WHAT it is:
As we continue to better understand the benefits of syncing up with the shorter rhythms of life and the longer rhythms of time, we’ll see more and more innovation in this space. We’re already seeing it with wearables and apps in the fitness space; consider how similar thinking might apply to important events, co-working schedules, and even new-normal approaches to things like daylight savings time.
Why we like it:
The numerous and varied impacts of the circadian rhythm, along with other natural cycles, are only now starting to be understood. As we look to create more symbiotic relationships with the world around us, we will need to consider everything from how we structure our days to how we live through the seasons. From seed-syncing to ride the waves of menstruation to time-shifting school schedules to accommodate growing brains, there are countless innovations that come from embracing natural cycles in all their forms.
How it might continue to manifest:
Instead of fighting the alarm, pushing through our periods, and fake laughing through the winter blues, healers of all kinds are becoming increasingly adamant about the virtues of embracing natural cycles; the seasonality of life brings us greater ease, balance, and synchrony. And it’s not limited to people: Chronoculture, for instance, looks at how the circadian clock of crops can be exploited to improve agricultural yield. Similar studies are finding circadian effects in medicine, shaping future use with greater effectiveness.
Psychedelic Renaissance
WHAT it is:
The pendulum has officially swung back in favor of leveraging psychedelics as a mode of healing; even the Biden administration is preparing for legal psychedelics within the next two years. What indigenous healers have known for centuries is re-entering the mainstream with a renewed embrace of mind-opening plants (and chemicals) by everyone from parents to pop culture. After decades of vilification, we’re even seeing innovation in the space, as we consider the psychedelic effects of technology, too.
Why we like it:
Our patterns of behavior are often misaligned with our conscious will — and working with meditation or therapy alone can be insufficient for true subconscious relief. By opening our therapeutic aperture to transcendent experiences, we might just be onto a mass healing breakthrough.
How it might continue to manifest:
We expect the legalization of psilocybin in places like Colorado, Canada, and progressive care homes to trigger a wave of normalization globally. It’s a shift you can already discern in Instagram-friendly services like Mindbloom and downloadable digitally-induced ‘trips’. Whether it takes the natural or technological form, we’re likely to see people (and even animals) encouraged to add expanded-consciousness practices to their wellbeing regimens.
WHAT it is:
Performance Space New York has announced Healing Series, a year-long reflection launching in Fall 2022 which focuses on the political potency of healing and the transformative role performance and embodiment take within it. Per the initial press release, “contemporary science confirms what healers and bodyworkers have known for a long time — trauma is stored within the body and we cannot talk or think ourselves out of it. We have to move through it to process it.”
Why we like it:
Art as a form of healing has powerful potential, particularly given its ability to synchronize the collective. In the words of PSNY’s Executive Artistic Director Jenny Schlenzka, “Performance, dance, and embodied art forms can play a vital role in how we might transcend isolated and individualist notions of healing toward thinking about it collectively, breaking open our perceptions of the boundaries between our wellbeing and others’, between our bodies and minds.”
How it might continue to manifest:
As often results from periods of difficulty and disruption, the pandemic prompted many to consider what trauma-informed art might emerge from this period. We’re inclined to think that this is the answer: Art that centers practices of care, art that breaks down boundaries so that we can heal together, and art that empowers us to find synchrony with ourselves, each other, and the natural world.
WHAT it is:
As cars and other complex machines transition away from mechanical hardware to digital software in performing their core functions, wirelessly-connected units are able to run diagnostics and perform ‘healing’ improvements in real-time. Israel’s Aurora Labs has recently patented technology to do just that — a platform that catches issues before they happen, and in the example of vehicle technology, pushes solutions to a car’s software without owners ever having to step foot in a dealership.
Why we like it:
Forget downloads and upgrades. By terming their tech ‘self-healing,’ Aurora is tapping into a broader trend of anthropomorphizing the mechanical in a way that reprograms our relationships to and expectations of man-made creations. In keeping with our discussion of repair in ‘from products to artifacts,’ this reframing of what deserves healing — and what that healing looks and feels like — is yet another positive step as we consider solutions for a world that needs restoration more than ever.
How it might continue to manifest:
As more and more of our devices become digitally-connected, it’s likely we’ll see real-time health monitoring and proactive ‘self-healing’ measures integrated into everything from microwaves and lawnmowers to cellphones and computers. We’re getting big Tamagotchi vibes, but we're always partial to a little retrofuturism as we re-imagine tomorrow.
WHAT it is:
The recent emphasis on diversity and inclusion in Western workplaces — particularly around gender, race, and ethnicity — has also increased mainstream awareness of other forms of diversity. Now, emotional inclusion is coming to the fore. One example of this is a growing rejection of toxic positivity at work. A form of gaslighting that fails to acknowledge the challenges people face as real and detrimental, toxic positivity dismisses any emotion that doesn’t come with a sunny outlook.
Why we like it:
Self-care is acknowledging that we are not always okay. We’ve all cried at work, whether because of a client, a colleague, or something outside the office. It’s all part of being human, and as part of our humanity, we’re embracing the idea that it’s okay to not be okay.
How it might continue to manifest:
In an increasingly worker-centric world, we’ll see further acknowledgment that healthy employees are happy employees — and that emotional wellbeing is a central piece to that puzzle. Look for workplace policy like bereavement leave that extends beyond deaths of family members (think: other traumatizing and transitional times like divorce or menopause), company perks that shift from skin-deep to beneath-the-surface, and more open and honest conversations between co-workers that do more than break the ice.
