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    HomeLifestyleGuam gets its wellness on at Ina Well Fest | Lifestyle

    Guam gets its wellness on at Ina Well Fest | Lifestyle

    Ina Wellness Collective is kicking off its biggest event yet next week with the inaugural Ina Well Fest.

    A six-hour long wellness extravaganza, the event sold out months in advance and will offer attendees the opportunity to hear from wellness experts and explore a variety of practices in hands-on breakout sessions and during an interactive vendor experience.

    “People are prioritizing experiences over products or physical things more and more. And so people are hungry, especially on Guam, for something that’s unique, something that’s different and something that can inspire them, especially in their wellness journey, which everyone is thinking about these days,” said Livia Marati, founder of Ina Wellness Collective.

    Marati describes the event as a conference and festival hybrid. The day will begin at noon with a welcome from Marati and a keynote address from Rosie Acosta, a yoga and meditation teacher and author of “You Are Radically Loved,” who’s visiting Guam from California for Ina Well Fest.

    “Some of the themes of what she’ll be talking about are going to be around her own wellness journey, being able to still have access to wellness resources even in challenging times. And then also just the overall theme of resilience when we talk about our health and wellness journey,” Marati said.

    Following the keynote address, guests will have two rounds of breakout sessions, allowing them to experience two of the four workshops available. Acosta will lead a breakout session on self care, and another teacher from California, Calvin Corzine, will lead the yoga breakout session.

    “He has more of an athletic background, he does yoga, jiujitsu, surfing, and so he’s going to be sharing a little bit more about how he infuses fitness and yoga into his self care practices,” Marati said.

    Pay-Less will lead a breakout session, “Local Flavor Nutrition & Cooking Demo,” and Guåhan Sustainable Culture will lead “Grow Green Gardening.” By 4 p.m. the breakout sessions will end and the focus will turn to local vendors and live music from Microchild.

    “We have about 30 vendors and each vendor is going to be offering something interactive. TakeCare, for example, is one of our vendors that are going to be showing their Evolt 360 machine body scan.

    “There’s gonna be massages, there’s going to be skin care, mini facials — there’s going to be all different types,” Marati said.

    Local businesses including Numa’lo Refillery, Mantrasana Fitness Studio, Pulan Magic, Fu’una Cultures and Dr. Horinouchi Wellness Clinic are among the many vendors on the list. Marati is especially looking forward to celebrating her fellow local wellness enthusiasts.

    “I’m really excited just to see the full vendor setup, … because that’s where it really is gonna start to come to life, seeing how creative each vendor gets and also just to have people step in and kind of experience each of their brands,” Marati said.

    For Marati, Ina Well Fest is designed to do more than simply entertain guests for a day. She sees the experience as a chance to introduce them to practices and people they can integrate into their everyday life.

    “I want them to feel inspired to explore their health and wellness journey, I want them to also feel connected. A big piece of what I do is bringing together community, helping people feel connected and that sense of belonging,” Marati said.

    The feedback from her established Ina Wellness Collective community, and from the island at large, has been so overwhelmingly positive that Marati is already thinking ahead to future iterations.

    She says next year may expand to a whole weekend featuring expanded breakouts and additional breakout options.

    “It was really a cool experience for me to find these two guest speakers and teachers to create those relationships and then to bring them to Guam. … I already have some people in mind that I want to bring out next year.

    “So I can really see this being something where we’re bringing in resources, we’re tapping into our local community and our local experts, and creating this to be over a two-day period,” Marati said.

    Beyond a sense of connection with a community of like-minded people seeking to enhance their holistic wellness, Marati looks forward to guests experiencing the “Aha!” moments that live events often inspire.

    “Whether it’s from a keynote speaker, whether it’s in a breakout session, whether it’s talking to a vendor — having these mindset shifts, it’s like, ‘Oh, it is possible,’ or ‘Oh, I can do this,’ or ‘Oh, I never thought of it this way,” or ‘Wow, I’ve never experienced Reiki or meditation before.’

    “And that sort of sparks your thinking, … those are things that you really experience at live events.”

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