April 27, 2021

What does wellness mean to you?

So. Restaurants are open!! Long Italian lunches and (earlyish) dinners are back and my love for Italy is growing with each passing day (10+ years later).

The more I publish what I write (and this is just the beginning, I hope) the more I realize that my values and ideas and beliefs are both constantly changing and yet staying the same. It’s funny looking at things in hindsight and even funnier how tricky memory is. Which is to say: have I always associated Italy with wellness and vice versa? I don’t think so. My obsession with Italy and Rome started long before I began to wade my toes into the “traditional” world of wellness. When I began to study yoga and meditation and spiritual practices, I definitely can recall feeling that the world of long lunches that end in passito and ciambelle (hence the picture) was decidedly outside of the world of green juices and mantra chanting.

But I’m a pleasure seeker. Always have been. And so it didn’t take long before I was eating plates of amatriciana with the same people who taught me the Gayatri Mantra (@zunayoga) and I slowly began to unravel (continue to unravel) the belief that one must sacrifice pleasure (and even hedonism) when one pursues a career in wellness.

So here I am, having my cake (or rather my cookies and dessert wine) and eating it too. That’s wellness for me and I adore the Italians for introducing me to what it really feels like to live, relish, and soak in delight and pleasure (and an extra glass of wine).

What is wellness to you?