Essence Culture Festival
It’s not your fault, it’s within you: Strategies for self-awareness and mental wellbeing are being discussed at the GU Creator House on the first day of Essence Festival 2024. GU sits down with wellbeing experts and creators Cleopatra Lee, Elise Fox and Mariya Papillion to discuss all things mindfulness.
Sad Girls Club founder, author and filmmaker Elyse Fox moderated the panel and spoke about the benefits of practicing mindfulness through yoga.
Cleopatra Lee discusses the overlap between African health practices and yoga, rejects the notion that yoga is a strictly religious practice, and shares how her own personal practice has helped her with her anxious nature. Lee is a Haitian-American health entrepreneur and certified yoga instructor deeply committed to healing black women. She discovered how beneficial incorporating yoga into her daily life was for calming the mind and felt inspired to share the benefits with others.
As you adopt different strategies to reduce anxiety, Lee stresses the importance of taking time to listen to your inner voice: “Put down your phone, turn off the lights, and take a moment to evaluate how you’re feeling. All the answers you’re looking for are within you.”
On that note, Mariya Papillion expands on the importance of knowing yourself, especially when it comes to figuring out which practice is best for you. The multitalented actress, model and singer is not only a creative but also a traditional Usui Reiki Level II practitioner. She began practicing wellness after seeing how everyone in the creative industry was exhausted.
Papillion stresses the need to be selective about the health regimen that works for you, and warns against taking all the advice you get from online sources at face value. There’s a ton of health content online, so it’s important to do your own research. “Make sure it makes sense to you. What makes sense for someone else might not necessarily work for you,” Papillion says. She encourages her clients to do the same when they’re working with themselves: “I’m just here to help you remember how to heal yourself. Always come back to yourself when seeking outside help.”
Fox highlights that the Gen Z community is particularly experiencing social anxiety and asks the panelists for suggestions on how to navigate this issue, while Lee speaks about allowing people to be themselves — without the pressure to act or perform — and remembering the support of their community.
Papillion suggests taking some time to rest and recharge after social events, and Fox has her own suggestion, borrowed from her own wellness summit practice: “We set goals when we go into the space and make sure everyone is on board.” That way, everyone’s comfort is taken into consideration, especially when it comes to photos and social media.
They say it’s important to be honest with yourself to find the inner strength to get through hard times. Even if you’ve tried every healing modality in turn, some days just won’t be okay. And that’s totally okay. In these moments, Lee encourages you to lean on your community, because that’s part of self-care.
From mindfulness exercises like yoga and Reiki to the much-needed reminder that we’re all human beings we’re still figuring out, these wellness experts left the audience with a fresh perspective on how to fulfill themselves holistically.
