YARMOUTH, N.S. — A wellness summit is coming up in Yarmouth County and those who are organizing it hope it opens up, and/or reinforces, new possibilities for people.
Wellness, nutrition and education will be the focus of the event, which is happening Saturday, Sept. 21 at the Salle Pere Maurice LeBlanc at the Par-en-Bas Community Centre in Tusket from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Guest speakers will include a holistic nutritionist, an alternative medicine practitioner, a medical practitioner, a certified cancer coach, a cancer survivor and others.
Organizing this summit is both a massive undertaking and a huge financial responsibility, but it is worth it on all fronts, says Yarmouth County resident Lisa Fowler, a doctorate of natural medicine.
“I don’t know if it’s ever been done in our area before, where you’re bringing so many wellness practitioners so that people can understand what they have available to them,” she says. “There is an alternative to taking synthetic drugs or not feeling well.”
Fowler says the goal is to open up people’s minds to different practitioners that they can go to, “before they end up very sick and don’t think they have control over their health and wellness.”
She says there are things that people can do to be proactive when it comes to their health, instead of relying on the reactive side of things meaning when something ails you, you visit a doctor and you’re given a prescription for some type of drug.
Fowler says if you give your body healing resources, you are being more proactive than reactive.
“Then you won’t get the migraine,” she says. “Or you won’t get the indigestion or acid reflux.”
Fowler, through essential oils, nutrition and other things, takes a very proactive approach to her own health.
“I know that my father has been laden with heart disease, and my mom with mini strokes and my baby sister died of heart disease before the age of 35, and so I have got to be very proactive if I want to live the best years of my life,” she says.
Statistically, Fowler says people in the last 10 years of their lives live extremely unhealthy lives with disease and disorder. It’s not how she wants to live and she hopes to be able to help others avoid living that way too.
To purchase tickets for the summit people can visit the dōTERRA (essential oils) office in Pier One (Water Street entrance), or make their purchase through the community centre itself by calling 902-648-2253, going online at billets.capeb.ca or visiting the CAPEB office in Tusket Monday to Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The summit registration cost is $49 until Aug. 1 with early-bird pricing. After that it is $59 until Sept. 21. There is room for 299 people.
As for who is organizing the summit, Fowler says it is entrepreneurial women. She provides the example of dōTERRA Headquarters of Yarmouth in Pier One. “I am a lead in organizing the summit and I have been very much supported by this team in this office,” she says, adding they want people to understand that the summit is alternative-medicine based.
While the keynote speaker is someone who has been very successful with dōTERRA essential oils, Fowler stresses the summit is not just about essential oils, nor is it an official dōTERRA event, although there will be information available on the science of essential oils.
Rather, Fowler calls this a wellness and healing event.
“Each speaker is given a topic and what I’ve asked of them are the most prominent things that they see in their office,” Fowler explains. “So, Dr. Ben Connolly (Cornerstone Naturopathic Inc.) he will be speaking on burnout because he says almost every person he sees in his office, they deal with burnout.”
“Dr. Laura Hughes is coming from downtown Toronto and she is going to be speaking on gut health. She is going to be speaking on everything gut related, how to build the immune system,” says Fowler.
“Dr. Janet Roark is a vet from Austin, Texas, who will come and speak on how to use essential oils with pets,” Fowler says. “She has over 100,000 followers on her Facebook page. We’re really excited to have her come.”
"Dr. Janis Fisher, who works in Halifax and sits on the veterinarian panel for dōTERRA along with Dr. Roark, and who also owns a rehab animal hospital in Halifax, is also willing to be part of the summit.”
Other speakers include Janice Amirault (RHN and Certified Cancer Coach), Susan Bursic (Keynote and dōTERRA Blue Diamond Canadian Founder) and Aldric Robicheau (Cancer Survivor, Stage 4). There will also be various vendors present.
Fowler is very excited to be offering this summit.
“I feel like this is what Yarmouth needs. And it’s not just Yarmouth or the tri-counties, we’re really trying to hit it provincially,” she says. “We want people to understand what is available to them in their own areas. Yarmouth people are used to driving outside of their town for alternative medicine, or medical doctors, or services and so we really want to open up people’s minds to what else is available.”
“We want to show that there is a lot of opportunity for healing and wellness and your body just wants you to listen to it.”
You can also visit the Facebook page EMPOWERING LIFE for more info about the summit.
