Art and wellness work together at the Root 2 Fruit Festival in West Philly

In West Philly, wellness and art go hand in hand.

On Sept. 14, the creative wellness organization Forbidden Fruit hosted the Root 2 Fruit Festival, a free, daylong celebration of wellness practices, artistry, and community.

Root 2 Fruit welcomed about 200 attendees at the One Art Community Center in the Carroll Park neighborhood for music performances, guided meditations, reiki healing, local vendors, food, and free massages. The two West Philly-based friends behind Forbidden Fruit, Tyra “Crux” Jones-Blain and Anthony “Stonez” Lewis Jr., said that the festival was meant to make wellness, healing, and art more accessible to community members.

“We’re looking to plant seeds,” Lewis said. “We want people to be able to have this first experience, and then go venture on now that they’ve had that and go deeper into their own practices.”

Jones-Blain and Lewis met while they were students at Temple University, connecting through the school’s arts scene. Jones-Blain studied dance at Temple, but said that she had grown out of the competitive energy that swirls around the dance world, and wanted to do something more focused on bringing people together. Meanwhile, Lewis was in a music group and had a passion for organizing different gatherings centered on art, including transforming friends’ houses into impromptu art galleries.

“We noticed that there was a lack of creative wellness spaces, like holistic spaces for artists to have along their careers. That’s what we strive to create,” Jones-Blain said. “Opportunities, experiences for artists and art lovers to be empowered and uplifted along their journeys in a holistic way.”

They held their first Forbidden Fruit event in 2019, and said that since then, they’ve hosted over 100 events for thousands of attendees, both in person in cities like Philly, Los Angeles, and Miami, as well as digitally.

“We just try to create a space where even though you’re coming to be about your art and all that, it’s still a wellness-centered community space,” Lewis said. “Artists sometimes forget that wellness is a part of the entire practice.”

At Root 2 Fruit, their focus broadened from artists and art connoisseurs to anyone from West Philly, of all ages. While DJs played their sets, artists sang, and people danced, the festival differentiated itself from a traditional one by keeping wellness and healing a consistent theme throughout the day.

“Artists sometimes forget that wellness is a part of the entire practice.”

“You can heal and have a good time at the same time,” Lewis said.

At one point, Adonis Rosario, a breath work and mindfulness practitioner from North Philly, stood on stage holding a microphone with a DJ behind him waiting for cues. But instead of singing, he led people through a meditation practice, reminding them that they didn’t need to do anything complicated or spend a lot of money to find inner peace.

“We all have the capacity to be a very grounded, excellent version of ourselves. But sometimes we just need to just take a pause and breathe,” he said.

Chelsa Clofer, a dance and talk therapist from West Philly, came to the festival to connect with other community members and help promote healthy healing practices. She said that it was important for Black communities in particular to recognize that there are wellness and healing options outside of the traditional medical system.

“Healing can look like a lot of things,” she said. “It’s community-based. Do this in your community, with your community. You’re not alone, we all need it.”

Eric Bines, also from West Philly, took full advantage of the Root 2 Fruit’s yoga mat space in front of the stage, stretching out during Rosario’s session. Wellness practices have transformed his life, he said, helping him process the death of his sister. Bines, 50, said that after she died a couple of years ago, he got to be 40 pounds overweight and found himself partying often, living a “crazy lifestyle.”

“It really hurt me deeply,” he said about his sister’s passing.

Once Bines met Rosario and a sound bowl practitioner named Lady Vic, who also attended Root 2 Fruit, things started to change.

“We all have the capacity to be a very grounded, excellent version of ourselves.”

“They really grounded me and helped me release a lot of things, a lot of anger, traumas in my life,” he said. Now, Bines said that he has lost the weight, prioritizes self-care, and feels like he “reverse-aged 20 years.”

He wants other people to understand that healing doesn’t necessarily require a major overhaul of your life, just a shifting of priorities and a willingness to seek care.

“You don’t have to be monk-like or nun-like, I’m not saying that. I’m just saying be conscious of what you’re doing,” he said. “You don’t need that third drink. You go to a cookout, you make yourself a nice plate — you don’t need that second or that third or that fourth plate. A lot of things we do, the vices we are involved in, are because of emotional traumas.”