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The Global Wellness Institute defines wellness as “the active pursuit of activities, choices, and lifestyles that lead to a state of holistic health.” The operative words are active pursuit, and the fundamental truth is that most people need a highly trained practitioner—a teacher, trainer, therapist, or coach—to materially improve their wellness. Wellness is personal. It is about people helping people, and that truth is why the wellness industry exists.

The Mindbody team has been serving the wellness industry for more than two decades and we have witnessed unprecedented growth in that time. Growing at more than twice the rate of the rest of the global economy, the combined value of the wellness industry pre-COVID-19 surpassed $4.5 trillion in 2019 (Global Wellness Institute Report, October 2019). To put that unfathomable number into perspective, humanity spent more on wellness products and services in 2019 than they did on eating out, and 2019 was a record year for restaurants as well.

But all of that was before COVID-19 disrupted our lives, introducing the entire world to a new fear of an unseen enemy few had ever imagined, and upending the economies of the world. That unprecedented global crisis permanently changed the world view and priorities of billions of people, accelerating many societal and technological trends already in motion before the virus hit, introducing a several new trends and interrupting multiple others. The most important question to those of us in the wellness industry is what will happen to our cause and our businesses now as the world recovers from the pandemic and adjusts to a new normal.

Will the wellness industry as we know it still exist in five years? Absolutely! In fact, we are about to experience a massive new wave of growth.

All the research the Mindbody team has done, all the data we have looked at, all of our conversations with industry thought leaders, and all of the rapid technological innovations we are participating in point to one fabulous truth. The next ten years will surely to produce more wellness industry growth than the past two decades combined—regardless of economic recession, social distancing, and virus-related fears. Thanks to COVID-19, wellness has become the largest and most important issue of our age. In the decade ahead, humanity will surely invest and participate in wellness pursuits more than ever before. COVID-19 has in fact ushered in a new wave of wellness, one that will create myriad business opportunities for innovative practitioners and entrepreneurs alike.

Here's the bad news: Many of the wellness business models that were flourishing in the years leading up to COVID-19 simply won't work anymore. The COVID-19 thunderbolt has suddenly and permanently shifted our reality, and as wellness entrepreneurs we must adapt to that new reality or our businesses will die.

To understand how to fully embrace the future, we must first travel back in time and perform a thought experiment. Close your eyes and imagine traveling back in time 100 years. You are sitting with your great-grandmother at her kitchen table. What would you ask her? Imagine asking these questions:

“Great-grandma, how do you stay physically fit?”

“What tools do you use to manage stress and maintain peace of mind?”

“How do you nurture meaningful relationships?”

“What are you doing to expand your mind?”

“What are you doing to protect the environment?”

“Do you find your work fulfilling?”

“What gives your life a sense of purpose?”

What we're talking about, of course, is wellness—in fact, the Seven Dimensions of Wellness—and I'm not sure about your great-grandmother, but I'm confident mine would have responded with something like this:

“What's the point of these questions, dear? Your great-grandfather and I are trying to put food on the table and keep a roof over our heads. We lost one son to World War I a few years ago and the other to the Spanish Flu Pandemic. Our biggest concern now is their younger brother being sent off to another war, or our daughter dying in childbirth. What gives me a sense of purpose? Keeping my family alive! Now, you look hungry. Let me get you something to eat.”