Beyond the Spa
A Los Angeles natural health and wellness show targets the mainstream
By Rachelle Crum -- Tradeshow Week, 10/4/2004
Los Angeles¡ªThe organizers of a new natural health exposition, the Mind, Body & Beyond Expo, want to bring well-being and holistic life-style practices to the masses, starting in one of the most health-conscious U.S. cities: Los Angeles.
And it may be working.
The inaugural MBB Expo attracted more than 18,000 trade and public attendees to the Los Angeles Convention Center Sept. 18¨C19 with promises of the latest insights into yoga, Feng Shui, natural beauty products, vitamins and herbs, organic living, spas and green building practices.More than 225 exhibitors paid between $1,000 and $3,000 each for a 10¡ä¡Á10¡ä booth, where they let attendees test floating beds, have photos of their auras taken, consume herbal tonics and try on gloves designed to prevent slippage during yoga classes.
Authors Dr. Andrew Weil and Dr. John Gray participated in the expo through a book signing and speaker session, respectively. Actress and yoga practitioner Mariel Hemingway and Deepak Chopra's son Gotham, an author and Channel One News anchor, were among the more than two dozen speakers featured at the expo.
Entrepreneur Baba Ji, MBB Expo's founder and chairman, said he drew inspiration for the event from mainstream America's lack of awareness of healthy living options ¡ª despite the billions of dollars now spent on products in that market. According to the Natural Marketing Institute, only 27 percent of adults are considered LOHAS (Lifestyle of Health and Sustainability) consumers.
"You can live 40 years or you can live 100 years. It doesn't take too much to eat healthily," he said.
Baba Ji said his show targets "high-end" individuals, particularly men, who are hungry for information. Judging by their 85-percent attendance ratio, women are already up to speed on natural health issues. "It's all about getting information to the people," Baba Ji said.
Exhibitor Dean Thomas, a tonic herbalist for Santa Monica, Calif.-based Ron Teeguarden's Dragon Herbs, said he felt that shows like MBB, Mind Body Spirit Expo, Yoga Expo and the Natural Products Expos offer much-needed information about health. "We're kind of doing a public service," he said. "Americans are too unhealthy."
Chopra said he chose to speak at the event because it provided an environment for people who are searching for change and are willing to listen to their options. "The only way to cause effective change in the world is to start by changing yourself," he said. "It is critical that we have arenas where people are teaching the practical principles that enable us to shift and enhance our perspective and change our behavior."
Besides next year's 900-booth show planned for the L.A. Convention Center Oct. 29¨C30, MBB Expo management, a division of Clear Channel Entertainment, is organizing an April 2005 semi-outdoor tradeshow in Santa Monica or Malibu, Calif., where about 50 invited exhibitors will be featured.
Baba Ji, who organized smaller international trade-shows during the 1990s, including the former Ayurveda Health Expos in Munich and Rome, said he wants to take the MBB expos "to a different level," including additional 2006 shows in San Francisco, Chicago, New York and Miami. The company is also considering Seattle and Phoenix, as well as international cities, for future show locations.
A portion of the event's proceeds will help fund the construction of a new school for underprivileged girls near Agra, India.
The entry fee for the MBB Expo was $10.
