gery. I was like “holy cow” there are so many people that have things wrong and are looking to heal, lose weight, and change. There are so many ways to do this from spiritual, nutritionally, and physically – it’s all connected. So I decided to launch the site, mindbodygreen – one word in ’09. AM: What can readers who are first time visitors expect to get when they come to your site? JW: I think that they will find something good for them wherever they are at in their life. I talk about those pillars: mental, physical, spiritual, emotional and environmental. Wherever you are, no matter your age, fit, whatever is going on – you will find something that resonates and inspires you to live your best life and to provide you with the content and inspiration to do so. AM: What led you to creating the Wellness Trend Report? How many years has this been out, how do you go about finding the data and ultimately choosing what is on this list?
preneur. I worked at a few startups that didn’t work and I found myself flying 150K miles domestically in one year. An old basketball injury compounded with stress (I’m 6’7” in a coach seat) - I had 2 discs pressing on my sciatic nerve – my right leg was like a lightening rod with excruciating pain. I went to the doctor and he said that I needed back surgery and I got a second opinion and he said the same thing. Then as an afterthought he said, “maybe yoga could help.” I started doing yoga and saw things differently by changing my sleep, environment and nutrition. It was a big part of it and I was completely healed and never had to do sur-
JW: I think we have been doing it for 5 or 6 years! It just started to become apparent that we would see things before they happened and it is a blend of art and science – looking at the data of what is trending and what people are reading combined with all the entrepreneurs that come through our office. We sometimes get the first look 6 months to a year before they come out and we have 10M readers and 5K contributors that are tapped into what is going on. This tells us what’s going to happen before it happens. AM: Of the items that you were able to uncover, what are some of the standout trends for 2017 that stuck out to you? JW: I think on one hand, it’s sort of interesting that sobriety is a trend and that the other one is alcohol is as well.