Inner peace and balance amid the mayhem: the ‘dayfests’ that empower and heal
- From yoga and kirtan chanting to vegetarian cooking, a series of day-long events aims to counter Hong Kong’s frenetic pace and empower participants
- Organiser Michelle Harris says her desire to empower people stems from her own traumatic past
The death of two loved ones led Claire McLennan to the Women’s Empowerment Dayfest – one of a series of events intended to restore Hongkongers’ inner peace and balance.
Grieving for her mother-in-law and her three-year-old dog, McLennan hoped the sessions would help her heal. Only when she broke down in tears during the event did she realise how much she was hurting.
“It was such an enriching day. The sessions were uplifting for me, but also incredibly spiritual. I’d never done kirtan chanting [ancient chanting in Sanskrit] before – I’m more of a sing-in-the-shower type of person – but by the end I was belting out the words like nothing else. It was so powerful,” McLennan says.
It was the final session with healer Michelle Harris that had the greatest impact on the writer and mother of two. “Tears were shed and the outpouring of love from all the women in the room is something I will never forget,” she says.
McLennan later reached out to Harris, an empowerment guide and life consultant at Michelle Harris International, for therapy that helped her release her grief and open new doors, she says.
“I’ve started doing things I’m passionate about. While I love writing, and have done it professionally for 18 years, I am now more focused on building a new business centred around fermented food for wellness,” she says. “I’ve also found that my personal relationships within my immediate family have become greatly enriched – and I’m pretty sure I’m now a better friend.”
