Wellness Festivals Are on the Rise. Here’s What to Know.

Self-care tends to focus on (surprise!) the self. It’s a solo affair, a process of learning what you need to boost your well-being and then building those practices into your life.

But what if your wellness didn’t have to exist in a container? What if there was an entire festival circuit that promoted similar rejuvenation through collective co-regulation? This possibility becomes a reality at wellness festivals, a new guard of wellness retreats that expands the scope of the rising trend by making “healing” a group endeavor—and a cause for celebration.

What Is a Wellness Festival?

Before getting into the “what” of a wellness fest, Radha Agrawal suggests you take a moment to reframe the word “wellness.” Agrawal co-founded Daybreaker, a substance-free sunrise dance party that has grown to include popular practices like cold plunges and sauna sessions, and she believes “wellness” has been flattened into “green juices and expensive retreats.” In other words, inaccessible and, at times, unwelcoming.

“A true wellness gathering is something far more ancient and far more urgent: it’s any intentional space where humans are invited to arrive whole, body, mind, spirit, and leave more alive than when they walked in,” she says. “That’s it. That’s the whole definition.”

With that broader view in mind, contemporary wellness festivals offer the sort of mindfulness modalities you know and love (yoga, breathwork, chanting, we could go on), supplemented by music, art, and a generally celebratory vibe. While traditional retreats tend to encourage you to go inward with the support of the collective, this new generation of wellness retreats ask that you make your transformative journey alongside those around you.

Aria Nyx, founder of the Transcend Fest, wellness gathering that takes place annually on the East Coast, notes that the opportunity to embrace self-care in good company is a major draw for many attendees. “There’s something incredibly powerful about sharing that kind of environment with hundreds of people who are all seeking growth, healing, and connection,” she says. “It’s incredibly powerful.”

What Can You Expect at a Wellness Fest?

Think of most wellness fests as the natural evolution of the typical yoga retreat. Sure, you’re bound to spend some time on your mat. But you’ll also enjoy workshops on embodiment and personal development, sound healing, a wide variety of mindful movement, and ample opportunity to engage in meaningful conversations with resident experts—and everyone else. There will also likely be a DJ or two encouraging you to get up and dance, and perhaps an opportunity for some group sauna, cold plunge, or forest bathing time.

Inclusivity matters, too. If you ask Robin King, founder and director of the Smoky Mountain Yoga and Wellness Festival, a wellness festival should appeal to people of all ages so that the entire family is eager to partake. “Families are looking for events that everyone can join; mom, dad, children, grandparents and grandchildren, and those facing physical and mental challenges,” she says, adding that the goal is to spur a wellness journey that lasts well beyond the bounds of the gathering. “We want attendees to leave feeling enlightened, but more importantly, hungry for more. More information. More knowledge. More community.”

While the activities are undoubtedly beneficial, it’s the sense of belonging, engagement, and shared intention that separates wellness fests from the pack. And the movement is growing.

Take Daybreaker. What began as a sunrise dance party in 2013 is now a series of world-wide wellness initiatives with the goal of helping attendees feel their best together. Daybreaker’s HEATWAVE, a recent collaboration hosted in New York with modern bathhouse Othership, lets participants move from sauna to cold plunge to breathwork together. Another recent event, ALIVE: LDN in London, added a dance triathlon and a full day of DJ sets to the mix.

“I watched people come out of the cold plunge completely electric, pupils wide, grinning at strangers,” says Agarawal, who is also considering how Daybreaker experiences featuring forest bathing, breathwork at altitude, or a group float tank could take shape. “That’s co-regulation in real time. That’s what we’re chasing.”

The Power of Collective Healing

The whole concept of experiencing transformation as a group is more than just lip service. If you’ve ever been to a yoga retreat, yoga festival, or even a yoga class or a really good dance floor, you’re aware of the exponential shifts that can happen in the presence of others. There’s something about shared energy that makes it all move through you just a little more intensely.

In fact, Agarawal and her team are currently running a study at UC Berkeley that tracks collective awe. “The science of shared joy, dance, belonging,” she says. “For the first time we have the tools to actually measure what we have always felt in our bones: that collective movement is medicine.”

Also, generations such as Gen-Z tend to prioritize well-being in most things, including travel, and largely refrain from alcohol-fueled festivals popular among prior generations. But gather we must! Doing so with holistic healing in mind just makes sense.

For her part, Nyx thinks wellness festivals are gaining in popularity because collectively, we’re recognizing that well-being isn’t something to compartmentalize. “It touches every aspect of life: how we move, how we work, how we connect with others, and how we care for ourselves,” she says.

It might just be to enjoy a new kind of party, one that leaves you feeling full of vitality and a new kind of commitment to self-care—in community.