The corporate wellness market is experiencing significant growth, projected to reach over $102 billion globally by 2032, up from $65.25 billion in 2024. Swapping conferences for wellness retreats, successful business leaders are realising that mind, body and business skills are not separate entities after all.  

Societally, there is a drive for in-person authentic connection. Since the COVID lockdowns, the global events industry, valued at $1.1 trillion in 2018, is projected to skyrocket to $2.33 trillion by 2026. The main changes relate to the sophisticated use of data and technology to serve more personalised event experiences. Organisers are reaching people through online channels to draw them out of the virtual world and into the real world, to connect in person.  

Beyond commercial industry conferences, we are also seeing a rise in a connection to the natural world and authentic intimate experiences. The UK, for example, has seen a wild sauna boom this year. According to Gabrielle Reason, Director of the British Sauna Society: “At our last count there were 213 wild saunas in the UK – that’s double the 104 we counted last May”. Meanwhile, the global wellness market is set to reach $8.5 trillion by 2027 and wellness festivals are said to be the new music festival. 

Driven by increasing mental and physical pressures, professionals are seeking a restorative reprieve from the daily grind. So, is the wellness retreat the new business seminar? From C-Suite execs to startup founders, ambitious individuals are retreating into the wilderness to recharge and level up.  

The rise in burnout is especially dominant for women, perhaps due to research pointing to working women handling more of the physical and/or mental load of domestic life on top of working life. Given the wellness world is already home to a larger community of women than men, the overlap of audiences is not surprising. For example, a 2020 British Medical Journal (BMJ) survey of yoga practitioners found that 87% were women. And as many yogis already understand, sometimes we have to power down, in order to level up. So perhaps female founders in particular are simply drawn to what they instinctively know will best serve them. 

Is spiritualism the antidote for A-type highly energetic individuals? Natalie Day, Kundalini Facilitator, says: “My work is about offering spiritual energy work for individuals, and whilst some people will have a deeply spiritual awakening experience, at the very core are benefits like stress reduction, increased focus, and emotional well-being. These energetic practices cultivate self-love, purpose, and connection.” 

Many of these benefits echo those proclaimed by most self-help and business seminars. It’s this overlap of mind, body and business skills that is attracting people to look beyond the traditional business events for growth opportunities.  

Executive voice coach Seema Aggarwal shared: “Most of my work starts with people wanting help with presentation skills for example. They want to feel more confident holding a room and speaking in public. But the deeper we go with voice work, the broader the remit of the work. More often than not, there are deeper personal barriers to explore to unlock the full potential of their voice.

“I often teach storytelling for business in workshops and seminars,” continues Aggarwall. “But as a business leader or founder – as anyone in a position of authority and influence – more often than not it starts with the story they tell themselves.”   

The inner work must be done to have an impact on ‘outer’ work. There is a growing awareness that in order to access our full potential we need to set our lens inward first. In yoga, there is a saying that it’s the practice we do off the mat that matters more than what we do on the mat. In a yoga class, we explore different poses known as asanas – ‘asana’ meaning literally ‘seat’ – and connect with the breath. And in the corporate world, it’s often when we find our seat and control our breath, that we step into our power in our day to day.  

‘Health is wealth’ is not just a platitude; focusing on wellbeing is good for business. People in a position of leadership, especially startup founders and leaders in small businesses, are directly responsible for the culture and morale of the rest of their teams. The more they look after themselves, the better they can show up for their teams.  

Increasing your self-awareness is the ultimate upskilling. The more experience you have, the more apparent it is that self-awareness is key to self-improvement. Famously the most common interview questions are about your strengths and weaknesses and it’s not to catch you out, but to evaluate your self-awareness. Because intellectual intelligence cannot overcome a lack of emotional intelligence. Many founders commonly ask candidates to tell the story of their career, focusing on the toughest problems they've faced, how they approached them, and the key decisions they made.  

The radically open-minded are the most radically successful. It’s no coincidence that many famous founders proclaim the benefits of meditation. Mindfulness leads to innovation. Finding innovative new solutions are not realised in a vacuum and creativity is rarely fostered without space for the mind to wander.  

Wellness retreats used to be home to the hippies and the radicals. But the most ambitious people are often successful because they’re not test their own assumptions, to be curious.