Wellness can be a squishy concept.
Everyone is talking about it, but what does it take to achieve a state of wellness and what does that look like?
Tracie Berry-McGhee, co-host of the 鈥淥wn Your Now鈥 show airing monthly on Nine PBS, describes wellness as a mindful practice in which one takes care of the mind, body and spirit. She is bringing this idea to an upcoming 鈥淥wn Your Now鈥 Wellness Experience, a two-day event in 51黑料, featuring actor and author Tina Lifford, known as Aunt Vi from Oprah Winfrey Network鈥檚 series 鈥淨ueen Sugar.鈥
Actress and author Tina Lifford will be in 51黑料 for the Own Your Now Wellness event on Sept. 11 and 12.
Berry-McGhee and Yolonda Lankford, co-hosts of the show, wanted to create a space for women to learn more about well-being from the inside out.
Berry-McGhee is a licensed therapist and the founder of the Define Me Movement, a nonprofit dedicated to empowering women and girls. The show began online during the pandemic after she had lost her parents.
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鈥淎s a therapist, I鈥檓 constantly focusing on intervention. The key is on prevention and awareness,鈥 she says. She champions conversations around mental health, knowledge and empowerment.
Those concepts are at the core of their wellness-themed gathering with events on Sept. 11 and 12. The first day will include a meet-and-greet and book signing with Lifford, along with access to 15 local, women-owned vendors. The second day will offer a live taping of the show, with Lifford as a guest, along with a second show taping featuring a local oncologist and a herbal health coach.
Lifford, who is based in Los Angeles, has been exploring emotional well-being and personal growth for decades. She founded The Inner Fitness Project and has written 鈥淭he Little Book of Big Lies鈥 and 鈥淭he Inner Fitness Revolution.鈥 She is on a mission to transform the way we think about fitness, shifting the focus from just the body to include the mind and spirit.
She compares inner fitness to the way we think about physical fitness.
鈥淭here are skills and practices that help us strengthen our internal selves. That鈥檚 what I lead with,鈥 she says.
Lifford recalled a pivotal moment from her childhood, the impact of which she realized years later. In fifth grade, she was selected to sing in the school鈥檚 talent show.
鈥淥ld John Henry, I got out those three words, and that was it,鈥 she says. She froze and was carried off stage like a cardboard cutout. Even though she doesn鈥檛 recall feeling any shame from the incident in the days after it, it occurred to her decades later.
As a young actor she began experiencing similar feelings of panic prior to auditions, debilitating anxiety, shaking hands and panic attacks.
鈥淚 could perform once I had the job,鈥 she says. But the auditions would unravel her. The complete sense of overwhelm didn鈥檛 make much sense to her. Determined to better understand herself, Lifford began journey of self-discovery. It involved therapy and spiritual learning. She has invested thousands of dollars in education and training. Lifford looked back to her earliest experiences with the emotions of performance-related anxiety and traced it back to that elementary school talent show.
Making that connection helped her disrupt the neurological pairing her brain had created with that early event and emotional disregulation around auditions.
鈥淭herapy is critical and life-changing,鈥 she says. 鈥淏ut it often focuses on the past. Inner fitness is about the present and the future.鈥
She emphasizes that people are not broken.
鈥淲e鈥檙e uninformed. We are hurt. We are misaligned with ourselves,鈥 she explains. 鈥淏ut the wholeness we are born with is waiting for us to reclaim it.鈥 The result of her introspection and study is the Inner Fitness framework, which offers skills and insight to help people connect with themselves.
Women, especially women over 50, carry so much, Berry-McGhee says. As caretakers, professionals, mothers, daughters, we give so much to others, but how often do we pause and check in with ourselves, she asks. Stress, anxiety and burnout remain at historic highs, particularly among women balancing multiple roles, according to the American Psychological Association.
She hopes the event will help the participants begin their own journey to inner wellness.
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