STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK
Passes for both the in-person and Virtual Experience option of the 24th annual Sun Valley Wellness Festival & Conference are now on sale.
The festival will be held June 25-28 in Ketchum. There are four different pass options, available online at www.sunvalleywellness.org.
Due to space limitations in some venues, tickets for individual speaker presentations will not be available this year. Individual tickets are, however, available for the workshops on Friday and Monday, June 25 and 28.
The Sun Valley Wellness Festival, the longest running wellness festival in the world, will feature more than 30 presentations and workshops from such wellness experts as James Nestor, author of “Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art,” critical care pulmonologist Dr. Vin Gupta and Dr. Matthew Walker, author of “Why We Sleep.”
This year’s festival will offer a new outdoor Experience Park in Ketchum’s Forest Service Park showcasing vendors, music, food and movement classes. There also will be guided wellness adventures, such as holistic hiking, forest foraging and mountain meditations.
This year’s festival themes are Breath, plant Medicine, Diversity & Social Wellness, Sleep, Mental Wellness and Recovery. Specific presentations will address such things as the importance of understanding breath, the power of sleep, cultivating transformational race and cultural relationships, the power of plant medicine, the COVID-19 vaccine and the path forward, yoga for addiction recovery and nutrition and exercise for health and longevity.
Sun Valley Wellness Board President Andria Friesen said last year’s festival, held online, attracted attendees from 35 states and 15 countries, including Australia, Spain, France, United Kingdom, Germany, Portugal and Monaco.
"Our 2021 roster hosts exceptional speakers and highly relevant content that will be offered both locally and globally. I am thrilled that attendees can participate in the physical SVWFC or view our presentations from the comfort of their homes,” she said. “Last year COVID catapulted us into a virtual format and now there's no looking back."
Main Stage speaker sessions will be held at the Argyros Performing Arts Center, which recently installed a new ionization system that neutralizes airborne pathogens. Free 30-minute presentations on a variety of topics will take place at the InSight Stage on the Limelight Hotel outdoor patio. Nutritional cooking classes and workshops will be held at the Sun Valley Culinary Institute.
Each venue will adhere to appropriate health and safety protocols.