CHRISTINA HEALING ARTS
Meet Your Facilitators
Christina and Abigail bring complementary experience, care, and intention to the spaces they facilitate together. Their shared approach is rooted in connection, choice, nervous-system support, and creating room for each person to meet themselves where they are.
FACILITATOR
Christina “Christy” Phares
Somatic Wellness & Mind-Body Facilitator
200-Hour Yoga Teacher Training · Reiki Levels 1 & 2 Certified
Born and raised in San Diego, Christina was first introduced to yoga while teaching English as a Second Language in South Korea. Her Korean yoga instructor helped deepen her understanding of the mind-body connection, setting the foundation for the work she would later pursue.
After four years in Korea, Christina returned to the United States and settled in Chicago, where she completed a 200-Hour Yoga Alliance Approved Teacher Training in Baptiste Power Vinyasa, a practice influenced by traditions including Ashtanga and Iyengar. Since then, she has continued expanding her training and experience in trauma-informed yoga and somatic movement, including work with older adults, people with physical disabilities, and individuals navigating anxiety, depression, and other mental health challenges.
Christina spent seven years working in yoga studio management, helping small business owners attract, grow, and maintain their communities. After years of helping others build their visions, she decided to focus on her own: offering tools for introspection and empowering people to better understand themselves and take an active role in their own wellbeing.
Her approach is warm, supportive, and rooted in curiosity. Through exploration rather than prescription, Christina encourages each person to discover what works best for them. Her background in Nursing and Education, combined with her work in somatic yoga, allows her to bring both practical knowledge and a deeply human perspective to the spaces she facilitates.
Christina currently works as a Yoga Rehab Therapist in an outpatient clinic supporting people living with chronic pain, C-PTSD, prescription drug addiction, sleep challenges, and brain injuries. Her teaching style is intuitive, adaptable, and down-to-earth, with an emphasis on meeting people where they are and offering modifications as needed.
As a co-facilitator of Ground & Gaze, Christina will guide participants through yoga, somatic movement, qigong, meditation, mindfulness, sonic immersion, and breathwork. Her intention is to create a supportive space where women can slow down, explore the body with curiosity, and reconnect with themselves in ways that feel meaningful and accessible.
Christina brings warmth, knowledge, humor, playfulness, and presence to her work. She believes that meaningful change can happen when people are given supportive tools, space to explore, and permission to move at their own pace. Her hope for the retreat is that each woman is able to enjoy the beauty of nature, listen inward, and choose what serves her best.
FACILITATOR
Abigail “Abby” Berard
Clinical Psychology Graduate Student · Trauma-Informed Wellness Facilitator
Pepperdine University · Reiki Levels 1 & 2 Certified
Abby Berard is a Clinical Psychology master’s student at Pepperdine University with a deep curiosity about human potential, resilience, and the ways we move through life’s challenges with greater awareness, connection, and compassion. Her 18+ years of experience in leadership, client relationships, marketing, and organizational development bring a unique perspective to her work at the intersection of psychology, people, and systems.
Alongside her graduate studies, Abby is completing clinical training as an intern clinical therapist at a substance use disorder recovery center serving the LGBTQ+ community. Her work is grounded in culturally sensitive, trauma-informed, and humanistic-existential perspectives, with training that includes evidence-based approaches such as CBT, DBT, Motivational Interviewing, mindfulness, emotional regulation, and coping skills.
At the heart of Abby’s approach is an invitation to make room for the full human experience—including pain, uncertainty, vulnerability, and the emotions we are often taught to push aside. She believes that allowing ourselves to feel and reflect can create space for greater self-compassion, authentic connection, and personal growth.
Through community circles, Abby has facilitated conversations around moving from surviving to thriving, exploring how difficult experiences can become opportunities for meaning, self-discovery, compassion, and forward movement. Her approach is inclusive and invitational: participants are welcome to share, listen, reflect, or simply be present at their own pace.
As a co-facilitator of Ground & Gaze, Abby will share practical, evidence-based practices that women can carry into both challenging seasons and everyday life. Rather than viewing resilience as never struggling, she encourages participants to recognize when support is needed, practice self-compassion, and develop personal practices and relationships that can become anchors through life’s transitions.
Abby brings warmth, curiosity, humor, and an uplifting perspective to the spaces she facilitates. Her hope is that each woman leaves the retreat feeling more grounded, connected, supported, and fully herself.