Collaboration is the name of the game as local wellness aficionados unite to multiply impact, reach and motivation (isn’t it easier to start and keep healthy habits when you don’t go it alone?).
These days, opportunities to improve your well-being while building community abound—from studio gyms that turn fitness into a tribe-like lifestyle (we’re looking at you, House of HIIT and StudioFit Training) to pop-up events blending yoga, HIIT workouts and sustainable shopping (Naples’ cold-pressed master Juicelation constantly partners with fitness trainers for one-day gatherings, like their E-Day Reset on New Year’s Day).
A bumper crop of larger wellness festivals lead the pack. In Fort Myers, Alex Wilson hosts a full lineup of fitness classes (including sessions for kids), along with specialized energy workers, physical therapists, lactation consultants, therapists, vegan chefs and clean-skincare retailers to promote all things conscious living through The SWFL Wellness Fair. Meanwhile, the new SoulFLO Festival, hosted at Baker Park in February, adds art and music to the equation, along with dozens of holistic healers and food vendors.
Through these wellness events, individuals help each other wade through the torrent of medical information and resources. Cherline “Chè” Louissaint—of Fort Myers’ Increase the Peach gym and the three-day, downtown FitMix Fest in September—likes to bring practitioners into her gym throughout the year (read more about her transformative story on p. 80). “We did a boxing boot camp event and brunch [with nurse practitioners] for breast cancer awareness,” she says.
No matter the approach, the intent remains the same: help each other live our best healthy lives.