8 free L.A. wellness occasions in May with yoga, music, sound baths and extra

Who doesn’t love a seaside soundbath or a spa day? But wellness is costly — and self-care shouldn’t break the financial institution. So we’ve curated a handful of free wellness actions for the month of May to maintain you stretched, sane and grounded.

But first: One of those occasions is mixing wellness, tradition, group and therapeutic in an fascinating approach.

For greater than 38 years the World Stage Performance Gallery, in South Los Angeles’ Leimert Park, has introduced reside music, poetry, spoken phrase and different types of cultural expression in its efficiency gallery. On May 23, it would stage its first annual Sacred Music and Healing Festival in Leimert Park.

It’s an formidable enterprise, says Executive Director Dwight Trible. The thought behind the competition, he says, is that “music is medicine.”

“At a time when many are seeking restoration, grounding and connection,” he stated, “we are creating a space where sound, rhythm and collective presence become tools for healing.”

We caught up with Trible to study extra concerning the free occasion in a dialog that has been edited for size and readability.

You’ve been occupied with staging this competition for years. Why lastly achieve this now?
The time is true to do that. Democracy is simply barely seen and hanging on. I believe now we have a rogue administration and I do consider that they’re pushing swiftly in direction of a fascist regime. Most folks that I encounter are very, very offended about [that]. And at any time when there may be some upheaval on this planet, or in our group, Leimert Park has at all times been this galvanizing place the place all people comes collectively to study what’s occurring, to seek out out what the options are and what the marching orders are. Usually it’s about some form of injustice that’s occurring to the black and brown group. This time we simply felt that the best way of counteracting the upheaval and negativity that exists at the moment in our nation was to have a look at it from a special perspective: with love, compassion, religion and schooling.

How is the competition completely different than a conventional music competition?
It’s a wellness expertise formed by means of tradition, the place jazz, Indigenous traditions and therapeutic arts come collectively in a single shared area. We wished to make it as various as attainable. To not solely have the African-oriented or African American music, however music from Mexico, Indigenous Native American music, Asian music, so folks could be uncovered to completely different types of non secular music. Most of the time in South Los Angeles we’ll go to the church and listen to this kind of gospel Baptist music — and there might be a few of that too — however there are all types of how to specific your non secular views. So we wished to have one thing that everyone can relate to.

How precisely is music therapeutic, in your opinion?
We’ve all been to concert events — whether or not symphonic music or jazz or new age music — and we go in with one mindset and after we come out, now we have a totally completely different disposition. I believe music is without doubt one of the strongest methods of therapeutic. Music is drugs. It’s generally higher than taking pharmaceutical medication. It adjustments your thoughts, your psychological state, your non secular state. When you give up to the music it’s positively one thing that’s going to remodel. Music has a direct affect on the nervous system. Hopefully it would calm the physique, shift emotional states and create a way of connection. I hope that individuals from everywhere in the metropolis will come.

What different wellness choices might be on the competition?
We have a most important stage, which can have [musicians]. But there might be two different tents. In one, there might be folks doing yoga, tai chi — the extra bodily issues of peace and therapeutic. Then now we have one other tent the place there might be shows on herbs and meditation and different methods of therapeutic folks’s our bodies. There might be about 25 cubicles with different folks [showcasing] therapeutic treatments and a number of the hospitals might be speaking about psychological well being.

Who might be performing?
One of our founders of the World Stage, he’s a poet, Kamau Daáood. We’ll have Carlos Niño & Friends and I’m positive he’ll carry a particular visitor. The nice pianist Eric Reed. Jimetta Rose Voices of Creation. I do progressive music and I’ll have a bunch enjoying there as effectively. We’ll even have folks from our spoken phrase workshop who might be doing shows all through the day. There’s a retailer referred to as Nappily Naturals & Apothecary in Leimert Park — they do therapeutic treatments and meditation — and they are going to be curating the therapeutic tent.

You’ve stated the competition displays “a deeper narrative emerging in Los Angeles.” What is that?
I believe the narrative is: there has received to be one other approach to do issues somewhat than to try to use pressure in opposition to pressure. We [can’t] carry peace by bringing struggle. I do know that lots of people are getting uninterested in what’s occurring and occupied with how will we cease this? You have an individual main the nation and so they’re ready to make use of weapons and ammunition to have the ability to be sure they’ll maintain doing no matter they’ve got down to do. You should go at it one other approach. The energy of affection is stronger than the ability of hate.

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

Here’s what else is going on throughout the wellness panorama in May.

Midweek is “Wellness Wednesdays” at the Wende Museum of the Cold War in Culver City. The museum will host a free, hourlong, guided meditation — led by Christiane Wolf — in its Glorya Kaufman Community Center’s A-frame theater, a refurbished, century-old MGM prop home. Afterward, the Cantilever Collective will lead a free motion workshop within the sculpture backyard, serving to contributors shake out any remaining remnants of stress. There may also be complimentary backyard refreshments resembling do-it-yourself soup and recent bread from Clark Street Bakery. Sep 11 a.m. each Wednesday in May; 10808 Culver Blvd., Culver City.

Similarly, the Hammer Museum hosts free, guided Mindful Awareness Meditations each Thursday in its Billy Wilder Theater, a collaboration with UCLA Mindful. Can’t get away noon to attend? The museum broadcasts the occasion reside on its web site. 12:30-1 p.m. each Thursday in May; 10899 Wilshire Blvd., Westwood.

Los Angeles County Parks & Recreation is internet hosting per week of free “golden hour” wellness experiences in dozens of L.A. County parks in a program it’s calling, not surprisingly, “Parks at Sunset.” Activities embrace yoga, guided meditation, portray and dance; they’re meant “to help attendees relax, recharge, and reconnect in the heart of L.A. County parks.” The better part? They’re all free “drop-in” happenings, with no registration required. 4:30-6:30 p.m. May 14-22; test the site for park addresses close to you.

ace/121 Gallery, which is operated by the nonprofit Glendale Arts, will host a “Mindful Art for Wellness” workshop for contributors over 16 years previous. The teacher will begin off by giving attendees a immediate to spark creativity together with stress-reducing respiration workout routines. Then the art-making begins. No expertise is important. Simply “slowing down is the point,” the group says. 7-8:30 p.m. May 18; 121 N. Kenwood St., Glendale.

Clockshop is an arts and tradition nonprofit that places on free programming in public areas with the aim of connecting Angelenos to the land they reside on. Its annual kite competition is a a lot anticipated, colourful “gallery in the sky.” This yr, the competition’s theme is: “Take a Breath.” That contains guests’ personal deep breaths to decelerate and really feel relaxed in addition to “the wind that lifts our kites, the air that sustains us, and the open sky 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 might be busy in May! The National Alliance on Mental Illness — NAMI — has dubbed May 16, 2026, “the day of hope.” As a part of that, the annual NAMIWalks Greater LA County Mental Health Festival will happen that day at Los Angeles State Historic Park. The donation-only occasion, with free wellness actions, contains NAMIWalks, a roughly 1.5-mile stroll on a path across the perimeter of the park. The honest will embrace about 60 cubicles in addition to a “mind and body area” with soundbaths, yoga and different wellness actions. 8 a.m.-1 p.m. May 16; Los Angeles State Historic Park, 1245 N. Spring St., downtown L.A.

Nearly 50 years in the past the Venice Art Walk debuted as a one-day fundraiser. It’s since grown right into a 10-day-long Art Exhibition + Auction benefiting the Venice Family Clinic. The VFC gives complete healthcare providers to greater than 45,000 Angelenos. The free exhibition will showcase works by established, mid-career and rising artists, with Alison Saar serving because the occasion’s signature artist. Auction bids might be accepted online. 11 a.m.-6 p.m. May 8-17; 910 Abbot Kinney in Venice.