Global Wellness Day – 2018
GLOBAL WELLNESS DAY: Saturday, June 9, 2018
The theme in Fourth International Year: Kids’ Wellness!
Goal to Decrease Depression, Obesity Rates, and Crime Rates with Pre-School & Elementary Programs
4,000 Locations Celebrate in 100 Countries with Free Wellness Activities
Istanbul, Turkey — Saturday, June 9, 2018, will mark the seventh annual Global Wellness Day (GWD) celebration and the fourth time the special day is being celebrated internationally. This year over 4,000 locations in more than 100 countries are celebrating GWD by offering a range of free, non-commercial, health & wellness activities for the public. With a motto of “One Day Can Change Your Whole Life,” the theme for Global Wellness Day 2018 is the KIDS PROJECT and the goal is to decrease the worldwide depression, obesity rates and even future crime rates.
Working with universities, clinics, and international wellness leaders, Turkish GWD founder and cancer survivor, Belgin Aksoy Berkin, has developed a curriculum for the Kid’s Project that can be implemented in the 2018/2019 education year. For preschools, it is as simple as a five-minute wellness circle time each morning and at elementary schools, it is a one-hour wellness class per week. The project will focus on three key areas: Self-Love, letting go of shame, anger, and blame, and to feel at peace, learning to accept themselves and others, and even fighting depression. Breathing, to improve their health and manage their stress and learn self-control; and Mindfulness (mindful eating to mindful nature walks) to improve their emotional and physical well-being.
Aksoy Berkin’s dream of a day to celebrate wellness has inspired an international network of over 86 volunteer Global Wellness Day Ambassadors, 3 Advisors & 23 Key Supporters to organize complimentary wellness events around the planet. Nepal, South Korea, Norway, Macedonia, Zimbabwe, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Kenya, Malawi, and Montenegro are the new countries that are on board for this year.
She explains that her idea from the beginning was that wellness is not a luxury but the inherent right of every individual.
‘’We go to school from the age of two, hoping that the education system is going to help prepare us for our future,” says Aksoy Berkin, “but nobody is teaching us how to live, how to breathe, how to be mindful and how to love ourselves as these are things that are essential to be a happy adult in the future. Kids never learn in schools the fact that people can’t love others without loving themselves first. Focusing on physical and mental wellness at such an early age is so important that it can even help decrease the worldwide depression and obesity rates, even future crime rates.’’
“In an era where global consumer culture is mostly damaging the concept of childhood and kids are ending up unhappy and unsatisfied,” Aksoy Berkin continues, “we want to teach children how to integrate wellness practices into their lives on a daily basis and to carry on those practices throughout their lives.”
Look for the hashtag #GlobalWellnessDay to follow what happens from one end of the world to the other on June 9.
For a sampling of celebrations planned for Saturday, June 9, 2018 – please explore the full press release –>
