Schvitzing at the Sauna like a Sucker

the grim notion that self-improvement is not only a cultural imperative but a spectator sport, like professional wrestling. Othership calls its cult-y theatrics “wellness entertainment,” and journeyers are both audience and participant. Consciously or not, everyone is performing.

while community may be “possible” in social wellness environments, “it’s not inherent,” Sabiston says. “You can’t build it with tech. You can’t build that with bricks and mortar. It comes from a natural sense of the purpose, and the purpose is lost in some of these branded environments.”