In celebration of Women’s History Month, CEW+ will feature a program focused on holistic wellness, mindfulness, and empowerment. Join us for a workshop offered virtually via Zoom and continue as part of a community of care throughout the month of March. All participants will receive weekly connectedness communications and an invite to return for an in-person check-in at CEW+ to celebrate a month of wellness.

We will spend time thinking about what self-care means to each of us based on identity, social location, and privilege to recognize the intersecting dynamics that drive this concept. We will explore how mindful connections can help foster communities of care. Drawing on Black feminist thought this workshop centers the words of the late poet Audre Lorde who said, “Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.” By identifying the ways that we are and are not caring for ourselves we can begin to cultivate new intentions and practices that model for our families, students, and colleagues why self-care is an integral part of a balanced and whole life for women.

During the workshop, participants will engage in small and large group discussions focused on ideas and questions from the brief readings. We will develop our own “Self-Care Bingo” boards as a culminating activity and participants will be invited to do their best to complete bingo on their board throughout the rest of the month. Participants will be invited back at the end of the month (or beginning of April) to celebrate and share their joys and challenges in community.

This workshop is part of a month-long series of activities related to practicing self-care and cultivating communities of care in the process. Each week participants will receive an email with resources, tips, and tools for incorporating self-care into their daily lives. The email will help to continue the conversation begun in the workshop and help to strengthen connections between participants and CEW+.

Prior to the workshop participants will be asked to read the following brief articles for context and discussion:

• Boyle, Sarah. “Remembering the Origins of the Self-Care Movement.”
• Brown, Adrienne Maree. “how about a beginning of self determined care?” 
• Brown, Adrienne Maree. “Caring for Ourselves as Political Warfare.” 

“The erotic is a measure between the beginning of our sense of self and the chaos of our strongest feelings. It is an internal sense of satisfaction to which, once we have experienced it, we know we can aspire. For having experienced the fullness of this depth of feeling and recognizing its power, in honor and self respect we can require no less of ourselves.”

 – Audre Lorde, The Uses of the Erotic