Abstract
This chapter examines how contemporary Western culture increasingly associates ‘Asia’ with health, wellbeing, and ancient wisdom, transforming diverse traditions into marketable lifestyles. From spa culture and fusion cuisine to yoga, TCM, meditation apps and luxury wellness tourism, we explore how these practices are selectively reinvented through orientalist fantasies, invented authenticity, and the commercial logics of global capitalism. The chapter analyses how media, branding, and digital platforms perpetuate ‘mystical’ or exoticised images of Asian practices, while also considering the agency of Asian creators who navigate, resist, or strategically deploy these frameworks. Ultimately, it interrogates the cultural politics underlying Asia-as-wellbeing.