Wednesday, June 2, 2004

Wellness Festival draws hundreds

Williamson touts individual health for a healthy world

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By MEGAN THOMAS
Express Staff Writer

"What we are going through is a hard labor" explained best-selling author Marianne Williamson, describing the current state of world affairs.

The Sun Valley Mountain Wellness Festival gathered a collection of alternative healers, including Anne and Peter Selby, of Sisters, Ore., who demonstrated their clairvoyant work on a willing audience volunteer. Photo by David N. Seelig

Williamson’s lecture, "Healing Ourselves, Healing the World," opened the 7th Annual Sun Valley Mountain Wellness Festival held at the Sun Valley Resort over Memorial Day Weekend. One of the themes of her work was on the importance of individual wellness for a healthy world society.

Williamson, a New York Times best-selling author, spoke of the web of spiritual, emotional and political forces.

During the evening, Williamson asked the audience: "What does love have to do with politics?" She then explained, that "terrorism is emotion turned into political force … The answer to terror is cells of love, that’s why a festival like this matters."

Williamson’s lecture celebrated the spirit of the festival, emphasizing the importance of integrative medicine. Her work is based on "A Course of Miracles," a manual for spiritual health. Two of her best-selling books, "A Return to Love" and her newest release "Everyday Grace," were inspired through teaching "A Course of Miracles."

Williamson told the audience to keep an "open mind to other healing options." The theme was easily taken to heart at the Wellness Festival, where hundreds of attendees explored alternative avenues for healthy living.

The Wellness Festival, presented by the Sun Valley-Ketchum Chamber and Visitors Bureau, featured three days of keynote speakers, workshops and demonstrations.

Reiki master Shakti Gray, right, teaches sound work on Tibetan bowls to Vicky Lynn Sullivan. Photo by David N. Seelig

The festival attracted practitioners from across the United States, with a healthy representation from the Wood River Valley. Hailey’s Lisa Krueger, a practitioner of the Yuen Method of Chinese Energetics presented a "Learn to Eliminate Pain on the Spot" workshop and provided abbreviated sessions of her healing techniques in the festival’s exhibition hall.

The exhibition hall provided venues for participants to sample a collection of practices from tarot card reading to Hawaiian massage. Other exhibitors and lecturers from the Wood River Valley joined Krueger throughout the festival.

The Idaho Mountain Express is distributed free to residents and guests throughout the Sun Valley, Idaho resort area community. Subscribers to the Idaho Mountain Express will read these stories and others in this week's issue.