Please find the following resources below for moving through this time together – all free. As I come across more free wellness resources, and as things develop, I will continue to add and alter this list. I’ve tried to screen them to the best of my ability at this time, but please note that I cannot be intimately familiar with all the resources here. I offer them for your discernment and discretion.
Please be mindful and check in with yourself as you look through these. You need not do everything or read everything – in fact, I invite you to check out one thing at most that speaks to you. Allow yourself to practice the art of receiving – slowly, mindfully, intentionally choosing what to take in and feeling the impact of it – in this way. Return to this page when you are ready to try something new, or find new updates that have been added. As always, take what resonates for you and leave the rest.
Trust that your feelings are valid and deserve to be heard. Trust that your needs are valid and deserve to be met. Trust that you are worthy no matter what you are going through. Trust that you have all the wisdom and resilience that you need already within you – and practice making your choices from there.
It is normal and expected to feal fear, denial, grief, anger, and shock during this time. But we do not have to live in that place. We do not have to let our fear take over.
We are all connected – we heal together, we hurt together, we love together, we grow together – and we can protect and uplift each other now with our actions, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant they may be.
You are not alone.
Mind/Body Nourishment
- Free meditations and sleep music on the Calm website: https://www.calm.com/blog/take-a-deep-breath?utm_source=lifecycle&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=difficult_times_nonsubs_031720&fbclid=IwAR1fZjtytofIYeKLDbqBXMHxXLeXCe5VtCkOGQToxz0AnpsqjZVr5FnIg3o
- Highly recommend the hundreds of free yoga videos of any length by a down-to-earth, humorous teacher named Adriene. But the shining star of the series is truly her dog Benji: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFKE7WVJfvaHW5q283SxchA
Creative Nourishment
- Dance/movement session taught by dancers but for everyone to enjoy the powerful, playful, and healing nature of dance – twice a week by Dance Church: https://go.dancechurch.com
- Instagram live dance party every day by Lady Gaga’s former backup dancer Mark Kanemura. Follow and join on instagram: @mkik808
- Online site where artists post clips or livestreams of their performances that have been canceled, called The Social Distancing Festival: https://www.socialdistancingfestival.com/?fbclid=IwAR11lmPeiLIcRW67efhid5G3wwjMl8YKcO3vN59_heyuABqg26_jp3sC4sc
- Free nightly streaming of Met Operas: https://operawire.com/metropolitan-opera-to-offer-up-nightly-met-opera-streams/?fbclid=IwAR3-yEvbP8qwz58vuDo_fAbsEMdGQTUb1CqCEN-To1mxipctM67sGoZ4APM
Spiritual Nourishment
- I highly recommended the radically inclusive meditation center East Bay Meditation Center. They have moved all of their meditation groups and classes online, and are all free and/or by donation only. Find them at: https://eastbaymeditation.org
Heart Nourishment
- Free interactive app created by artists and witches, designed to support folks to receive care through their use of technology during this time. The entire app is you interacting with different things/beings in a room to receive different types of care and healing. Highly recommend: http://truluv.ai
- Live sound healing events Mon/Thurs @12pm, Saturdays @5pm EDT by Sara Auster: https://saraauster.com/tunein?mc_cid=bc122950e7&mc_eid=669e59d40f&fbclid=IwAR3Cjja3Uadkhb6kQlMfWNKia_13gicqkvX-Y-Eip5CTfvyjpPT__Cj08Bk
- My blog post on how to care for yourself through this time: https://joyfulempath.com/2020/03/13/heart-care-for-the-time-of-coronavirus/
Earth Nourishment
- Podcast entirely of recordings of different places in nature. No matter where you are, you can still connect to the healing power of Nature <3: https://www.birdnote.org/blog/2019/07/sound-escapes
Social Nourishment
- Houseparty app, where you sign on and can video chat with however many of your friends happen to be on there at the same time. Kind of like a virtual chill party: https://www.houseparty.com/?fbclid=IwAR0CsLuUBwa7otdk7TghJTBtLoBm0Yryh5UK8VClMKE0F758FBYBXL31Y2g
Nourishment for Queer and Trans Folx
- I highly recommend the bi-weekly, live meditation circle by my colleague Nick Venegoni: http://queerhealingjourneys.com/corona-meditations/
- Online yoga for QT’s and rebels with Sparkle Thornton: https://www.sparkleasyouare.com/about-us
Nourishment for Children (and for your own Child Self!)
- Live music and dance jam sessions every day via Zoom with jamajamjam (donation based): https://www.jamjamjam.com
- Mondays @1pm – live doodle drawing w/Mo Williams (“Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus”): https://www.kennedy-center.org/education/mo-willems/
- Live story time on facebook with Flamingo Rampant, everyday at 10:30am: https://www.facebook.com/FlamingoRampant
- Online storytelling with accompanying activity ideas: https://www.storylineonline.net/?fbclid=IwAR1CZAi12ckQtMBCf-cjx_lqrIfk3HXvDoX7UFWzHRxsmMkqDRhwOahDpUY
- Free digital art that is beautiful, nature based, and entirely children supportive,”What to do in a Pandemic”: https://www.rlmartstudio.com/product/free-download-pandemic-animals/
- Article on how to emphasize and promote confidence and resilience while talking to your kids about COVID-19: https://avivaromm.com/covid19-talking-to-kids/
- Comic about COVID-19 for kids: https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/02/28/809580453/just-for-kids-a-comic-exploring-the-new-coronavirus
Uplifting Social Media
- Alvin Ailey instagram account, posting dancers performing their company dances while in their homes: @alvinailey
- The healing and restorative power of music, through Yo-Yo Ma playing his first #SongsOfComfort (follow him on Instagram for more them): https://www.facebook.com/YoYoMa/videos/1138960419795844/
- A video of folks in Italy playing music and singing together from their apartments – which is something we all have available to us here as well <3 : https://www.facebook.com/SambaMusic/videos/228672201853423/
Practical Support
- Multi-layered resource list put together by the Asian Americans for Civil Rights and Equality in the Bay Area (AACRE). It includes many resources on understanding COVID-19; resources in languages other than American English; resources for the financial challenges being experienced by many folks; and resources for addressing racism especially during this time – as well as links to other mutual aid documents : Resources for Resilience
- A natural medicine doctor’s collection of currently-being-written articles talking about COVID-19: https://avivaromm.com/category/covid-19/
- A doctor’s take on how to understand and practice “social distancing”, why it is important, and how it can help reduce the spread of the virus to those who are most vulnerable: https://medium.com/@ariadnelabs/social-distancing-this-is-not-a-snow-day-ac21d7fa78b4
News and Updates
- Center for Disease Control and Prevention: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html
- World Health Organization https://www.who.int