Who Is Wellness For?

An Examination of Wellness Culture and Who It Leaves Behind

By: Fariha Roisin

Narrated by: Fariha Roisin

The multi-disciplinary artist and author of Like a Bird and How to Cure a Ghost explores the commodification and appropriation of wellness through the lens of social justice, providing resources to help anyone participate in self-care, regardless of race, identity, socioeconomic status or able-bodiedness.

Growing up in Australia, Fariha Róisín, a Bangladeshi Muslim, struggled to fit in. In attempts to assimilate, they distanced themselves from their South Asian heritage and identity. Years later, living in the United States, they realized that the customs, practices, and even food of their native culture that had once made them different—everything from ashwagandha to prayer—were now being homogenized and marketed for good health, often at a premium by white people to white people.

In this thought-provoking book, part memoir, part journalistic investigation, the acclaimed writer and poet explores the way in which the progressive health industry has appropriated and commodified global healing traditions. They reveal how wellness culture has become a luxury good built on the wisdom of Black, brown, and Indigenous people—while ignoring and excluding them.

Who Is Wellness For? is divided into four sections, beginning with The Mind, in which Fariha examines the art of meditation and the importance of intuition. In part two, The Body, they investigate the physiology of trauma, detailing their own journey with fatphobia and gender dysmorphia, as well as their own chronic illness. In part three, Self-Care, they argue against the self-care industrial complex but cautions us against abandoning care completely and offers practical advice. They end with Justice, arguing that if we truly want to be well, we must be invested in everyone’s well being and shift toward nurturance culture.

Deeply intimate and revelatory, Who Is Wellness For? forces us to confront the imbalance in health and healing and carves a path towards self-care that is inclusionary for all.

Breathtaking ✨

Seminal text in decolonized healing. Period. Will re read and listen to this audio again in the future.

Pseudoscience

I appreciate deeply the occasional social commentary and sprinkles of factual data, but this is essentially a book about how much the author hates her mom.

Stunning.

Very few books have touched me as deeply as this one. Incredible knowledge and poetic artistry. I will be reading again and again.

So LA

The vocal fry is insufferable and clear evidence of the lonely ghost behind this tirade.

When your only critique is “more author,” I think it’s a great of sign. <3

I likely would not have picked this up if it weren’t for a book club - not because I wouldn’t be interested, but because I didn’t know about it!
Very impressed. My only (super nit-picky, hopefully constructive) criticism would be that she more quotations than necessary, which is subjective. I guess… Although her citations always support her narrative, I like Fariha’s words even more. She is so clearly on a journey of self-exploration, and I relate so much to this use of quotations because I do the same. But as she continues to write, I am manifesting a little more dependence on HER words. I think as she grows as a writer, both in skill and recognition, she will go down as one of the Greats. I feel wiser, more engaged in the world, and more capable of creating change within myself and my environment, directly because I read this. I would have my students read this if I were teaching a psychology course. I actively recommend this to anyone I meet who seems open enough to consider. I cannot praise this book enough