Mindlab, an incorporated association, completed its “Healing Universe 2 — Healing and Happiness, Soma and Samuryangsims Art Meditation Journey (Basic Course)” over two nights and three days from the 21st to the 23rd at Korea DMZ Peace and Life Garden in Inje, Gangwon Province.
This program was carried out as a two-night, three-day art meditation journey with Yŏn Yŏnjae-ma Buddhist monk (Ahn Shin-jeong), an art meditation healing expert, as participants experienced their bodies and minds in nature and worked to restore their sense of connection with themselves and others, as well as with nature.
Art meditation healing program
This journey focused on directly experiencing and internalizing “soma” and “samuryangsims” through the method of art meditation—feeling them with the body and mind. Participants examined their own bodies and emotions and experienced the interconnectedness with others and with nature through meditation, singing-bowl sound healing, movement and touch, artistic expression, and activities in the forest.
“Soma” does not mean the mere body. Instead, it refers to the body as a total living being that feels and moves on its own. “Samuryangsims (四無量心)” in Buddhism refers to four minds that are cultivated toward oneself and the world: loving-kindness (慈), compassion·mercy (悲), joy (喜), and equanimity·serenity (捨).
The program consisted of six sessions in total. On the first day, participants stepped out of their daily routines for a time to welcome their own bodies and minds and remain in the present through “Hoisting the anchor: Interconnectedness and hospitality,” and “Wholeness and presence: Interconnectedness and singing-bowl sound healing.” On the second day, they carried out “Equanimity: Interconnectedness and new eyes,” “No boundaries: Interconnectedness and compassion,” and “Soma and touch: Interconnectedness and loving-kindness.” In particular, through sessions held in the forest, participants looked at the boundaries between nature and the body in a new way and experienced the meaning of connection through senses and relationships. On the last day, “A new journey: Interconnectedness and joy” gave participants time to carry the connection and joy they experienced in the program through movement work into everyday life.
In addition, a special lecture by Korea DMZ Peace and Life Garden Chairman Jeong Jeong-heon was an opportunity to think in concrete terms about peace, life, nature, and the relationship between nature and humans.
Art meditation healing expert Monk Yŏn Yŏnjae-ma leads
Monk Yŏn Yŏnjae-ma, who led the program, is a monk of the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism and holds a PhD in literature. She serves as the representative of the AUM Art Meditation Healing Center. She appears as a regular guest on the “Meditation is good” segment of BBS Radio’s “Making the Unnamed Known,” and is active across a variety of body-and-mind healing fields, including singing-bowl sound healing, meditation, expressive arts psychotherapy counseling, and Buddhist psychology counseling.
The program differed from existing meditation programs in that it does not stop at learning samuryangsims simply as Buddhist doctrine. Instead, it is designed for participants to directly experience and internalize them through bodily sensations and artistic expression, sound and movement, and encounters with nature.
One participant said, “Through this art meditation journey, I discovered new aspects of myself that I didn’t know. Looking back on the past in which I lived by adjusting myself to society’s expectations, I think I will be able to show my true self more freely, with less fear.”
In the nature of Inje, Gangwon, for two nights and three days
“Healing Universe 2” took place at Korea DMZ Peace and Life Garden, located in Inje County, Gangwon Province, and provided the best possible environment to stay as participants experienced a table of meals for living life made with farm products they grew themselves in pristine nature where fireflies live.
■ Event overview
Event name: Healing Universe 2 — Healing and Happiness, Soma and Samuryangsims Art Meditation Journey (Basic Course)
Dates: Friday, Aug. 21, 2026, to Sunday, Aug. 23, 2026, for two nights and three days
Venue: Korea DMZ Peace and Life Garden (1630, Geumgang-ro, Seo-hwa-myeon, Inje-gun, Gangwon Province)
Organizer: Mindlab, an incorporated association, and spiritual lifestyle webzine IPKU
Host: Monk Yŏn Yŏnjae-ma (Ahn Shin-jeong)
