Edinburgh’s Wellbeing Festival shows the potential of public events that highlight mental wellness

This annual event, which has had to cancelled since 2020 due to Covid-19, is returning to Edinburgh this year and will run over next weekend, May 7th and 8th. The day takes a holistic approach to wellbeing with events varying from yoga sessions, physical health focused talks, to seminars on menopause and mental health and Long Covid.?

Written by Bryony Porteous-Sebouhian

A holistic approach to mental health and wellbeing means there’s something for everyone

Edinburgh’s Wellbeing Festival is up and running again this year. Taking place over the first weekend in May at the Assembly Rooms?in Edinburgh, the festival is an opportunity for attendees to explore wellbeing and mental health in a truly holistic way.

The two days will include a series of talks, workshops, healthy eating and cooking classes, fitness classes as well as providing a Wellness Lounge that displays the latest at home products and treatments to boost your wellbeing routine.

Saturday the 7th of May will see a fantastic range of physical classes to get involved in that are all proven to boost wellbeing. One of the highlights will be yoga with Finlay Wilson, also known as The Kilted Yogi, as well as Boxing for Beginners from the Port O’Leith Boxing Gym.

Quirkier events include soundbath therapy, David Nutt from the Centre For Psychedelic Research speaking on ‘Cannabis & Your Health’, and a talk on sustainability and wellbeing.

Continuing on the theme of how physical health interacts with mental health, there will be a talk on gut health with Mary Cotter. Over the last year there has been a series of research papers highlighting the importance of the gut in mental health, especially for common mental health disorders such as anxiety, so this talk will be a great opportunity to learn about the ways in which we can individually optimise gut health to in turn, optimise our mental wellness.

The second day, May 8th, will see a variety of more mental health focused talks such as ‘How to Stay Sane in an Online World’ as well as some more slightly down-tempo holistic interventions such as guided meditation sessions.

David Nutt will talk at the second day again, this time providing his years of insight into ‘The Future of Psychedelics’. Joining him on some fascinating and focused talks will be Street Soccer, Father’s Network & Joshua Nolan Foundation leading a discussion on men’s mental health, and a talk on managing grief by psychotherapist Sasha Bates.

Why mental health and wellbeing themed festivals hold so much potential

Being open minded and having the opportunity to learn about new approaches to mental health and wellbeing can be quite a struggle when it feels like we have so little time to invest in doing just that.

Whether you’re a mental health professional or someone who believes mental health is really important, or who wants prioritise their mental health more, events such as the Edinburgh Wellbeing Festival are great ways to be introduced to new and exciting interventions, treatments and ideas.

Not only this, but they also offer a space for building potential communities around those interventions and treatments. We would love to see more cities follow in the footsteps of Edinburgh and fund wellbeing and mental health festivals.

Over the last two years we have seen an almost constant commentary on the ‘mental health crisis’ but often, with very few actionable recommendations for local authorities and for individuals. The opportunity to learn about mental health, wellbeing and holistic approaches to both of them is a fantastic cause for councils and local authorities to get behind.

The Edinburgh Wellbeing Festival runs from May 7th to May 8th, for more info and ticket prices explore their website here .?