Reset and Retreat with Chosen Collective
Funders for LGBTQ Issues presents
THE WELLNESS SPACE
THE WELLNESS SPACE
Some of our Ancestor’s wildest dreams included….a nap or an opportunity to reset.
We invite you to find a moment pause and reset between meetings. This space is curated to support in finding ease and regulating your central nervous system through various offerings and tools available to you. This space is curated with and by local and national wellness practitioners and other small BIPOC and LGBTQIA2S+ Businesses. Whether you’re joining us for yoga, a massage, or coloring a book of Butches (you read that right), —we hope you will join us for a moment of calm, ease and joy.
20-minute massage
Sound bath
Paint and chill
Ancestral dance
Monday, September 28 and Tuesday, September 29
Grand Salon, 201 South Eleventh Street, Minneapolis
WHAT THIS ROOM IS FOR
BOOK A Body Work Service
BOOK A MASSAGE
Twenty minutes, table or chair, no small talk required. Pick your practitioner and your time below. Spots go fast, so grab one early and release it if your plans change.
Sunday, Sept 27
A few slots, based on arrival times
Monday, Sept 28
10:00 am to 4:00 pm
Tuesday, Sept 29
10:00 am to 4:00 pm
Meet the Community Care Team
MEET YOUR HANDS
CIERRA HARRELL
she/her/her
LICENSED MASSAGE THERAPIST
Cierra works intuitively across deep tissue and Swedish, pulling in trigger point, cupping, manual lymphatic drainage, and reiki as your body asks for them. Releasing tension is the easy part. What she is really after is a space safe enough for you to put something down.
Full body or focused on one stubborn area
Deep tissue, trigger point, Swedish, and Shiatsu
Finished with a hot towel, which is the best part
KÁRA AVALOS
she / her / they / them
MASSAGE THERAPIST
Kára found reiki and sound bowls at 13 and massage therapy years later at Carlson College, graduating in 2025 with 600+ hours of training. Her work sits right between relaxing and clinical. Clients call it intuitive and weirdly exactly what they needed. As a non-binary trans femme therapist, she knows why feeling safe on the table matters.
Compression, kneading, and trigger point work
Relief for tight muscles and stuck fascia
Better circulation and mobility, built around you
Sinaya Aldridge-Abellera
she / her / they / them
Hilot Session
An individualized healing experience rooted in the Filipino tradition of Hilot Binabaylan. Sessions begin with guided conversation and holistic assessment before integrating bodywork, meditation, somatic practices, reflective writing, prayer (orasyon), and other culturally rooted healing approaches based on each person's needs.
Ideal for:
Individuals experiencing stress, burnout, physical discomfort, life transitions, or seeking a culturally rooted wellness practice.
KRISTOPHER HERNANDEZ
he/him/his
LICENSED MASSAGE THERAPIST
Eighteen years in, spotless licensing record, and a practice built around a gap he kept noticing: LGBTQ folks bracing themselves in wellness spaces. His sessions are designed so you do not have to. Tell him what your body is asking for and he will go find it.
Relaxation massage, smooth and unhurried
Deep tissue for necks, low backs, and shoulders that have opinions
WHAT'S HAPPENING, AND WHEN
WHAT'S HAPPENING, AND WHEN
Group sessions are open to everyone. Nothing to sign up for unless it says so.
SUNDAY
September 27
On arrival
Massage and hilot
A handful of early slots depending on when you land. Check the booking calendar.
MONDAY
September 28
8:30 am
Grounding, stretching, and sound bath
A soft landing before the day starts asking things of you.
10:00 am to 4:00 pm
Massage and hilot
20-minute sessions, booked in advance.
Afternoon
Holistic wellness healing workshop
Time and room to be announced.
6:30 pm
Evening session
Details to be announced.
7:30 pm
Paint and chill
No talent required. Genuinely none.
TUESDAY
September 29
10:00 am to 4:00 pm
Massage and hilot
20-minute sessions, booked in advance.
Time to come
WHO IS HOLDING THE ROOM
WHO IS HOLDING THE ROOM
The workshops are led by two people who have spent decades doing this work in our communities.
ANNA “AK” MEYER
she / they
HOLISTIC HEALING PRACTITIONER & CONSULTANT
Anna founded Formation Healing Arts and has spent over 25 years in LGBTQ and BIPOC communities as an organizer, healer, and artist. Her practice is about connection: to ourselves, to each other, to the natural world, and to the systems we all live inside.
She holds space with a grounded, intersectional, harm-reduction and trauma-informed framework. Anna co-chairs the board of the MN Healing Justice Network, works with RARE Productions as artist and curator, and co-founded the beloved Cafe SouthSide in South Minneapolis. She is a light-skinned mixed race, non-binary, disabled queer living and working on Dakota land.
DIO E. ALDRIDGE
he / él
CO-FOUNDER & CEO, CHOSEN COLLECTIVE CONSULTING
Dio is a Blatiné trans man with deep Afro-Caribbean and Latiné roots, born in Limón, Costa Rica and raised in Southern California. A household led by a Baptist minister and a social worker shaped his commitment to community, care, and collective transformation.
He brings over a decade of equity work through education, storytelling, policy transformation, and community building, including a turn as Interim Tri-Director of the Salus Center at the height of the pandemic. Dio believes in difficult, transformative dialogue paired with action, care, and a good nap.
BEFORE YOU COME IN
BEFORE YOU COME IN
Six small things that make your 20 minutes as good as they can be.
Show up five minutes early
Sessions start on time so everyone gets their full slot, including you.
Do the forms first
Your health questionnaire and release land in your inbox at booking. Sign them at the hotel, in line for coffee, wherever.
Wear whatever you wore
These are chair and table sessions in conference clothes. Nothing special required.
Say what you need
Pressure, areas to skip, injuries, anything at all. Your practitioner follows your lead, always.
Free your slot if plans shift
One link in your confirmation email and someone else gets to have a great twenty minutes.
WHERE TO FIND US
WHERE TO
FIND US
The Grand Salon, all day, both days. Look for the wave.
The Grand Salon
201 South Eleventh Street
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55403
Parking: (address to be added)
SEE YOU IN THE GRAND SALON
SEE YOU IN THE GRAND SALON
Twenty minutes is not much. It is also, on a conference day, everything.
Wellness space curated by Chosen Collective Reset-Retreats for Funders for LGBTQ Issues.
September 27 to 30, 2026 in Minneapolis, Minnesota