In-Person and Online: Wellness Fair – A Day of Healing, Bodywork, and Holistic Offerings
Saturday, May 30th, 2026 | 10:00am – 4:30pm ET
In-Person Location: New York Insight at 115 West 29th Street, 12th Floor
Join us for a full day dedicated to nourishing the mind, body, and spirit at New York Insight Meditation Center’s second annual Wellness Fair.
Wellness is often seen as something we add: a class, a routine, a moment to recharge. At New York Insight, we see it differently: it’s how we live each day, how we care for our body, relate to our thoughts and emotions, and connect with others. This Wellness Fair is an invitation to explore and strengthen that in a real, practical way.
Throughout the day, experience a thoughtfully curated program across three dimensions of wellness: Physical, Mental & Emotional, and Social. Enjoy talks, panels, and workshops alongside healthy food, bodywork sessions, and vendors offering holistic, health-supportive products.
You’ll find resources and experiences across all dimensions of well-being, with space to reflect, reconnect, and recharge in a welcoming and grounded environment.
Whether you’re looking to deepen your practice, feel more energized, or reconnect with yourself and others, this day is designed to meet you where you are, and support how you live.
Schedule:
10:05am – Welcome and Intro talk, Organizers (Pauline & Samantha)
10:15 – Opening Meditation by Gary Singer, NYI Teacher
10:30 – Panel – Mental & Emotional Health
With: Gary Singer, Dr. Sonal Bhatia, Vanessa Heller
11:20 – Dance Yoga by Marcus Philips
12:00pm – Panel: Physical Health & Nutrition
With: Elaine Retholtz, Marcus Philips, Claire Goldwitz, Ashley Madsen
BREAK (15 min): Visit our Lunch Cafe where you can purchase some healthy treats as well as Lunch bowls offered at special rates by Square Fare
12:55 – Violin & Breathwork by Michael Braudy
1:35 – Storytelling by Justin Senense
2:15 – Panel: Social Health & Community
With: Robert Taylor Jr., Valerie Léon, Chelsea Toler
3:05 – Chair Yoga by Pauline Leung
3:40 – Sound Bathing by Lisa Cooper
4:25 – End & Gratitude offered by Kathy, Community Steward
Over the Course of the Day visit our Wellness Tables, Resource Table, Vendors as well as Tastes of Healthy Food at our Lunch Cafe with healthy options from sources like Square Fare.
A small Raffle will also take place at the center with lovely wellness offerings such as: Certificates for Treatments, Vegan Recipe Books, Vegan Restaurant Gift Certificate, to help support today’s community program.
Registration: Although walk-ins are welcome, registering in advance helps us plan better for the day. This program is open to our Sangha and the broader community. Tell your friends & family, it’s a great opportunity to visit our center.
This year we are offering this program in hybrid form. If you are joining online, please note that some of the workshops may involve movement. We will do our best to get you the best view possible during these activities.
CLICK HERE to open the registration form in a new browser window.
Teacher(s)
Pauline Leung
Pauline Leung is a High Performance Coach and Yoga & Meditation Teacher based in New York City. Born and raised in the Netherlands, she has lived and worked in Hong Kong and Vietnam before settling in the US. Pauline holds certifications in yoga, integrative health and nutrition, High Performance coaching, and modern meditation. She has since blended her 18 years of corporate experience with transformative wellness practices.
Specializing in helping individuals thrive in urban environments, Pauline guides them to cope with and find ease amid the chaos of daily life. She is dedicated to empowering them to cultivate clarity, purpose, joy, and optimal energy, enabling them to be their best and happiest selves in both life and work.
W | Pauline-Leung.com
IG | Paulineleung_chpc
LI | Leungpauline
Gary Singer
Gary Singer is a teacher of New York Insight and a graduate of the Community Dharma Leader’s teaching program. He’s been practicing vipassanna meditation since 1992 and integrates mindfulness into his psychotherapy practice. As a founder of NYI’s Family Sangha program, he writes and gives workshops on mindfulness, stress reduction, work/life balance, and intercultural/interracial relationships.
Dr. Sonal Bhatia
Sonal Bhatia, MD is the founder of Ojas Vida, an integrative wellness platform bridging Eastern healing practices with Western medicine and modern leadership. A former Chief Medical Affairs Officer at Pfizer Rare Disease, she now focuses on helping individuals restore vitality through Ayurveda, mind-body medicine, lifestyle alignment, and holistic healing. Sonal is also a TEDx speaker, Reiki practitioner, and educator passionate about helping people reconnect with health from the inside out.
Vanessa Heller
Vanessa is a Certified Forest Therapy guide with the Association of Nature and Forest Therapy. As a born and raised New Yorker, Vanessa has always been drawn to nature where she’s felt her most alive and truest self. She’s always considered nature as a temple and her best healer. Vanessa’s spiritual path began back in college and has continued to evolve over the years by following different teachers, practicing yoga, meditation, mindfulness and engaging in her own healing work. Vanessa’s deep love for nature and healing led her to the beautiful practice of forest bathing. As a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with over two and half decades of experience working with children and families, Vanessa is excited to share her passion for nature and the outdoors as a tool for healing and self-discovery.
Marcus Phillips
Marcus Phillips is a former professional dancer, New York State Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW), and Registered Somatic Movement Therapist (RSMT). A certified Shake Your Soul®/Yoga Dance instructor, he brings a lifetime of embodied wisdom and vibrant energy to movement spaces that are joyful, accessible, and deeply nourishing. His classes blend the spirit of dance with the mindful body–mind connection of yoga and qi gong, inviting participants to release, reconnect, and return to themselves. Marcus creates a welcoming container where movement becomes a pathway to vitality, presence, and wholeness.
Claire Goldwitz
Claire Goldwitz is the Founder and CEO of Square Fare, a longevity-focused nutrition company delivering chef-crafted, seasonal meals personalized to individual wellness needs through proprietary technology. Inspired by her own demanding career and commitment to health, Claire launched the company after working at Goldman Sachs, HarperCollins, and innovative startups, including Last.fm.
She holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and is passionate about making healthy living more accessible, sustainable, and effective for busy individuals and families. Claire lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two children.
Ashley Madsen
Ashley Madsen, PA-C, HHC, ABAAHP, is a double board-certified physician associate, global educator, and speaker specializing in longevity medicine, hormone optimization, metabolic health, and regenerative therapies. With over 15 years in clinical practice, she is known for translating complex science into practical, evidence-based strategies for healthspan and performance. Ashley is also the Co-Founder of LUMARA Collective, leaders in wellness real estate and longevity residences, redefining luxury living through health-centered design, recovery, and performance optimization.
Michael Braudy
Michael Braudy, a violinist in Western, North Indian and Celtic music, gives Sound and Health through Music workshops, which use the silence between musical experiences as the way to greater awareness of the body, emotions and mind. He is a versatile performer, and as an improviser he has collaborated with vocalists, storytellers and other creative artists. He studied Western violin with Raphael Bronstein and Dorothy Delay, and Indian music with Acharya Roop Verma, Pandit V.G. Jog and Pt. Krishna Bhatt. He has performed in the US, England and Scotland and India, including at the International Festival in Jaipur. He has recorded in India a series of Indian ragas for health CDs including Sumanas (Ragas for the Heart), Vriddhi and Awakening Peace. For more information, please go to www.michaelbraudy.com and www.SoundAndHealth.org.
Justin Senense
Justin Senense is an Award-Winning Speaker, Actor, Singer and Personal Trainer. He received his Dharma Yoga and Mindfulness Training certification from Spirit Rock and has studied intuitive energy healing from Sedona Healing Arts. Alongside fitness and healing, Justin has been grateful to have the experience of telling stories on stage. His favorite credits include Benjamin in the National Tour of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Angel in RENT at Westchester Broadway Theatre and the 40th Anniversary Italian Tour of HAIR.
Robert Taylor Jr.
Robert Taylor Jr. (he/him) is an intuitive facilitator and educator committed to supporting individuals’ connections to their bodies, communities, and the world around them through a breath-centered mindfulness practice.
Presently, he works alongside students and community partners as they endeavor to cultivate a sense of belonging for religious, spiritual, secular, and interfaith communities at NYU. In this vein, he orchestrates holistic wellbeing initiatives and facilitates workshops on a number of issues concerning interfaith dialogue, mindful leadership, conflict resolution, and diversity within religious/spiritual spaces.
Robert is pursuing a Master’s of Social Work and holds a B.A. in History and Gender & Sexuality Studies, and an M.A. in History, from New York University, where he is the Assistant Director for MindfulNYU and Global Spiritual Life.
Valerie Leon
Valerie Leon is a Public Sector Executive, Certified Life Coach, and color analyst passionate about helping people feel more confident, connected, and seen. She serves as Executive Director of the Mitchell-Lama Portfolio at the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), where she oversees affordable housing initiatives impacting thousands of New Yorkers. With more than 20 years of leadership experience in government and nonprofit spaces, Valerie believes social wellness is not only about community, but also about intentionally creating joy, connection, and meaningful experiences in everyday life. Her work and personal journey focus on how authentic relationships, confidence, and shared experiences can help combat the growing loneliness epidemic.
Chelsea Toler
Chelsea Toler is an impact strategist, ecosystem builder, Co-Founder of Logictry, and President of her family’s foundation. Her work focuses on strengthening relationships and advancing collaboration between family offices, foundations, funders, and impact-driven communities through innovation, education, next-generation leadership, and transformative community building for social wellbeing.
Through high-level convenings, from the United Nations to Parliament and the Vatican, and cross-sector partnerships, Chelsea helps cultivate healthier, more collaborative funding ecosystems rooted in long-term value, catalytic capital alignment, and shared purpose.
Lisa Cooper
Lisa Cooper is a mindfulness meditation teacher and practitioner whose work is grounded in the Insight (vipassana) tradition. She completed the two-year Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program (MMTCP) with Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield.
Her teaching emphasizes cultivating awareness through the body, supporting a gentle settling of the mind and a deeper connection to present-moment experience.
In addition to her meditation training, Lisa integrates sound, breath, and other supportive practices into her work. She is trained in sound healing through the Sound Healers Academy, certified in Holy Fire® Reiki (Levels I & II), trained in the David Elliott method of breathwork, a recovery coach through CCAR, and a health coach through the Institute for Integrative Nutrition (IIN).