Dakota Dawkins provides healing sounds with a rain stick during a yoga session at the Coco Market wellness event in January at Old School Square. Jan Engoren/The Coastal Star
By Jan Engoren
Coco Market, an immersive wellness open-air event in Old School Square, celebrated its third anniversary in January and takes place this month on March 2.
Founded by yoga instructor Corey Heyman, the market brings together family and friends as well as small local businesses focusing on health and wellness to practice yoga, take part in family-friendly activities, browse the products and vendors and partake in a variety of food options.
“I felt a strong need for community after COVID-19,” said Heyman, 33, who had been teaching yoga on the beach in Delray Beach. She knew a lot of people who had started small businesses and said she wanted to create a space to support them.
“I wanted to make wellness accessible to everybody,” she said, and decided to include a free schedule of events.
At the third anniversary celebration in January, Leslie Glickman of Yoga Journey in Boca Raton taught a yoga flow class to a rapt clientele stretched out in corpse poses, their yoga mats covering the lawn at Old School Square.
Gong master and sound healer Mitchell Raisman of 1111 Gong provided healing sounds with two large gongs.
Also featured were live music by Flint Blade & Brielle Aguila; ecstatic dance by Pranava; Luis Capcha Vilchez on flute; Dakota Dawkins providing healing sounds with a rain stick during Shavasana (a relaxation pose practiced at the end of a yoga session); and more live music by OdoNata Sound.
On the main stage, Lab Method of Delray Beach provided an exercise class focusing on strength and conditioning.
In a booth along the “Healing Oasis” aisle, Boynton Beach chiropractor Tiah Sanborn promoted her business Euphoria, accompanied by her mother, Kerri Smith, a hairstylist. The two have adjacent businesses on Federal Highway in Boynton Beach.
Sanborn has been coming to the wellness market for eight months and says she enjoys the ambiance and meeting like-minded practitioners.
“I like the crowd,” said Sanborn, who was a track star at the University of South Florida.
“The Coco Market has a different vibe than the green market. I enjoy being in an environment that celebrates health and wellness.”
In the next booth, Natalie Elledge of Ananta Ayurveda & Wellness of Delray Beach, a practitioner of Ayurvedic medicine who studied in India, demonstrated an Indian healing therapy known as shirodhara. The technique involves an incense and concentrated herbal oil mixture and dripping the hot liquid onto your forehead.
“It’s very relaxing, relieves stress and can help with digestion,” Elledge said, adding that it often comes with a head or scalp massage.
Ayurvedic medicine, she noted, is thousands of years old and is a holistic approach to wellness.
In only her second time at the market, she was impressed with the turnout and said, “It’s an opportunity for the community to come out and try and experience different healing modalities.”
Abbey Jo Shulkin of Delray Beach Laser Pain Center demonstrated another healing modality as she sat and applied a laser treatment to her knee, which she injured while roller-skating.
With a motto of “ditch the drugs, skip the scalpel,” Shulkin advocates laser treatments for conditions such as sciatica, plantar fasciitis and knee and rotator cuff pain.
A wife and husband team, Kathleen Kraft and Agustin Ontano of Body Ambassadors from Boca Raton, demonstrated traditional massage as well as Eastern ashiatsu, a barefoot massage technique originating in Asia.
While Ontano provided a back massage to a client, Kraft walked barefoot on another client, using her feet to activate pressure points in the back while holding on to overhead bars for balance.
She’s able to provide deep pressure using her feet and body weight to release tension and promote relaxation in her clients.
The couple also has a studio in Delray Beach.
Other vendors in January offered merchandise for sale.
Curated by the Coco Market team, they included Eco Cork, which makes accessories out of natural cork; Boynton Beach resident Zeal Desai’s pop-up, Zealia, which sources eco-friendly products and handmade items such as earrings, beadwork and clothing from around the world; CasaBel, selling jewelry and clothing; HiKee essential oils; and Wandering Words pop-up bookstore.
Food vendors included Konscious Kitchen, Loxahatchee Food Co-op, Manka’s loaded empanadas, bison “smashburgers” from Bison Eatery, vegan soul food from Elite Fusion Catering, Nutra Diva cold-pressed juice, and LorLor’s Kitchen small-batch jams and pickles.
Delray Beach resident and physical therapist Felipe Picardo, 33, of Pinnacle Movement and Performance took advantage of the day and grabbed a cold brew coffee from Dialed In Coffee (“my only addiction”). He had a booth at the market in the past but said his business has gotten so many clients it is now “maxed out.”
“I just came out to soak up the ambiance and enjoy the day,” he said.
He was in good company.
Jan Engoren writes about health and healthy living. Send column ideas to jengoren@hotmail.com.
If You Go
What: Coco Market
Where: Old School Square, 51 N. Swinton Ave., Delray Beach
When: 9 a.m. -3 p.m. March 2, April 6 and 13, June 1
Admission: Free
Info: Cocomarket.org
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