{"id":44310,"date":"2018-01-30T13:08:48","date_gmt":"2018-01-30T18:08:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wanderlust.com\/?p=44310"},"modified":"2018-08-31T13:38:52","modified_gmt":"2018-08-31T17:38:52","slug":"one-nation-under-wellness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wanderlust.com\/es\/journal\/one-nation-under-wellness\/","title":{"rendered":"One Nation Under Wellness"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Kerri Kelly is just one of the luminaries you can learn from at Wellspring this October.\u00a0<\/em>For tickets and more information,\u00a0click here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em>Wellness industry professional discounts<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0scholarships<\/a>\u00a0available!<\/em><\/p>\n

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There is no doubt these are critical and complex times that we live in.<\/h3>\n

How do we make sense of a world where one in two\u00a0Americans suffers from a chronic disease, despite the thriving $377 billion dollar pharmaceutical market? How about a world in which t\u200bhe American Dream\u200b pays\u00a0almost half of the population less than $15 an hour? A\u00a0world in which more prisons are built every year than schools, in which more kids\u2014the vast majority of whom are Black and Latino\u2014are incarcerated than in any other country, ?<\/p>\n

How can we make sense of country or a political process that claims to be democracy, built upon citizen participation, when our elections are bought and sold to the highest bidder?<\/p>\n

These truths illuminate the bottom line: We are n\u200bot well.\u200b N\u200bot by a long shot. And here\u2019s the kicker\u2014our systems benefit from this\u00a0sickness<\/a>.\u200b The very systems under which we operate perpetuate the belief that we are not “enough,” that if we only \u201c\u200bbuy this” we’ll find “happiness;” that if we only \u201cdo this” we’ll “be skinny;\u201d that if we only \u201cread this” we will “be enlightened.” For the systems to keep working, we must remain in this state of un-wellness. It\u2019s in their best interest that we feel powerless, that we have disengaged.<\/p>\n

But something else is happening.<\/p>\n

There is an inner revolution emerging. It\u2019s taking place on yoga mats, meditation cushions, at co-ops, in creative living spaces,\u00a0at alternative\u00a0festivals<\/a>, and in lieu of partying<\/a>. What might start on the yoga mat very quickly leaks out into people’s lives. This in turn impacts their families, informing their purchasing decisions and inspiring their participation in community. It is a movement that is inspiring people to speak out about issues like wellness, access to healthy food, sustainability of our planet and more.<\/p>\n

But how do we reconcile an America where only some of us get to be well and so many are still suffering?<\/p>\n

The wellbeing gap in this country is real. Wherever there is a higher prevalence of poverty and unemployment, where’s there’s a lack of access to housing and public transportation, you find people who are struggling to survive\u2014much less to be well. But these are not \u201cother people’s problems.” We are not separate from the suffering of fellow humans, the same way we are not separate from the planet.\u00a0There can be no wellbeing of me\u00a0if there is not wellbeing for all.<\/p>\n

So what does our practice call us to do?<\/p>\n