Lifewerq Project

UPDATE: Event Postponed due to Wildfire Smoke -future date TBA!
Yoga & Art in the Park! A Trans & Q***r BIPOC Family Event. Join us Saturday August 10th from 2-6pm for an afternoon yoga class and a free linocut workshop. Bring yourselves and we got the rest. 
2-3pm : Yoga
3-4pm : Lunch
4-6pm: Block Print
Bring a water bottle! 

Registration Link in Bio
Register: https://tinyurl.com/bewellseries (https://tinyurl.com/bewellseries)

Yoga & Art in the Park! A Trans & Q***r BIPOC Family Event. Join us Saturday August 10th from 2-6pm for an afternoon yoga class and a free linocut workshop. Bring yourselves and we got the rest. 
2-3pm : Yoga
3-4pm : Lunch by
4-6pm: Block Print in Communitea
Bring a water bottle! 

Powell Barnett Park
352 Martin Luther King Jr. Way,
Seattle WA

Register: https://tinyurl.com/bewellseries (https://tinyurl.com/bewellseries)

1.
Image: A purple sky with clouds in the background. Lifewerq logo in the upper left corner in a cartoon cloud. Cartoon cloud with a pink smiley face in upper right corner. Be Well, Seattle Parks & Recreation, and Rec For All logos at the bottom.

Text: Trans & Q***r BIPOC Textile Play Day. Textile workshop for youth & adults! Free Event! Please bring a blanket or camp chairs. Sunday July 14th 2-6pm. Brighton Playfield 6000 39th Ave S. Seattle

2. Image: A rainbow in the sky with clouds in the background. Lifewerq logo up top in the center. Two cartoon clouds with smiley faces under the rainbow. Be Well, Seattle Parks & Recreation, and Rec For All logos at the bottom. 

Text: Trans & Q***r BIPOC Be Well Series, UPCOMING EVENTS:
Trans & Q***r BIPOC Family Textile Play Day Sun Jul 14 2-6pm @ Brighton Playfield Seattle
Stretch, Paint & Sip: Yoga & Art in the Park Sat Aug 10 2-6pm @ Powell Barnett Park Seattle
Be Well Picnic Sat Sept 21 2-6pm @ Othello Park Seattle

We are looking for a house to rent in the Seattle/Tacoma, WA that sleeps 12-13 people, August 28th - September 3rd to host our annual in-person Birthwerq Training by & for 2S, Trans, and GNC BIPOC! Our budget is flexible - please DM or email us at [email protected] if you know of anything that may work!

Excited and honored to be tabling at ***rtheland and ’s Health Fair & Panel: Accepting Our New Normal! Come see us next weekend! 🩵

Reposted from ***rtheland -

Saturday, May 4th from 12-3 pm, grassroots organizations Q***r the Land and Alphabet Alliance of Color (AAoC) are hosting a community centered panel and wellness fair as an extension of the Elevate Black Wellness, Momentum PSP, and Washington State Department of Health community funded initiatives to improve Black health in WA State.

Accepting Our New Normal is a hybrid event hosted at Y-WE and accessible via Zoom. Participants will have free access to COVID tests, free health screenings, and free COVID and flu vaccines (provided by Mapa Maia Clinic and ).

Learn more about long COVID and how it’s impacting future generations. Learn about kitchen herbal remedies with local herbalist Gerard Miller of .roots and come receive services from COVID conscious organizations and community member speakers impacted by COVID. This is a family and community centered event. Those of all races, ethnicities, cultures, and ages are encouraged to attend. We keep us safe AND healthy!

We are excited to announce our upcoming workshop series and hope you will join us this spring! Life, Death and Disability with Power and Choice is a 2-part webinar series hosted by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha. These workshops are virtual, no-cost, captions enabled, recorded, and open to trans & q***r BIPOC. Register at the link in bio or at https://tinyurl.com/lifewerqspring24. Email us with any questions at [email protected]

end of life planning for the end of the world will be on Sunday, April 14th, 4-5:30pm PST. About the webinar: do you know you should make your will or power of attorney but it’s been sitting half finished in your computer for months? do you get stuck because your life doesn’t fit in the forms or their conceptions of “family” or “property”? do you shy away because you’ve been told you might die young or thinking through what “good quality of life” is for the living will is complicated? yet do you sweat it sometimes because you don’t want your bio family or your ex to inherit your stuff if you get hit by a bus? this will be a space to learn about different life and death control docs (wills, powers of attorney and literary/ cultural estate planning), talk through what feels challenging about completing them, and see some possibility models for all of the above.

Description continued in comments!

Join us for our first VIRTUAL Birthwerq Training by and for 2 Spirit, Trans, & GNC BIPOC! Gain knowledge and build care skills around pregnancy, birth as ceremony, postpartum, infant feeding, abortion, conception & fertility, miscarriage & loss, reproductive health, gender-affirming surgery recovery, HRT, medical advocacy and more!

This training is:
-For 2 Spirit, Trans, & GNC BIPOC
-No-cost
-12-week virtual series
-Sundays, 12-2pm PST
-Starting April 14th, 2024 through July 7th, 2024
-Weekly office hours are available
-Hosted by Lifewerq Co-Leads Ale Abreu and Amaryah Wolf, as well as Jazzy Bryant
-Supported by guest facilitators: Ganesha Gold Buffalo, Ekua Adisa, Rafael/a Luna-Pizano and rowan emmanuel

For more information and to apply, use the 🔗 in bio or visit tinyurl.com/birthwerq2024. Apply by March 24th.

DM or email us at [email protected] with any questions!

Please share widely and support liberation in our lifetime through education, community and care-web building! 🍉

*We will be hosting our annual IN-PERSON birthwerq training/retreat for T/GNC BIPOC later in the year, so if you are looking for an in-person, covid-conscious/informed opportunity to learn and be in community know that it is coming and we will have more details later!

Join us for… Lifewerq Project’s first VIRTUAL Birthwerq Training by and for Trans & GNC BIPOC! Gain knowledge and build care skills around pregnancy, birth, postpartum, infant feeding, abortion, conception & fertility, miscarriage & loss, reproductive health, gender-affirming surgery recovery, HRT, medical advocacy and more!

This training is:
-For Trans & GNC BIPOC
-No-cost
-12-week virtual series
-Sundays, 12-2pm PST
-Starting April 14th, 2024 through July 7th, 2024
-Weekly office hours are available
-Hosted by Lifewerq Co-Leads Ale Abreu and Amaryah Wolf, as well as Jazzy Bryant
-Supported by guest facilitators: Ganesha Gold Buffalo, Ekua Adisa, Rafael/a Luna-Pizano and rowan emmanuel

For more information and to apply, use the 🔗 in bio or visit tinyurl.com/birthwerq2024. Apply by March 24th.

DM or email us at [email protected] with any questions!

Please share widely and support liberation in our lifetime through education, community and care-web building! 🍉

*We will be hosting our annual IN-PERSON birthwerq training/retreat for T/GNC BIPOC later in the year, so if you are looking for an in-person, covid-conscious/informed opportunity to learn and be in community know that it is coming and we will have more details later!

Join us on Sunday, March 10th, 1-3pm PST for “Remembering our Ancestral & Inner reZilience TOGETHER” a webinar hosted by Gracielx Lopez (they/them/ellx)!

This webinar is the final part in our Winter Webinar Series: Reflections on How We Know What We Know. It is no-cost and open to Trans & Q***r BIPOC.

Register at https://tinyurl.com/lifewerqwinter. Email us with questions at [email protected]

About the webinar: Together, we will explore how our ancestors survived and paved the way for where we are right now. We will look at how we can pave the way for ourselves and our descendants to be even more free. We will explore joy and resilience in our bodies by using somatic tools from Resmaa Menakem and Prentis Hemphills brilliant work. We will also remember and share our own ancestors’ & bodies’ wisdom.

About Gracielx Lopez: Gracielx (they/them/ ellx) has been a licensed massage therapist (LMT) for nearly a decade in unceded Tiwa territory, near the land of their ancestors. Their private practice centers Trans and BIPOC clients, who are able to receive a low cost/free massage provided by scholarship funds from the Trans Justice Funding Project and individual donors. Ellx has been teaching unprecedented CEU courses to LMT’s centering Ethics of Diversity, Anti-oppression in Bodywork, Collective Liberation through Bodywork, and Embodied Body Mechanics. Their intention is to Remind (clients) of the Ancestral and Inner reZilience- which is embedded in their business namesake: RAIZ therapeutics. Their underlying prayer is that their life work and existence benefit all beings everywhere: past, present and future, our ancestors and descendants.

Join us on Sunday, February 11th, 2-4pm PST for “Reproductive Justice: Radical Care as a Liberatory Framework” a webinar hosted by Jazzy Bryant!

This webinar is part 2 of our 3-part Winter Webinar Series: Reflections on How We Know What We Know. It is no-cost and open to Trans & Q***r BIPOC.

Register at https://tinyurl.com/lifewerqwinter. Email us with questions at [email protected]

About the Webinar: In this moment it feels like we are constantly fighting for our individual and collective right to bodily autonomy. There are so many popular theoretical frameworks that are used as we navigate the politics of our existence. Reproductive rights. Womanism. Feminism. Intersectionality. Reproductive justice. But are they the same? What do they really mean? In this workshop we will explore the legacy, interconnectedness, and differences of these theories by grounding them in the reality and world building potential of each other’s care.

About Jazzy B: Jazzy Bryant is a mixed Black and Indigenous nonbinary birth worker who is passionate about radical care and reproductive justice as a liberatory and community led framework. Like many intuitive caregivers, Jazzy has always been called to care for those around them, especially the youngins and parenting folk in their life. Early on they discovered the power of nourishing bonds and openhearted support in building resilience and self determination that can last many lifetimes. On their own healing journey, Jazzy discovered the importance of birth and postpartum care in improving perinatal outcomes within their communities as well as a way of remembering Black and Indigenous knowledges around childrearing. Jazzy honors and channels their ancestors as they continue to remember and decolonize their authentic ways of being. jazzybeandoula.com

ALL THAT WE KNOW: A Facilitated Workshop on Intuitive Knowledge + Intentional Learning with Ima Odong
Sunday, January 28th, 12-2pm PST

About the Webinar: What do we know? Where does that knowing come from? How does that knowing inform our birth- and carework? Western thought centers knowing that comes from the observing, calculating, and measuring mind. We must remember, however, that knowing also comes from the mutable sensations and ancestral remembrances of our bodies. In a political climate of increased censorship, surveillance, and psychological coercion, it is imperative that birth- and careworkers are armed with critical awareness about what we know and how we learn so that we remain ethically accountable to the communities we work with. This participant-led workshop offers discussion questions, journal prompts, and resource-sharing meant to remind us of the myriad, empowered ways of relating to information that we all hold.

About Ima: Ima (they/them) is a Black q***r Ibibio dreamer, facilitator, and companion. They enter birthwork as a student of Black q***r and trans feminisms, disability justice, and their own anarchic, ancestral memories. They are committed to learning how to love and be loved in preparation for a future free of state violence. Ima is a member of the recent 2023 Care 4 Life training cohort and is excited to keep learning with folks.

Lifewerq Project Presents: Reflections on How We Know What We Know- A Winter 2024 Webinar Series for Trans & Q***r BIPOC.
Virtual, NO-COST

Register at https://tinyurl.com/lifewerqwinter
questions? Email us at [email protected]

Lifewerq Project Presents: Reflections on How We Know What We Know- A Winter 2024 Webinar Series for Trans & Q***r BIPOC.
Virtual, NO-COST

Sunday, January 28th, 12-2pm PST
ALL THAT WE KNOW: A Facilitated Workshop on Intuitive Knowledge + Intentional Learning with Ima Odong

Sunday, February 11th, 2-4pm PST Reproductive Justice: Radical Care as a Liberatory Framework with Jazzy Bryant

Sunday, March 10th 1-3pm PST
Remembering our Ancestral & Inner reZilience Together: Exploring Joy, Resilience, Body & Ancestral wisdom with Gracielx Lopez

Winter Webinar Series Registration
Link in Bio

Slide 1: Dark pink borders over a large image of a pink keffiyeh. Two pink graphics of olive branches on the lower left and right corners. Large image of a watermelon in the center. Black Lifewerq Project logo on bottom middle. Dark pink text: “The Destruction of settler colonialism is Lifewerq.”

Slide 2: Dark pink borders over a large image of green olive tree branches and blue sea. Two pink graphics of olive tree branches on the lower left and right corners. Black Lifewerq Project logo on bottom middle. Dark pink text in the center: “Reproductive, q***r & trans justice means an end to settler colonialism everywhere. Lifewerq grieves with all beings as we collectively witness genocides taking place all over the world. As many peoples begin to prepare for a new year, we join them and hope to continue to collaborate with you all in breathing life into a world without empire. A world that honors all life.”

Slide3: Dark pink borders over a large image of a Palestinian flag waving across a blue sky. Two pink graphics of olive branches on the lower left and right corners. Large image of a watermelon in the center. Black Lifewerq Project logo on bottom middle. Dark pink text: “A free palestine is Lifewerq”

**DATE UPDATED TO NOVEMBER 19th!

Check out our upcoming webinar - Familial Meditation Practices with Le’Ecia Farmer! Coming up on November 19th, 11am-1pm PST. Register to receive the live link and recording!

Webinars are free and open to Trans & Q***r BIPOC.

About the Webinar: In the space where family bonds intertwine, we weave a tapestry of mindful connection. With every mindful intention, liberation flows through us. Our spaces are malleable and sacred. We hold space for each other here, we are safe to grow. In this practice of vulnerability and witnessing, we defy norms, we nurture well-being, we ground in radical love - together. 

About Le’Ecia: Le'Ecia Farmer is a q***r Black parent and creative who likes to incorporate her artistic understanding into her practice of care. Le’Ecia has engaged in carework in one form or another since her youth. Culturally, she grew up witnessing her family and community care for each other in times of sickness, immense grief, healing, significant transitions, and everyday moments. For Le’Ecia, carework is fluid and dynamic. It can involve fostering play, facilitating rest, sharing knowledge, embracing loved ones, providing tech support to elders, braiding hair, mending clothes, listening, cooking, being. 

Connect with Le’Ecia at https://www.therootandtheloom.com/ and check out her work at leeciafarmer.com

Repost from 💜 Thank you for all you do to care for and educate our communities!

“On Saturday I had the honor of representing Lifewerq Project on the Social Justice Film Festival’s Reproductive Justice panel with these brilliant birth workers .doula.adventures  .rivera.yogi.midwife

If you know me, you know I love talking about reproductive justice! It is more than a theory and it is more than a fight for reproductive rights- it is a liberatory framework that guides me as I think of the ways radical care can transform lives, remember ancestral knowledge, and build worlds where we are reconnected to the land and our bodies.

 defines reproductive justice as the human right to maintain personal bodily autonomy, have children, not have children, and parent the children we have in safe and sustainable communities.

Reproductive justice is intersectional- it is racial justice, gender justice, q***r justice, disability justice, land justice, healing justice, and more- it is loving justice.

Thank you  and  for having me! 🙏🏽”

Check out our upcoming webinar - Familial Meditation Practices with Le’Ecia Farmer! Coming up on November 12th, 11am-1pm PST. Register to receive the live link and recording!

Webinars are No Cost and open to Trans & Q***r BIPOC.

About the Webinar: In the space where family bonds intertwine, we weave a tapestry of mindful connection. With every mindful intention, liberation flows through us. Our spaces are malleable and sacred. We hold space for each other here, we are safe to grow. In this practice of vulnerability and witnessing, we defy norms, we nurture well-being, we ground in radical love - together.

About Le'Ecia: Le'Ecia Farmer is a q***r Black parent and creative who likes to incorporate her artistic understanding into her practice of care. Le’Ecia has engaged in carework in one form or another since her youth. Culturally, she grew up witnessing her family and community care for each other in times of sickness, immense grief, healing, significant transitions, and everyday moments. For Le’Ecia, carework is fluid and dynamic. It can involve fostering play, facilitating rest, sharing knowledge, embracing loved ones, providing tech support to elders, braiding hair, mending clothes, listening, cooking, being.

Connect with Le’Ecia at therootandtheloom.com and check out her work at leeciafarmer.com

Check out our upcoming webinar - From Rhythm to Routine: Understanding Newborn Rest with Jazzy Bryant! This Sunday, October 15th, 2-4pm PST. Register to receive the live link and recording!

Webinars are free and open to Trans & Q***r BIPOC.

About the Webinar: It is clear through the expectation of sleep deprived parenthood that our communities have become unwelcoming to the rhythm of the newborn. We are told not to expect any sleep during the newborn stage while also being told that rest is a crucial part of postpartum healing and infant development. In this webinar we will discuss the rhythm of newborn sleep and how to safely adapt to this rhythm in a way that will set the foundation for a familial routine around rest. 

About Jazzy: Jazzy Bryant is a mixed Black and Indigenous nonbinary birth worker who is passionate about radical care and reproductive justice as a liberatory and community led framework. Like many intuitive caregivers, Jazzy has always been called to care for those around them, especially the youngins and parenting folk in their life. Early on they discovered the power of nourishing bonds and openhearted support in building resilience and self determination that can last many lifetimes. On their own healing journey, Jazzy discovered the importance of birth and postpartum care in improving perinatal outcomes within their communities as well as a way of remembering Black and Indigenous knowledges around childrearing. Jazzy honors and channels their ancestors as they continue to remember and decolonize their authentic ways of being. 

Connect with Jazzy at jazzybeandoula.com!

Lifewerq’s Restorative Rhythms: A Fall Webinar Series for Trans & Q***r BIPOC!

Join us this fall for a webinar! Webinars are free and open to trans & q***r BIPOC.

* From Rhythm to Routine: Understanding Newborn Rest with Jasmine Bryant on October 15th, 2-4pm PST

* Familial Meditation Pratcies with Le’Ecia Farmer on November 12th, 11am-1pm PST

Sign up at https://tinyurl.com/RestorativeRhythms or 🔗 in bio.

Invite your friends & see you this fall!

Some photo booth pic’s of yesterday’s Lifewerq Legacy party. Thanks to everyone who came in person & joined virtually!
We nearly got rained out, but then the sun peaked out just enough to shake the greif and receive the joy!

Amaryah (Co-Lead) and Lain (Guidance Council Member) were invited by Allied Media Projects to their LOVE building opening celebration and funder briefing weekend in Detroit, MI! We are SO THANKFUL to be fiscally sponsored by AMP. They are a big part of making our project’s offerings possible! We had an amazing time meeting other sponsored projects, the AMP staff and community members! A very warm and meaningful welcome from the Blackest city in the country 🧡

Day 5 of Care 4 Life: A Birthwerq Training for Trans & GNC BIPOC! Our 5th & final day 🥹🥰. We opened by grounding and cleansing through movement & breath. Got into Holistic Care Plans for HRT & Gender Affirming Surgery with our friend Rowan Emmanuel. We closed by acknowledging how special living, learning, laughing, and loving in an all Trans & GNC BIPOC space has been— we shared how we plan to care for ourselves when integrating back into our lives outside of the space we collectively nourished and were nourished by for 5 consecutive days! We held space for each other & celebrated the many gifts that were shared during our time together. We thanked the land, ancestors, and guides that held us and were visited by a beautiful pheasant ✨ YES to care & reciprocity as a way of life. YES to Trans & GNC BIPOC liberation
✨ Stay tuned for more community offerings & upcoming webinars - Our Lifewerq continues…✨✊🏿✊🏾💜✨

Day 4 of Care 4 Life: A Birthwerq training for Trans & Q***r BIPOC! We opened the day connecting with movement, sound, & connecting to ourselves, eachother, & the land. We shared in the practice of Grief, Pleasure & the Gift of Loss with our friend & guest facilitator . We enjoyed yet another delicious lunch prepared by . Got into juicy conversation around Economies of Care, transactional & reciprocal care work & the exploitation/rejection & empowerment that can come with being Trans & GNC BIPOC birth/carewerqers. We had some yummy food for dinner from & ended the day by dancing and talking story around a cleansing fire 🔥🙌🏾 Gratitude for grief, joy, pleasure & connection✨

Day 3 of Care 4 Life: A Birthwerq Training for Trans & GNC BIPOC! We celebrated a birthday during our birthwerq training 🥳💜Learned about the many ways of body feeding for Trans & GNC people! Connected deeply to the offerings of Oxytocin and the sacred lesson & lifeways of infant feeding with . Experienced the delicious connection to food as medicine from . Got into the parallels between post-op & postpartum recovery & how to honor these transformations with loving care, food, plant medicine, and ceremony! And ended with a delicious feast provided by ! Happy Birthday Ima! So much gratitude for the day —-may we continue to honor & cherish the impact of celebrating Trans & GNC BIPOC existence & aliveness 🥳✨

Day 2 of Care 4 Life: A Birthwerq Training for Trans & GNC BIPOC! We opened by dedicating our day to beloved Transcestors, Ancestors, Landscapes, Plants, & Waters that help guide and inform our lives. Together we talked about Abortion, Birth Care, & Care for Self Practices ! We were deeply nourished by the amazing food from & ended by each receiving Herbal Foot Baths & Acudetox Treatments from our friends & ✨Many thanks to the legacies of Love made manifest in Trans & Q***r QTBIPOC & to all the work and beings that continue to make way for the liberation & sovereignty of all ✨

Day 1 of Care 4 Life: A Birthwerq Training for Trans & GNC BIPOC! A day filled with wisdom about Historical Context of Birthwork, the Bounds of Birthwork/Scope of Practice, Medical Advocacy, Trans Motherhood and Black & Indigenous Perinatal Health 💜
LL’s light is shining bright on this retreat ✨Special thank you to our guest teacher, Ganesha ☀️

We are looking for 8 volunteers to help us at our Lifewerq Legacy Party Sept. 23, 1-4pm at MLKJ Park (Seattle)! $100 stipend available per volunteer.

Volunteers needed:
Set up/breakdown (5 people)
Livestream operator
Photo booth operator
Story booth operator

DM or email us at [email protected] if interested!

And don’t forget to RSVP for the party at https://tinyurl.com/lifewerqparty

Thank you to all who joined our summer webinar series: Lifecycles with Lifewerq! We can’t wait to announce our fall series! Let us know what types of topics you would like to see! 💜

We are excited to welcome back rowan to our birthwerq training this year! They will be guiding our participants on creating holistic care plans to support our communities starting HRT and accessing gender-affirming surgery.

We still have 3 open spots at the training, find more info and apply at https://tinyurl.com/birthwerq

One of our participants needs support raising travel funds to attend our upcoming Birthwerq training! Pls donate & share!

Ima needs your support raising $275 to cover the plane ticket and airport transportation costs to Seattle in order to attend this training.

Ima is a Black q***r aspiring Full Spectrum Doula who is disabled and underemployed due to the pandemic. They are very excited to attend Lifewerq Project's upcoming Care 4 Life Birthwerq training so they can have more opportunities to build spirit-led relationships with other q***r and trans birthworkers who value justice, inclusivity, and person-centered care. They believe this training will offer them a community of accountability, help them fill in the gaps they are finding in the birthworker community of their hometown, and help them build more whole relationships with the q***r and trans folks they want to work with. 

Venmo: -Odong
Cashapp: $iodong