Mindfulness Movement Event takes place in Monroe Park Sunday

RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) -Monroe Park is the place to be this Sunday if you’re looking for positive ways to manage your mental health.

The Mindfulness Movement Event gathers people of all ages and spreads positivity and resources about mental health.

”Being a safe space and place to show and teach people that you can be positive, there are other people out here who are positive,” said Kassandra Lincoln, the organizer’s daughter.

There will be a raffle, different forms of yoga being taught, as well as health professionals to talk about the impact the mind and body have on each other.

“We do have a little bit of a crisis right now. You don’t realize that until you come together as a group that a lot of us have a common factor,” said event organizer Sandee Steenstra Byrd.

This event is being put on to give people resources and a sense of connection.

Byrd says she’s experienced the highs and lows of mental health, and she wants to help people who are struggling.

She said doing something positive every day for your mental health is essential.

“Every day, everyone should take five minutes to laugh, five minutes to sing,” Byrd said.

Lincoln says this mindfulness event will also help remind people to connect with nature and notice the simple things in life.

“The trees and the way they blow in the wind and the way we breathe,” she said.

Lincoln says we can’t do our best for the people we love unless we pour into ourselves first.

“We give so much time to everything outside of ourselves that we forget who is most important. You can’t give to your family, friends. You can’t give into someone else before unless you give into yourself,” she said.

This event is run solely on donations, and 10% of the money donated will go towards NAMI, the national alliance on mental illness.

The Mindfulness Movement Event is Sunday, May 21, from noon to 4 p.m.

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