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A Time for Wellness

As May passes into June, this last spring weekend portends fun and games, meditation and prana. The 15th annual Sun Valley Wellness Festival will be held in Sun Valley, May 28-May 31, and the annual Hailey Springfest will be held Saturday and Sunday, May 29-30 at the Roberta McKercher Park in Hailey with many vendors, food stalls, music and more.

 

 

 

• A debut sporting event, the Sun Valley Volleyball Classic, will be held in Sun Valley Saturday-Monday, May 29-31. About 100 youth teams will come for tournament play and other special events. Games will be held on courts located inside the Sun Valley ice rink as well as on the Pavilion lawn. A Corporate Challenge event will take place on the Sun Valley Pavilion Lawn on Saturday and Sunday open to all businesses in the Valley.
  
  To register, e-mail ashleydean@gmail.com. There will also be Open Beach volley ball played on a recreated sand court on the lawn in front of the Sun Valley Lodge. For more information and registration: www.sunvalleyvb.com.

 

• Just prior to presenting at the Sun Valley Wellness Festival, David Crow of Floracopeia Aromatic Treasures will present an Aromatherapy and Meditation on May 26, from 6 to 8:30 p.m. at the Hailey Yoga Center.
  
  Crow, a licensed acupuncturist is the author of In Search of the Medicine Buddha, about his studies of Tibetan and Ayurvedic medicine in the Himalayas. Due to his intensive studies in Asia, Crow was moved to make his life’s work the sustainable cultivation of botanical medicine.
  
  "Education is a big part of what he’s doing,” said Ketchum Ayurvedic Practitioner Wahneta Trotter, who recently spent a week teaching with Crow. “He teaches all over the world, sourcing sustainable botanical medicine, as well as funding sustainable programs. But he’s concentrating on teaching in the States these days. We need that in this country."
  
  At this workshop and during the wellness festival he will show how pure essential oils can be powerful tools to transform consciousness and enhance well-being.
  
  "Because of the links among olfaction, the limbic system and awareness, botanical aromatics can be used to support and deepen meditation practice," Crow said. "During this evening we will explore a number of essential oils that enhance meditation such as lavender to calm the mind and nervous system; conifer oils to refresh the mind and sharpen concentration and alertness; rose to inspire Metta (loving kindness); palo santo to increase awareness of prana, and many others."
  
  His interest in this dates back to the founding of The Learning Garden at the Venice High School, which was the first of its kind to introduce organic food and botanical medicine into the Los Angeles school system.
  
  Crow’s work has been featured in numerous magazines and he’s spoken on panel discussions with His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
  
  “He’s a pioneer, a visionary, and an activist,” Trotter said. “David is teaching the single most important issues of our time,” which is our interdependent relationship concerning the survival of the planet and its inhabitants. “It is all based on intelligent agriculture."
  
  The Aromatherapy Workshop costs $25 and will be held at the Hailey Yoga Center in Alturas Plaza (by Atkinsons’ Market), Hailey. For more information contact Cathie Caccia 208-788-8773 or cc@haileyyoga.com.

 

• The Wellness Festival’s keynote speaker will be Jamie Lee Curtis. She will speak Friday, 7:30– 9 p.m. at the Limelight Room on the subject of Live Wisely, Love Well.
  
  "Live Wisely, Love Well is a personal exploration of the choices we make, good and bad, and the ability to change the course of our lives,” Curtis explained. “Along the way we will debunk myths and connect the dots, hopefully, about some essential truths."
  
  Curtis is an actress as well as an author of best-selling children’s books. She is an AIDS activist connected to, among others, the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles and the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, The Children Affected by Aids Foundation, on whose executive advisory board she serves, and The Starlight/Starbright Foundation.
  
   

• Another of the featured speakers has been called the American Lama by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Lama Surya Das spent more than 35 years studying with the great spiritual masters of Asia, eight of them in a cloistered Tibetan retreat and 15 years in the Himalayas. He will speak on Healing Yourself, Healing the World Sunday, 11 a.m.- 12:15 p.m. in the Sun Valley Inn’s Continental Room.
  
  Lama Surya Das is the founder of the Dzogchen Meditation Centers, a leading spokesman for Buddhism and contemporary spirituality, and is often featured in the mainstream media. He is also a poet, translator, spiritual teacher, and authorized lama in the Tibetan Buddhist order
  
   

• Capping off the Wellness Festival, singer Colbie Caillat will play 7 p.m. Saturday in the Sun Valley Pavilion armed simply with her dusky vocals and acoustic guitar. After the release of her nearly double platinum debut album “CoCo,” Caillat has quickly made such an enduring impact that USA Today declared the California girl a vital part of “a new wave of troubadours luring fans of all ages into a peaceful, easy feeling.”
  
   

For more information, a list of activities and a schedule of the Sun Valley Wellness Festival visit www.sunvalleywellness.org.