Lately, I’ve often heard people say that even on their days off, their minds can’t seem to rest. The body is lying down, but the mind is still wandering around the workplace. For those people, news came from Yeongwol, Gangwon Province. The Hanok Heritage has completed Raonjae, a Korean-style wellness space, and unveiled five wellness programs, including floating sound baths, where guests listen to singing bowls while floating on the water. I gathered coverage from several outlets and took a closer look at the space through the eyes of someone who meditates.
What Is Raonjae? A Hanok Wellness Space Facing Yeongwol’s Seondol
The Hanok Heritage said it completed the entire hotel with the opening of Raonjae on August 27. The hanok cultural complex, with a hotel, private villas, a restaurant, a gallery and a tea house, now spans a 102,000-pyeong site in Mungaesil Village, Yeongwol, Gangwon Province. The name Raonjae comes from raon, a native Korean word meaning “joyful.” The company says the name conveys a place where joyful resonance lingers. The site covers 1,168 pyeong (NewsPim and Newsis, August 27).
The first floor houses a hanok infinity pool, a kids’ pool, a private spa, a wellness lounge and Monto, a Korean fine-dining restaurant. The basement level has a dry sauna and an indoor pool open year-round. The 749.43-square-meter infinity pool was designed to look directly out at Yeongwol’s striking Seondol rock formation. When choosing a place to meditate, I first look for somewhere the eyes can rest. A rock that has stood in one place for ages, with open sky above it, is all I could ask for.
Defining Rest as Sensory Balance: Five Textures
The Hanok Heritage defines rest not as time spent letting the body recover, but as a process of restoring sensory balance. It expresses that idea through five textures: stillness, flow, warmth, vitality and depth (Money Today, August 28). I lingered over this idea. Meditation does much the same thing. Rather than adding something, it brings scattered senses back to the present moment. That is meditation.
Flow: Singing Bowls and Floating Sound Baths on the Water
Of the five textures, flow is the program closest to meditation. It consists of floating sound baths and morning yoga. The Herald Business, which reported from the site, described the floating sound bath as a wellness meditation program in which participants lie on tube-shaped beds that float on the water and listen to meditation instruments, including singing bowls, guided by an expert. In a first-person account in The Korea Economic Daily, Georgia Lee wrote that when she opened her eyes while lying on the water, she saw only the sky and nature; as she relaxed and let the water carry her, she reached a state of deep relaxation and meditation.
A sound bath is a meditation practice that focuses attention on resonant sounds. Even beginners who find it hard to concentrate on their breathing may find their thoughts quieting as they follow the sounds. Add water to the experience, and even the effort of holding the body steady falls away. Early in the morning, yoga awakens the body through breath and movement.
Stillness: A Tea Class to Savor Over a Cup
Stillness is a tea class that uses tea drinking to calm the mind and focus inward. According to Elle, participants choose one of five blended teas curated by Kim Dong-hyun, founder of Roha Seoul and a tea ceremony expert, then brew and drink it themselves. Shifting attention from the sound of boiling water to the warmth of the cup and the fragrance spreading across the palate becomes a mindfulness practice in its own right.
Warmth, Vitality and Depth: Time Spent Working With Your Hands
Warmth is a woodworking class in which participants shape wood; vitality is a cooking class on making pickles; and depth is a hanok class on the philosophy of hanok architecture, taught with a master carpenter. Elle reported that master carpenter Park Eui-jun leads the hanok class and chef Shin Dong-min joins the cooking class. It’s hard to call these meditation programs. Still, bringing your full attention to each pass of the plane or each cut of the knife can offer a good starting point for people who find it difficult to sit still with their eyes closed.
Raonjae’s Meditation Programs: What’s Available Now and What’s Planned
One point is worth clarifying: none of the five regular programs currently announced has meditation in its name. The experiences closest to meditation are the floating sound bath, morning yoga and tea class. The direction seems clear. In June, The Hanok Heritage hosted people from the overseas travel industry and presented a sound bath combining the sounds of nature and meditation as a morning program (NewsPim, June 12). The company said it plans to continue expanding its meditation and traditional healing offerings, beginning with the five textures. Several outlets have reported that the five programs are expected to operate as regular offerings for hotel guests. Check The Hanok Heritage’s official channels before visiting for the schedule and participation details.
Cho Nam-hee, vice president of The Hanok Heritage, said Korean-style rest is complete when architecture, cuisine, traditional culture and wellness come together as a single experience. It remains to be seen what this space will become as meditation offerings take shape.
A Meditation Getaway Close to Home
There was a time when Bali or Chiang Mai came to mind first when people talked about meditation retreats. Now, in Yeongwol, about a two-hour drive from Seoul, you can wake up to a morning of lying on the water beneath hanok eaves and listening to singing bowls. It’s the season when the sky feels highest. If you’re going away to rest, I hope you return with a little stillness, not just photos of the scenery. Raonjae in Yeongwol is a place worth remembering for anyone dreaming of a meditation getaway like that.
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