Flexzone Life Magazine goes inside Live Love Spa’s 9th Annual Wellness Month Trends Event
By Adrienne Dawkins-Smith, Editor-in Chief, Flexzone Life Magazine
On August 3rd and 4th, Downtown Los Angeles became the epicenter of the wellness industry as Live Love Spa hosted its 9th Annual Wellness Month Trends Event at Hudson Loft. What started in 2018 as three modest launch events in LA, Chicago, and New York has grown into the industry’s flagship gathering. This year alone, attendance more than doubled from roughly 300 to 625 attendees, prompting organizers to expand from two floors of Hudson Loft to all four.
Flexzone Life Magazine was there as press, alongside more than 300 spa leaders from brands like Marriott, Hilton, Four Seasons, Hyatt, Ritz-Carlton, Montage, Fairmont, Life Time, and Equinox, plus over 60 innovative wellness brands and media. The energy across all four floors reflected an industry in the middle of a real shift, one where wellness has moved from a niche conversation among experts to a mainstream, everyday pursuit. Brands in attendance spanned the full spectrum of what’s next in spa and beauty: high-tech facials from Skin Moderne and Candela’s next-level Glacé facial, organic facials and skincare from Eminence Organic Skin Care, and the Rosée Glow Facial from French luxury brand Phytomer. Skincare innovation was well represented too, with Yon Ka, Nelly De Vuyst, and Circadia showcasing their latest lines, and premium brand FACTORFIVE debuting its new hair care powered by human stem cell– derived growth factors. Hair care had its own moment as well, with Olaplex offering complete treatments and Harklinikken providing scalp analysis. On the recovery side, Ammortal brought an immersive Biohacking Lounge to the floor, and Sunlighten showcased its mPulse infrared sauna, combining heat therapy with red light. Lunch on day one was sponsored by Sweetgreen.
Beyond the booths, the event was built around hands-on, immersive experiences. Attendees could join Glow sessions with the Circadia Glow Studio, step into “The Ammortal Moment” for a guided recovery experience, or slow down with “Steeping with Purpose,” a tea ritual hosted by Magic Hour Tea. Nervous system wellness brand BioTune brought its immersive Blue Room experience to the floor, drawing attendees in for a firsthand look at their approach to recovery. A dedicated technology lounge showcased the latest in wellness devices, while the Growth Café brought together nutritional supplement brands, an entire wellness category unto itself. Guests could also sample the latest in lymphatic massage beds and even take part in an immersive sound bowl session, rounding out an experience built as much around feeling wellness firsthand as talking about it.
Flexzone Life Magazine sat down with Piper De Young, Creative Director for Live Love Spa, to talk about what makes this event different, and why the company built an entire month around the idea of choosing wellness. “I love that everyone was covered, from media to creators, to hair and beauty, to biohackers, to nutritionists, I could go on and on, every single category,” Adrienne told her. “It’s just the right mix, such a good vibe here.”
“Everyone is sacred here,” De Young said. “A lot of us are healers in this industry. We want to see people feel better, we want to see people show up better for themselves, or their families, or their lives. And we want to go so much deeper than maybe what’s aesthetically visible out there. It’s internal, it’s soul, it’s mental health. It really touches every aspect of someone’s life, and that’s really what we want to bring focus to with National Wellness Month.”
That focus, she explained, is intentional in its timing too. “The reason we chose a month to celebrate National Wellness Month is that it takes about thirty days to create a new habit. Research has shown that.” Her advice for readers: pick one thing, whether it’s joining a walking club or simply trading a late-night scroll for a walk outside, and really check back in with yourself. “It’s very easy at the beginning of the year for people to set intentions, but by August, the year has already flown by. This is a good little reset.”
Live Love Spa itself was born out of a gap in the industry. “We were connecting the best spa brands with the best spa buyers, that is what we love to do,” De Young said. The company now services around eighteen major US cities a year, from Los Angeles to Miami to Chicago to New York, and has expanded into international retreats in Fiji, the Dominican Republic, Cancun, Aruba, and, most recently, Seoul, where the company brought roughly sixty spa buyers and corporate leaders to experience the Korean wellness market firsthand. “K-beauty is huge. Korean culture has influenced so much of what we’re doing here in the US, and they’re really ahead of the trends over there,” De Young said. “It was really cool to see.”
In 2020, Live Love Spa also launched Shop Live Love Spa, a direct-to-consumer arm that brings the brands the company has spent years vetting with spa directors straight to everyday consumers. “You know these are brands approved by some of the top spas in the world,” De Young said. “You know you’re going to find something great on our shop.”
For a closer look at where the industry is actually headed, Flexzone Life Magazine turned to Live Love Spa’s founder and CEO, Lisa Michaelis, who established National Wellness Month back in 2018. “The idea came since we all get so busy throughout the year, we need a reminder to take care of ourselves,” Michaelis said. “Especially in the wellness industry, it came down to the adage ‘healer, heal thyself.’ ”
Michaelis has watched the industry transform over her twenty years in it. “In the beginning, we were kind of talking to ourselves. We would shout from the rooftops how smart it was to embrace a wellness lifestyle, and no one was listening. Now the public is coming to us.” She points to Oura Rings, iPhone health tracking, and the rise of wellness podcasts and influencers as evidence of just how far the shift has come.
That shift shows up clearly in the data too. Live Love Spa’s inaugural Spa & Wellness Industry Trends Survey, gathered from spa leaders across North America, found longevity and healthy aging dominating the conversation heading into 2027, with 84% of professionals naming it the industry’s top growth trend, well ahead of runners-up like women’s health, mental well-being, and sleep. When it comes to where consumers are actually spending, longevity services like diagnostics and preventative testing led at 76%, and at home, red light therapy is the clear frontrunner in wellness tech at 71%, outpacing sleep tech and wearables by a wide margin.
One trend Michaelis feels is still flying under the radar: financial wellness. “It’s really so important to overall stress reduction and well-being, but it’s often the first thing overlooked,” she said. “Sleep gets a lot of attention, but in the end, it boils down to the basics of wellness: exercise, eating right, healthy relationships, and destressing.”
She also pointed to a rising theme at this year’s event: social wellness. “We’re seeing a clear rise in social wellness. It began during the pandemic, when people realized how essential community and in-person connection are.” Hotel brands like Hilton and Montage are now converting unused space into community wellness areas, and companies like Life Time, which has 150 locations nationwide, are hosting group education sessions that sell out the day they’re announced. “We know the former Surgeon General identified loneliness as an epidemic,” Michaelis said. “But it’s easy to sit in a circle in zero gravity chairs, or wearing compression boots, and destress together, doing something healthy as a group.”
No conversation about the event’s history would be complete without SpaFinder, this year’s Diamond sponsor, celebrating its 40th anniversary. Flexzone Life Magazine spoke with Tanya Stringone, Business Development Manager at SpaFinder, at their activation on the show floor.
“SpaFinder is a wellness brand that’s been in business for forty years,” Stringone said. “Forty years of acquiring wellness guests, through our gift card, which is sold in forty thousand retail locations.” That reach is exactly what SpaFinder brings to its spa and wellness partners: a built-in guest base looking for their next destination.
For the anniversary, SpaFinder debuted a first-of-its-kind activation. “This is the first time we’re doing an activation like this, and it’s really exciting,” Stringone explained. Attendees wrote a letter to their future selves, to be mailed back in forty days, with the option to seal it for even longer if their goal was a five or ten year one. Guests also left with an engraved wallet, a small keepsake from a milestone year. SpaFinder also hosted a cocktail celebration on day one to mark the anniversary in style.
That kind of full-circle, personal touch is what defined this year’s event. Between the trend data, the founder’s twentyyear perspective, and activations built to last well past the show floor, National Wellness Month made its case for what it’s always been about: small, intentional choices, repeated, shared, and revisited, that add up to something lasting.
Follow Live Love Spa at LiveLoveSpa.com or NationalWellnessMonth.com. Registration details for next year’s event will be released January 2027.
