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Vegan ice cream, 'green' ayis and TCM at wellness fair
By Nancy Zhang |
May 21, 2010, Friday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
AS spring finally warms Shanghai, thoughts turn naturally to personal health and wellness. Tomorrow the Wellness Works fair gives you ideas on all aspects of better, greener living.
Held in a converted old foundry on Shaanxi Road, the day-long event will feature more than 30 small businesses supplying healthier air, food and other products. There will be around 20 wellness practitioners in areas such as yoga, spiritual healing and traditional Chinese medicine workshops and demonstrations.
The event is not for profit though it does charge 50 yuan (US$7.30) entry to cover costs. Any profits go to heart disease charity Heart2Heart.
"It is a small event held by the community for the community," says organizer Amena Lee Schlaikjer.
Schlaikjer is the Shanghai representative of Asia Pacific LOHAS - a social enterprise that promotes health and fitness, sustainability and social justice through business and consumer awareness. LOHAS stands for Lifestyle of Health and Sustainability, which emphasizes consuming high-quality, natural products, and holistically treating the mind, body and spirit.
Highlights this weekend include a "green ayi" service that trains ayis to use less chemically harsh materials for cleaning; vegan ice cream tastings; and music by a sound therapy band that claims to have scientifically broken down sound frequencies to produce harmonies beneficial to health.
This fair follows two high-profile green events in April - the Ecodesign Fair and Earth Day. According to Schlaikjer, targeting personal health is crucial in the worldwide efforts toward a greener, more responsible economy.
"Consumers don't care about the environment, and little action is directly connected to social responsibility. But people do care about their personal wellness and that of their family," she says. "We have the same concept as the green events have already established in Shanghai but this angle challenges people to think about how they can take care of themselves and people around them."
For Schlaikjer, wellness is both a business and a passion. She has lived in Shanghai for seven years and has a background in marketing and start-up companies.
The fair is the first event hosted by her newly founded consultancy, Wellnessecity, which advises companies on how to achieve social and environmental goals along with financial profit.
The LOHAS movement was introduced to China from North America and Europe in 2005, according to Dr Shen Li of Beijing Normal University, one of the pioneers of the movement here. Since then the concept has quickly taken off among the newly wealthy urban classes, generating LOHAS publications in major cities such as Shanghai, Hong Kong and Beijing.
Awareness of LOHAS is growing in Asia and a viable market is forming. But in Schlaikjer's opinion these glossy magazines often promote consumption rather than simplicity or responsibility - their pages are filled with high fashion and luxury goods ads.
In contrast, "Wellness Works gathers small companies in the sector, start-ups and individual practitioners under one roof. The event gives them opportunities for marketing that they wouldn't otherwise have," says Schlaikjer.
Date: Tomorrow, 10am-5pm
Address: 729 Shaanxi Rd N.
Tickets: 50 yuan (includes raffle ticket)
Contact Amena Lee Schlaikjer at amena@wellnessecity.com.
Held in a converted old foundry on Shaanxi Road, the day-long event will feature more than 30 small businesses supplying healthier air, food and other products. There will be around 20 wellness practitioners in areas such as yoga, spiritual healing and traditional Chinese medicine workshops and demonstrations.
The event is not for profit though it does charge 50 yuan (US$7.30) entry to cover costs. Any profits go to heart disease charity Heart2Heart.
"It is a small event held by the community for the community," says organizer Amena Lee Schlaikjer.
Schlaikjer is the Shanghai representative of Asia Pacific LOHAS - a social enterprise that promotes health and fitness, sustainability and social justice through business and consumer awareness. LOHAS stands for Lifestyle of Health and Sustainability, which emphasizes consuming high-quality, natural products, and holistically treating the mind, body and spirit.
Highlights this weekend include a "green ayi" service that trains ayis to use less chemically harsh materials for cleaning; vegan ice cream tastings; and music by a sound therapy band that claims to have scientifically broken down sound frequencies to produce harmonies beneficial to health.
This fair follows two high-profile green events in April - the Ecodesign Fair and Earth Day. According to Schlaikjer, targeting personal health is crucial in the worldwide efforts toward a greener, more responsible economy.
"Consumers don't care about the environment, and little action is directly connected to social responsibility. But people do care about their personal wellness and that of their family," she says. "We have the same concept as the green events have already established in Shanghai but this angle challenges people to think about how they can take care of themselves and people around them."
For Schlaikjer, wellness is both a business and a passion. She has lived in Shanghai for seven years and has a background in marketing and start-up companies.
The fair is the first event hosted by her newly founded consultancy, Wellnessecity, which advises companies on how to achieve social and environmental goals along with financial profit.
The LOHAS movement was introduced to China from North America and Europe in 2005, according to Dr Shen Li of Beijing Normal University, one of the pioneers of the movement here. Since then the concept has quickly taken off among the newly wealthy urban classes, generating LOHAS publications in major cities such as Shanghai, Hong Kong and Beijing.
Awareness of LOHAS is growing in Asia and a viable market is forming. But in Schlaikjer's opinion these glossy magazines often promote consumption rather than simplicity or responsibility - their pages are filled with high fashion and luxury goods ads.
In contrast, "Wellness Works gathers small companies in the sector, start-ups and individual practitioners under one roof. The event gives them opportunities for marketing that they wouldn't otherwise have," says Schlaikjer.
Date: Tomorrow, 10am-5pm
Address: 729 Shaanxi Rd N.
Tickets: 50 yuan (includes raffle ticket)
Contact Amena Lee Schlaikjer at amena@wellnessecity.com.
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