I like our new age yogaistas. They use phrases like 'quench the soul', 'immerse your spirit', 'rejuvenate your mind' and 'indulge the body'. All this while curled up in an awkward looking asana. They unwittingly teach us that globalisation is good for industry, but for R & R and a bit of self-discovery, indigenous methods like yoga are the best. So while New Age technology is flattening the world horribly (homogenisation is a dirty word now), the lure of rustic, local remedies from the Kalahari Desert to the Australian outback are seen as culturally quirky, individualistic and a great way to go from being physically 'taut-ful' to spiritually thoughtful.
So how did Wellness become so culturally sophisticated?

I think the answer may lie in a little paradigm shift from stress to distress. Sure, a certain amount of stress is our body's way of preparing for the unexpected but when some 75 per cent of bodily disease is said to be stress related then distress is playing havoc with our bodies. So we see life with a certain amount of hostility. 9/11 killed a few thousand but it scarred the entire world. Normal functions of boarding flights, hearing police sirens, power cuts due to overload all sneer at us with the mask of imminent death. The fear of the unknown, the tremors of vulnerability are palpable everywhere. Trauma, a psychologically potent word is being used with abandon. We are constantly 'traumatised' by a curiously unending list - wrong shoe, wrong husband or wrong health plan. Funny, we can clone humans, eat genetically modified food and marvel at space explorations. But we can't find solace at home, or at work.

Our economy is driven by 'fear and consumption' said singer Marilyn Manson in the Oscar winning documentary Bowling for Columbine. First instill fear, however fictitious - then make us spend, hoard and spend more to rectify a problem that didn't exist. Think of the millions of dollars spent against an apocalypse that never happened - the Millennium Virus! When the clock struck twelve and a new millennium dawned, nothing happened! Except Eliot turned in his grave with his poignant words 'The Hollow Men…This is the way the world ends, not with a bang but with a whimper'.

There is a public war outside and a personal one inside. We are invariably sadder than we are happier at any given time. We are apologetic about being overtly religious given everyone is gunning everyone down in the name of God.

So who do we turn to?

Spa destinations and Wellness centres, of course. A little retreat to salvage our peace of mind, since going to a place of worship for meditative purposes has become onerous. Our new pilgrimages are to the spas of the world. When I read somewhere that the 'spa is to natural health what the computer is to the digital age', I asked myself a very Carrie Bradshaw-esque question: 'Is Wellness the New Religion?'