Health and Wellness
Essence Cultural Festival 2024: Here’s what you can expect at Wellness House
BEING
Radical self-care, like joy, is so necessary to Black people, which is why we’re excited to bring back the ESSENCE WELLNESS HOUSE® from July 5-7, with programming ranging from 10:00 a.m. to five:00 p.m. CST, during this 12 months’s ESSENCE Cultural Festival in Ernest N. Morial Convention Center.
At the middle of our festivity, you will give you the option to seek out a spot to retreat, rejuvenate and renew your mind, body and spirit. To have a good time the thirtieth anniversary of this annual event, we now have created wellness programs that honor the essence and complexity of Black women, inspiring them to holistically prioritize their well-being.
Additionally, our Wellness House is a respite from the hustle and bustle of the convention center this 12 months as our wellness experts offer lifelong guidance, love and support.
Whether you need to hear out of your ancestors, get sex advice, quiet your mind with guided meditation, or learn helpful recommendations on how one can maintain and strengthen your mental health, we now have the perfect experts to guide you. Scroll on to see this 12 months’s Wellness House talks.
Guided Meditation: Calm your mind, center your spirit and set your intentions for the day as our wellbeing expert guides you through a calming meditation session.
Read the room: Read The Room allows Wellness House guests to read ancestor and angel cards from recognized mediums.
The weight of all of it: Experts in the sphere of weight reduction and nutrition help people understand the keys to healthy weight reduction, why they could have a strained relationship with food, and offer an understanding of much-discussed weight reduction medications.
Let’s discuss sex: Sex educators answer hot questions, provide advice and help guests feel more confident of their bodies, which helps them lead a satisfying sex life.
Check yourself: Check Yourself offers guests the chance to examine their blood pressure, weight, waist circumference, skin examination with a dermatologist and more to realize information on basic elements of their health.
Mind over matter: Therapists meet with guests to assist them take care of a very pressing problem at a selected time. If someone is disagreeing with a loved one or searching for advice on how one can take care of burnout, it is a place where they can get insight or a brand new perspective from an authority who can help.
Health and Wellness
Vice President Kamala Harris’ ascension and derailment to the White House is the story of many Black women, including me
Written by Dr. Dionne Mahaffey
My heart is heavy. My mind is racing and I am unable to help but take into consideration what this latest era under Donald Trump means for me and for ladies who appear like me and who wanted Vice President Kamala Harris to win, not simply because of her policies and competence or its historical significance. We wanted her to win because having her as a black woman in charge could be a robust statement for a rustic that so often seems reluctant to recognize our strength, talent and humanity.
Madame Harris’s candidacy was deeply personal. Black women identified together with her story, her rise, her spirit. Like me, she grew up in a single mother’s home. She’s my sorority sister. I felt hopeful in the concept that for the first time a Black woman was on the verge of real power, not only next to it. She represented every part we are sometimes told we can’t be: good, uncompromisingly ambitious, compassionate, and yet fiercely independent. Her presence defied the “angry black woman” stereotype, and her resilience reminded us of the countless ways during which Black women have long been pillars of American progress.
But now plainly this dream has been placed on the back burner. Trump’s victory brings back a well-recognized fear. His administration has at all times signaled a disregard for racial equality and women’s rights. We’ve seen what happens when hard-won protections are dismantled: voting rights are violated, police grow to be more aggressive, access to health care is restricted, and social justice is sidelined. For me as a black woman, these changes aren’t abstract political moves; these are issues of survival and dignity. The rhetoric surrounding us is a direct reflection of how protected, valued and vulnerable we feel in our own country.
With Trump’s victory comes the specter of Project 2025, a conservative motion plan that would severely limit civil rights, access to health care and economic resources, especially for Black Americans. Proposed cuts and restructuring of health care, housing and education could reverse years of progress and disproportionately harm marginalized communities. In my work, I see the potential impact on Black-owned businesses that already face enormous barriers to accessing capital. My clients – small business owners who’ve put every part into their ventures – are actually apprehensive about surviving in an economy that will push them further aside. Their concerns echo my very own, underscoring a reality we all know all too well: for us, progress is never linear and actually not guaranteed.
Twice nearly as good
But she didn’t win. We know that Black women often have to be twice nearly as good to achieve half nearly as good. Instead, America selected a criminal over an experienced black woman and it hurts. His victory brought back memories of my very own profession, after I began my first job in the technology industry over 30 years ago. I earned a formidable six-figure salary and came upon that my white friend made $30,000 greater than me. I had a diploma; he didn’t do it. While I used to be promoted to manager, he was promoted to director, and the company ended up paying for his education while I self-funded my MBA. That was the first time I understood how much white men were pampered and given opportunities to achieve perfection that black women were simply expected to earn.
Kamala was greater than qualified — she had worked as a prosecutor for 13 years, was the first Black and South Asian woman elected as a district attorney in California, the first Black and South Asian woman in the United States Senate, and the first woman of color to function vice chairman. By contrast, Trump is a convicted felon, born into privilege, who paid someone to take the SATs, filed for bankruptcy six times, was found guilty of sexual assault, incited a deadly revolt and denied the results of the 2020 presidential election. But by some means he won.
For Black Americans, Trump’s return to office is greater than symbolic. The reality of Trump’s latest presidency appears to be looming. Project 2025 plans to dismantle civil rights protections, access to health care, and economic opportunity that our communities have fought to provide. For those of us who in the past were forced to work twice as hard to achieve half as much, the stakes couldn’t seem higher.
Peace priority
The consequences of these selections aren’t just political – they’re deeply personal. As a therapist, I actually have seen firsthand how alternative anxiety affects my clients. After the elections, this tension will only deepen. Many people struggle with concerns about their future safety, rights and dignity in an environment where they feel increasingly unheard and invisible. Advising clients in these times is difficult, especially knowing that they may face renewed threats to their mental health and well-being. They carry the burden of this country’s instability, and sometimes that burden is greater than anyone should bear.
While helping others, I also need to concentrate to my very own mental health. It’s hard to support others when your spirit is drained, when their fears mirror yours. Taking care of yourself is not just a buzzword for me now – it is a necessity. Every day I remind myself that I cannot pour from an empty cup; so as to serve my clients and community, I need to provide myself with a spot to rest, recharge, and find peace inside myself.
Protecting our peace in times like these requires intention and care. It starts with tuning out the noise – setting boundaries around the news to stay on top of things and prevent anxiety from creeping in. Community is a balm, a reminder that we’re on this together. Leaning on friends, family and networks keeps us grounded and resilient. Mindfulness practices, corresponding to just a few minutes of quiet reflection or deep respiratory, can show you how to regain calm in the face of stress. Taking small actions, volunteering, supporting essential causes restores a way of control and purpose.
And still we rise
When I take into consideration this moment, I do not forget that Black women have faced adversity for generations and proceed to thrive. Kamala Harris’s candidacy, irrespective of the end result, has ignited something inside us – the determination to claim our space, construct our communities, and defend justice. The fight for equality and progress doesn’t end with one election; it is a lifelong journey and we’re uniquely equipped to sail it.
So today I hold space for my disappointment. But tomorrow, like all Black women who know that our value, power, and stories are greater than any single person or alternative, I’ll return to work. We will proceed to move forward, not just for ourselves, but for generations who will look back on this moment and know that we never gave up. Together we embody resilience and together we are going to rise.
Health and Wellness
WATCH: In the studio: Who decides on the war – Essence
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Health and Wellness
SEE: On my feed – Black women react with shock, resignation and anger to Donald Trump’s presidential victory – Essence
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