Your guide to free self-care: 8 L.A. wellness events you can't miss in May - BERITAJA

Who doesn’t emotion a seaside soundbath aliases a spa day? But wellness is expensive — and self-care shouldn’t break the bank. So we’ve curated a fistful of free wellness activities for the period of May to support you stretched, sane and grounded.

But first: One of these events is blending wellness, culture, organization and treatment successful an absorbing way.

For much than 38 years the World Stage Performance Gallery, successful South Los Angeles’ Leimert Park, has presented unrecorded music, poetry, spoken connection and different forms of taste look successful its capacity gallery. On May 23, it will shape its first yearly Sacred Music and Healing Festival in Leimert Park.

It’s an eager undertaking, says Executive Director Dwight Trible. The thought down the festival, he says, is that “music is medicine.”

“At a clip erstwhile galore are seeking restoration, grounding and connection,” he said, “we are creating a abstraction wherever sound, hit and corporate beingness go devices for healing.”

We caught up pinch Trible to study much about the free arena successful a speech that has been edited for magnitude and clarity.

You’ve been reasoning about staging this show for years. Why yet do truthful now?
The clip is correct to do this. Democracy is conscionable hardly visible and hanging on. I deliberation we person a rogue management and I do judge that they’re pushing swiftly towards a fascist regime. Most group that I brushwood are very, very angry about [that]. And whenever location is immoderate upheaval successful the world, aliases successful our community, Leimert Park has ever been this galvanizing spot wherever everybody comes together to study what’s going on, to find retired what the solutions are and what the marching orders are. Usually it’s about immoderate benignant of injustice that’s happening to the achromatic and brownish community. This clip we conscionable felt that the measurement of counteracting the upheaval and negativity that exists presently successful our state was to look astatine it from a different perspective: pinch love, compassion, religion and education.

(Illustration by Robbin Burnham WACSO / For The Times)

How is the show different than a accepted euphony festival?
It’s a wellness acquisition shaped done culture, wherever jazz, Indigenous traditions and treatment arts travel together successful 1 shared space. We wanted to make it arsenic divers arsenic possible. To not only person the African-oriented aliases African American music, but euphony from Mexico, Indigenous Native American music, Asian music, truthful group could beryllium exposed to different forms of belief music. Most of the clip successful South Los Angeles we will spell to the religion and perceive this benignant of gospel Baptist euphony — and location will beryllium immoderate of that excessively — but location are each sorts of ways to definitive your belief views. So we wanted to person thing that everybody could subordinate to.

How exactly is euphony healing, successful your opinion?
We’ve each been to concerts — whether symphonic euphony aliases jazz aliases caller property euphony — and we spell successful pinch 1 mindset and erstwhile we travel out, we person a wholly different disposition. I deliberation euphony is 1 of the strongest ways of healing. Music is medicine. It’s sometimes amended than taking pharmaceutical drugs. It changes your mind, your intelligence state, your belief state. When you surrender to the euphony it’s decidedly thing that’s going to transform. Music has a nonstop effect connected the tense system. Hopefully it will calm the body, displacement affectional states and create a consciousness of connection. I dream that group from each complete the metropolis will come.

What different wellness offerings will beryllium astatine the festival?
We person a main stage, which will person [musicians]. But location will beryllium 2 different tents. In one, location will beryllium group doing yoga, tai chi — the much beingness things of bid and healing. Then we person different shelter wherever location will beryllium presentations connected herbs and meditation and different ways of treatment people’s bodies. There will beryllium about 25 booths pinch different group [showcasing] treatment remedies and immoderate of the hospitals will beryllium talking about intelligence health.

Who will beryllium performing?
One of our founders of the World Stage, he’s a poet, Kamau Daáood. We’ll person Carlos Niño & Friends and I’m judge he’ll bring a typical guest. The awesome pianist Eric Reed. Jimetta Rose Voices of Creation. I do progressive euphony and I’ll person a group playing location arsenic well. We’ll besides person group from our spoken connection shop who will beryllium doing presentations passim the day. There’s a shop called Nappily Naturals & Apothecary in Leimert Park — they do treatment remedies and meditation — and they will beryllium curating the treatment tent.

You’ve said the show reflects “a deeper communicative emerging successful Los Angeles.” What is that?
I deliberation the communicative is: location has sewage to beryllium different measurement to do things alternatively than to effort and usage unit against force. We [can’t] bring bid by bringing war. I cognize that a batch of group are getting tired of what’s going connected and reasoning about really do we extremity this? You person a personification starring the state and they’re prepared to usage guns and ammunition to beryllium capable to make judge they could support doing immoderate they’ve group retired to do. You person to spell astatine it different way. The powerfulness of emotion is stronger than the powerfulness of hate.

Sacred Music and Healing Festival, 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Saturday, May 23; 4321 Degnan Blvd., Leimert Park.

Here’s what other is happening crossed the wellness scenery successful May.

Mindfulness pinch Christiane Wolf astatine the Wende Museum of the Cold War successful Culver City.

(Stella Kalinina / For The Times)

Midweek is “Wellness Wednesdays” astatine the Wende Museum of the Cold War successful Culver City. The depository will big a free, hourlong, guided meditation — led by Christiane Wolf — successful its Glorya Kaufman Community Center’s A-frame theater, a refurbished, century-old MGM prop house. Afterward, the Cantilever Collective will lead a free activity shop successful the sculpture garden, helping participants shingle retired immoderate remaining remnants of stress. There will besides beryllium complimentary plot refreshments specified arsenic homemade crockery and caller breadstuff from Clark Street Bakery. 9-11 a.m. each Wednesday successful May; 10808 Culver Blvd., Culver City.

Similarly, the Hammer Museum hosts free, guided Mindful Awareness Meditations each Thursday successful its Billy Wilder Theater, a collaboration pinch UCLA Mindful. Can’t get distant midday to attend? The depository broadcasts the arena unrecorded connected its website. 12:30-1 p.m. each Thursday successful May; 10899 Wilshire Blvd., Westwood.

Los Angeles County Parks & Recreation is hosting a week of free “golden hour” wellness experiences successful dozens of L.A. County parks successful a programme it’s calling, not surprisingly, “Parks astatine Sunset.” Activities see yoga, guided meditation, coating and dance; they’re meant “to thief attendees relax, recharge, and reconnect successful the bosom of L.A. County parks.” The champion part? They’re each free “drop-in” happenings, pinch nary registration required. 4:30-6:30 p.m. May 14-22; check the tract for parkland addresses adjacent you.

ace/121 Gallery, which is operated by the nonprofit Glendale Arts, will big a “Mindful Art for Wellness” shop for participants complete 16 years old. The coach will commencement disconnected by giving attendees a punctual to spark productivity on pinch stress-reducing breathing exercises. Then the art-making begins. No acquisition is necessary. Simply “slowing down is the point,” the statement says. 7-8:30 p.m. May 18; 121 N. Kenwood St., Glendale.

Clockshop is an arts and civilization nonprofit that puts connected free programming successful nationalist spaces pinch the extremity of connecting Angelenos to the onshore they unrecorded on. Its yearly kite show is simply a overmuch anticipated, colorful “gallery successful the sky.” This year, the festival’s taxable is: “Take a Breath.” That includes visitors’ ain heavy breaths to slow down and consciousness relaxed arsenic good arsenic “the upwind that lifts our kites, the aerial that sustains us, and the unfastened entity we’re committed to protecting,” Clockshop says. 2-6 p.m. May 9; Los Angeles State Historic Park, 1245 N. Spring St., downtown L.A.

Los Angeles State Historic Park will beryllium engaged successful May! The National Alliance connected Mental Illness — NAMI — has dubbed May 16, 2026, “the time of hope.” As portion of that, the yearly NAMIWalks Greater LA County Mental Health Festival will return spot that time astatine Los Angeles State Historic Park. The donation-only event, pinch free wellness activities, includes NAMIWalks, a about 1.5-mile locomotion connected a way about the perimeter of the park. The adjacent will see about 60 booths arsenic good arsenic a “mind and assemblage area” pinch soundbaths, yoga and different wellness activities. 8 a.m.-1 p.m. May 16; Los Angeles State Historic Park, 1245 N. Spring St., downtown L.A.

Nearly 50 years agone the Venice Art Walk debuted arsenic a one-day fundraiser. It’s since grown into a 10-day-long Art Exhibition + Auction benefiting the Venice Family Clinic. The VFC provides broad healthcare services to much than 45,000 Angelenos. The free accumulation will showcase useful by established, mid-career and emerging artists, pinch Alison Saar serving arsenic the event’s signature artist. Auction bids will beryllium accepted online. 11 a.m.-6 p.m. May 8-17; 910 Abbot Kinney successful Venice.