January 1, 2018
Delaney, a lifestyle journalist, takes the reader through her 12-year search for wellness in this amusing memoir. She belatedly realizes that navel-gazing may not be healthy as she relentlessly pursues all that the wellness industry offers in sections titled after the holy trinity of wellness goals: “Clean” (eating healthily), “Lean” (getting into shape), and “Serene” (finding happiness). In “Clean,” the reader joins her in a grueling 101-day fast in Australia, her homeland. She combines vivid descriptions, such as of a required daily herb drink described as resembling, in taste, flat beer with 10 cigarettes mixed in; hysterical accounts, such as of her stealing breakfast from a business associate; and medical explanations of what’s really happening to her body. “Lean” looks at the benefits of daily yoga as well as its drawbacks, such as rampant consumerism and commodification. The meatiest section, “Serene,” explores meditation retreats, from a spooky monastery to an off-the-wall new age retreat where psychotherapy is practiced. Delaney is generous in sharing her experiences and skillful in weaving them into reported facts, but stingy in doling out conclusions. She offers only two paragraphs of concrete advice, which basically boils down to “build a routine.” Still, the book gives copious examples of how one could start doing that.
May 23, 2017
Wellmania takes on the industrial wellness complex, a billion-dollar industry that mainstreams and monetises ancient traditions for affluent consumers. Feeling depleted from decades in the fast lane, journalist Brigid Delaney explores the modern (and very Western) pursuit of what she calls ‘clean, lean and serene’ living. Going gonzo on wellness, Delaney undertakes and entertainingly documents her own search for these goals via trends such as extreme fasting in Bondi, yoga in Sri Lanka, an enema in the Philippines and group therapy in the bush. Her search is earnest, and she’s game for just about anything, but Delaney is also unflinching in her examination of the darker side of the wellness industry: the tendency to swing between hedonism and contrition, which she sees reflected in society at large; the environmental, cultural and moral quagmire that the West’s wellness industry leaves in its wake; and its attendant narcissism and body-image obsession. Delaney is a relatable and fearless tour guide on this journey, game enough to go to the very edge while you watch from a safe distance; there is something both methodical and simultaneously chaotic about her process. Readers who recognise themselves in Delaney’s search will be amused and uncomfortable in equal parts.
Jenni Kauppi is an editor, critic and bookseller