Practicing Radical Self-Care: An Act of Liberation

The World Health Organization has identified stress as one of the top ten determinants of disparities in health. Additionally, 72% of Americans identify “now” as the lowest point in history that they can remember according to a civil unrest poll conducted by the American Psychological Association (APA) in June 2020.

Most Americans say police violence towards minorities is a significant source of stress. Seven in 10 Americans also agree the current movement against systemic racism and police brutality is going to lead to meaningful change, a hopeful sign to counter stress. The stressors related to social and economic advantage have downstream effects on psychological, neurobiological, physiological, and behavioral processes that shape health outcomes.

The past year has been extremely challenging with an ongoing pandemic that has upended our lives with racial injustices front and center. We invite you to join YWCA Allentown, YWCA Bethlehem, Shanthi Project, and the Lehigh Valley community for a virtual workshop “Practicing Radical Self Care: An Act of Liberation” on Saturday, April 24, 2021 from 10:00am to 12:00pm EST on Zoom. We offer this healing workshop as a strategic opportunity to reset our mind, body and spirit for greater clarity and renewal.

Self-care is a radical act of liberation because white dominance and non-white subordination forces us (black, indigenous, and people of color are more acutely impacted) to disconnect from the mind, body and spirit in order to survive oppressive systems. In this workshop, we will utilize our time together to:

• Expand our knowledge of what self-care is, why it is essential, and how it is a radical act of liberation.
• Engage in self-care practices to intentionally reconnect to our mind, body, and spirit as a form of healing justice.
• Cultivate the wisdom in our community around self-care practices that are grounded in our knowledge and lived experiences.

We will also offer four separate break-out sessions focused on self-care practices in the areas of art and journaling, music and drumming, yoga for healing, and strategies for building resilience.  These activities were designed1 primarily with black, indigenous and people of color in mind, but anyone can draw inspiration from these practices and approaches.

We look forward to being in community with you!