Zen Fest promotes healthy living

By: Muriel Almeida/Contributing Writer

With the Healthy Living Program hosting its third annual Zen Fest at the University’s Wellness and Recreation Center on Sept. 27, 2018, students, staff and faculty will have access to natural product markets as well as mind and body sessions to implement into their daily routines. Zen Fest will run from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.

“Zen Fest was created because of the growing interest in complementary health therapies and approaches our office provides,” said Ebonie Parris, Assistant Director at Healthy Living and coordinator of Zen Fest.

Some of the therapies include reiki, a healing technique originating from Japan based on channeling energy, crystal healing, acupuncture and aromatherapy. By implemented these into Zen Fest, those who attend will get to enjoy a unique experience through these healing processes.

The Zen Fest will be composed of two parts, a Zen Market, which will be available throughout the entire evening and Zen Sessions, which will consist of one group yoga and meditation session and three small group sessions.

The Zen Market will contain licensed vendors who create and sell their own natural products as well as promote their services to those attending, some products include handcrafted soap and chiropractic services.

“[It] allows students to learn about various health approaches,” said Parris to Student Media.

On the other hand, the Zen Sessions will provide different mind and body practices which will enhance their well-being in addition to health improvements.

“We currently have six ‘Zen sessions’ lined up for this fall,” said Parris, “[it will] include Sound Therapy, Mindful Eating and Ayurveda 101.”

Although the program is newly implemented, there have been some challenges with how people can sign up for the event and where the events would be taking place.

Instead of pre-registering for Zen Fest, due to previous setbacks, Parris has arranged the event as a “first come first serve” basis and those who don’t get a chance to register for a particular session will still be able to join the group yoga and meditation session.

“Previously, we had Zen Sessions all over WRC which made it somewhat difficult to locate where the sessions were,” said Parris, “therefore, we are now trying to keep all of the sessions on one side of the gym for convenience.”

With the event being held only once a year during the fall semester, Zen Fest will incorporate everything it can offer from massages to sound therapy all as well as meditative sessions where one can find their center and destress in one night.

Featured image retrieved from Unsplash