By Carly-Earl
Running on empty, Brigid Delaney, a journalist who has worked for the Guardian Australia, Sydney Morning Herald and CNN, decided to try all sorts of techniques promising to improve her fitness, serenity and well-being. Through this personal exploration, she became only too aware of the fortunes and energy being expended in trying to reach this new Holy Grail. She recounts her experience with humor in the 2017 book "Wellmania: Extreme Misadventures in the Search for Wellness,"* whose small-screen adaptation lands on Netflix March 29, with Celeste Barber in the leading role. ETX Studio caught up with the author to find out more.
Running on empty, Brigid Delaney, a journalist who has worked for the Guardian Australia, Sydney Morning Herald and CNN, decided to try all sorts of techniques promising to improve her fitness, serenity and well-being. Through this personal exploration, she became only too aware of the fortunes and energy being expended in trying to reach this new Holy Grail. She recounts her experience with humor in the 2017 book "Wellmania: Extreme Misadventures in the Search for Wellness,"* whose small-screen adaptation lands on Netflix March 29, with Celeste Barber in the leading role. ETX Studio caught up with the author to find out more.
What motivated you to write this book?
I had so many funny stories from my time as a journalist reporting on the wellness industry, that I thought it would be great to put them together in a book. I also was motivated by seeing the huge profits of the wellness industry, and wondered if we could achieve the same results, without spending a fortune.
The first part of the book focuses on a 'miracle' 100-day detox -- that you tested -- involving eating nothing, or virtually nothing. How can this kind of fast make you feel good?
It didn't make me feel good -- it made me feel terrible -- until the second week, when I started feeling full of energy. At that stage I was probably in ketosis and my body was so stressed it was producing chemicals to keep me in an artificial state of alertness and a "high," so I would be motivated to find some food! I actually felt really good once I started eating again.
Did this detox have the desired effect?
I lost a lot of weight -- 14 kg in the first 14 days -- but as soon as I started eating again, I put all the weight back on. We actually have in our own bodies the capacity to detox through the lungs and kidneys, as well as the digestive system, so we do not need to go to a detox program to achieve a result.
In the book, you associate well-being with three objectives: purity, slimness and serenity. How can feeling pure or being thin make a person feel better?
They are the things that society associates with wellness. I ended my journey appreciating that wellness came from a sense of community and connection with those around me, rather than body type or skinniness. But in this busy world, I still think serenity is important, and the way I achieve it is through daily meditation.
Has well-being become a new societal diktat?
It's definitely a Holy Grail. People are now more educated about their health, including the role sleep, diet, exercise and social connection has to play in well-being. When we feel well, we are more likely to be more relaxed, enjoy our lives and be able to do more. When our well-being is poor, life is harder.
The turnover of the wellness industry is estimated at nearly $3.4 billion... What explains the fact that happiness, or at least well-being, comes at such a high cost?
There are so many businesses and companies that profit from our search for wellness. We often work such long hours that the only chance for wellness comes in the form of a holiday or a retreat, which costs a lot of money. If we worked less and looked after ourselves more, we wouldn't need to spend so much money on quick-fix wellness products.
We’ve seen wellness become an entire industry unto itself, encompassing beauty, fitness, food, health tourism and weight loss. Why do people around the world seek out satisfaction in yoga classes, anti-cellulite creams or coconut water, rather than in family, friends or other simple and basic values?
That's a good question. True wellness is found in connection and community, but they can be harder to create than simply buying some coconut water. People work long hours, face a lot of stress, are busy and spend a lot of time on their devices. Building community takes time, and people don't always have a lot of time. So they take a yoga class or listen to a podcast on wellness, and that fills some of our needs, but not all of them. The 'simple life' can be difficult to attain if you are working hard, and away from family and friends.
You wrote the first edition of "Wellmania" before the pandemic. Has this experience changed everyone's perception of well-being?
The pandemic made me realize we are all so intimately connected, and that our systems are made of humans who are dependent on one another. We saw that when we started to acknowledge 'essential workers.' Our connections to each other, and the fact that we need each other on a physical and emotional level, shifted the focus of well-being from the purely physical to the relational.
You've personally put a lot of well-being concepts to the test over the last decade. Which ones have worked best?
I love meditation. It's portable, you can take it anywhere and do it pretty much at any time. I do two sessions of Vedic meditation per day at 20 minutes per session. It chills me out, and makes me able to tackle the day ahead. If I've had a stressful day at work, then I meditate after work to settle down my nervous system. I also love going on retreats. My favorite places to go on retreat are Byron Bay in Australia, Thailand, Sri Lanka and Bali.
The Netflix show based on your book launches March 29 with Celeste Barber in the lead role. Tell us more about this choice.
Celeste is a global sensation and beloved by millions who tune in to see her hilarious Instagram videos. She totally embodies the spirit of someone seeking wellness, having lots of adventures, staying curious and having fun. I can't wait for people to see her star in this amazing new show.
"Wellmania: Extreme Misadventures in the Search for Wellness" by Brigid Delaney was first published in 2017 in Australia by the Black Inc. imprint Nero. An updated edition was released on February 28, 2023. In the US, "Wellmania" is published by Greystone Books.*
