Exploring the intersection of traditional healing therapies and health innovation: Reimagining community wellness in Web 3

If I asked you if you could remember what your mother or grandmother did when you came down with a cold, would you remember? I have vivid memories of Fever grass tea, tepid baths, and plenty of attention and care. To what extent do we credit this care to our capacity to thrive today? How often do we call on those remedies for ourselves and our progeny? How do we preserve the wisdom in traditional healing as we explore how science has innovated to create longevity?

Over the last two years, I have been exploring Accessibility within health and wellness and how various factors impact long-term health outcomes, particularly for people in Marginalized communities. Our Menstrual Health survey identified key weaknesses within our health systems and how we approach well-being. 

First, there is a tendency to create a narrative that centres the disease. How we tell stories about our bodies matters, and how Health practitioners are approached about our observations has a significant impact on our capacity to restore balance. 

Another critical access point is relevant (and culturally appropriate) educational resources. I emphasize cultural relevance for a couple of reasons. We understand that medical research rarely considers cultural context and socio-economics as contributing factors to health outcomes. I will not touch on race and classification based on phenotypes here as a basis for assessing health outcomes since this is typically the "go -to" when included in medical and anthropological literature. 

Health & Wellness Innovation is necessary, particularly in acute care. We can all probably agree that a person would likely not benefit from getting treated for a gunshot wound or severe spinal cord injury by a herbalist or alternative medicine practitioner. However, wellness innovation has become exclusive, boasting everything from life extension technology, biometric monitoring and Photobiomodulation. While these may offer well-being for the ultra-elite, this remains largely inaccessible to the 99% who may live in a food desert or struggle with housing insecurity.

While largely ignored by researchers, the socio-economic and spiritual underpinnings of chronic illness are arguably best dealt with at the community level. What if we could provide real-time access to traditional medicine practitioners, address food insecurity and access some of the innovations in Biohacking while creating economic incentives for community members? 

Up to this point, the possibility of such a project remained subject to the imagination of the idealist. Still, with innovations in tech and the birth of Web 3, we can do more than speculate on a return to a community-centred approach to well-being. Alternative wellness practices have fallen into one of two categories. Either overpriced and inaccessible or practitioners being othered by those who pathologize such alternative therapies as archaic. As a result, Herbalist, Acupuncturists, Yoga instructors, and the like constantly toe the line between accepting minimal compensation due to their altruistic desire to help or “over pricing” services that create a liveable income but alienate them from those they genuinely desire to serve. 

InnerAlchemist DAO aims to bridge the gap in a few ways. 

1. The community facilitates and empowers members to become experts in their body through education and coaching rather than creating a hierarchy between the Practitioner and Learner. 
2. Web 3 tooling allows for real-time adjustments based on community members' level of understanding and needs.
3.  Both Practitioners and Learners invest in their wellness through fractional ownership in physical wellness spaces and the Metaverse.
4. Learning pods address the unique needs of the group and create investment opportunities accordingly (i.e. housing support, access to nutritious food/permaculture farms or retreats)

Curious about how you can participate? Join by filling out our application form

This is a call for all who want to create meaningful change in the wellness space and actively participate in that change to create systems of equity for the 99%. If you are interested in joining our community please go to the community link in my bio. Share this post with your friends and wellness enthusiasts.

Want to know more about the meaning of Web3? Check out this article and resource guide: WTF?! is Web3