Between the stress of school work, employment and relationships, taking care of one’s health is not always a priority for many Univeristy of Saskatchewan students. However, as students return to campus from reading week, they will have the opportunity to take active steps towards increasingly conscious management of their health.

Healthy Bodies, Healthy Minds is a week of events that runs from Feb. 22–26. It strives to expose U of S students to alternative and holistic ideas about health, wellness and overall wellbeing.

For Dylan Lambi-Raine, co-ordinator of the USSU Women’s Centre and one of the key organizers of Healthy Bodies, Healthy Minds, the week is all about learning.

“With Healthy Bodies, Healthy Minds we really want people to understand and view their health holistically,” Lambi-Raine said. “So not viewing our body as separate from our mental health or our mental health separate from our physical health. To really just start to look at ourselves in a whole way.”

Healthy Bodies, Healthy Minds was organized by the various centres operated by the U of S Students’ Union, including the Women’s, Pride, Food and Help Centres.

The week includes events that cover a wide range of health topics, from intuitive eating to hula-hooping to a panel discussion about eating disorders and body image.

The second annual event is free and accessible to all U of S students and offers a number of new workshops, along with a return of some old favourites, according to Lambi-Raine.

“We’re bringing back body casting — that was very popular last year. For new events, we’re going to have a canning workshop [and] a soup-making workshop. We’re going to have an ‘achieving key performance’ workshop, which has to do with just being the best person that you can be in your own mind.”

With a diverse population of students at the U of S, accessibility was one of the main concerns when organizing Healthy Bodies, Healthy Minds.

“We just wanted to have as many events as we could that would hopefully reach a large audience. I think that’s the way we mainly focus on intersectionality,” Lambi-Raine said.

According to Lambi-Raine, the life of a university student can offer a number of unique challenges in regards to maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

“I would say that a lot of it has to do with stress and anxiety and feeling out of control. Especially when you’re in an environment where there is a lot of stress or a lot of pressure to achieve and to do well that can bleed over to other areas of one’s life.”

Despite these challenges, Lambi-Raine acknowledges that there are still many aspects of a university environment that can positively contribute to one’s health.

“You sort of have a built-in community, so it can be very helpful, especially if it’s a community where, as an institution, students are being supported in that way. Weeks like [Healthy Bodies, Healthy Minds] are being put on, people have opportunities to eat fresh and local food and learn how to cook it, and with free counseling on campus and that kind of stuff,” she said.

Ultimately, the aim of Healthy Bodies, Healthy Minds is to actively engage in new perspectives and Lambi-Raine hopes that students are able to take something positive away from the week’s events.

“I would hope that people would find something that they haven’t done before and that piques their interest, gets them trying new things and getting curious and focusing on doing things for themselves outside of academia.”

—

Image: Ashley Britz