IRIS At The Grounds to take place in late November

Many Hongkongers have found it difficult to enjoy their weekends and leisure time during the pandemic as numerous venues have been either closed or required to accommodate fewer participants. To offer locals an experience that will help them stay refreshed, Hong Kong’s fitness and wellness festival IRIS will launch a three-day wellness event, IRIS At The Grounds, in Central. 

The festival will take place beneath the Hong Kong Observation Wheel in Central from 27 to 29 November. With 110 two-person pods available at venue, the festival aims to provide a "responsible, unique, and barrier-breaking experience to help Hongkongers refresh, revive, and reconnect."

While hosting wellness activities with six different yoga and fitness sessions, the event will also offer live music, food, and drinks between or after exercises. Sessions have been curated to boost resilience for the new normal, with alternating hour-long sessions ranging from energising morning yoga to high-intensity, full body workouts, and post workout yoga and mindfulness sessions to help warm down and find balance in this challenging contemporary environment.

Due to the impact of COVID-19 on the local health and fitness industry, the organisers are also using IRIS as a platform to support some of the local businesses and practitioners most impacted by the pandemic. For this event, IRIS is introducing some new instructors that the festival has never worked with before.

"We hope this event will offer them an opportunity to increase exposure and promote their services. We also want to encourage everyone to join a neighbourhood boutique gym or yoga studio right now as they will help improve the instructors' lives and help local businesses get back on their feet,” said Charlz Ng, co-founder of IRIS.

“IRIS is a really good opportunity for us to expand our clientele," said Christine Sit, one of the first-time instructors participating this year.

"It has been really tough during the pandemic with widespread closures of gyms and studios. It feels really good to be getting back out and promoting the benefits of a healthy lifestyle."