Last weekend I had the incredible pleasure of attending the W.E.L.L. Summit – an annual conference that brings attendees a 360 degree view of wellness. There was an amazing array of speakers and presenters, ranging from yoga teachers, to nutritionists, to beauty & skincare experts, etc. On day 1 (Friday) 500 attendees listened to a number of presentations and panels, and on day 2 (Saturday) we were able to break into smaller groups and have more intimate conversations with these leaders in wellness!
It was an amazing weekend not only because of the event, but because I proved to myself that even with multiple chronic illnesses, I can still do the cool things that I have always wanted to do.
Day 1
Day 1 was a whirlwind of a day, as it started with me boarding a bus in Boston at 7 am, and arriving in New York City around 11:30. My mom (who graciously accompanied me – more on that here) and I made a quick pit stop for iced teas, then took our cabs separate ways – her to the hotel, and me to Metropolitan West for the event!
I arrived mid check-in time and found myself at the end of a lengthy line. As soon as I took my spot there, I was greeted by the lovely woman in front of me, Nina (@cleanfreshbeauty on Instagram!) and we got to chatting. That was one thing that really struck me about the summit – you could literally just start a conversation with anyone. We’re all in the same boat (interested in holistic wellness), so we all had a lot to talk about! It kind of felt like freshman year orientation from college.
Small tangent – in one of my breakout sessions I sat next to a woman and complimented her mala bracelet. She showed me that it included lava beads, which can diffuse essential oils. She was bummed because she had forgotten her oils at home, so I pulled my travel pack of oils out of my purse and offered her some. I mean, where else other than a wellness event would something like that happen!?
As soon as I checked in I received the notorious W.E.L.L. Summit swag bag (pictured below with alllllll its goodness). Some of the highlights for me were Latham Thomas’ book Own Your Glow, the awesome clean skincare products, like a Kosmatology hand soap, Organic Bath Co. body butter, and Vapour eyeliner, and of course the yummy snacks and drinks, like Vital Proteins collage peptides and collagen beauty water, Navitas granola bars, and Pukka tea bags.
When we entered the event space, where there were rows and rows of hundreds of white chairs waiting to be filled with wellness lovers. I claimed a seat next to Nina and we both went to walk around and see the different vendors that were there. There were food/beverage and clean beauty vendors (many of whom had products in the gift bag) and there was a lunch table with delicious food from Inday. I showed great restraint and only purchased one thing – a Kosmatology hand sanitizer for my purse!
Then we finally got into the speakers and presenters. First on the docket was some chair yoga with Kristin McGee, which was fabulous considering we spent the next few hours sitting in our chairs and not getting to move!
Then we were led through a wonderful meditation by Latham Thomas, which really brought the room together and made us all vibrate higher! Latham is the author of Own Your Glow (book review to come!) and founder of Mama Glow, an organization for pregnant women and mothers. Latham is literally a powerhouse – she is so full of wisdom, so eloquent, and has so much knowledge to share! I adore her book, so being able to meditate with her and listen to her speak (see below, under “Day 2!”) was a blessing.
Sara Divello
“Creating and Embracing Your Best Life Now”
The first main speaker was Sara Divello, a Boston based author and yoga teacher. She wrote Where in the OM Am I? – the story of her journey from the corporate world to becoming a yoga teacher. Her talk literally made people laugh and cry, as she told the story of her mother bring diagnosed with breast cancer at age 49 and being given 3-6 months to live. This ordeal made her ask herself the profound question:
“Is this the life I would want to be living if I had 6 months to live?”
Obviously, the answer for her was no, and that was the ignition point for her to leave the life she had created for herself (which kept her financially comfortable and accepted by society) and really pursue her passion.
Sara left us with 5 main takeaways:
- Acknowledge the fragility and preciousness of life. Every day is a miracle – live like it.
- It’s not easy to be authentic, and in fact its often very scary. But it is so worth it! Make time for what truly fills you up.
- Cultivate deep gratitude for what you have in this moment.
- Take a mind/body/spirit approach to wellness.
- Create a vision for your best life and hold it with you! It is a long process and takes a lot of inner and outer work to bring this vision to fruition, but never take your eyes off the prize.
Kathryn Budig & Kate Fagan
“The Space In-Between: The Quest and Complicated Relationship of Relationship of Happiness and Success”
I’ll be honest – I was a little starstruck when Kathryn walked on stage. She’s such a huge name in the yoga community, not to mention that she looked stunning wearing a badass sparkly dress, her gorgeous golden locks curled to perfection. It was so fun to listen to her speak alongside her girlfriend, ESPN reporter & commentator Kate Fagan. They basically just had a conversation, but in front of 500 people!
The conversation was centered around happiness and success, and how the two are often equated with each other, when in reality, reaching society’s definition of success seldom leads to happiness. I’m sure we’ve all experienced this in various ways, when we finally achieve something that society considers a success, and yet we aren’t instantly happy. When we set goals for happiness (“I’ll be happy when we reach that day/I get that job/travel to that destination/get together with that person”) we often find that when we reach that goal, happiness is not waiting for us there.
Kathryn and Kate gave us some homework, based on a few questions a friend had once asked them:
- List 4-6 core values
- List what you want & don’t want in your life
- List things that are draining you & fueling you in your life
- Use these lists to create a roadmap
Beauty As Self-Care Panel
With Tara Foley (Follain), Christine Keheley (Vapour), Rebecca Casciano & Sandra Lanshin Chiu
I LOVED this panel! I have fallen in love with natural/non-toxic skincare, and I obviously love self-care, and I’ve always believed they go hand-in-hand! When you maintain a skincare routine, it means that you’re setting aside a certain amount of time each morning and night to dedicate entirely to yourself and the maintenance of your largest organ – your skin! Plus, when you’re using natural/non-toxic products, you can rest assured that you’re nourishing your skin with nothing but goodness that is better for both you and the environment.
Here are my favorite points from each of the beauty experts:
- Tara: Don’t just go through your skincare routine mechanically – make it into a meditative moment!
- Christine: Self-care is on a continuum from survival to self-actualization (think: Maslow’s pyramid, for any psychology buffs). Sometimes we need to take care of ourselves, and sometimes we have the choice to take of ourselves better, which means choosing natural beauty products and taking our time to apply them lovingly.
- Rebecca: Make your beauty routines into rituals! Don’t just go through the motions to get it done. Look at yourself in the mirror, touch your skin, and turn skincare into something sacred.
- Sandra: Clean beauty products have better qi (life force) than conventional products, so when you use clean beauty products, you add to your personal qi! Your qi relies on self-care.
How To Live WELL Panel
With Koya Webb, Latham Thomas & Josh Rosebrook
This was such a cool panel! It was moderated by Sara Divello, and she asked some really intriguing questions about wellness to people from different realms of it (Josh is a skincare guru, Koya is a yoga goddess, and Latham is basically a self-love/self-care queen). Below are three of the questions and my favorite bits of each speaker’s answer.
What is Wellness?
- Josh: Wellness begins with awareness, which can be found through meditation and self-reflection.
- Latham: Wellness is a radical act of self-care. It involves mindfulness in all of your choices (What is best for your body? For the planet?) and in how you allow yourself to think. Wellness is not just a practice, but a lifestyle!
- Koya: Wellness starts with daily check-ins with yourself by going deep within your soul and asking if you are living in the way that is best for you.
How do you decide which practices to keep and which to discard when it comes to wellness?
- Koya: You have to figure out what works well for you in the state you’re in right now, because it can change!
- Latham: Our bodies are like walking experiments. You have to try things and see how they make you feel, then take what you need and leave what you don’t.
- Josh: It requires a moment-to-moment self-assesment. And don’t feel the need to put yourself in a box or label your lifestyle (as is common with diets); rather, do what is working for you in the moment.
What do you think of wellness trends?
- Latham: Don’t just start a practice because it’s trendy. Learn about why it’s good, learn about its heritage and where it comes from – don’t just take it for granted.
- Koya: Be more mindful of what you’re consuming and how you share it with others!
- Josh: Don’t let wellness become selfish.
I also wrote down one specific line that Koya said because I thought it was just so beautiful:
“As long as you’re putting one foot in front of the other and you’re breathing, you’ll be ok.”
At this point, I decide to leave because I was so incredibly exhausted. I was proud of myself for making it that far in the day (an incredible feat considering the amount of fatigue I’ve been feeling all month!) so I missed the last speaker, Agapi Stassinopolous, and the Live W.E.L.L. Party, which I was SUPER bummed about, but I knew I needed to rest if I had any chance of making it to day 2. So, unfortunately, I can’t share any details from those parts of the event, however, I heard they were both great!
I also omitted information from one of the panels (Self-Care Starting With the Ingredients You Feed Yourself), which discussed nutrition. I was in the bathroom for part of it (lines were long as you can imagine) and it was the one I was least interested in.
Day 2
On day 2 I arrived fairly refreshed, having gotten a good night’s sleep and downing a green iced tea from Starbucks on my way from my hotel to the hotel where the breakout sessions were occurring. I was also buzzing with excitement because I was heading to a yoga class with Jessamyn Stanley! She’s a yoga teacher, activist, writer and all-around awesome human who uses her yoga classes and huge social media platform to provide an inclusive and body-positive approach to yoga.
Yoga Class with Jessamyn Stanley
Jessamyn’s Body Love Vinyasa class that I attended was so wonderful. As we filtered into the room, she sat in front, eyes closed, on her mat, just meditating. She looked like some kind of enlightened goddess, and I think we were all pretty intimidated at first! Then, as soon as she opened her mouth, we realized she was actually super easy-going and hilarious.
Jessamyn’s class was just my speed – not a crazy fast or challenging flow, but rather one that mixed strength and flexibility-building poses and just really allowed us to get open and grounded. Throughout the class she reminded us not to compare ourselves to our neighbors, because no one knows what’s going on in your body, and you really just have to do what’s best for your body!
Where in the OM Am I? with Sara Divello
My first breakout session (small group talks that we signed up for in advance) was with Sara Divello, author of Where in the OM Am I? and she led us through one of her workshops, which was meant to help us get unstuck, help us make a decision, and realize what we truly want in life.
First she had us do a five minute journaling exercise with some intriguing prompts, like “are you completely content where you are right now?” and “what do you yearn for?” These questions really got our gears turning. Then she led us through a series of questions, or really one question through a series of ages: “When I was X, I wanted to X.” So basically, what did you want to be when you were 5? 15? In college? Last time you remember?
Then (my favorite part!) she led us through a tapping exercise! I had heard of EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) a couple of times before, but had never actually tried it out. It involved tapping certain specific points on our bodies while we said things to ourselves like, “even though I am scared of X, I love myself anyway.” It also involved some eye movements and humming (it wouldn’t be a holistic wellness event without some woo woo!).
After the tapping, we had apparently freed our minds enough to release our full intuition, and we were instructed to ask ourselves yes or no questions. When the answer was yes, our body was supposed to automatically sway forward, and when the answer was no out body was supposed to sway backward. That way we could ask ourselves the tough questions like “should I quite my job?” or “is he the right guy for me?” and our intuition would guide us.
Now, I’m a huge skeptic of stuff like this. When Sara did it, her body swayed pretty significantly (she said it was because she’s been doing this for a long time, so the pull stronger for her). I didn’t quite feel like I was swaying, but others (including Sara) said I was moving very slightly. This is an exercise I’d like to try again to see if I have more significant results!
Every Body Yoga: Body Politics and Yoga for Everybody with Jessamyn Stanley
After attending Jessamyn’s class earlier in the morning, I was even more excited for this breakout session! I’ve loved following Jessamyn on Instagram for years, because she’s such a strong and beautiful woman. She advocates for so many marginalized groups (POC, big bodied people, LGBTQ individuals, etc.) and she’s not afraid to talk about stuff like menstruation, gun control, and body positivity. Oh, and she shares her gorgeous yoga practice, of course!
This session focused a lot on yoga, and how it can be a gateway for a better relationship with your body and yourself. Jessamyn described how starting her Instagram and taking photos of herself doing yoga really empowered her. She described how taking photos of yourself (not even necessarily doing yoga) and looking at them can help you get used to your body and slowly learn to love it.
Another thing she touched on was negative self-talk, and how it not only brings you down, but brings down everyone around you. What you say to yourself gets reflected onto others, and the energy you put out into the world sets the precedent for the energy that others can put out. You need to love yourself in order to create a more loving world.
When you’re talking to yourself, ask: would I say this to a friend? If the answer is no, then don’t say it to yourself either!
On the flip side, the positive work we do on ourselves also affects other people! This work, while positive, is not usually very pretty, but rather hard and grueling. However, how are we supposed to do the work that needs to be done in the world if we don’t do our own work and care for ourselves? Self-care is essential, and it is actually a service to others.
Observing Your Sabbath – Self-Care Made Sacred for the Modern Woman with Latham Thomas
After reading just the first part of Latham’s book, Own Your Glow, the week before the summit, I was really excited for this breakout session! Latham has so much wisdom and knowledge surrounding self-love and self-care, and those have been two things I’ve started consciously implementing into my life since being diagnosed with an autoimmune disease.
The overarching idea of this session was the importance of self-care, and making time for it. She played off of the idea of the Sabbath, or non-negotiable day of rest, in which one returns to a sacred space and engages in certain rituals. She explained that you can choose one space (it could be a room, part of a room, or even your whole home) and activate that area with certain energy and vibes.
The process for creating this space is two-fold: half of it is what you put in the space, and the other half is what you do in it. You should add elements to the space that bring you joy and invoke a certain feeling inside of you (for example: crystals, candles, quotes, photos, books, plants, etc.). Then she explained the rules you should create for spending time in this space:
5 Principles for “Glow Time”
- Atmosphere & Mood – three primal needs for women are safety, security, and feeling unobserved, so set up the space to make you feel safe.
- Presence & Pleasure – make your space welcoming, but be careful with who you allow into your space. Be with people who make you feel more yourself!
- Comfort & Coming Together – gather with people like the ones described above. You receive better when you’re comfortable!
- Grace & Gratitude – open yourself up to moments of beauty and be attuned to moments of magic in the mundane.
- Slowing Down & Savoring – enjoy what you’re doing in this moment.
Overall, the summit was a huge success and I walked away with a full heart and a full mind. I am so excited to attend similar events in the future! I’ve always shied away from them, especially since I’ve never had anyone to go with me, but this event taught me that you don’t really need to attend with someone because everyone there is already on the same wavelength!
