue of Professional Beauty/ Hairdressers Journal India