There is a moment that anyone who has tried a yoga studio will have faced at least once. It’s when the person practising next to you stands there, holding their body rigidly, while watching the postures they are working on being completed lightly and effortlessly. Vinayoga starts right at that point. Rather than forcing your body to match set movements, you redesign your yoga again to fit your body and your current condition. A place has been arranged where you can learn this old wisdom first-hand.

The Korean Body Psychotherapy Education Association said it will hold a Vinayoga special lecture at Bucheon Jigeum Yoga Studio from 1pm to 5pm on Saturday, 5 September, under the title ‘Personalised Yoga for Me, Waking Up Through Vinayoga and Body Sensations’.

Yoga that begins with your body rather than fixed movements

Vinayoga is a practice rooted in the tradition of Krishnamacharya, an Indian tradition often described as the father of modern yoga. “Don’t fit people to yoga; fit yoga to people” is at the heart of the teaching. Since movements and breathing are flexibly adjusted according to an individual’s physical condition, age and recovery capacity, the organisers say even modern-day beginners with stiff bodies—or people living with pain—can approach it without overexertion.

The special lecture will be run around three pillars. First, a tailored practice that applies yoga in line with each person’s circumstances and functions, according to the Krishnamacharya tradition. Second, a recovery practice that corrects destabilised postures with gentle movements centred on the spine, while awakening life energy. Third, a sensory awareness practice in which participants experience a state of meditation where breathing volume increases through proper breathing methods and the mind becomes calm.

From an overview to breathing training— a 4-hour curriculum

The curriculum is made up of four parts: an overview of Vinayoga, Vinayoga asana, understanding pranayama, and foundational pranayama practice. After understanding the philosophy of Vinayoga through theory, participants practise asana with their body, then move on to the principles and basic hands-on work of pranayama, the breathing practice, in a single day. The organisers introduced it as a time to awaken the life force within the body by closely observing one’s own body sensations, rather than doing exercises that must be followed without strain.

The lecture will be led by Professor Oh Kyung-sook of Wonkwang Digital University. Oh is a PhD in mind-body integrated healing studies and a Vinayoga specialist. She runs a natural healing yoga centre in Jeju and serves as vice chair of the Korea Yoga Alliance. She has spent a long time guiding tailored healing yoga in the field, including previously serving as chair of the yoga association in the Jeju region.

Participant information

The special lecture will take place for four hours, from 1pm to 5pm on Saturday, 5 September 2026, on the third floor of Jigeum Yoga Studio in Haeriom Town, 221 Beoman-ro, Bucheon city. The participation fee is 120,000 won, and early registration by 31 July costs 100,000 won.

Applications are accepted via the Naver blog of the Korean Body Psychotherapy Education Association (http://blog.naver.com/kasp_edu) and by phone (010-7657-6802). For those who were worn out trying to fit yoga to their bodies, this special lecture is expected to offer a new, unfamiliar yet comfortable experience in which yoga comes towards them.

Those seeking to bring meditation into everyday life gather once again in one place. The Seoul International Meditation Expo, regarded as the largest meditation event in South Korea, opens its seventh edition this year. The theme is "Meditation 2026, wake together". It reflects the idea of sharing a mind that is awake together, beyond individual practice.

The largest meditation festival in South Korea opens for the seventh time

This year’s event is hosted by the Jonghak Research Institute of the Academy of Buddhist Studies at Dongguk University and is sponsored by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. It is designed to weave together meditation experiences, academia, education and culture into a single flow, so that the public and experts can meet together. According to a report by Asia Today, this year’s expo runs the experience-centred exhibitions and the academic-centred conference in separate time slots and at separate locations.

Experience exhibition in August, split into an academic conference in September

The meditation experience booths and the world meditation booths will open for two days, on August 22 and 23, at the Hakyeoul Station SETEC’s Second Exhibition Room. The meditation conference will then be held at Dongguk University’s Namsan Hall on September 17 and 18. The final event is a Seonmyeong (Zen) concert at 4:30pm on September 18 in the same Namsan Hall at Dongguk University’s main building. It is a format that opens with hands-on experiences and closes with scholarship and music.

24 experience programmes and world meditation booths from 11 countries

At the experience arena, 24 programmes including breathing meditation, walking meditation and Seonmyeong (Zen) welcome visitors. It is also designed so that people encountering meditation for the first time can learn it immediately through their bodies. Alongside that, world meditation booths involving 11 countries are set up, allowing visitors to compare, in one place, differing training traditions and meditation cultures from each country.

Seonmyeong (Zen) expands through scholarship and education

The meditation conference runs over two days with lectures and discussions by experts from home and abroad. The theme on the first day is "Seonmyeong (Zen) in the age of technology and science", while on the second day it is "The wellness value of Seonmyeong (Zen)". In education, research into developing a Buddhist meditation programme spanning three years has entered its final stage, and meditation routine content made up of short videos lasting 3 to 5 minutes will also be unveiled. It is an effort to spread meditation that people can practise briefly in daily life.

Who can take part and how to apply

The event is open to all, including members of the general public interested in meditation, practitioners, and meditation researchers. Participation is arranged through pre-registration via the official website of the Seoul International Meditation Expo (mind.dongguk.edu) and the official Instagram account. Detailed application information, including the participation fee, will be announced in stages on official channels. Meet the two days of waking together in the middle of the city and the academic time for sharing thoughts this summer and early autumn, through meditation accompanied by culture and the arts.

The notion that meditation needs years of training before it leaves a mark on the brain is being challenged. A research team at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) in India reported in the international academic journal Mindfulness that within just a few minutes of starting a meditation in which practitioners watch their breathing, brainwave patterns change clearly, with the shift generally peaking at around seven minutes. Another study from the United States reported that indicators in both the brain and the blood moved in step after only seven days of focused practice. The findings suggest the effects of meditation are not only “built up slowly”.

Changes that begin within minutes, with a peak at around 7 minutes

According to a research team at NIMHANS’s Consciousness Research Centre, brainwave changes during meditation begin to appear at around 2 to 3 minutes, reach their maximum between 7 and 10 minutes, and are especially prominent at the seven-minute mark across multiple participants. As reported by ScienceDaily and MedicalXpress, after passing this point, researchers observed an increase in the activity of the theta and alpha bands, alongside a decrease in delta waves and some gamma waves. The pattern is interpreted as a shift towards a state in which the brain remains relaxed while maintaining attention. Researcher Malipeddi Saketh, who took part in the study, said: “Measurable changes in brain activity can appear within just a few minutes of starting meditation” and added that “even short meditation can have a meaningful impact on the brain’s dynamics”.

Recording 103 people’s brainwaves using 128 electrodes

The team recruited 103 participants in total, including a control group of 28 people with no meditation experience, 33 beginners at an entry stage, and 42 experienced meditators. While participants practised “breath watching” meditation from the Iyengar Yoga tradition, the team recorded signals using a 128-channel EEG measurement device, and focused analysis on changes during the initial 10 minutes within each 15-minute session. Unlike earlier studies with smaller samples, the team’s explanation was that they divided participants into three groups and compared them, allowing them to examine how meditation experience is reflected in the brain’s response.

Responses also show up in beginners, but are clearer in the experienced

One point of interest is that the change was not restricted to people with long training. Brainwave activity shifted within the first few minutes regardless of meditation experience. However, among experienced meditators, theta and theta–alpha band activity remained higher throughout the session. The results can be read as meaning that the deeper, more stable response becomes stronger the longer someone practises, yet beginners can also cross the threshold for change within a short time. The research team also suggested that providing short meditation—around seven minutes—in a digital format could make it an accessible mental health tool.

“In seven days, even the body changes”… another piece of evidence from across the Atlantic

Around the same period, a study also emerged in the United States showing meditation’s rapid effects. A team from the University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego) reported in the international journal Communications Biology that after 20 healthy adults took part in seven days of intensive training, brain imaging and blood markers changed together. Participants completed a residential programme that included about 33 hours of meditation, and an analysis using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) found a tendency for activity in brain regions associated with inner rumination to decrease. The team also said they observed changes in biomarkers related to pain relief and indicators of immune responses. Professor Hemal Patel of this study explained: “This is not simply biological confirmation of stress relief or relaxation—rather, we confirmed at a biological level that the way the brain relates to reality itself changes.”

Shorter, and therefore even more welcome news—yet with caution

Although the two studies were conducted in different countries and using different methods, they point in the same direction. The effects of meditation do not necessarily require years, and the brain can begin to respond within minutes. Still, because both studies are early-stage work with relatively small samples, it is too soon to extend the results to interpret them as treatment effects for particular diseases. Further, broader follow-up research is needed to determine in what conditions, for whom, and how long short meditation provides ongoing help. Even so, it is fair to say science has once again confirmed that just a few minutes of breathing meditation each day is far from pointless.

An early morning in Yeongju arrives first with the breath of trees. Before the sun clears the ridge of Sobaek Mountain, damp air settles down between the leaves of oaks and gulleti oak, carrying a faint scent of grass. People who come from the city pause in front of that smell. Not because they do not know what to do, but because the breathing rhythm they had long forgotten naturally slows down. In this place where the spine of Baekdudaegan passes through, a 2,889-hectare forest spread across Yeongju and Yecheon in North Gyeongsang Province holds a healing village painstakingly planned by the state. Its name is Daslim. It means to regulate the mind and body, and it also captures how the forest soothes people.

A forest designed by the state, and what the name Daslim means

The National Forest Therapy Centre is a forest-welfare complex run by the Korea Forest Welfare Promotion Institute. It was created to look after the public’s health by drawing on the abundant forest resources of Baekdudaegan. The total area is 2,889 hectares, and the central facilities district alone reaches 152 hectares. The institute introduces the site as an integrated forest-therapy facility on the world’s largest scale. It is designed not only to provide healing services, but also to host training of professional staff, development of healing products and the spread of forest-therapy culture, all in one place.

The point that sets Daslim apart from other 휴양림 (recreation forests) is clear. Here, it is a place that heals before it is a place that rests. Forest therapy refers to activities that raise the body’s immunity and help restore physical and mental health by making use of various elements of the forest—such as phytoncides and negative ions, sunlight and sound, and the landscape. At Daslim, forest-therapy guides lead the programmes, and visitors do not just look at the forest; they form a relationship with it through their body.

The 152-hectare space wrapped by Sobaek Mountain

The central facilities district sits tucked into the foothills of Sobaek Mountain. In the forest where oak trees and pines and gulleti oak all layer together, the site changes its expression with each season. Inside the complex, a Health Promotion Centre and a Water Therapy Centre, a training centre, an san-yakch o n (medicinal herb garden) area, a healing garden, healing forest paths, and a meditation centre are scattered throughout. Visitors spend a day moving from walking to sitting in the gardens, immersing their bodies in the water, then stepping back onto the forest trails.

The healing forest paths are the framework of Daslim. Gentle deck roads and dirt paths run along the ridgeline, with gradients that are not steep, so older people and patients in recovery can walk without difficulty. On sections laid out for walking barefoot, the soles read the texture of soil and the grain of timber directly. The medicinal herb area and the healing garden are spaces for the eyes and nose. Seasonal plants and medicinal plants take root, so that as you walk the aroma seeps into your body.

A day led by the forest, with programmes built around water, warmth and breathing

Daslim’s programmes are designed to introduce the forest’s sensations into your body one at a time. A representative example is water therapy. At the Water Therapy Centre, the temperature of the water, buoyancy and flow are used to ease muscle tension and help circulation. Warmth therapy raises body temperature with far-infrared rays and is paired with hand massage to boost blood circulation and immunity. It is especially sought after in winter or during recovery periods.

The programmes carried out inside the forest are even quieter in tone. Slowd therapy flows from stretching and walking meditation to breathing meditation, in which you inhale phytoncides, and then to strolling along forest paths. As you slow your pace and focus on your feet and breathing, the noise that had been filling your head peels away one layer at a time. Visitors also frequently opt for “forest-mong” rest, in which you lie back on a hammock and look up at the sky between tree leaves, and for singing-bowl meditation, which lets them surrender their minds to the resonance of sound. Barefoot therapy involves walking the barefoot healing forest paths, then finishing with acupressure on the feet and oil massage.

Programme costs differ depending on the type. Hammock rest costs 12,000 won and singing-bowl meditation is around 11,000 won; compared with the depth of the forest, the threshold is not high. Since forest-therapy guides lead the sessions, even people who are new to meditation or yoga move their bodies naturally by following the guidance.

The table set by the mountain—and the village where you stay

A day at Daslim continues with a table set by the mountain. The dining hall inside the complex serves breakfast, lunch and dinner at fixed times. Meal costs are 8,000 won for adults aged 13 and over, and 5,500 won for children aged 7 to under 13. Meals must be booked at least four days before the date you begin using the service. Cooking, barbecuing, drinking and smoking are restricted within the complex, a principle close to preserving the quiet and air of the healing space.

Accommodation is divided into three villages. There is the Ju-Chi Village for individuals and families, the Training Centre tailored for group use, and the Moon-Byun Village for those staying long term. For those planning to spend a few days and tune their bodies to the forest’s rhythm, Moon-Byun Village suits them best; for those looking to pop by with their family briefly on weekends, Ju-Chi Village fits. Accommodation charges depend on the room type: standalone units range from 58,000 won to 280,000 won, while group units range from 56,000 won to 162,000 won.

Getting there and booking, and things worth knowing

Daslim is located at 209, Therap y-ro, Bonghyeon-myeon, Yeongju-si, North Gyeongsang Province. Because the forest in the complex spans the two localities of Yeongju and Yecheon, whichever side you approach from—Yeongju city or towards Yecheon—you meet a different face of Sobaek Mountain.

From the Seoul metropolitan area, the train is convenient. If you take the KTX Eum from Seoul, you can reach Yeongju Station in roughly an hour and a half. From Yeongju Station to the complex, you move by private car or taxi, and because public transport options are limited, visitors are advised to use a private car. The complex has ample parking space. If you visit without a car, it is safer to check in advance, before making a reservation, how to travel from Yeongju Station or an intercity bus terminal.

Bookings are made through the Forest Department’s integrated reservation system, Foresttrip (foresttrip.go.kr), and the National Forest Therapy Centre website (daslim.fowi.or.kr). Accommodation and programmes open all at once for the following month on the 15th of every month at 9am, and popular dates sell out quickly right after opening. If you have a schedule you want, it is best to connect at the time of opening. Check-in is between 3pm and 9pm, and check-out is by 11am the next day. Personal hygiene items such as towels and toothbrushes must be brought by guests. For facility guidance and advice on usage fees, call the main number 054-639-3400, between 9am and 6pm on weekdays (excluding the lunch hour from 12 noon to 1pm).

Foreign visitors may need a little more preparation in advance. Because the booking system and guidance are centred on Korean, it is advisable to confirm by calling ahead whether they can take part in the programmes and whether interpretation is available. If you visit as a group via a travel agency or wellness tour, you can arrange the forest-therapy guide’s programme to match your schedule through prior coordination.

When is the best time to go, and the forest’s changing faces

Daslim’s forest offers different healing experiences throughout the four seasons. The most recommendable time is early summer, when fresh green foliage rises. During this period, when the leaves are at their deepest and softest, the air in the forest fills more densely. In autumn, the oaks and gulleti oaks tint the ridges, allowing you to enjoy the seasonal pleasure where walking meditation and autumn foliage overlap. In winter, water therapy and warmth therapy warm the body, while the stillness of snow-covered Sobaek Mountain deepens meditation. Regular closure periods and programme operation schedules may vary by season, so it is best to check the official website before visiting.

A milestone for Korean-style wellness travel

Daslim’s specialness is not in the scale or the flashiness of its facilities. It is valuable in that it represents a state-level initiative that designed forest therapy as a public health asset rather than a personal hobby. With the forest and water, warmth and breathing woven into a single programme, and with professional staff guiding the process—and with a village where you can stay for several days—the structure holds up well even when compared with overseas wellness resorts. The difference, if any, is that it is not a commercial resort but a public facility that anyone can approach with a low barrier.

For travellers who come to Korea, if temple-stays offer quiet for the mind, Daslim also plans recovery for the body. This healing village, using Baekdudaegan’s forests as its stage, offers another face of the wellness travel that Korea can present. When the Korea Tourism Organisation and the travel industry choose destinations for meditation and wellness travel, Daslim in the foothills of Sobaek Mountain becomes a signpost visitors can keep close for a long time.

For further details, check the Forest Welfare Integrated Platform below.

https://www.sooperang.go.kr/main.do

Healing News publisher Oh Hye-seon

Enquiries and article tips fare3041@naver.com

For those living with persistent low back pain, the choices offered until now have largely stayed within the boundary of painkillers and physiotherapy. Researchers at Boston Medical Center (BMC) have now released clinical findings suggesting that a mindfulness meditation programme delivered beyond the screen can help ease both pain and the disruption it causes in everyday life. The results of this randomised trial of 451 adults were published in the 29 June issue of JAMA Internal Medicine, an international academic journal.

Instead of erasing pain, changing how people respond to it

The programme designed by the research team is called OPTIMUM. The name reflects its aim: to optimise pain treatment through mindfulness in clinical practice. According to BMC, it is a form of the widely known Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) course adapted for pain management. Participants took part remotely in weekly group sessions lasting 120 minutes over eight weeks. Each session was co-led by a trained meditation instructor and a primary care physician, with gentle stretching plus breathing and awareness exercises. The key was not to force pain itself to disappear, but to help participants change the way they respond to the sensations of pain.

451 participants randomised, with significant improvement in pain and daily-life measures after six months

In the clinical trial, 451 participants recruited from three sites were assigned to a meditation programme group of 224 and a usual care group of 227. The average age was 52.1, and women made up 70.5%. The primary assessment at the six-month point used the PEG scale (0 to 10), which looks at pain, enjoyment in life and daily activities. The meditation group improved by an average of 1.21 points, a bigger improvement than the 0.59-point decrease seen in the usual care group, and the difference between the two groups was 0.62 points, a statistically meaningful level (P=.002). However, the paper said the research team’s pre-set threshold for a ‘clinically meaningful minimal difference’ of 1 point was not reached. The improvement continued through the 12-month follow-up point.

A billable group meditation consultation that lowers the barrier to care

The aspect drawing attention in this study is the delivery method, more than the magnitude of the effect. It is delivered via remote video, and it is designed so that a doctor participates directly in sessions, allowing it to be recognised as formal group medical care and billed within the existing healthcare reimbursement system. Patients who find it hard to travel, or who do not have a pain clinic nearby, can take part from home, which means lowering the barrier for those who may previously have been left out of mindfulness programmes. Natalia Morone, MD, who led the research, said: “Our programme gives people practical skills that help them respond differently to pain, and that they can use repeatedly.” Against the backdrop of ongoing concerns in healthcare about expanding pain management methods that do not rely on medication, the results indicate a trend in which meditation is carving out a place as another strand of hospital care.

Research has found that meditation may ease depression not only by reducing negative thoughts, but because it can change the way a person relates to themselves. A research team from the Cognition, Health and Society Laboratory (C2S) at the University of Reims Champagne Ardenne in France, led by Céline Stinus and Sophie Berjot, published the results of a randomised controlled trial comparing two meditation methods side by side in the international academic journal Mindfulness. PsyPost, a US psychology-focused outlet, described the study in detail on 11 July.

Focus or dismantle? Two-branch meditation mapped side by side

The research team randomly assigned 147 adults who had no meditation experience and no psychiatric diagnoses to three groups. One group practised focused attention meditation (breathing meditation and body scan), which directs attention to breathing and bodily sensations. Another group learned dismantling meditation that examines the sense of “self” as it is. The remaining participants were placed in a waiting-list control group that received no programme. Women made up the majority of participants, and the average age was in the late 40s.

The programme ran for four weeks. Participants took part in weekly 60-minute online group sessions and also carried out home practice for 20 minutes a day, five days a week. The team measured depressive symptoms before and after the practice (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, HADS), dysfunctional attitudes, and feelings that their identity is threatened.

Both types of meditation reduced depressive symptoms

In the results, both meditation groups showed a clearer reduction in depressive symptoms than the waiting-list control group. The effect sizes (Cohen’s d) were 0.47 for focused-attention meditation and 0.67 for self-inquiry meditation, with no statistically meaningful difference between the two approaches. The sense that one’s self is threatened also fell in both groups (0.54 for focused attention, 0.45 for self-inquiry).

But the details differed. Focused-attention meditation reduced dysfunctional attitudes—those involving distorted beliefs—more than the control group (d=0.77), and the reduction was also larger than in the self-inquiry meditation group. By contrast, in the self-inquiry meditation group, the sense of connection to humanity and nature was relatively higher. The team, however, drew a line, saying that the between-group difference in this sense of connection was an exploratory finding and had not been confirmed statistically.

Taken different routes, arriving at the same place: “Meditation is not one thing”

Although the two meditation methods produced similar effects, the pathways through which they worked differed. In focused-attention meditation, cognitive distancing—stepping back from one’s thoughts—fully mediated the reduction in depressive symptoms. In self-inquiry meditation, easing the sense of identity threat was explained in part through the sense of connection with humanity. Stinus’s team said, “Meditation is not one thing, and different practices can build different psychological skills.” It added: “Becoming vulnerable to depression is not just a matter of having negative thoughts; it is also a problem of experiencing oneself as a fragile being.”

This study has limitations: it focused on members of the general public who had not received clinical diagnoses, and it did not include long-term follow-up observations. The research team also said the findings must be read carefully. Even so, the study is viewed as a set of results worth consulting for those hoping to apply mindfulness in everyday life and in counselling settings, because it offers a clue that people can split recommendations for which type of meditation to use according to their goals.

#meditation #mindfulness #depressionprevention #meditationresearch #focusedmeditation #selfinquirymeditation #cognitivedistancing #mindfulness

· PsyPost, “Letting go of a rigid self-image might be the secret to meditation's mental health benefits” (2026-07-11) — https://www.psypost.org/letting-go-of-a-rigid-self-image-might-be-the-secret-to-meditations-mental-health-benefits/

· Original paper: Stinus, C. & Berjot, S., “Preventing Depression through Selflessness...”, Mindfulness, Vol. 17, Issue 5 (online 2026-03-26) — https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12671-026-02817-7

Odaesan Meditation Village is running a workcation promotion during the summer holiday peak season.

For solo entrepreneurs and small-company bosses who would like to get away on holiday but cannot truly switch off and enjoy nothing but their break, putting everything aside completely and taking a proper rest is not easy. For people like that, a workcation is needed that combines adequate rest with a minimum amount of work. At Odaesan Meditation Village, guests can work quietly and also take part in programmes designed to bring healing for those who want to find themselves.

Odaesan Meditation Village sits in an ideal location for a workcation.

Pass through the mountain gate and gradually gain altitude, and you can feel the texture of the air changing. In the foothills of Odaesan in Gangwon Province, the nature meditation village is set along a ridge at an elevation of 700 metres above sea level. From the moment you arrive, it is a place that makes you slow your steps. Accommodation made of fir trees is scattered low across a broad expanse of land that is as wide as 14 football pitches, and between the buildings you can smell the cool, pine-like fragrance of the fir forest. It feels less like travelling and more like a stopover you come to for a moment.

A meditation village cradled by the Odaesan ridge, named OMV

The village’s official nickname is OMV (OMV). Named after the initial letters of Odaesan, meditation and village, Woljeongsa opened it in 2018 as a space for emotional healing for modern people. Seon-gong, the monk who led the set-up, had previously said that he wanted to provide a place for practice for those who experience mental confusion amid rapid economic growth. Because the long tradition of practising at the temple was interpreted and expressed in a form with a light religious tone, even people who are not Buddhist can stay without feeling they have to clear a hurdle.

The biggest feature is the rooms. Inside the accommodation made of fir trees, each room has its own private meditation room. There is no TV or internet, and no refrigerator. From the outset, the design is intended to allow for a so-called digital detox—so guests can step away from screens and notifications. Once you put your device down in your hand, you notice more clearly the sound of the breeze outside the window and the way the leaves rustle.

Fir-tree forest paths and walking trails, where your steps become meditation

The rhythm of time at the meditation village follows that of nature. In the morning and evening, yoga and meditation programmes are held, slowly waking the body and tying up the day in calm. Because it focuses on breathing rather than formalities, even first-timers can follow without difficulty.

Around and beyond the village, there are walking trails branching in several directions. If you stroll along narrow paths named like a “path outside the wind” or a “secret garden”, your very steps turn into a form of meditation. If you widen your walk a little further, you reach the fir-tree forest paths of the nearby Woljeongsa. With hundreds of years of fir trees blocking out the sky, this path is one of Odaesan’s signature views, showing a different face in every season.

While you stay, OMV visitors can enjoy free entry to the Woljeongsa Cultural Assets Museum, and you can also turn the pages quietly at the literary hall set up inside the village. Meals are served at the restaurant Supida, with fusion dishes that make use of wild mountain greens and fresh seasonal produce. There is no cooking allowed in the rooms; instead, a tidy meal prepared with local ingredients helps keep the balance of the day.

Things to know before you stay

The meditation village has 89 rooms across 16 buildings made of fir trees. The accommodation is split between garamchae, which includes beds and ondol-style heated floors, and annex villas for those who want their own independent time, so you can choose according to your group configuration. Check-in is from 2pm, check-out is 11am, and parking is available.

Accommodation charges and programme schedules may vary depending on the period, so it is most accurate to check via the official website (omv.co.kr) or by calling the representative phone number (033-333-6500) and then make a reservation. If you ask in advance about the number of people, room type and whether the programmes are included, it will be easier to plan your itinerary.

There are two convenient ways to get there. By public transport, you can take the KTX from Seoul to the Jinbu (Odaesan) station, then travel towards Odaesan. If you drive, you can enter the route in the direction of the national park at the Jinbu Interchange on the Yeongdong Expressway. Because it is a cool highland area, it makes a good summer getaway, while autumn foliage and winter snow scenery are especially beautiful, offering different feelings in each season.

A day filled by clearing your mind, and time in the mountains you return to again

What Odaesan Nature Meditation Village offers is not a set of glamorous attractions, but the experience of letting go. Spend a night in a room where the notifications stop. Walk the forest paths slowly. Face a full set meal of mountain greens. It is that simple rhythm that ends up lingering in your memory for a long time. The village’s virtue is that it keeps the door open both for those who want to study meditation in depth and for those who simply want to rest a tired mind for a while. Because Odaesan’s seasons always greet you with a different face, that is also why people return after one visit, changing seasons and coming back again.

At Odaesan Meditation Village, it offers a 10% discount on room charges to those who apply for a workcation and stay continuously for 3 nights or more. The maximum stay is up to 5 nights, and the offer runs only in July and August.

The discount applies only to individual customers who use an 11-person room, and reservations are possible only by phone.

Phone enquiries 033-333-6500

Homepage http://omv.co.kr/

Meditation is shifting from training in a seated posture to becoming a tool for tending to the rhythm of the day. Taken together, recent developments from Calm and Headspace — widely cited as the world’s largest meditation apps — and the trends highlighted by a range of overseas wellbeing outlets suggest that global meditation is branching in three directions. There is sleep meditation to help you get to bed, somatic meditation that addresses the body and the nervous system, and technology-based meditation prescribed to suit an individual’s condition. The common thread is that the focus is on recovery and alignment rather than on flashy achievements.

Sleep meditation opening the day’s close — and becoming the broadest entrance

The most rapidly mainstreamed branch is meditation that helps with sleep. Calm’s Sleep Stories audio content has been played more than one billion times over the 10 years since the service began, and the company launched a separate app, Calm Sleep, in September 2025 that deals with sleep on its own. The judgement comes through: sleep has become the biggest gateway for people looking for meditation apps.

Research into its effects has also been published. A randomised controlled trial published in the international academic journal Journal of Medical Internet Research (JMIR) on 4 February 2026 was conducted with 135 university staff at a university in California, US. The group that meditated for 10 minutes a day on the Headspace app for eight weeks reported that the quality of sleep was better than the control group at the 2-, 5- and 8-week points (all P〈.001). Actual sleep time measured with wearable devices also increased by about 24 minutes at the five-week mark. However, the size of improvement was largest around five weeks and then eased somewhat by eight weeks, and the researchers said that keeping the habit over the long term remains a challenge. In South Korea, too, where many people complain of sleep problems, a short meditation before going to bed could be a first step that feels manageable.

Somatic meditation that restores safety in the body — and nervous system recovery

The second trend moves the focus from the head to the body. Overseas wellbeing media identify somatic approaches — aimed at regulating the nervous system, that is, the ability to move between tension and relaxation — as a major topic for this year. Behind it is Dr Stephen Porges’ theory of the polyvagal nerve. As the view that the vagus nerve governs sensations of safety and connection spreads to the public, interest has grown in ways to calm yourself through breathing and bodily sensations.

The practice is straightforward. Long exhalation breathing, yoga nidra that relaxes the body while lying down, and short practices that help you notice sensations in the body are typical examples. Research teams at the University of California, San Diego have previously reported findings that intensive mind-body training can bring relatively swift changes in brain function and blood indicators. The idea of managing the mind through the body links up with practices already familiar in South Korea such as body scans, gukseon-do, and qigong, making it less alien and more like something being read anew.

“Shorter, and tailored to me” — an era when technology prescribes meditation

The third trend is the personalisation of meditation through technology. According to an overseas review outlet, the meditation app market in 2026 is estimated at about 2.4 billion dollars, and Calm has surpassed 4.5 million paid subscribers. Recent apps have evolved so that when users enter their current emotional state, they are offered tailored sessions that link breathing and imagery, and so that when devices such as the Oura Ring or the Apple Watch detect a lack of sleep, they recommend recovery meditation to match.

Alongside this, another habit is spreading: attaching short two- or three-minute meditation to everyday gaps in which people make coffee or commute, building it into routines. Still, technology is not everything. In a Pew Research Center survey, the share of adults under 50 who use meditation apps was 22%, and in an AARP (American Association of Retired Persons) survey, 71% of those aged 50 and over who meditate did not use apps at all. Tools have multiplied, but ultimately each person has different routes that suit them. Even in South Korea’s environment, where apps and wearables are rolling out quickly, technology is taking its place as just one of the many routes into meditation.

O Hye-seon, publisher of Healing News

Inquiries fare3041@naver.com

"I want to meditate, but I can’t do it properly of my own accord. "

So what is the biggest reason why meditation doesn’t go well?

A survey of 272 meditation practitioners: the biggest barrier is distraction (32.7%)… 61.6% of respondents have daily meditation, with morning and short sessions becoming the norm

What are people around the world meditating for, and how are they meditating right now? A ‘Meditation Practice Report 2026’ published by the meditation leader network Mindful Leader shows the picture. The survey, conducted in spring 2026 with 272 meditation practitioners, may not have a large sample size, but it is worth consulting because it captures the real habits and concerns of people who have trained for a long time.

Distraction beats lack of time

The most striking change is the ranking of barriers that block meditation. ‘Lack of time’, which had long been top, is overtaken by ‘too much distraction’, which rose to 32.7%. Lack of time came next at 29.3%.

It is not a confession that they do not have time to practise. It is that even if they sit down, their mind drifts and they cannot concentrate. In an era where smartphones and notifications slice attention into small pieces, the article shows that the task of meditation is shifting from ‘making time’ to ‘gathering scattered attention’.

Mornings, 10 to 20 minutes — meditation routines become the standard

The form of practice has become even more routine and shorter. 61.6% of respondents said they meditate every day, and 64.6% said they prefer the morning time slot. The length they sit for once is 10 to 20 minutes for 36.2%, and more than 20 minutes for 38.4%. Rather than sitting for long periods, short and regular practice that opens the day has taken hold.

In other words, repeating short gaps in the morning without elaborate preparation is solidifying into a sustainable habit.

Why meditate — emotional balance is No. 1

Motives for meditation are also changing. The reason respondents gave was emotional balance (81.2%), the highest figure, followed by contemplative practice (75.4%) and reduced stress (73.5%). Their attitude towards meditation is clear: it is not just about finding tools to ease stress, but about training emotions to stay even and looking inwards.

Quietly, keeping it open, and together — changes in the way people practise

The way people practise is also changing. Silent practice, sitting quietly without guided audio, has risen to 59%. ‘Open awareness’, which means noticing every experience as it arises rather than focusing on a particular target, has surged to 58.5%. Responses that they want support from the community rather than staying with solitary practice also came in at 25.0%, confirming a desire to practise together. The recent increase in wellness meet-ups and meditation-related events also appears to reflect that appetite.

The flow outlined in the report overlaps with the situation at home, too. The diagnosis that distraction is the biggest barrier explains why more urban meditation spaces and short morning meditation programmes are appearing, while the desire to practise together connects with the spread of group meditation and meditation communities. Meditation is becoming less a practice for a special kind of person and more an everyday skill for modern people to gather scattered attention.

Both those who want to meditate and those who want to teach meditation are continuing to increase. While demand for meditation experts keeps rising, the reality is that there are very few points of contact for people who are looking for those experts to actually meet them. It looks likely that more diversification of channels will be needed so that meditation, which is taking root as an everyday skill for modern people, can connect properly with the people who are looking to find meditation properly.

Ki House will hold the summer wellness social ‘Summer Ki Social: Light & Expression’ on Sunday, 12 July, at Seochon The Wellness Korea / (former) Ground Side Seo-Chon.

Ki House is a wellness community that reopens the flow between the body, emotions and people, built on ki (氣). It draws on Eastern wisdom such as movement, tea, food, music, conversation, saju (four pillars of destiny), meditation and martial arts, and translates it into a modern experience. It is creating a place where people connect in a way that feels more alive, more natural and more like themselves.

It is not just quiet rest; it proposes a living wellness culture that gets you moving, helps you express your emotions and lets you share energy with good people. Ki House is growing into a community where people interested in wellness, music, movement, Korean sensibility and a creative lifestyle gather to share their energy with one another and restore the flow of body and mind.

This ‘Summer Ki Social: Light & Expression’ was planned with inspiration drawn from the light of the summer solstice and the life force of summer. It is structured so that you settle your body and mind as you drink tea, open your body through Ecstatic Dance, and connect naturally with others through emotion cards and conversation.

At the heart of the programme, Ecstatic Dance is not a dance where you learn fixed choreography. It is not about being good or putting on a show. Instead, it is a movement-based wellness practice in which you move freely as your body feels to the music, releasing the emotions and energy that had been staying inside you.

The event begins by lightly organising the energy of the space with a Sage scent. After that, you drink tea and seasonal beverages to prepare your body calmly, and then, through Ecstatic Dance, you gradually open up your body and emotions. At the end, you share each person’s experience via emotion cards and conversation, and the gathering naturally flows into socialising.

This summer ritual social is well suited to people whose bodies have been stiff lately, whose emotions feel blocked, or who want to try expressing themselves more freely. It should also be a good time for those who are interested in wellness but are looking for a more sensory, body-centred experience that connects them with other people than the usual static programmes.

Summer Ki Social: Light & Expression
Date and time: Sunday, 12 July, 3:30–7:30 PM
Venue: The Wellness Korea / (former) Ground Side Seo-Chon

You can check the application link in Ki House’s Instagram profile.

Personal IG: @kimgeometry

Ki House IG: @kihouse.kor