Begin Again

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You may have noticed that things look a little different around here. For the past few months, there's been a lot going on in the background at Holisticism. And I'm excited to talk to you about it ... finally. 

First, you need to know that I looked up the natal chart of the new Holisticism, as I am wan to do as the "mother" of this brand. Birthdate was set as the time and date our announcement email blasted into inboxes, in case you were curious. 

A Sagittarius Sun in the Twelfth House with a Pisces Moon and a Mercury Scorpio in the Eleventh?! 

Oh, yes, that'll do. 

Shining a light

I love the Twelfth House. It's the house of all things unseen, it has Big Pisces Energy, and it "governs all things that exist without physical forms, like dreams, secrets, and emotions." 

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It seems fitting that a revamped Holisticism's Sun lives in this house — it's time to shine a light on the spaces in wellness and well-being that have existed in the shadows. 

If you've been with us for a while, you know that Holisticism has never been a typical "wellness" space. 

That's because I've never felt like I fit into the Wellness Industrial Complex. And as it turns out, a lot of you felt the same way. 

Two and a half years ago, I set out to make something that talked about wellness in a way that felt welcoming, friendly, funny, accessible. I thought mostly about socioeconomics — about inhibiting factors like wealth disparity and classism that made it difficult for people to feel embraced by Wellness with a capital W. I wanted to bridge the gap and help people find an entry point into health and healing, regardless of what their bank account looked like.

I even built software to help holistic wellness practitioners run their businesses virtually, so they could perform their sessions at lower prices and reach people no matter if they lived in Los Angeles, California or St. Louis, Missouri. 

Wellness for everyone, right? Lowering the barrier to entry, eh? Not exactly. 

My views were well-intentioned but privileged and myopic. Racism, sexism, cisgenderism, ableism, colonialism, and heterosexism are systems of oppression that run rampant in the Wellness space and need to be acknowledged and accounted for, too. Many of these forms of oppression are intersectional — meaning a person or community can experience multiple types at the same time. And the effects compound for those who exist at multiple sites of oppression. 

The truth is, wellness is NOT welcoming for most people who don't identify as white, cis-gender womxn. Language and imagery used in this space are downright exclusionary. 

I don't think we can just "do" wellness anymore and turn a blind eye to these inequities and shrug our shoulders in dismay and hope that someone will "make a change." We can't just give a weird side-eye when we witness cultural appropriation in a yoga class or sound bath. We know too much. We're too smart. We're too intuitive. We're too capable. We know that something is rotten in Topanga — and we just can't put our finger on what it is. 

Welp, here it is: If we don't recognize that these forms of oppression exist in our communities, we are complicit in their preservation. If we don't view our wellness through the lens of understanding and acknowledging these systems of oppression, we are complicit in oppressing others. 

If we are all One, then my well-being is tied intrinsically to the well-being of those around me. If one of us is oppressed, then all of us are oppressed.  

Did I mention how much I love the Twelfth House, because it asks us to shine a light on the unseen and unacknowledged? 

Clearer Vision

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As we plotted Holisticism's rebirth, I thought about all the ways I'd been complicit in excluding people from this space — even when we were actively trying to be inclusive. The list was very long.

So when I sat down with Laura, who helped me dream up what you're looking at, we talked about how we wanted to make people feel with this new brand. And we changed a lot about how Holisticism will show up in your feeds, your inboxes, and hopefully, in your mind. 

We will always be a platform that empowers readers and members to pursue their curiosity and create their own beliefs around well-being and wellness. 

We will always provide ample free and low-cost educational resources that are simply a mouse-click away. 

We will always marry the weird and wonderful and intuitive with the practical, business-y, real-life stuff. 

We will always love memes and the Internet. That's definitely not going anywhere.

And we will do all of this through the lens of social action. 

Mad Gratitude 2 u

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I am so excited to continue to unveil the parts of Holisticism we've been working on for many months that are still hiding in the wings. My hope is to support you always on your journey to define well-being for yourself and to give you as many resources as I can provide to help you make your own decisions and choices. 

I'm really grateful you made it this far — both in this article, and with us, here, in Holisticism's history — and if you vibe with what I'm saying here, then I hope you stick with us for a long time. 

Love,
Michelle
Founder + CEO of Holisticism