As we blow through the holiday season enjoying time with friends and indulging a little more than usual, we’ve noticed some trends popping up in events for the new year. There is increasing popularity in empathy, emotional wellness and a need for a routine that captures mindfulness. There’s been change in how we view mental health nationwide and I can’t help but notice the conversations this year around getting healthy are less about going on diets, cutting back or a new exercise routine and more about taking care of oneself.
Americans are increasingly moving toward the trend of mindfulness in their daily routines as well as in a group atmosphere. Events that are centered around a common care that people share such as meditation, apothecary, homeopathic healthcare options and of course there are some mindfulness trends that are a little more wild. There’s been a renewed interest in peyote and ritchual associated with peyote such as sweat lodges, extreme diets such as paleo where the rule is to go back to basics by eating like the caveman did. Creating a huge lifestyle change, only eating what can be hunted and gathered and no processed foods – nuts and vegetables and consuming simple proteins heavily leaning on animal protein. We’ve seen some mindfulness play into trends in 2018 in a non-invasive way.
Events have introduced more mindfulness opportunities with no-tech zones, or mindfulness lounges that allow activities to take a break, yoga mornings and introducing ways of letting go into conference subject matter. We’ve seen an increase in mindfulness themes on meetups and in group events for more focused gatherings specific to one mindfulness topic. A need for smaller events, with people that have a shared need to learn and subject matter that is specific and dialed in to their need to cut out the noise and learn to let go a little. As often as the topic of mindfulness gets criticized, I don’t think we have the right to ignore it. There needs to be better ways of coping with our fast past lives and if mindfulness is trending to help Americans get there, I say it just makes exploring the idea of unplugging just got a bit more fun.