Wellness has long been more than just a pampering programme. It is part of an active, health-oriented and experience-oriented lifestyle. As a vital component of FIBO, this is reflected in the new Hall 8. It shows perspectives for business development at the interface of fitness, wellness and health for studio operators, physiotherapists, spas, hoteliers and BGM managers. I. Yvan Miklin is President and CEO of Aquila, a health and fitness consultancy that manages health clubs, government agencies, real estate properties and well-being programmes (www.aquilaltd.com). For the last twenty- five years, the company has been creating, managing, designing and implementing some of the most innovative health and fitness solutions for all kinds of people and all kinds of organizations.
The concept of wellness is more complex than generally assumed – can you explain what Wellness is all about?
Wellness is a series of areas. Wellness is not just going to a fitness centre or a doing a massage therapy. It is an approach that has been defined in different key areas, so it is an approach that takes into consideration activity, your emotional state of wellbeing, your spiritual well-being, your financial well-being, social well-being and alike. It does include certain areas in your immediate life circle. This does not mean that you are doing a wellness treatment or sitting in a spa for three hours. One cannot be well if you have stress about finances or if your spiritual life is not balanced, so sometimes people forget about these areas.
What is the difference between wellness and well-being?
Wellness is a concept that America has had for many years. We usually define wellness in more areas than most of the other countries do. Well-being is a concept originally from the UK over the last decade. Well-being is an easier concept to achieve and does not take a lot of consideration regarding your financial, emotional or spiritual area. Well-being interacts more of everyday things – be active- do what you can and enjoy what you do, remember the simple things that give you joy, embrace new experiences, give back to your community, and connect with people. In the end, however, both concepts are similar and moving towards the same results.
How big is the wellness market?
The Wellness Market itself is over 4.2 trillion US Dollars. It includes a lot of different areas, it is not anymore just fitness or wellness centres, now it has merged into medical tourism, wellness real estate, preventative personalized medicine and public health, healthy eating, nutrition & weight loss, fitness & mind-body, workplace wellness, traditional & complimentary medicine, and into different areas where we live. It is omnipresent.
How can fitness clubs get more involved to contribute to well-being?
Fitness has always been a child of health and in my opinion a first line of defence in preventative health. I think Fitness has always been more responsive. But we have concentrated too much on fitness alone. We have not really paid attention to recovery or well-being areas that have direct impact on fitness. They have to work together to achieve optimum balance. Without well-being activities, you really cannot be truly well. I think people will end up having injuries long-term when they do not engage in recovery activities for example. Especially when they get older. Fitness studios can put people on the right track here.
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