Fundación Oncoserv, a Dominican foundation dedicated to cancer prevention and support for oncology patients, held an event called Holistic Garden as part of its Cápsula Rosa initiative, bringing together women for reflection, self-care, personal connection and mindful eating at the Hotel Kimpton Las Mercedes in the Colonial City of Santo Domingo.
The concept of bienestar integral, or holistic wellbeing, refers to a view of health that combines physical, emotional and social dimensions rather than focusing only on the absence of illness, an approach increasingly used in wellness and cancer-support programs.
The gathering was driven by Ichanell Rodríguez, president of Fundación Oncoserv, and marks a new stage in the evolution of Cápsula Rosa, which the foundation says now aims to weave emotional and personal wellbeing into its conversations about health and prevention.
Rodríguez said the foundation wanted to create spaces where women could stop, listen to themselves and dedicate time to their own wellbeing. She added that health also means recognizing how people feel, how they manage their emotions, and what role self-care occupies in everyday life.
Widening the Conversation on Women's Health
According to Fundación Oncoserv, initiatives of this kind help broaden the conversation around women's wellbeing in the Dominican Republic and open spaces where self-care can be approached from different angles. The foundation's core work is centered on cancer prevention and accompanying oncology patients, and it says Cápsula Rosa also functions as a way of carrying educational and awareness content to new audiences beyond its usual reach. Cápsula Rosa's name recalls the color long associated worldwide with breast cancer awareness campaigns.
A Day of Rituals, Movement and Food
The Holistic Garden program opened with a welcome ritual and a dynamic called "Connection to Mother Earth," followed by an exercise built around silence and gratitude. Participants then took part in a session of Chi Kung, a traditional Chinese practice combining slow movement, breathing and meditation, before a sound journey, a wellness practice that uses instruments such as gongs and singing bowls to induce relaxation, paired with sessions described as "Aromas of Wellbeing" and "Healing of the Womb."
The gathering broke for a healthy lunch prepared by Cosimo Urso, the executive chef of the Hotel Kimpton Las Mercedes, before closing with a farewell ritual. Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants, the boutique chain founded in San Francisco in 1981 and acquired by InterContinental Hotels Group in 2015, operates the property in the Colonial City, also known as the Zona Colonial, Santo Domingo's historic core, which UNESCO declared a World Heritage Site in 1990 for its collection of some of the oldest colonial-era buildings in the Americas.
The event brought together facilitators Sandino Grullón, Mario Larrauri, Dominic Fuentes and Garomas, along with other collaborators who guided the day's sessions. Photographs from the gathering showed attendees including Óscar Gutiérrez, Estela, Ichanel, Daniela de la Rosa, Arlette Inoa, Priscila Inoa, Giuliana Carniel, Ivelisse de la Rosa, Gabriela Tovar, Alba Faña and Ivanna Santana.
'An Invitation to Return Inward'
Sócrates McKinney, producer of Cápsula Rosa, said Holistic Garden responded to a need to create moments of pause and personal connection for women. He described the event not as a conventional gathering but as an invitation to return to the place where all transformation begins: one's inner self.
