As autumn deepens, there are people who one day leave for the remote reaches of Songnisan, build an earthen home and create a place for meditation. One such person is Lee Kyung-mi, a sound healer and meditation instructor who followed a clear sense of direction into the mountains after finding her own path among life's many crossroads. On Oct. 10, as fall colors spread through Songnisan National Park, a special evening where art meets meditation will unfold at the earthen home she built.
Traveling Light: The Path of Lee Kyung-mi
Lee Kyung-mi calls herself “traveling light.” In her 20s, drawn by a sense of frustration without knowing exactly what she was seeking, she wandered through places at home and abroad. In Australia, she happened to meet a group of Gypsies and discovered the peace of a life that embraced nature, alive with energy, and its inherent purity. That encounter changed her life. After giving birth to her son in 2016, she left Indonesia and returned to Boeun, North Chungcheong province, where her parents lived. This year marks her 10th year of rural life. In nature, she has continued her daily practice, learning through experience the joy of meditating and the discipline of living in harmony with the flow of the universe.
Lee Kyung-mi, a sound healer, healing community dance instructor and meditation instructor with the Korean Meditation Instructors Association, is preparing to open the site where she has practiced for the past decade as the Firefly Earthen House Meditation Playground. In this space, called Sarangbang or Dajeongdabang, she is organizing and sharing experiences and practices gathered through her life and work, shaping them into programs such as “A Time to Treat Myself” and “A Day When No One Takes Care of Anyone,” created for mothers. The Sarangbang Sound Healing Concert 〈An Invitation to Sound and Beyond〉 will be the first stage she presents this fall on that journey.
Music Felt Through the Body: Shin Eun-kyung’s Storytelling Piano
Shin Eun-kyung, who will perform that day, is a pianist who has presented the storytelling piano concert series 〈Telling Stories Through Sound〉 since 2018. The concerts set aside the pressure of needing to understand classical music in order to enjoy it. Short stories between the pieces guide audiences to experience the music through their physical senses rather than simply trying to understand it. In an earlier interview with Healing News, Shin said she wanted to explore with audiences how we can look at and accept our own bodies through music learned and remembered physically. The “Body” program, which she will perform that day, was also presented at JCC Art Center in February and The Sharp Gallery in May. This time, it will be reborn through piano melodies at an earthen home on the slopes of Songnisan, away from the city's concert halls.
Filling the Space Together With Sound and Movement
The concert runs from 3 to 6 p.m. and unfolds in two acts. Part 1, “A Time for Connection and Resonance,” begins with poetry recitation, followed by singing bowl performances to awaken body and mind, and then Shin Eun-kyung’s piano. Part 2, “A Time for Harmony and Celebration,” opens with a binari, a traditional Korean song of blessings for everyone’s peace. A binari team including Lee Hwan-soo, who studied Korean traditional music education at Jinju National University of Education’s graduate school and formerly chaired the Daejeon branch of the Korean Traditional Music Association, will take the stage. Domyeong Shin Myung-seop, who studied theology, encountered the teachings of Ramana Maharshi and the Pure Land Association, and now continues offering vocal prayers at Daewon Jeongsa, will soothe hearts through song. The program also includes movement meditation and dance to close out the day. The sounds of burning firewood, mountain birds and a crimson sunset will fill the spaces in between.
Sarangbang: A Place Where You Don’t Have to Do Anything
Lee Kyung-mi’s vision for Sarangbang extends into everyday life. The experience begins with sharing a warm cup of tea in a thatched pavilion, continues with releasing tension in body and mind to the resonance of singing bowls in the heated earthen room, and ends with writing a few lines alongside the sunset to preserve the day’s feelings. It is different from time spent escaping into a smartphone or simply enduring until the hours pass. Here, visitors are not the people who prepare and take care of everything; they become the owners of time they can fully enjoy. Those who wish can stay overnight in the earthen home.
Event Information
The Sarangbang Sound Healing Concert 〈An Invitation to Sound and Beyond〉 will take place from 3 to 6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 10, at Doljip House and Garden on the slopes of Songnisan, 111 Nucheong 3-gil, Boeun-eup, Boeun County, North Chungcheong province. Attendance is limited to the first 30 applicants, and the fee is 30,000 won. Registration is available by phone or text message (Lee Kyung-mi, 010-3337-2397). The event is presented jointly by the Korean Community Dance Association, Choi Bo-gyeol’s Dance School and Healing News. A time to treat yourself awaits at the Sarangbang earthen home on the slopes of Songnisan.