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

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

But first: One of these events is blending wellness, culture, assemblage and healing 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 show gallery. On May 23, it volition signifier its archetypal yearly Sacred Music and Healing Festival successful Leimert Park.

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

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

We caught up with Trible to larn much astir the escaped lawsuit successful a speech that has been edited for magnitude and clarity.

You’ve been reasoning astir staging this festival for years. Why yet bash truthful now?
The clip is close to bash this. Democracy is conscionable hardly disposable and hanging on. I deliberation we person a rogue medication and I bash judge that they’re pushing swiftly towards a fascist regime. Most radical that I brushwood are very, precise aggravated astir [that]. And whenever determination is immoderate upheaval successful the world, oregon successful our community, Leimert Park has ever been this galvanizing spot wherever everybody comes unneurotic to larn what’s going on, to find retired what the solutions are and what the marching orders are. Usually it’s astir immoderate benignant of injustice that’s happening to the achromatic and brownish community. This clip we conscionable felt that the mode of counteracting the upheaval and negativity that exists presently successful our state was to look astatine it from a antithetic perspective: with love, compassion, religion and education.

(Illustration by Robbin Burnham WACSO / For The Times)

How is the festival antithetic than a accepted euphony festival?
It’s a wellness acquisition shaped done culture, wherever jazz, Indigenous traditions and healing arts travel unneurotic successful 1 shared space. We wanted to marque it arsenic divers arsenic possible. To not lone person the African-oriented oregon African American music, but euphony from Mexico, Indigenous Native American music, Asian music, truthful radical tin beryllium exposed to antithetic forms of spiritual music. Most of the clip successful South Los Angeles we volition spell to the religion and perceive this benignant of gospel Baptist euphony — and determination volition beryllium immoderate of that excessively — but determination are each sorts of ways to explicit your spiritual views. So we wanted to person thing that everybody tin subordinate to.

How exactly is euphony healing, successful your opinion?
We’ve each been to concerts — whether symphonic euphony oregon jazz oregon caller property euphony — and we spell successful with 1 mindset and erstwhile we travel out, we person a wholly antithetic 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 spiritual state. When you surrender to the euphony it’s decidedly thing that’s going to transform. Music has a nonstop interaction connected the tense system. Hopefully it volition calm the body, displacement affectional states and make a consciousness of connection. I anticipation that radical from each implicit the metropolis volition come.

What different wellness offerings volition beryllium astatine the festival?
We person a main stage, which volition person [musicians]. But determination volition beryllium 2 different tents. In one, determination volition beryllium radical doing yoga, tai chi — the much carnal things of bid and healing. Then we person different structure wherever determination volition beryllium presentations connected herbs and meditation and different ways of healing people’s bodies. There volition beryllium astir 25 booths with different radical [showcasing] healing remedies and immoderate of the hospitals volition beryllium talking astir intelligence health.

Who volition 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 definite he’ll bring a peculiar guest. The large pianist Eric Reed. Jimetta Rose Voices of Creation. I bash progressive euphony and I’ll person a radical playing determination arsenic well. We’ll besides person radical from our spoken connection store who volition beryllium doing presentations passim the day. There’s a store called Nappily Naturals & Apothecary successful Leimert Park — they bash healing remedies and meditation — and they volition beryllium curating the healing tent.

You’ve said the festival reflects “a deeper communicative emerging successful Los Angeles.” What is that?
I deliberation the communicative is: determination has got to beryllium different mode to bash things alternatively than to effort and usage unit against force. We [can’t] bring bid by bringing war. I cognize that a batch of radical are getting bushed of what’s going connected and reasoning astir however bash we halt this? You person a idiosyncratic starring the state and they’re prepared to usage guns and ammunition to beryllium capable to marque definite they tin support doing immoderate they’ve acceptable 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 with 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 volition 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 volition pb a escaped question store successful the sculpture garden, helping participants shingle retired immoderate remaining remnants of stress. There volition 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 with UCLA Mindful. Can’t get distant midday to attend? The depository broadcasts the lawsuit 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 escaped “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 assistance attendees relax, recharge, and reconnect successful the bosom of L.A. County parks.” The champion part? They’re each escaped “drop-in” happenings, with 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, volition big a “Mindful Art for Wellness” store for participants implicit 16 years old. The teacher volition commencement disconnected by giving attendees a punctual to spark creativity on with stress-reducing breathing exercises. Then the art-making begins. No acquisition is necessary. Simply “slowing down is the point,” the enactment says. 7-8:30 p.m. May 18; 121 N. Kenwood St., Glendale.

Clockshop is an arts and civilization nonprofit that puts connected escaped programming successful nationalist spaces with the extremity of connecting Angelenos to the onshore they unrecorded on. Its yearly kite festival 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 dilatory 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 volition 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 volition instrumentality spot that time astatine Los Angeles State Historic Park. The donation-only event, with escaped wellness activities, includes NAMIWalks, a astir 1.5-mile locomotion connected a way astir the perimeter of the park. The just volition see astir 60 booths arsenic good arsenic a “mind and assemblage area” with 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 escaped accumulation volition showcase works by established, mid-career and emerging artists, with Alison Saar serving arsenic the event’s signature artist. Auction bids volition beryllium accepted online. 11 a.m.-6 p.m. May 8-17; 910 Abbot Kinney successful Venice.