The Sunday Interview: Deconstructing Wellness Culture: Yoga, Mindfulness, and Appropriation

About this episode

The episode explores the hidden costs of the modern wellness industry and the ethical implications of cultural appropriation in spiritual practices.

In this episode of Straight White American Jesus, host Brad Onishi sits down with Dr. Liz Bucar, religious ethicist and professor at Northeastern University, to unpack the hidden costs of the modern wellness industry. Exploring themes from her new book, Beyond Wellness: How Restoring the Religious Roots of Spiritual Practices Can Heal Us, Dr. Bucar argues that consumer culture has stripped profound traditions like yoga, mindfulness, and psychedelics into a "spiritual salad bar"—trading real transformation for quick dopamine hits. Through her own raw, firsthand experiences—including a grueling silent Buddhist retreat and a transformative ayahuasca ceremony while processing the grief of losing her father—she illustrates why separating these embodied practices from their ethical, communal roots ultimate leaves us spiritually malnourished. The conversation dives deep into the ethics of cultural appropriation and extraction, questioning how affluent Westerners commodify sacred traditions while the minoritized communities who sustained them struggle to survive. From analyzing Alcoholics Anonymous as the original "spiritual but not religious" program to unpacking a 97-year-old monk's…

People in this episode

Host: Brad Onishi

Guest: Dr. Liz Bucar

Topics covered

• wellness culture
• cultural appropriation
• spiritual practices
• consumerism
• community
• ethics

Keywords

• wellness
• yoga
• mindfulness
• cultural appropriation
• spirituality
• consumer culture
• community
• transformation

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Northeastern University

Books & works: Beyond Wellness: How Restoring the Religious Roots of Spiritual Practices Can Heal Us

More episodes of Premium Ad-Free: Straight White American Jesus

• Weekly Roundup: The UFC Presidency: Election Lies, Blood Sport Politics, and Hegseth’s D-Day Disgrace · June 12, 2026 · 59 min
• It's in the Code ep 194: “The Last Word” · June 10, 2026 · 32 min
• The Sunday Interview: Fighting Spiritual Terrorism · June 7, 2026 · 49 min
• Weekly Roundup: From Neo-Nazi Remigration to Military Christian Nationalism · June 5, 2026 · 59 min
• It's in the Code ep 193: “Christian Nationalism On the DL” · June 3, 2026 · 35 min
• The Sunday Interview: Synthetic Hate: How AI Fuels the Far Right · May 31, 2026 · 1h 1m