Two local chiropractors make no bones about their reasons for bringing the largest natural health expo to the Old Town Hall later this month.
“A big part of our practice is to support our community, and connect our practice members with all the other things that could help leverage their health, but it occurred to us along the way that there’s so much talent that people don’t know exists right here in York Region,” said Dr. Laura Foster, who has operated Foster Family Chiropractic & Associates on Leslie Street in Newmarket for two decades.
Since January, Foster and one of her clinic partners, Dr. Danielle Warner, along with a volunteer team of eight, have been planning the one-day York Region Natural Health Expo that will take over all three floors of the Old Town Hall on Nov. 23 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
All too often the organizers would hear about residents travelling outside of the local community to access a wide variety of natural health services, and that served as the genesis of a shared vision to connect wellness-seekers with providers right in their own backyard.
The expo features a hand-picked roster of 60 exhibitors that represent the breadth of physical, mental and emotional health and wellness providers, practitioners, services, products, and experiences that are based in York Region.
This includes everything from chiropractors, naturopaths that range in speciality from women’s hormones to natural fertility and immune system support, children and family wellness, reiki masters, homeopaths, registered holistic nutritionists, acupuncturists, fitness educators, yoga studios and instructors, personal trainers, a pelvic physiotherapist, and more.
Nature’s Emporium signed on as the primary sponsor right out of the gate, and will create a marketplace with about 14 sub-vendors that will offer expert advice and education on natural health products that are carried at the store. Organizers promise you can taste, touch, and experience a vast array of new health products.
“We wanted to create an experience where we could put all this under one roof, and turn up the volume of our voice collectively,” Foster said. “We want people to come and experience the expo, rub shoulders, meet and learn, and be inspired and supported.”
The expo is ideal for people who want to leverage their health from where they are, Foster said.
“When we say health, we mean the holistic sense of health. What life experiences are you having based on where you’re at right now?” she said.
Over the past few years, Foster said she’s treated an increasing number of patients who are suffering from conditions brought on by stress overload in their lives.
“I know we use ‘stress’ as a catch-phrase and then discount it, but so many of us are living such a busy, non-stop lifestyle that we just don’t give our bodies the ability to catch up and do what it’s meant to do on its own,” said Foster. “We work with the nervous system, the spine, and we have to teach people how to create a lifestyle that is more resilient to stress. That is an issue we work with a lot, and with children as well, who also experience stress.”
But when it comes to prevention of illness, like anything, it’s much easier to get ahead of your health, she said. Prevention is everything, and it’s not just what you’re eating, how you’re moving your body, or what supplements you’re taking, Foster added.
“It’s about the people you’re hanging out with, things you’re reading, it’s the totality of your life experience,” she said. “Once somebody is already experiencing ill health, it just takes on a whole different role. If you can build a strong foundation from the beginning to allow your body to be as resilient as possible, it makes all the difference in how you express health.”
The expo organizers hope visitors will come away with the tools to help them build a strong foundation so they can express the highest level of health, Foster said.
There will also be giveaways, samples, door prizes, artisan gifts, a Zen Den on mindfulness, baked goods, hand-crafted jewelry and therapeutic crystals, and other products geared toward a holiday wellness theme.
“A pet peeve of ours is when you go to an expo and it’s just about what can I buy, as opposed to what can I learn, what can inspire me,” Foster said. “Once you pay the cost to get through the door, we wanted there to be a lot of value.”
“If you don’t do it for yourself and your body keeps getting run down, that swings open the barn door for illness and other things we worry about,” she added. “It’s a million small choices that we make that when they add up on top of one another, they either add to your health or take away from it.”
The York Region Natural Health Expo takes place on Saturday, Nov. 23 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Old Town Hall, 460 Botsford St., in Newmarket.
Tickets are $10 in advance, $15 at the door, and free for those under 18.
For more information and to get your ticket, visit here.
