Gather your favorite self-care supplies for this cozy collective experience of self-care while being serenaded by live harp!
Special February Session: Self-Love Serenade!
We will be gathering this month the day before Valentines Day, and what a beautiful time to focus on deep self-care among supportive community! Whether each of us will be celebrating partners, friends, and/or independence this year, it's the perfect time to show up deeply for ourselves. I'll be bringing supplies to write ourselves some love notes, and you can of course feel invited to bring sweet little offerings to share with others in the room as well <3
What is a self-care serenade?
Imagine a cozy, intimate, artsy space filled with live, improvised, meditative music. Your favorite books and self-care supplies are spread around you. You've brought a fluffy pillow and blanket and are finally taking the time to prioritize yourself how we so often are pressured away from doing.
There's a cozy group spread around the room also quietly napping, doing yoga, reading, making art, meditating, and journaling. You've started the evening with a moment to share with each other as much and as little as you each wanted to mention about life, and you're feeling seen. You're not alone in the pressures and injustices of the world, and this room is full of people committed to protecting your right to rest. And you're so grateful they've made this time for themselves too.
Now soft, live music is playing and this time is yours. The whole priority of this event is to have a supported chance to custom-craft a self-care practice that's exactly what your body needs, and exactly what your heart needs too. An hour is set aside ahead of you for being serenaded by improvised harp music without commitments or distractions, with full permission to make this time whatever you need. The music and community and soft lighting all saying "We celebrate you choosing to care for yourself!"
Ideas of what to bring: (Please take these as inspiration and bring your own favorite supplies for self-care!)
- Coziness & Nesting Supplies - ideas include yoga mats, blankets, pillows, & scrumtious clothing (the space has wooden floors so cozy up accordingly)
- Sensory & Wellness Supplies - ideas include water or tea, low-noise snacks, gentle essential oils, eye covers, soothing facemasks, & sensory fidgets
- Creativity & Self-Expression Supplies - ideas include journals, canvas & paints, origami paper, & fiber-art supplies
- Exploration & Curiosity Supplies - ideas include cozy books, oracle card decks, grounding poetry, & inspiring photographs
- Abundance & Gifts to Share - there is always a community gifting space present for anyone who feels like offering and receiving free clothing, items, art, food, and other forms of abundance in a spirit of sharing & collective care
The Self-Care Serenade story
Hi! I'm Alex Bernat (my pronouns are they & she), and I'm a local, trans, white, creative activist, healer, writer, educator, and harpist. 16 years ago, I faced an intense health journey that meant I spent over 6 months in Children's Hospital in Aurora. I had recently started playing harp, and my teacher Margot Krimmel happened to have a small extra instrument she lent to me while I healed.
That little harp was one of the most profound tools I had for caring for myself during that time in the hospital. It was a soothing link back to my body, my joy, my choice to keep healing. And it didn't just help me: soon some of the doctors and nurses began to stop by to sit and listen for a minute when they were having a hard day. What was initially a self-care tool also started to help a number of other patients as well, some in very transformative ways.
Soon after getting home from the hospital, I started searching for ways to continue using my music to be of service. I was incredibly privileged as a teen to receive some transformative training and mentorship through the International Harp Therapy Program before entering the field of youth mental health, bringing my harp into residential treatment settings. Eventually I also started playing harp for health clinics, nursing facilities, hospice, hospitals, yoga classes, and all sorts of healing spaces.
This whole time, my joy has been to improvise music that's custom-made for the needs of a particular moment. And as I've learned, I've found that my favorite experiences are when community members get to come together with well-being as the highest priority while I play this music.
Self-Care Serenades bring together everything I've learned across my journey of my own healing and as a healing practitioner and activist. It's a joy to share my own journey of healing as a way of supporting a healing experience for others, and I can't express how thankful I am to be able to hold this space. Thank you for being part of this story and supporting me being of service!
Learn more about my work, art, and events at https://linktr.ee/alexbernat