In the era of coronavirus and lockdown, people all around the world are turning to wellness for support and comfort. On 13 June 2020 the ninth annual Global Wellness Day will be hosted to emphasise the importance of wellness and taking care of ourselves.

Belgin Aksoy founded Global Wellness Day in 2012 and it has since been celebrated annually on the second Saturday of June with free wellness activities across the globe and the guiding principle that ‘one day can change your whole life’.

Spa Business spoke to Aksoy who revealed that this year’s event will be hosted virtually via a 24hr live event on Instagram and that more details about the event will be announced soon.

Aksoy has recently produced a video about Global Wellness Day to inspire people to take action and make every day focused on their wellbeing and health in the face of the pandemic.

The video explains that we only start to know the value of wellness when our health is at risk and that the coronavirus is an indicator that that time has come. It urges the audience to see the virus as a wake-up call to understand how precious good health and wellbeing is and to encourage people to take care of them for the rest of their lives.

“Unfortunately, there’s no cure for the coronavirus yet – however, there is a path to the solution: strengthening our physical, mental and spiritual immunity,” said Aksoy.

“For nine years, Global Wellness Day has been spreading this message to the world. It has never been more important and necessary than now to listen to the event’s philosophy.

“Although Global Wellness Day lasts for 24 hours the message is intended to last a lifetime”, she said.

In 2019, the event reached more than 7,000 locations in 150+ countries across six continents – resulting in millions of people getting involved, including high-profile celebrities such as Oprah Winfrey.

In addition, Global Wellness Day’s Instagram was followed by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle as part of an initiative where the royal couple selected 15 worthy charities each month to follow, creating publicity for those causes and sharing their missions.