When the taxi driver dropped me at the entrance of the Royal Hospital Kilmainham on Saturday morning he was a bit baffled by the sight.
“Is there something on here today?” he asked with some bemusement.
Up ahead all that could be seen were yoga mats, blonde ponytails and a lot of Gym+Coffee branded leggings.
It was day one of WellFest, Europe’s largest health, fitness and wellness festival, back in the flesh after a two-year hiatus.
And back with a bang it was.
With 15 stages dedicated to different areas of health, fitness, food and wellbeing, and some of the biggest names in the health and wellbeing space – think Joe Wicks, Maeve Madden and Kathryn Thomas – this was the place to be if you’ve ever posted an açaí bowl to your Instagram feed or taken part in a Instagram Live workout class.
I have done neither, but dressed head-to-toe in activewear with yoga mat in tow, I was ready to become one of the converted.
First on my WellFest list of to-dos was yoga, but my eye (or ear as the case may be)… was turned by the music pumping from the ReviveActive tent where a small group was dancing along with PT (that’s Instagram speak for personal trainer) Nathalie Lennon and DonKing Rongavilla. I am not sure what I was doing during that class was actually what I was being instructed to do, but by the end of it I had decided that if there’s a DonKing Rongavilla dance class on in this city, I am signing up.
Next, I decided to head to the WellYoga area. First up, I tried some calming yoga with Becky over at the Kind Snacks stage, before joining Neasa McHugh’s empowering yoga session at the Reformation tent, and later Jenny Keane’s tantra yoga class. The Dublin-born holistic sex educator drew quite a few to her session, which briefly went through the four pillars of tantra yoga before the practice began. All were great, but the whole going-into-a-meditative-state thing was somewhat hindered by the sound of pumping music from surrounding tents.
During Keane’s tantra yoga session, the WellFest app (very handily) pinged me to let me know an event I’d favourited was happening elsewere. Ducking around bodies in downward facing dog, I made my way to my first talk of the day – Angela Scanlon and Kathryn Thomas. Scanlon has recently released her first book, , which preaches the merits of gratitude – something the Irish-born presenter and podcaster’s followers will be very familiar with. It was an interesting conversation, though the Q&A section afterwards took a while to get going. One person asked the podcast host what her dream guest on the pod would be – “Oprah,” she said without hesitation, before adding that actor and foodie Stanley Tucci would also be a dream. We hope her team is following up on that one.
Speaking of food, my belly was now rumbling so I headed to the food village where there was a great selection of healthy, nutritious food – and plenty to keep the vegans happy. I went for a tofu massaman curry from Camilie which hit the spot. Ann over at Lyre Spirits provided their version of an alcohol-free whiskey and coke to wash it all down. At this point, I must admit I would’ve preferred Jameson.
As we headed into the second-half of the day, the sun now firmly beating down on what seemed like thousands of attendees, Joe Wicks aka The Body Coach was hitting up the Gym+Coffee main stage. One of the big draws of the event, the author and fitness coach led a crowd of all ages, sizes and genders through one of his ‘Lean in 15 HIIT’ workouts – and with squats, burpees and planks, there was quite a few people huffing and puffing by the end of it.
Wicks, who has over 4.4m followers on Instagram, seemed to draw the largest crowd of the day – although PT and model Maeve Madden was not far behind him with her high intensity ‘Combat Queens HIIT party workout’ earlier in the day.
Joe Wicks @thebodycoach putting everyone through their paces at #WellFest2022 @WellFestIrl @IELifestyle_ pic.twitter.com/41pNSFcWsk
— Nicole Glennon (@nicoleglennon_) May 7, 2022
To catch my breath, I headed over for a sit down (that turned into a lie down) at Gerry Hussey’s talk on dissolving the ego. This one was a little bit esoteric for my tastes, so I soon headed back to the main hub-a-bub of activity where I got to absail down a climbing wall, play some ping-pong and try CBD iced tea. Afterwards, I found myself in Today FM’s tent for Carla Roberts aka Move With Carla’s ‘Coppers: The Workout’ which proved to be a highlight of the day.
To finish off the day, I threw down my yoga mat, now a bit worse for wear, and closed my eyes for Gerry Hussey’s 15-minute meditation. ‘Let your heart speak and lead,” he instructed the crowd, “because your heart knows the way, it always has.”
Heading home for the day, I had a smile on my face, and it was all the wider knowing I’d wake up tomorrow without the hangover a festival would usually bring. Although, that will probably be replaced by an aching core.
