SELF-CARE. COMMUNITY CARE.
How staying connected and grounded with ourselves can help us show up for each other. Read more for free resources, ways to connect at the gym and with our local communities.
Self-care sure sounds selfish sometimes, doesn't it?
I mean, how could it not sound selfish to jump on a treadmill or do deadlifts for a few minutes while we are living under a full-fledged fascist regime that is hellbent on destroying everything and everyone we hold dear? The horror of ongoing genocide rages on in Gaza, ICE raids continue to spread across the country, Trans health care is disappearing everywhere and yet we are... exercising?
📷 June 2025. Protest at CHLA. Image: LA Public Press. ICE protests DTLA. Image: Eric Thayer/AP
It can feel practically shameful to choose yourself in these times we are living in, when so many of us (and those we love) are in very grave danger.
But as Audre Lorde has reminded us…
“Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.”
📷 Jalessah T. Jackson. See more information via The Audre Lorde Project on Breaking Isolation: Self Care and Community Care Tools
The fact is, we need to connect with our own bodies in order to stay grounded, rooted and recharged from within. By now it's crystal clear that the world is going to keep on spinning, but we can choose to find a practice that removes us from the dizzying blur of its chaos and plants us firmly in our own body with restored balance and a renewed connection to our own breath.
It may be all we can do right now to hold on.
We need all of us in this fight ahead, and ironically showing up for ourselves is the best way to ensure we can keep showing up for each other. If you have found yourself feeling ungrounded or like you are floating in a sea of chaos and confusion about what to do or how to keep going, try to find even a small movement practice that you can commit to.
Maybe it's just being still with a ten minute daily silent meditation. Maybe it's taking a weekly walk in a place you feel free. Maybe it's getting on a bike again or trying to feel your own muscles flex by trying a new machine. It doesn't take a lot to get into your body and start to feel the potential for what it can do for you.
Our bodies are here to realign us, to bring us home inside of ourselves and tell us what we need. If we listen and we open to what they are asking for, we will find that they can guide us through even these most difficult times.
It always gives me hope to see people show up for themselves in ways that are loving, generous and kind. It reminds me that they are more likely to be able to show up for others that way.
See you at the gym, or wherever your body takes you.
-Sam / EVERYBODY Co-Founder
FREE RESOURCES AND COMMUNITY CLUBS
Some easy ways to start moving:
Start with your breath: This simple post-wildfire breath and mindful movement video from EVERYBODY Wellness practitioner Lyssandra Guerra helps us connect back to our bodies, process and move through grief. We also love the slow flow of mx puja singh’s YOGA class, viewable for free here.
Walk it out. Check out our recent post on local queer walking clubs in LA featuring They Move LA, Queer Ecology Walk hosted by @jasonjourneyman, Lez at the Rez, and Run Club for Tired Transgressors, an NELA-based, Self-paced run/walk/sit/talk club.
Gym Hack: Take a warmup walk along the trails at local gem Rio de Los Angeles State Park before coming to the gym. It’s such a great way to warmup for any workout, release anxiety, and visualize/ connect mind and body before entering a more public space. Or just make it your workout! You can find the trail on the AllTrails app. Hot tip: Catch a cool sunset during sundown.
Like to bike? Check out some local gender expansive biking clubs, including Gender Expansive Ride and Wild Wolf Cycling Collective. HOT TIP: You can cross the Taylor Yard Bridge on the Frogtown Bike Path, which links Frogtown to Cypress Park crossing the LA River. Another great warmup or just a new way to move in general.
SELF-CARE & COMMUNITY CONNECTION @ everybody
Ways to stay connected w/ us at home and IRL:
Stay connected from home with FREE movement classes now available on our EVERYBODY YouTube Channel. We’ve made a portion of our HOMEBODY VOD programming free and accessible online. Check out long to short videos on meditation, tai chi, yoga, Strength for Top Surgery Recovery and more. Toggle the subtitle option for different languages.
Find your EVERYBUDDY by posting a note on our EVERYBUDDIES board, or at one of our classes like monthly Self-Defense w/ Vanessa Carlisle.
Check out our Community Board to connect with local meet ups, groups, community orgs and resources. You can also post your own!
Join a Group Fitness Class. Some of our more social offerings like 80’s Sweat Aerobics, Wrestling 101, Surf Camp and Bootleg Beginner line dance are great ways to meet new people and move in community.
WAYS TO SHOW UP IN THE COMMUNITY
There are so many different ways we can show up for our community right now.🫂
Need a break from social media? Stay informed offline. Stay connected on Palestine, ICE Raids, and Trans Rights via The Conscious Citizens newsletter or Liberation Toolbox via YK Hong.
Join the weekly Save Trans Care Rally Thursdays at Children’s Hospital LA to protect gender affirming care and the safety of trans youth. Organized by Protect Trans Youth LA.
Help feed your local communities. For folks and families affected by ICE Raids, Northeast LA Food Distro is collecting ongoing donations and organizing food distribution at the Offbeat Bar in Highland Park. Drop off any of the above pictured items daily from 5pm-2am at The Offbeat Bar.
Protect our communities and Day Laborers with organizers at local Community Defense Centers. Follow LA Tenants Union and Union del Barrio for more information and safety trainings.
Click images to go directly to IG posts. Take care of yourselves and each other.