Hotel hosts expo for holistic living

Just feet from the runway of John Wayne Airport, people of all realms took off on a flight of a different kind Saturday at the Holistic Living Expo at the Radisson Newport Beach.

From psychic readings to raw food preparation, vendors displayed their out-of-this-world products designed to cultivate a more fruitful and spiritual life.

Fabienne Marneau, a hypnotist at the expo for her first time, specializes in soul paintings ? a picture of one’s soul.

“I can see the soul of my clients,” Marneau said.

With her clients hypnotized, Marneau sees into their soul and translates her vision into a painting, she said. The painting serves as a physical reminder of the client’s spiritual journey, she said.

“There’s no limit to what we can do to the mind,” Marneau said.

Several booths down, stone keeper Yi Chang displayed an array of quartz crystals in a rainbow of colors. The crystals possess a certain energy, depending on their color, and can have a powerful effect on anyone who owns one, Chang said.

Spirituality can also extend to diet, said Angela Ortiz, a wellness consultant with Empirical Health. Empirical Health advocates eating only “living foods” ? that which has not been cooked ? to balance out the system.

“What it does is reverse the aging process,” Ortiz said.

Raw food optimizes energy because it doesn’t take as much work to break it down and digest, Ortiz said.

Huntington Beach resident Steve Lund attended the expo Saturday to gather ideas for a retreat center he runs in Hawaii.

“There’s several aspects to spirituality,” said Lund, whose retreat center specializes in cleansing and fasting.

Inside the expo, Lund tried a bit of everything. He purchased a pulse point massager and signed up for a tarot card reading.

“I’m just doing it for fun, like a spiritual Disneyland,” Lund said.