Health is the new hedonism

Goodluck Hope will be hosting a weekend urban retreat dedicated to fitness and fun.

Gone are the days when breaking sweat in the gym once a week was all you did to stay fit. Today’s ‘wellness’ – a radical broader approach to a healthy balanced lifestyle – combines fitness with food, drink and even partying.

“Fitness started as being all about weight-loss and celebrity work-outs,” explained Shara Tochia, co-founder of the online health magazine DOSE - ‘the pleasure seekers guide to wellness.’ Said Shara: “Today’s 25-35 year-old millennial women tend to see wellness as ‘healthy hedonism’ - which can be anything that makes you feel better or happy – a workout or yoga, walking with your partner or sharing a good meal with friends.”

“People who may have spent a long time partying or drinking too much wine now seek the same high through yoga or a workout perhaps followed by a good brunch. It’s all about recreating those ‘DOSE’ highs - dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin and endorphin - but in a natural, healthy way,” explains Shara, who “side-hussled” a 15-year career in marketing as a part-time ‘spinning’ instructor before going into business 18 months ago with Hettie Holmes – whose pleasures, according to the website, include “a full-bodied Malbec.”

“It’s not so strict or puritanical. We have a strong party aspect in our programme with a lot of musical experiences holding spin classes in night clubs enjoying healthy cocktails.”

The trend for new developments to include gyms and swimming pools has been driven by demand: more people are prioritising health and quality of living as a way of mitigating the effects of the daily urban grind.

“Ballymore has been very kind to let us have the garage space and marketing suite at Goodluck Hope for a special ‘urban retreat’ event taking place on the Saturday and Sunday morning of July 21-22.

“We are sending out an invitation to our subscribers to join our HIIT ( Hi-Intensity Interval Training) session, followed by a yoga class overlooking the O2 Centre and coming back for a good healthy brunch”, said Shara.

Yoga has long been one of the best options for dealing with the stresses of life because in today’s “stressed out social media world people need a place where they can learn to breathe and find a moment’s peace”, said Shara, who predicted the next trend would be for ‘meditation’ – with a big focus on apps where “you pay to sit still”.

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