Self-care has become a booming industry associated with athleisure and time out - all of which we value, but its roots go much deeper than that, with the term itself linked to the 1950s and civil rights activists.
Today we tend to think of self-care as something that we all aspire to in order to get through the rigours of day-to-day life. The stresses of work, finances, family, relationships, managing our health, the overwhelming nature of the digital world - these are the things we seek to counter through a process of discovery - finding what works for us when it comes to wellbeing.
At Spabreaks.com we believe that in the modern world, self-care is a broad spectrum of needs defined by whatever sustains you and makes you feel good. Therefore, it's a joy to see the sometimes tongue-in-cheek, sometimes serious range of self-prescribed wellbeing acts that we all engage in. Perhaps sometimes it's about sleeping until late or simply letting things go, while at other times it's about fitness routines, facials and nutritional guidance. They all make their way into the conversation.
However, self-care at its heart is deeply important, not merely a nice-to-have but an essential need to have, and the origins of the term and principle attest to that, championed by civil rights activists and the Black Panther movement.
Maryam K. Aziz, Ph.D, postdoctoral research fellow at Penn State University is quoted in Teen Vogue, saying: “Holistic needs of Black communities and Black activists have always been a part of community organizers’ tactics. Black women, often queer, pushed other activists toward caring for themselves as a necessary, everyday revolutionary practice,”
It's said that the term 'self-care' was then adopted by the medical community and has since made its way into our collective vernacular. However, those early influences still remain deeply connected to what is now a global market projected to reach a value of $1,436.7 billion (£1,178bn) by 2027, according to the Global Wellness Institute’s Global Wellness Economy Monitor 2023.
Teen Vogue goes on to write: "Trailblazers and former Black Panther leaders Angela Davis and Ericka Huggins adopted mindfulness techniques and movement arts like yoga and meditation while incarcerated. Following their release, they both began championing the power of proper nutrition and physical movement to preserve one’s mental health while navigating an inequitable, sociopolitical system, creating wellness programs for adults and children in recreational centers across the country, in neighborhoods like Brooklyn, New York, and Oakland, California."
Martial arts, self-defence, and a focus on being strong, all played a role in the origins of modern self-care, and they remain amongst its pillars today, with more and more people discovering and enjoying its frequently underestimated value each day. Categorically not an indulgence, those who championed and shaped self-care during those mid-century years, did so as a way of armouring themselves in the world, and being sustainably able to handle its challenges and iniquities physically, mentally, and emotionally.
Activist Audre Lorde wrote in 1988 following her cancer diagnosis:
“Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.”
Today there's immense beauty in knowing and honouring that heritage within the wellbeing world. It's not frequently talked about, and indeed we ourselves are not always fully cognisant of the influences that so clearly shape what we're privileged to enjoy, know, and value today.
What a lesson to learn, particularly during Black History Month, that taking care of yourself can be the ultimate act of defiance, signalling a powerful determination to thrive.
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