It’s not on you, it’s in you. It’s day one of Essence Festival 2024 and at the GU Creator House, we’re discussing strategies to keep your sense of self and mental wellness intact. GU sits down with wellness experts and creatives: Cleopatra Lee, Elyse Fox, and Maaliyah Papillion to chat all things mindfulness.
Sad Girls Club founder, writer, and filmmaker Elyse Fox, moderated the panel, jumping right in on the benefits of practicing mindfulness through yoga.
Cleopatra Lee discusses the overlap of African wellness practices with yoga, debunks the idea that it is a strictly religious practice, and describes how her own personal practice has helped her anxious disposition. Lee is a Haitian-American wellness entrepreneur and certified yoga instructor deeply committed to working towards Black women’s healing. She found how beneficial incorporating yoga into her routine was to calming her mind, and felt inspired to share that benefit with others.
When it comes to incorporating different methods to soothe anxiety, Lee emphasizes the importance of taking time to listen to your inner voice, “Put your phone down, turn the lights off, and take a moment to assess how you’re feeling. The answers for what you’re looking for are all within yourself.”
On that note, Maaliyah Papillion expands upon the importance of knowing yourself, especially when discerning which practices are best for you. In addition to being a multi-hyphenate creative, the actress-model-songstress is a Traditional Usui Reiki Level II Practitioner. She began her wellness practice after seeing how everyone in her creative industry was burnt out.
Papillion highlights the necessity to curate the right wellness practice for you, and cautions against taking any and all advice from sources online. With the oversaturation of wellness content online, doing your own research is key, “make sure that it resonates with yourself because what makes sense for somebody else may not necessarily work for you,” Papillion says. She encourages her clients to do the same, even while working with her, “I’m just here to help you remember how to heal yourself. Always go back to self when seeking outside help.”
Fox highlights how Gen Z communities specifically experience social anxiety, and asks the panelists how they suggest navigating this. Lee speaks of allowing people to be themselves— without the added pressure to act or perform— and reminding them of the support of their community.
Papillion suggests resting and recharging after social events. Fox offers her own suggestion looking to practices from her wellness summit, “we like to set goals when we enter the space and include everybody.” This way, everyone’s comfortability, especially as it pertains to pictures and social media, is taken into account.
When it comes to finding the inner strength to push through rough patches, they talk of honest self-acceptance. There will be days that we aren’t okay, even with all the healing practices in rotation, and that is perfectly fine. In moments like these Lee encourages to lean on community, as that is also a part of self-care.
From mindfulness exercises such as yoga and reiki to much-needed reminders that we are all humans just figuring it out, these wellness experts left the audience with refreshed perspectives on how to cater to their whole selves