STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK
Speakers will address everything from the anatomy of anxiety to CLEAN, a program purported to restore the body’s natural ability to heal itself, at the 2022 Sun Valley Wellness Festival.
This year’s festival—the 25th—will be held June 10-13 in Ketchum. Its theme is “Coming Home” as it explores how social health and well-being define the foundation of collective wellness, illuminating what it means to be a community.
The Festival will feature more than 30 presentations and workshops from experts in the fields of psychotherapy, plant-based medicine and nutrition, anxiety and mental health, yoga and mindfulness.
It will also offer a free outdoor Experience Park at Festival Meadows on Sun Valley Road with music, food, movement and yoga classes and vendors. Many new elements have been added to the event this year, including topical dinners, receptions, and gatherings with our speakers for Festival passholders to foster increased community and connection.
Mountain meditations and holistic hiking will round out the weekend.
“Our 25th anniversary event will honor both the past and the future while grounded in the present moment,” said Geneal Thompson, the festival’s board president. “The lineup of our speakers is exceptional, and these renowned experts will address a variety of timely, leading-edge topics. “
Festival passes for in-person attendance to events at The Argyros and the Limelight Hotel are available, along with virtual options are available at www.sunvalleywellness.org. Passholders will have access to all online session content through July 31, 2022.
Individual tickets for presentations will be offered as space is available. Special lodging rates are being offered by the Limelight Hotel, which serves as the 2022 SVWF Headquarters.
2022 Sun Valley Wellness Festival featured speakers include:
Rich Doblin, PhD, Harvard-trained researcher and the founder of MAPS—the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies
- J Ivy, Award-winning poet, recording artist, songwriter, author, 2022 Grammy nominee for Best Spoken Word album
- Steven Gundry MD, New York Times best-selling author of The Plant Paradox and The Longevity Paradox
- Nora McInerny, writer, and host of the award-winning podcast, “Terrible, Thanks for Asking,” which shares ideas on navigating the most difficult parts of life and living life fully in the face of loss
- Finian Makepeace, thought leader in the field of regenerative agriculture and soil health
- Ellen Vora MD, a holistic psychiatrist and author of The Anatomy of Anxiety
- Alejandro Junger MD, Cardiologist, founder of the CLEAN program, New York Times best-selling author
- Preetthaji Krishna, philosopher, mystic, transformational leader, and co-founder of the O&O Academy
- Gary Quinn, speaker, coach strategist, intuitive, author and educator on financial wellness
- Darshana Avila, Somatic sex and intimacy coach, featured expert on Netflix’s Sex, Love and Goop
- Austyn Wells, author, spiritual medium, and soul gardener
- David Pond, astrologist, author, speaker, and international workshop leader
- Alan Pesky, co-founder of the Lee Pesky Learning Center and author
- Pirie Jones Grossman, author, speaker, podcast host, life empowerment coach
- Britt Frank MSW, trauma specialist, therapist, and author
- Claudia Alum, writer, co-author of More to Life than More; A Memoir of Misunderstanding, Loss, and Learning
- Rod Stryker, world-renowned meditation teacher, yoga educator, author, and founder of Parayoga
- Susan Springer, Episcopal priest, mystical theologist, writer, poet, and speaker
The Festival started in 1997 just as wellness was beginning as a movement and is recognized as one of the longest running wellness festivals in the world. It was produced and managed by the Sun Valley/Ketchum Chamber & Visitors Bureau until 2005 when the non-profit Sun Valley Wellness organization was created to assume responsibility.
Past speakers include Deepak Chopra, Ram Dass, Dr. James Doty, Dr. Abraham Verghese, Dr. Eben Alexander, Marianne Williamson, Jewel, Dr. Vin Gupta and Arianna Huffington.
The festival established the Cheryl Welch Thomas Scholarship Fund this year to honor Thomas, a key festival founder and tireless supporter of the festival since its creation. Thomas has owned and run the Chapter One Bookstore in Ketchum for more than four decades.
The scholarship in her name offers partial and full attendance scholarships to applicants who are in needs.
"Cheryl has been a champion and creative force for the Sun Valley Wellness Festival since day one, but she has done most of the work quietly and behind the scenes, because that is her humble nature. This scholarship, helping others attend the festival to grow and learn, is truly the best way we could possibly honor all that Cheryl has done for the festival over the years," Thompson said.
Donations to the scholarship fund can be made at https://www.sunvalleywellness.org/donate. The Festival is taking online scholarship applications at https://www.sunvalleywellness.org/scholarship
Wellness Festival board members are Geneal Thompson, Chairman Nick Maricich, Vice President Dr. Aaron Stern, Secretary Brenda Powell, Treasurer Sam Wilke, Marya Hecht, Blair Lauren Brown, Claudia Nanino, Tommy Rosen and Allison Quistgard Scherer.