By Malcolm Venable (Originally posted on shondaland.com – January 19, 2021)

As we move into 2021, we have the opportunity to completely reset. We can pursue wellness with fresh optimism and positivity. We know the world is slowly getting back on its feet, and that it’s always possible to get back up ourselves. We can do little things each day to build ourselves up, mentally and physically, to ensure we continue to thrive. We’re bringing you tips, trends, and stories that will help you place wellness front and center as you kick off the new year.

Every new year offers a fresh opportunity to get that mind and body right, but right after 2020, it’s fair to say that taking care of ourselves will be the top priority in ways that have never been more important.

The ongoing pandemic has heightened a need to make health everyone’s number one priority, whether it’s precautions to avoid Covid or recovery from it. And yet separate from the disease itself, Covid’s ripple effects have created an outsized impact on overall wellness too. Pretty much every facet of normal life — work, school, recreation, romance, eating — has been upended and likely to remain stalled for some time, requiring us to adapt to an unfamiliar, sometimes confusing and frustrating new normal.

In previous years, the idea of embracing wellness trends might’ve seemed a bit woo-woo (remember the charcoal detox craze?), but wellness “trends” in 2021 are very much grounded in the realities of the moment — necessary for our mental and physical survival. This year, wellness trends aren’t about fads and experimental, out-there treatments, but back-to-basics tools for taking care of yourself because you can’t afford not to do so.

Micro workouts
One side effect of working out at home: workouts are getting shorter. “People like the convenience and flexibility of working from home, but it’s changed workouts,” says Amanda Freeman, a fitness trend forecaster and the founder/CEO of fitness companies SLT and Stretch*d. “It’s very hard to work out for an hour in your house — the 90-minute yoga class? Out. People are into that 30 to 40-minute workout, and then looking to do fuller longer workouts in the studio or gym.”

Workouts are less intense too, she says; we’ll get back to more demanding, vigorous workouts when we can safely return to gyms and studios.

And if we’re not working out at the crib, we’re — no surprise here — taking the workout outside. Walking, hiking, running, cycling and even group fitness classes outside will remain big throughout 2021, not just out of necessity but out of a rediscovered appreciation for spending time outdoors.

At-home therapy and spa experiences
With massages and other little luxurious treatments for the body out of the question or at least extremely hard to procure for the time being, folks have been forced to get creative. Unsurprisingly, recovery tools are big must-haves for 2021.

“Percussion massages devices, virtual stretching sessions, infrared sauna blankets — all types of at-home recovery are popular,” says fitness forecaster Amanda Freeman. And since spas are pretty much a memory at the moment, bath time has become a way for people to fill that need for pampering. Pinterest’s Brown says people are turning baths — a practice many of us took for granted in lieu of more efficient showers — into expressions of sacred self-care. “It’s that idea of getting to soak and relax,” she says. “People are asking themselves, ‘How do I recreate that in my own space?’” Answer: adding elements such as essential oils, oatmeal, and dried flowers. She’s even seeing people add free-standing tubs in their bedrooms, or kiddie pools for foot soaks right before slumber.

Malcolm Venable is a staff writer for Shondaland.