If you really want to rewrite a chronic disease or diagnosis, it’s about going back to basics and focusing on the building blocks of health

What is Higher Order?
Brittany: It’s a 3,500sq ft social wellness concept in West Palm Beach, Florida, offering movement, mindfulness classes and sound baths, alongside contrast therapy and social spaces.

The Alchemy bar and lounge has a coffee shop vibe and is the beating heart of the facility, where we offer zero-proof cocktails, mushroom tinctures and herbal teas made by our alchemist.

The membership also includes four annual consultations with our advanced care provider team, which includes nutritionists, meditation experts and medical professionals.

We believe many are craving in-person experiences, less screen time and the opportunity to come together with like-minded people. We’ve set out to create a space where people can do just that – turn off the phone, unplug, activate the parasympathetic nervous system and create actual bonds.

How did it come about?
Ryan: In 2022 I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes which came out of nowhere. It doesn’t run in our family and I work out five days a week, so it wasn’t a lifestyle thing, it was an immune response.

As a result I saw dozens of doctors and went down every rabbit hole around testing. It’s kind of underwhelming that at the bottom of that traditional medical allopathic funnel, good health comes down to sleep, exercise, nourishment, community and managing stress.

Focusing on those pillars has allowed me to put my autoimmune disorder into remission and now my blood sugar is under control.

We were so inspired by this that we wanted to bring that experience to everyone else in our community. We firmly believe that the solution to the health crisis in America and other markets doesn’t come in a pill. If you really want to rewrite a chronic disease or diagnosis, it’s about going back to basics and focusing on the building blocks of health.

Stress has such a big impact on health that at Higher Order we make mindfulness as important as our movement offerings and treat food and community as medicine.

What are you doing to promote community?
Brittany: We offer guide-led experiences. All the modalities are set up for small- to medium-sized groups, where an expert walks our members through the experience and facilitates connections between people. We also host a gathering every week and workshops discussing topical issues such as peptides or nutritional programming.

Who are your members?
Ryan: We’ve found an amazing community in West Palm Beach with a lot of minded individuals. It feels like a wellness gold rush in a lot of ways. Many people are moving here from New York and Chicago to get respite from crazy, busy lifestyles. Palm Beach County is the sixth largest fitness community in America based on unique monthly Mindbody bookings and the West Palm Beach community is one of the top five fastest growing markets by millionaires per capita in the world.

People are flocking towards functional, holistic and preventive medicine because they are sick and tired of doing antibiotics, steroids and statins. As a doctor you’re almost not allowed to recommend diet and exercise – it’s not taught in med school – but they will lose their license if they don’t prescribe a pill based on a symptom.

What is the price point and what are the membership options?
Brittany: It’s currently sitting at between US$400 and US$500 per month, depending if you join under a couple’s membership or take a single membership.

Although we’re looking at offering day passes, for people who don’t live in the area or corporate events, we really are all about membership.

If you want to drive positive health outcomes through holistic lifestyle changes you have to be part of a wellness movement, embrace it and be part of it. We want people who are committed for both themselves and the community, and who will raise the vibrational frequency of the community that we’re creating.