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Posted: Friday 6th April 2012 Where West meets East, North and South. It's Jambalaya, the 2 day and 3 night music, dance and lifestyle festival jam-packed with international and national acts, dancers, workshops, performers, theatre, music, circus performers, installations and market stalls. Held over the Easter Weekend holiday weekend 6th - 8th April 2012, Jambalaya returns to Auckland - now set in the beautiful bush-clad Corban Estate, just 15 minutes from city. more...

Posted: Saturday 25th February 2012 Wellpark College is a community hub of natural therapies health care and tertiary education, providing an opportunity for bringing people together to learn to more effectively manage health and wellbeing. In a relaxed and friendly setting, our broad range of community and professional courses offer the public, prospective students, graduates and practitoners the stimulation of learning new information, concepts, techniques, skills, or a better understanding of subjects before committing to a full programme Our community and professional courses are guided by qualfied, experienced tutors and current practitioners, at one of two locations, Wellpark College at 6 Francis St , Grey Lynn, or Kawai Purapura Residential and Retreat Centre-14 Mills Lane, Albany. To make these courses more accessible, our community and professional courses are discounted down to an affordable 50% of the full course fee, include confirmation of attendance, and on successful completion of the course assessment may be used for cross crediting into existing programmes (subject to time period criteria). more...

Posted: Monday 13th February 2012 Thinking of study as a resolution you've made for 2012, or do you need to enrol to complete your qualification in the new year? Wellpark College is accepting student applications for 2012 enrolment NOW. As New Zealand's largest natural therapies provider, successfully training more than 1000 graduates of Aromatherapy, Ayurveda, Body Therapies, Herbal Medicine, Naturopathy, Nutrition and Yoga - you need to enrol quickly to ensure your place on our limited capacity certificate, diploma and bachelor programs. more...

Posted: Wednesday 25th January 2012 What is Vitamin D and is there hope beyond the hype? Join Phillip Dowling ( MA – Live food Nutrition, BHSc) and guests to discover more about this powerful nutrient; mostly formed as a result of sunlight exposure on our skin. Vitamin D affects more than 2,000 different gene functions – from boosting immunity to bone health. more...

Posted: Monday 14th November 2011 The Hindu Council of New Zealand launched the nationwide ‘Health for Humanity’ Yogathon during August 2011 to create awareness of the 5000 year old discipline of the mind, body and spirit. The free Yogathon asked Kiwis to collectively perform 100,000 repetitions of the "Surya Namaskar" (Sun Salutation) over a period of 15 days. A repetition of Surya Namaskar consists of a series of yoga postures of well-balanced movements linked with simple breathing technique to provide benefits to both body and mind. more...

Posted: Tuesday 8th November 2011 Yoga has been shown to increase the level of gamma-aminobutyric acid, or GABA, a chemical in the brain that helps to regulate nerve activity. GABA activity is reduced in people with mood and anxiety disorders, and drugs that increase GABA activity are commonly prescribed to improve mood and decrease anxiety. Yoga has a greater positive effect on a person's mood and anxiety level than walking and other forms of exercise, which may be due to higher levels of the brain chemical GABA according to an article in peer-reviewed The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. more...

Posted: Monday 31th October 2011 During Massage Therapy Awareness Week (1st to 7th November 2011), Massage New Zealand (MNZ), will be highlighting the importance of choosing registered and experienced practitioners, for your health and wellbeing. As the representative body for qualified massage therapists, Massage New Zealand urges clients to consider carefully the qualifications of massage practitioners for safe, professional treatment and advises them to choose a Massage New Zealand Registered Massage Therapist. “Many people already choose massage therapy to treat conditions from headaches to back-pain to occupational overuse, while others take advantage of the stress reduction benefits of massage. more...

Posted: Friday 28th October 2011 Wellpark College has a special opportunity with political representatives from Labour, the Greens and Act presenting their policy on education, student issues, health and natural therapies ( National the Maori Party are unable to attend) at the Wellpark no-cost Party Political Forum, Friday November 4 from 6:00pm-7:30pm. Its your chance to listen, ask questions, be entertained, educated and informed. Learn all about party political commitment to NZ health care, the future of tertiary education and their stance on the controversial proposed Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership. more...

Posted: Wednesday 12th October 2011 Under the guidance and instruction of Swami Chinmayananda and Swami Dayanananda, Indian-born globally recognised Swami Suddhananda has been addressing audiences in India and abroad to emphasize the indispensability of Self Knowledge. An insightful, engaging speaker; Swami Suddhananda is also an international teacher of Self-Knowledge, International Yoga Training Teacher, founder of schools, institutes and ashrams throughout the world in adddition to being a prolific author of more than 30 books. This is a rare opportunity to experience an insightful, engaging discourse from Swami Suddhananda to better understand The Inner Self, at no cost. more...

Posted: Wednesday 14th September 2011 Join Wellpark College and the greater Grey Lynn community to celebrate creativity, sustainability and our Samoan heritage at the Twilight Street Party and Street Market 4pm- 8pm, West Lynn shops, Richmond Road. As our adopted Rugby World Cup team - Samoa will be the focus at the family friendly free Thursday 29 September street party with stalls and entertainment, recognising and celebrating the vibrant Pasifika culture and hertitage of Grey Lynn. Ther will be performances from : The Longdrops / Ukeladies / Vision Cultural Movement(7:00pm) / Velociteers (6:00 8:00pm) Family Band - at Monterrey / Craig the busker with a full line-up TBC Special Promotions: Dalston until 8pm drinks and nibbles and anyone who makes a purchase from Dalston on the night of the street party will go in a raffle to win a $100 Dalston voucher. more...

Posted: Tuesday 6th September 2011 The effectiveness and role of vitamin C in health and wellbeing is controversial, with media, the medical community, CAM practitioners and the public often in disagreement. There is agreement however, that Vitamin C is a water soluble antioxidant needed for normal growth and repair of tissues throughout the body. The body is unable to make Vitamin C on its own, nor can it be stored. more...

Posted: Monday 1st August 2011 Wellpark College are very proud to announce Principal Phil Cottingham will be presenting a short course at the UK's Schumacher College: 26-30 September. Sustainable Health Care: The Challenges and Opportunities is course is designed for all who are interested in promoting health and wellbeing in the community: practitioners from conventional and complementary traditions keen to integrate their skills, members of the public who want to take charge of their own health, and those involved in academic delivery of integrated health programmes. The course is presented by Wellpak College Principal Phil Cottingham and acclaimed herbalist Simon Mills. more...

Posted: Friday 1st July 2011 The intention by the Australian and New Zealand Governments to establish the Australia New Zealand Therapeutic Products Agency (ANZTPA), is welcomed by the Complementary Medicines (CM) Industry said Dr Wendy Morrow, Executive Director of the Complementary Healthcare Council (CHC). Australian consumers have reduced access to Complementary Medicines, which are termed natural health products in New Zealand, due to the different regulations governing our trans-Tasman neighbours. "We note and support the Government's decision to exclude Complementary Medicines from the proposed model of the ANZTPA. more...

Posted: Thursday 30th June 2011 So just what is really in our food? Suprisingly its soy.. more...

Posted: Monday 27th June 2011 Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use has for children has almost doubled in the past decade according to Head of the University of Otago, Christchurch's Paediatric Department, Associate Professor Andrew Day. Professor Day discovered 67% of child patients had been given alternative medicines, with the use of probiotics among patients of a paediatric outpatient service in Sydney at almost double the number of patients using it in a similar study in 2002. On the advice of friends and family, doctors or other health professionals, CAM (such as probiotics, herbal treatments and osteopathy) had been suggested in 45% of cases, the research found. more...

Posted: Thursday 16th June 2011 Recent research has indicated that long-term yoga participants have significantly gained bone density, which can be attributed to the effects of muscles working against gravity. “Yoga pits one group of muscles against another, exerting many times the force of gravity” experts have said. “That increases the stress on bones, and the bones react by thickening. more...

Posted: Wednesday 15th June 2011 Did you know that remedial massage is a holistic treatment of the whole body that identifies the source and not just the symptoms of strains, sprains and muscle pains? If your muscles, tendons or bones become impaired or immobile, remedial massage uses specialised assessment techniques and treatments to locate and repair soft-tissue dysfunction and to support and speed up the body's own repair mechanisms. Wellpark College is offering a free open information evening Tuesday June 14 6:00 -7:00pm where you’ll learn about the Diploma of Therapeutic Massage and how you can bring about a return to mobility, through a practical demonstration of injury assessment and treatment techniques from senior tutor Deb Pick (MA Chem/Dip Pt/Dip Massage/Dip Fitness Inst). more...

Posted: Thursday 9th June 2011 Did you know there are ten Ayurvedic plants and spices considered to be of benefit in addressing chronic illness? Wellpark College is offering a free Seminar and Open Evening - where you’ll learn just how easy it is to integrate these plant and spice preparations into your life. You’ll learn about the connection between the ancient Ayurvedic wisdom of plant and spice preparations and stress related chronic illness such as autoimmune conditions, diabetes, obesity, cancer. more...

Posted: Friday 27th May 2011 An unforgettable and shocking wake-up call, A Crude Awakening shows us that the era of cheap oil is in the past. Each and every final Sunday of the month, Grey Lynn Community Centre screens ecologically minded documentaries to stimulate thought and discussion. “What happens when we run out of cheap oil? more...