Tomorrow’s election is, as you’ve been told repeatedly, likely the most important presidential election in modern American history. It will determine whether we’ll endure another four more years under Trump or put an end to our national nightmare.
This year has been a lot. These past four years have been a lot. All the protests, the donations, the hard work to resist — it’s all led to this. So, the anticipation and anxiety is extremely high, and if you’re not coping well, we get it.
We also get it if your plans for the day (aside from voting, if you haven’t yet of course) includedoomscrollingthrough Twitter,refreshing FiveThirtyEight, and ordering takeout every two hours, but we at The Bold Italic want to help suggest some healthy alternatives to get through what’s sure to be a hella stressful day (and likely, week.)
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So, let us present: the Election Day Self-Care Takeover. In partnership with Rogue Habits — a platform dedicated to providing resources, inspiration, and empowerment to creatives —we’ll be hosting four sessions on Instagram Live with Bay Area practitioners and artists to help you cope with the chaos in healthy and mindful ways.
Since we can’t gather in person, this is a great chance to gather virtually with others to share in the experience of Election Day and try to calm down together.
We kept each session short, only about 20–30 minutes, so you can fit them into your day easily. Take a look at the lineup below, put it on your calendar, and invite your friends.
All sessions will take place on The Bold Italic’s Instagram.
Here’s the lineup:
8 a.m. PT: Progressive muscle relaxation, intention setting, and journaling to face the chaos with psychiatrist Milena Perkins (25 minutes)
Perkins will lead a mindfulness activity, starting with progressive muscle relaxation. She will then guide you in a schedule/goal-setting technique known as behavioral activation — to help you fill the day in a manner that will help you take care of yourself emotionally and physically (i.e., setting a goal for a socially distanced walk with a friend). To close this important morning in history, Perkins will encourage you to join her in a mindful journaling exercise, focusing on the ways we describe and find peace even during times of stress.
Perkins is a psychiatrist living and working in San Francisco with her husband, Vic, their pup, Baguette, and cat, Chai. She completed her adult psychiatric training in New York at Zucker Hillside Hospital and her child psychiatry training at Stanford. She’s a Bay Area native who recently moved back from New York two years ago, where she spent her twenties pursuing a career in mental health and feeding her passion for all things design.
10 a.m. PT: Live music and mindfulness with Resonance, performed by Tauwoo and Nkechi (30 minutes)
Resonance is an immersive experience that cultivates presence, being in the moment, listening, seeing, and feeling with real-time awareness. This will be a half-hour of music and guided meditation.
Nkechi is a neuroscientist, choreographer, artist, and mindfulness meditation practitioner who has spent the majority of her life investigating the relationship between the brain and the body and has always felt the significance of their integration. She lives and creates in SF.
Tauwoo is an Oakland-based songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who explores the connection between melody and rhythm as a circular construct. He’s worked on the Grammy-nominated album The Love and has licensed music with brands including GoPro, Dwell Magazine, Dolls Kill, and Huckberry.
12 p.m. PT: No-pressure mindful drawing with Stephanie Intelisano (30 minutes)
In this guided, no-pressure drawing exercise, Intelisano will share some of her favorite drawing exercises that help her open up, turn off her mind, and push the possibilities of current ideas further.
Intelisano is a mold-maker and ceramicist living and working in Oakland. For the past seven years, Intelisano has worked as an engineer and maintained a rigorous studio practice in the evenings and weekends. In early 2018, she decided to leave engineering behind to pursue mold making and ceramics full time. She hopes that her pieces are incorporated into the daily rituals that make your day the brightest.
2 p.m. PT: Acupressure and meditation with Anna Lee (20 minutes)
Lee will start with a simple meditation to activate the heart meridian. She’ll then show acupressure points for anxiety and stress (Buddha’s triangle) as well as some lung/respiratory points and conclude with seasonal self-care tips (that are also ideal for Covid-19).
Lee is a California licensed acupuncturist, herbalist, and facialist. She received a master of science in traditional Chinese medicine from Pacific College of Oriental Medicines and applied science degrees in both medical aesthetics and clinical massage from Saint Paul College. She has since retired from massage therapy (and from teaching yoga) to fully dedicate her skills to aesthetics, acupuncture, and herbal medicine. She is the founder of Mee Ra Rituals, fusing East Asian medicine and Western science in her natural skin care line.
