SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT OPPORTUNITIES
MONDAY NIGHT MEET-UPSMonday, February 27 | 17:00 – 22:00 Looking to meet up with your integrative medicine and health colleagues outside of the Symposium’s programming? Join in on the fun at one of the meet-ups that are being hosted Monday night! Choose from “talk and tea”, a nature walk, or happy hour! Times and locations will be found in the Symposium’s mobile app. Costs to attend the Meet-ups are not covered in Symposium registration.
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AFFIRMATION CARDSTuesday, February 28 | 12:30 – 14:00 Enjoy a creative experience using different mediums to decorate Yupo Paper Cards with a positive, gratitude, or healing affirmation using a permanent marker during the Poster & Exhibit Hall lunch hours!
Karen Fink invites you to make a commitment to practice self-care on a regular basis and share our affirmation(s) with this newly formed community.
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GALATuesday, February 28 | 19:30 – 22:00 Join us for a 1920's inspired evening of sumptuous tastes and sweets, bubbles and brews, socializing, and dancing. Bring your flapper or dapper to an evening that's sure to delight! 1920's accessorizing is encouraged, but not required! If interested, you can buy, rent or shop locally for some fun vintage finds! Separate registration is required prior to the start of the Symposium for a fee of $75. Email register@conferencesolutionsinc.com to add the Gala to your registration.
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DANCE TROUPE PERFORMANCEWednesday, March 1 | 17:30 – 18:15 Enjoy a special performance by Chicago's very own diasporic Ayodele West African Drum and Dance group! Firmly rooted in joy, attendees will be able to experience the art of healing energy from the troupes' performance with the IM community. |
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CONTEMPLATIVE SPACE
A Contemplative Room is available throughout the Symposium in room PDR #3 on the 3rd floor from 07:30 – 19:00 each day. This will be available to all attendees who want a quiet respite for meditation or relaxation.
WELLNESS ACTIVITITES
Wellness Classes
Beginners are welcome to all wellness activities. No experience is necessary. Towels will be available for participants. Space is limited. Attendance at wellness activities is handled on a first-come, first-served basis.
All morning wellness activities will take place from 06:30 – 07:15 from Tuesday – Thursday.
Tuesday, February 28Tai Chi: A Mind, Body and Spiritual Practice Astoria, 3rd Floor Join John Burns for this quintessential mind-body-spirit practice. The movements and practice principles of both Tai Chi and Qigong have been used for centuries to help people develop balance and strength of mind, body, and spirit to be able to confront and overcome life's challenges. This 45-minute Wellness Class will provide Tai Chi and Qigong exercise instruction that you can use to improve balance, flexibility, strength and stamina as well as reduce pain, stress, and anxiety. The Tai Chi and Qigong exercises you will learn can be used for both self-care and patient care to address the current healthcare crisis as it relates to mental health, obesity, aging, chronic pain, and clinician burnout.
Mindful Morning Practice Joliet, 3rd Floor Start the day with clarity by joining Sara Ivanhoe for a short and sweet morning practice that combines gentle stretching, breathwork, and meditation. Wear comfortable clothing, layers for warmth, and a towel to lay on the floor for practice.
Wednesday, March 1Living Your Bucket List Daily: The Daily Reflective and Mindful Steps You Can Take to Lead You to Your WHY(s)! Astoria, 3rd Floor With Karen Fink’s guidance, attendees will use a reflective, mindful process to begin to create the ideas for our individual Bucket List and the action plans to begin the reflective and mindful journey of taking small steps on a regular basis, that will lead to fulfilling our ultimate dreams, aspirations, ambitions, purpose/why(s), and desires. We will discuss how we will create a visual representation of our bucket list, whether a list, a collage, a vision board, or an electronic format (a format that one can access at any time).
Beginner's Kundalini Yoga class Joliet, 3rd Floor Led by Sat Bir Khalsa, this class will be suitable for beginners but also impactful for experienced yoga practitioners. It will include physical postures and exercises, breathing techniques, deep relaxation and meditative practice from the Kundalini Yoga tradition, a well-known major lineage of yoga practice. Participants should wear loose comfortable clothing. Practice will be done on the floor with towels or yoga mats (not provided; but please bring your own!)
Thursday, March 2Hoop Class: Fitness Hooping Astoria, 3rd Floor Fitness hooping is a popular aerobic activity that made headlines years ago when Michelle Obama was photographed fitness hooping on the White House lawn. Fitness hooping is aerobic, increases core strength and improves joint strength and mobility. Join Jennifer Stone for a hoop class to re-learn how to hula hoop again and how to use hooping as a therapy to relieve chronic low back pain, neck pain, headaches, shoulder, wrist, and hand pain. This class is for beginners, intermediate and advanced hoopers. Spectators are encouraged.
Morning Holistic Yoga: Rise and Shine Joliet, 3rd Floor Join Fatimata Sanogo for a 45-minute holistic yoga class, available to all levels. This session will include Asana (posture), pranayama (breath work), and a short meditation. A perfect balance that grounds, energizes, and gives inspiration for the day. |
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Wellness Bursts
Beginners are welcome to all wellness activities. No experience is necessary. Towels will be available for participants. Space is limited. Attendance at wellness activities is handled on a first-come, first-served basis.
Tuesday, February 28Joy within You PDR #2, 3rd Floor Engage in a brief reflective guided meditation by Taryn De Sio around JOY — manifesting more and releasing what doesn't serve. Following the meditation, participants are invited to write down one thing they want to let go of that is in their control and not serving them (negatively impacting their joy) and one thing within their control that can bring them MORE JOY. Then participants will drop the papers into bowls of water, letting go of what doesn't serve them - "releasing it to the universe" and bringing-in what is within their control — "manifesting more joy."
Roll and Release with Foam Roller Astoria, 3rd Floor Led by Annie Kaplon, Symposium attendees will be shown how to help release areas of tension in the body using a foam roller. Specific stretches will be given with modifications.
Kundalini Yoga Meditation Practice Joliet, 3rd Floor Participants will experience the practice of a technique called Kirtan Kriya by Sat Bir Khalsa. This is an important meditative practice in the Kundalini Yoga tradition involving simple mantra chanting and finger positions (mudras). This technique has undergone multiple research studies showing that it improves memory performance and reduces perceived stress.
Wednesday, March 1Massage Anywhere! Self- and Partner-Facilitated Relaxing & Revitalizing Massage Techniques PDR #2, 3rd Floor Attendees will be walked through two, back-to-back deliveries of a 9-minute self and partner-facilitated massage routine to include gentle self-directed neck stretching, and self and partner-delivered upper back and bilateral shoulder, arm, and hand massage by Niki Munk.
Self-Acupressure for Wellness and Connection Joliet, 3rd Floor Participants will be led in an afternoon Wellness Burst by Karen Villanueva that focuses on acupressure points and techniques to enhance wellness and connection. This will include a short qigong breathing/movement exercise to start and then instruction and demonstration of self-ear massage and 2-3 acupressure points. Instruction will be given in a safe, effective, trauma-informed, healing-justice-centered, and accessible way.
Dance Medicine Astoria, 3rd Floor Take this chance to let go, feel uninhibited, and move the body with no choreography and no restrictions with Geeta Maker-Clark. Enlivening music will allow for a guided experience that will quickly but skillfully open up individuals to feelings of joy and bliss. Micro talk on the benefits of dance on the brain and the body too. |
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