Embodied Black Girl (EBG) is a global healing community of Black women, femmes, and women of color everywhere. This year EBG is welcoming attendees for a live, free virtual Global Healing Festival on August 17-20, 2022. Upwards of 5,000 people have registered to date. This festival expands on the previous Global Healing Day that gathered communities of color for healing during the pandemic. Travel Noire spoke with Thérèse Cator, the founder of Embodied Black Girl, in more detail about what can be expected at this year’s festival.
About Embodied Black Girl
Embodied Black Girl is a global community that stands for the embodied liberation of Black women and femmes and Women of Color everywhere. Founder Thérèse Cator has helped thousands of Black women and femmes find community and use both modern and decolonial practices to nurture their healing journeys and lead in new ways.
The Intention
The festival was created to give Black and POC women and femmes access to wellness and mental health resources through experiences weaving together art, movement, storytelling and pleasure. The inspiration for the festival came from Cator’s 10+ years in the wellness industry and not seeing enough spaces that cater to Black women and women of color. Cator shares there are ” so so many stories of harm happening within these spaces because if that.” She states that “the festival sprung out of a need to really come together to do that healing work without any kind of spiritual bypassing or bypassing of lived experiences.” The festival is intended to provide Black women and women of color around the world a space to heal and to do inter-generational work in the community.
A Global Healing Community
This year’s festival includes intentionally curated workshops facilitated by healers, elders, movement builders, activists, artists and changemakers of color across the diaspora. Workshops will cover the topic such as “Foraging for Food, Medicine and a Reconnection to Nature” and “A Return To Pleasure: How to Cultivate Self-Love & Healing Practice through Erotic Dance and Movement” led by Expert Rashida KhanBey Miller, founder of Messy Movement Labs and recently featured on Lizzo’s #WOFTBG!
“Global Healing Festival is unlike any other wellness conference,” says Cator. “Existing wellness resources do not represent people of the global majority and it was important to create spaces of community and healing for Black women and women of color. Furthermore, Global Healing Festival bridges wellness and social change because they are interconnected.”
Participants who sign up will also receive limited free access to recordings and, due to increasing demand, the recordings will be available for purchase for the first time ever. Cator shares how often people reach out after these festival expressing gratitude for the people they’ve met during the festival. “Many people meet online, but end up connecting in real life! It’s really beautiful to hear these stories.”
To attend the free virtual festival sign up at: www.embodiedblackgirl.com/ghf
