What is wellness?

Is it going to therapy?

Is it healing?

Or is it indulging in an experience that calms the nervous system?

Do we need it?

If yes, why?

If no, what are the alternatives?

Wellness has undeniably gained attention. I say this consciously, without calling it a trend.

Perhaps wellness is not meant to be an experience that needs planning, booking, or consumption. Perhaps it is meant to be a way of life. And for that, it becomes important to understand what wellness truly means.

When I look back - through the lens of wellness, therapy, and healing - at the lives of my parents and grandparents, and compare them to my own, one clear difference stands out. They lived with a rhythm. A routine. A discipline that stayed consistent through their lives. This rhythm was deeply rooted in their religion, culture, family systems, and work-life patterns.

From the utensils in their kitchens to the food they ate, from the fabrics they wore to the small daily rituals they followed - offering prayers, lighting a ghee diya, using dhoop or agarbatti every morning and evening - everything carried a sense of rootedness. As children, we were raised within these practices. They quietly shaped our sense of belonging and cultural memory. Pause for a moment and look around.

I realise that, over time, I have pushed my parents and in-laws to change. And I often wonder why. Was it the pressure of adapting to a so-called modern lifestyle? Did not being “modern” make me feel inadequate, inferior, or like I didn’t belong?

Why do we perceive them as healthier than us?

Why do we instinctively go back to them when we are in pain or confusion?

It is not because we are incapable of caring for ourselves. It is because, at a deeper level, we sense that their energies are more stable. Simply being around them regulates us.

What if wellness, therapy, and healing were not about seeking new experiences, but about remembering? Remembering our roots. Our natural rhythm. Our inner alignment.

Even following one small aspect of our family’s routine - something familiar and inherited - can help us feel more grounded, emotionally stable, connected, confident, and at ease.

We may not like our past. Many of us have consciously chosen lives very different from it. And that is valid. Reconnecting with our roots does not mean going backwards. It means recognising where we come from. Because the truth is - we belong to that space.

You don’t have to change yourself.

You don’t have to repair relationships.

You could simply do something small and familiar - visit a temple the way your father does, wake up early like your mother, read the newspaper, chant with a jap-mala, listen to the music they listened to, or even use a scent that reminds you of home. Anything that helps you reconnect.

Why does this matter?

Neuroscience suggests that imbalance - whether emotional, physical, relational, or financial - often arises from disconnection from the physical self.

Disconnection from the body slowly becomes disconnection from our parents, and eventually, from life itself.

There is no harm in trying.

This reconnection may help us acknowledge a past we cannot change, while allowing us to live more consciously in the present.

I wish well-being for everyone.

And I would rather ask you to bring a singing bowl into your home to calm a restless mind than invite you to an occasional sound bath.

That intention comes from a deeper place - for my people, my community, and for life itself. 🙏🏻