WestConn To Host Area’s First Professional Holistic Health Fair

DANBURY — The area’s first professional holistic health fair is coming to greater Danbury on Saturday, May 10.

The Institute for Holistic Health Studies (IHHS) at Western Connecticut State University and the Connecticut Holistic Health Association (CHHA) are teaming up to present the Connecticut Holistic Health Fair 2003, from 10 am to 4 pm, in Warner Hall on the university’s Midtown campus, 181 White Street. Admission will be $5 at the door. Senior citizens and students with valid ID will be admitted free.

Participants will get the chance to meet distinguished practitioners in alternative and complementary health care who offer guidance, education, and treatment in holistic health modalities for the mind, body, and spirit. Those who attend will get to visit more than 40 exhibitors while checking out free workshops and demonstrations in various areas of holistic health care, such as acupuncture, yoga, meditation, chiropractic care, aromatherapy, energy healing, feng shui, hypnotherapy, nutrition, massage therapy, and stress management.

Throughout the day, the exhibitors will give away door prizes, including massages, meditation circles, product gift baskets, and holistic medicine consultations.

All the practitioners at the fair are professional members of CHHA, which seeks to promote and support the philosophy and practice of holistic health care.

“People who might be interested in holistic health will get to meet the professionals practicing specific disciplines right in their neighborhoods and have the opportunity to learn about the breadth and depth of modalities available,” said Carolyn Parrs, co-chair of the planning committee for the event. “It will be an avenue for people to learn about alternative and complementary ways to bring more well-being and health to their lives.”

The fair is scheduled to include 18 workshops. These include Carolyn Parrs’ session on “Mindful Meditation for Health and Healing”; “Energy-Based Stress Reduction,” with advanced practice registered nurse and psychotherapist Barbara Schafer; “Nine Feng Shui Secrets to Better Health,” with Roxane Slaughter, a certified feng shui consultant and educator; and Dr Debi Greco’s “Healing Through Nutrition: Multiple Sclerosis and Other Conditions.”

The Homesteads at Newtown is the major sponsor of the fair. Other sponsors include Danbury Orthopedic Associates, Take Time Relaxation Center in Bethel, Union Savings Bank, and Trader Joe’s.

IHHS is housed at WestConn. It aims to provide a venue for students, faculty and the community at large to expand their understanding and experience of holistic philosophies in order to improve the quality of life and health within the community and region.

CHHA is made up of collaborative holistic health practitioners. With more than 300 members statewide, it supports a wide scope of holistic practitioners while promoting partnerships with conventional medicine, academia, industry, and government agencies throughout Connecticut. Log on to www.cthha.org for more information about CHHA.

For more information about the holistic health fair, call 740-0007 or CHHAdanbury@aol.com, or call the WestConn Office of Public Relations at 837-8486.