First Taehwasan Forest Healing and Wellness Festival to open in Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province, on 14 November – two days of forest therapy and meditation

As autumn deepens, the forest begins to sound different. Whenever the wind passes through, dry leaves rustle against one another, while fallen leaves softly crunch beneath your feet. Listening to them, it feels as though the year, after rushing by, is finally slowing down a little. This November, visitors will have the chance to savour those sounds for a full two days and one night.

The first Taehwasan Forest Healing and Wellness Festival will take place from Saturday 14 to Sunday 15 November at the foot of Mount Taehwasan in Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province. It is jointly hosted by K-Mirae Clinic, Seoul National University’s Taehwasan Academic Forest and Healing News, a media outlet specialising in meditation, and sponsored by Gwangju Newspaper, Gonjiam Valley and BioTimes. The event focuses on wellness and healing programmes to extend healthy life expectancy. Its aim is to help people learn, through direct experience in the forest, how to live not only longer but also healthier lives.

A forest safeguarded by researchers for nearly half a century: Seoul National University’s Taehwasan Academic Forest

The Taehwasan Academic Forest is in Docheok-myeon, Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province. According to Seoul National University Forests, it was established as the Central Practice Forest in 1979 and renamed in 2006. It covers 795 hectares, at elevations ranging from 150 to 644 metres. On the gentle slopes below, plantations of Japanese larch and Korean pine spread across the landscape. Higher up, natural forest brings together various oak species, Manchurian ash, dogwood, mountain cherry and Japanese silverberry.

This is not a forest landscaped as a tourist attraction, but one managed for research over many years. The Korean pine and oak forests each have a flux tower, standing 41 metres and 27 metres tall and installed in 2010 and 2015 respectively, to measure the exchange of carbon dioxide and moisture between the forest and the atmosphere. Scientists are, in effect, recording the forest’s breathing every day. Taking a deep breath ourselves in a forest like this is the invitation at the heart of the event.

Special lecture by Dr Jo Byeong-sik: beyond extending lifespan to extending healthy life expectancy

After the opening ceremony at 2pm on the first day, Dr Jo Byeong-sik, director of K-Mirae Clinic, will give a special lecture entitled 「Beyond extending lifespan, let’s extend healthy life expectancy」. Dr Jo graduated from Pusan National University College of Medicine in 1990 and opened Nature Clinic in a remote mountain village in Gyeongju in 2005, beginning his work in natural healing. In 2023, he came down from the mountains to become director of K-Mirae Clinic in Gonjiam, Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province. He also serves as director of Dr Jo’s Nature Healing Centre in Gyeongju, travelling between the two locations. He was the first president of the Korean Society of Natural Medicine and currently serves as president of the K Regenerative Medicine Research Association.

In May this year, he published a new book, 『Regenerate Your Cells and Disease Will Heal』 (Seoul Selection). As its subtitle, The Birth of Cell-Centred Medicine and K Regenerative Medicine, suggests, the book sets out the principles of K regenerative medicine that he has developed. His more than 20 years of clinical experience are brought together in this volume, following several books on natural medicine, including 『Throw Away the Medicine and Change Your Body』, 『Dr Jo’s 13-Day Cancer Camp』 and 『A Natural Healing Textbook for Four Major Chronic Diseases』.

K-Mirae Clinic: healing that begins with fresh air and healthy food

What are the foundations of good health? Fresh air, a meal made with healthy ingredients, moderate exercise to awaken the body’s functions, and a calm, well-regulated mind. Perhaps these are both the basics and the whole of it. If you have already lost your health, looking after these things should be all the more important.

There is a clinic that says these very basics are what patients need most. K-Mirae Clinic cares for patients deep in the forest, guiding them towards natural healing through healthy meals, fresh air, exercise and meditation.

Building on these foundations, K-Mirae Clinic offers integrated medical treatment incorporating regenerative medicine and the principles of natural healing. According to the author biography published by his publisher, Dr Jo applies the concept of K regenerative medicine to cancer treatment, liver and kidney regeneration, and a range of other chronic conditions, including metabolic and immune diseases. The biography says he is developing a holistic approach that cares for both body and mind by incorporating psychosomatic medicine, meditation and danjeon breathing into treatment programmes. It also says that he uses primotherapy in clinical practice, drawing on the concept of the primo vascular system. It is still unusual to hear a doctor talk about forests and meditation, but that may be all the more reason to listen closely.

Meditation experiences and wellness stalls organised by Healing News

Wellness stalls organised by Healing News will open from 1pm. Good Being Healing Zone and Kkum Ruby, which showcases colour psychology products, will be among those taking part, each offering its own way to unwind. At 3pm, daegeum player Lee A-ram will give a healing concert entitled 「Traveller of the Wind」. The sound of the daegeum, heard in the middle of the forest, will have a different quality from the same instrument heard in a concert hall.

At 4pm, the Uri Movement Body Meditation session will follow. It is a chance to gently loosen a stiff body and focus on the breath. At the same time, the wellness stalls will offer an aroma brainwave experience and an autonomic nervous system assessment, giving visitors a chance to look at the state of their body and mind.

Organic vegetarian buffet and singing bowl sleep meditation: a sound night’s sleep in the forest

The participation fee for those staying overnight is 50,000 won for two days and one night, including accommodation, dinner and breakfast. At 6pm, a vegetarian buffet will be served, prepared with organic vegetables grown directly by K-Mirae Clinic in Gyeongju. Vegetables fresh from the ground taste far richer and sweeter than you might expect.

After dinner, the Uri Movement Active Body Meditation session begins at 7pm. At 8pm, Inner Peace Healing’s aroma and singing bowl sleep meditation will bring the day to a close. By the time the singing bowl’s vibrations fade amid the gentle aroma, you may find yourself falling into a deep sleep for the first time in a while. Accommodation consists of 10 individual rooms at the K Regenerative Healing Centre and six rooms for families and teams at the Taehwasan Academic Forest.

Forest therapy on a morning walk, with autumn leaves at Hwadam Forest on the way home

The second day begins with breakfast at 7.40am. At 9am, participants will walk the academic forest trails and take part in a forest therapy programme, followed by a chance to talk at a café at 11am. The first breath of forest air, cool and still after the night, will probably be the moment from the trip that stays with you longest.

If you are heading home after the Sunday morning programme, you might also visit Hwadam Forest in the same Docheok-myeon. One of the Seoul metropolitan area’s best-known autumn foliage destinations, Hwadam Forest’s peak season this year runs until the final day of the event, 15 November. Entry during autumn is by online advance reservation only, so it is best to book ahead.

Two days spent strolling through a carefully tended garden of 22,000 pyeong amid the fresh air of Seoul National University’s forest, moving between meditation led by experts and hands-on experiences at the stalls. If you would like to feel a little lighter in body and mind without making any grand resolutions, the forest at Taehwasan is holding its doors open this autumn.

Event summary