When Healing Is Harmful: Why We Can't Have True Wellness Without Justice

“I don’t want wellness practices that teach me to be at peace with an inequitable world. I need practices that help me to stay sane while doing my part to fight against it. If it makes you compliant to injustice, it’s not healing—it’s sedation.”

Michell C. Clark

Walk into almost any modern wellness space today and you'll hear any of the following messages:

Eat cleaner.

Meditate more.

Regulate your nervous system.

Take the right supplements.

Buy the course.

Download the app.

Book the retreat.

Everywhere we turn we receive this subtle message: if you're burned out, sick, or overwhelmed, it's your fault, and you simply haven't found the right solution yet. Keep looking! Keep buyng!

The global wellness economy is a multi trillion-dollar industry and growing by the year. We're practicing more self-care and reducing more stigma more than any generation before us, yet somehow we're sicker than our grandmothers. Despite the best intentions to help people feel better- our nation's rates of anxiety, depression, burnout, loneliness, and diagnosed disorders are still rising. More and more data is showing that wellness is a social issue rather than a medical one.

The defining narrative of the capitalist machine is that health is primarily the result of our personal choices, and this is simply untrue. Health has never been determined solely by what happens inside our bodies. It is equally shaped by what happens around us, and the systems we live in.

Reminder: The wellness industry is just that--an industry. It's here to make a few people money, not to make many people well.

"Mental health is not just a personal journey, it is also a political one. ⁠Mental health doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It’s shaped by where we work, how we’re treated, what we have access to, and whether we feel safe, seen, and supported."

Karli Elizabeth

“The wellness industry is profiting off the same nervous system dysregulation it’s helping to create. Your body is not the problem. The problem is the pace you've been expected to maintain and the amount you've been asked to consume."

Alicia Thomas

Treating Symptoms instead of Systems

The wellness industry has become remarkably effective at convincing people that healing is an individual project, remedied by another product, protocol, or practitioner.

Of course, nutrition matters. Movement matters. Sleep matters. Healing matters. Meditation matters. Some of these can genuinely help change your life for the better. But none of it is a cure all, because we don't exist in isolation.

Everyone talks about nervous system regulation but no one talks about how stable and secure resources, safe environments, and supportive relationships are a part of that. Like any living being, we thrive when the conditions around us are comfortable and predictable.

The brain and nervous system can not distinguish between emotional threats and material ones. Insecurity or instability around food, money, housing can elicit very real psychological responses like anxiety and depression, chronic stress or chronic illness.

If someone has to work three jobs in order to afford childcare and rent, has piles of medical debt, and spends every day navigating oppression, discrimination, violence or crime, their nervous system will be in an understandable state of fight or flight. They are living in permanent survival mode, with no realistic way out.

An hour-long meditation is recommended as an antidote to stress. But when you think about it, the people who meditate for an hour a day are happier because they live a life that affords them an hour a day to meditate. THAT is privilege. Privilege is the antidote to stress.

Not everyone can afford to "do the work". Therapy, rest, self-care, healing, processing, integrating - these are all things that cost time, space, money and resources.

The reality: So many 'mental health issues' disappear when bills are paid, rent is secure, and the fridge is full.

Notice how the self-care movement always puts the labor back on you? It never questions what's making you need care in the first place.

No matter how hard you try, You cannot breathwork your way out of systemic oppression. You cannot positive-think your way out of conditions that demand your exhaustion or performance.

The Missing Conversation: Social Determinants of Health

Public health researchers understand that our health is shaped by far more than fitness, nutrition, and medical care. It's also shaped by

• Income.

• Housing.

• Education.

• Food access.

• Healthcare access.

• Transportation.

• Community.

• Environmental quality.

• Working conditions.

These are known as the social determinants of health, and together they influence health outcomes as much as—if not more than—medical interventions themselves. Unfortunately these are rarely the focus of mainstream wellness conversations because it's significantly easier—and significantly more profitable—to sell another product than change an entire social and political system.

Together, we can redefine what wellness means, what success looks like, what health really is:

• Paid leave

• Accessible childcare.

• Inclusive workplaces and communities

• Reliable public transportation.

• Food security

• Affordable housing

• Living wages

• Healthcare for all.

• Education for all.

• Safety for all.

• Time for creativity.

• Time for connection.

• Time for rest.

• Time to exist.

• Time to simply be human.

These are all things that you should not need to earn. They're not rewards, they're RIGHTS.

"Corporate Wellness Program", also known as 'programming to teach employees how to cope with the problems corporate leadership directly created.'

Healing says, I will no longer carry this wound forward.” Resistance says: “We will no longer carry this harm forward.”

"You might not be into politics but your boss is, your landlord is, and your insurance company is. And every day they use their power and privilege to keep your pay low, your rent high, and your coverage inconsistent. Either get into politics, or politics will get into you."

"I am political because life is political. Work is political. Being a woman is political. Being a mother is political. Being a minority is is political."

Abby Eckel

Uncomfortable truth: If you have "no interest in politics" it's because you probably have no interest or incentive to better the world around you.

The Politics of Wellness

Many healers prefer to remain "neutral" or "apolitical" because Politics feels uncomfortable, divisive, and controversial. Unfortunately, this is a response from fear, not love.

In reality, neutrality is a political position all on its. It's the position to maintain YOUR status. To protect your peace, privilege, power-- regardless of who else suffers in the process.

What a privilege it is to look away. To change the channel. To keep scrolling.

What a privilege it is to remain untouched by what’s happening.

What a privilege it is to blend in and go with the flow.

What a privilege it is to label it “too much” simply because it isn’t yours to carry.

What a privilege it is to exist without empathy, care, or concern for others.

What a privilege it is to ignore anyone or anything beyond your own lived experience.

Taking action is neither safe nor simple. But it's vitally important. Activism is important. Voting is important. Civic engagement is important.

History isn’t changed by people who stay silent and in their comfort zone. It’s changed by people who stand up, speak out, take risks, and decide to make an impact in the world beyond themselves.

This moment demands courage and the ability to stand in discomfort. Even when your voice shakes. Even when it costs you something,

Reminder: Your clients do not arrive to you carrying only personal wounds. They carry experiences shaped by generations of racism, sexism, ableism, poverty, inaccessible healthcare, environmental degradation, labor exploitation, and social isolation.

Holistic care means recognizing the whole person which exists inside a whole society.

When someone prefers to "stay out of politics", what they really mean is, "The system benefits me personally or profesionally, and I'd simply rather not think about who it doesn't benefit" What an enormous (waste of) privilege to be so protected and unaffected by social, environmental, economic policies and be one of the fortunate few able to thrive in a biased, unjust system.

"The real American Dream is healthcare that doesn’t bankrupt you, education that doesn’t indenture you, and housing that doesn’t consume half your income. But until we get there, please stop blaming yourself for struggling to thrive in a system designed to make you fail."

Michell C Clark

"Shouting 'self-care' at people who actually need community care is how we fail people."

Nakita Valerio

"Take a breath. Reframe the situation. Find the lesson. Protect your peace. Release the attachment. Regulate your nervous system. Okay... But is anyone going to stop the damn thing? Sometimes your body is correctly reporting that the situation is exploitative, unsafe, degrading, unnatural, or absolutely fucking stupid. The deeper work has always been about remaining inside our bodies long enough to recognize what is happening AND THEN FUCKING DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT."

Jenna Gallarzo

You can't have Self-Care Without Systems-Care

From an early age, capitalism teaches us that

• Wellness must be earned through personal effort.

• Rest exists primarily to improve productivity.

• Resilience and self-work will get us through anything.

• Every body should be improved and every mind should be optimized.

• Every problem can be solved with a product or service.

• Every struggle is a personal failure rather than a systemic one.

This worldview keeps people searching endlessly for the next solution instead of examining the real root of the issue: the political, environmental, and economic systems that are causing us to be unwell in the first place.

For years we've been taught that self-care and healing looks like Spa days, Meditation apps, Sound baths, Yoga classes, and Green juices and fruit smoothies.

And those things can absolutely bring temporary pleasure and joy, but they can't do any permanent good. They can't reduce systemic harm, break generational patterns, or transform communities for the better.

Take time to really identify the difference between self-care and self-maintenance. One is designed to nurture deeply and expand holistically. The other is designed to restore- keeping the machine running so that you can continue to produce and contribute to a capitalist society. They're like putting a band-aid on a cancerous tumor. It's never going to get to the core of the problem.

Self-work and personal healing ultimately give us the capacity to engage with the world around us. When we are thriving individually, then we have the energy to pour into others and support the greater good. And isn't that the whole point of life?

Reminder: when we heal ourselves we heal our world, but healing requires privilege and resources that not everyone has access to. So if you can heal—you should. And be gentle, compassionate, and patient with those who can't. They're in survival mode.

Capitalism is stealing your joy and freedom and then selling it back to you as 'self care'.

Reminder: individual solutions can not heal collective wounds. The individual and the collective are intertwined, just like healing and resistance. Individual healing is resistance on the inside. Collective resistance is healing on the outside.

"Every attempt to care for yourself in a system designed to consume you is an act of resistance. "

Ailey Jolie

The Hierarchy of Human Needs

Western psychology has long organized human needs into neat hierarchies, but real life is far messier.

Food, shelter, belonging, purpose, safety, love, healthcare, meaningful work, and community do not exist independently.

Instead they are completely interdependent and reinforce one another as a living, breathing ecosystem.

Without housing, relationships suffer. Without relationships, mental health declines. Without health, earning income becomes harder. Without income, healthcare disappears. Everything is connected.

You’re not unwell. You're just...

• surviving capitalism with little time, money and no village

• absorbing the grief of war, genocide and oppression while the world keeps scrolling

• being asked to compete with machines while grieving what makes us human

• choosing groceries over therapy, in a system that calls that a personal choice

• living in systems that call your needs disruptive instead of designing for inclusion

• living in a country where immigration is policed but injustice is not.

• stuck between home and work with nothing in between.

• broke and uninsured in the world that blames you for being poor

• disabled in a world that punishes you for needing rest, access or support

• told to self-care your way through a broken system

• lonely in a world that profits off your disconnection

• human in a system designed for profit—not people.

This isn’t burnout. This is grief. Disconnection. Exploitation.

We are unwell—not because we’re broken. But because the world asks us to carry so much—and when we can’t, it sells our wellness back to us.

Dr. Karli Elizabeth

The Future of Healing Is Collective

Conversations about Wellness aren't just for doctors offices, therapy offices and wellness studios. They also need to be occurring in schools, city councils, workplaces, healthcare systems, and public policy.

If you really care about wellness, try asking larger questions. Not just, "How do I feel better?" But, "What conditions will allow myself and others to truly thrive?"

"Healing” is a buzzword that is keeping people trapped in a cycle of constant self-improvement and optimization. The reality is that the human experience is messy and complicated and if we are lucky, we can transmute our pain so that we don’t repeat toxic patterns. Release the pressure of thinking you are broken, and remember to live life simpy as you are.

Healing That Lasts

As a certified feng shui consultant, I believe our homes are powerful places of healing and transformation.

However, no amount of energy work can replace the benefits of living wages, affordable healthcare, social justice and equitable communities.

What it can do is help create a environment that supports your best self, allowing you to work toward a healthier world together.

If you're ready to create a home that supports your nervous system, aligns with your vision and values, and becomes a sanctuary in this chaotic world, I'd love to help. Together, we can design spaces that nourish your wellbeing—while remembering that true healing is collective and extends far beyond our front doors.

If no one told you today: You are doing an incredible job, even if it feels like you're failing. It’s hard to navigate nonstop needs, triggers, stressors and pressures with no manual or support. You're trying to show up with patience, love, empathy, and boundaries even on days you feel completely dysregulated, distracted, drained and depleted. You're doing the best you can, despite all odds.

“REJECT THE OPTIMIZATION MACHINE.

LET ME BE ME.

LET ME EXPERIMENT.

LET ME LOOK MY AGE.

LET ME BE BORED

LET ME GO SLOW.

LET ME BE UNMEASURED.

LET ME DO THINGS POORLY

LET ME ENJOY MYSELF.

LET ME BE INEFFICIENT.

LET ME BE IMPERFECT

LET ME BE OF LITTLE USE.

LET ME BE ME.”

Gabe Schneider

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Erin is a certified feng shui consultant, energy healer, wellness coach and holistic growth strategist.

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