Skills for being human. Learned in community.
welcome to the studio
We are a new kind of studio offering classes teaching you how to listen—get quiet and curious, without judgment—so you can live the life YOU want to live.
We believe you already have everything you need inside you. The problem isn’t that you need fixing—it’s that no one taught you how to build and prioritize the relationship with yourself, you to you.
Most of us are living life at 75%. At Cultivating Light Studio, we teach the essential skills for being human: safety, curiosity and listening to YOU, so you can live with more joy, grounded in who you are.
We want people to remember:
YOU GET TO BE YOU
The only requirement to come to Cultivating Light Studio is to be human.
In a world that constantly takes you away from yourself, we created a space for you to remember who you are and find community with others curious enough to do the same work.
The vision for Cultivating Light Studio is a safe, supportive community of like-minded humans who value connecting you to you because that’s when innovation, authenticity, love and joy can thrive.
Classes
in studio + 90 minutes small group + real connection
Cultivating Light Studio values learning about ourselves in a safe community along with others who are doing the same brave work. Most inner work is done in isolation with 1:1 practitioners or in quiet moments with ourselves, which absolutely has its place and learning about ourselves in a group can amplify our progress.
Our 90-minute classes are intimate, guided experiences in a beautiful space, led by Lily. You’ll learn practical skills: connect you to you, time management based on what's important to you, create safety within, how to treat yourself with compassion and find needed clarity through journaling exercises. All along side other humans who are bravely getting quiet and curious too.
Each of our classes are designed to build on one another. There is no correct order and classes can be taken more than once. Start with what feels aligned with you. Cultivating Light Studio is here to support the cultivation of YOU.
Here you’ll deepen the skill of getting
Quiet & Curious.
LISTEN TO YOUR INNER VOICE,
YOUR BODY, YOUR EMOTIONS AND
hold space for them without judgment.
Then take
aligned action
to meet those needs, desires and what’s best for you,
despite what others think.
This is what we do.
meet the founder
lily peter
Cultivating Light Studio was founded by Lily Peter, MSW. She brings 20 years of experience from working in psychiatry to digging deep, healing herself and rebuilding her life after illness.
The idea for Cultivating Light Studio came to her while working in a mental health program. She had the epiphany, “we are teaching skills every human needs, but we are teaching them only when people are in crisis. These skills need to be taught to everyone and in community.”
Through her own life’s journey, she was taught to link arms with herself and say, “we’re going to get through this together.” That’s where “you to you” was born and she learned the life-giving importance of cultivating the relationship with herself.
Classes at Cultivating Light Studio combine the practical skills for being human with the knowing already inside YOU. We are not therapy. We teach skills to take with you to cultivate the relationship with yourself in your day to day life.
RELEVANT PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
2023 Fierce Self-Compassion: Taking Action to Alleviate Suffering with Kristin Neff, PhD, Mission: Empowerment
2016 Self-Acceptance with Kristin Neff, PhD, Kelly McGonigal, PhD & Tami Simon, Sounds True
2015-2025 Certified Daring Way™ Facilitator, The Daring Way™ based on the research of Brené Brown, PhD
2012-2024 Illinois Licensed Clinical Social Worker
2009 Master of Social Work, Loyola University Chicago
Cultivating Light Studio does not offer psychotherapy services.