Health

You Can Meditate to Live Music With 300 Other People at the National Museum of Women in the Arts

The Big Quiet mass meditation will be in town October 23.

Photograph by Felix Kunze.

For those of you struggling through a Headspace session alone in your apartment, fear not—you can now meditate with a couple hundred of your closest friends.

The Big Quiet will be in DC on October 23 for a mass meditation at the National Museum of Women in the Arts. The group expects over 300 participants will show up to settle onto meditation pillows before being guided through breathing exercises, vocal-toning, and a sound meditation. A series of performances by live artists will round out the event. (The musicians are a surprise, says a Big Quiet spokesperson, but they’re all local and have their own meditation practices.)

Photo courtesy of The Big Quiet.
Photo by Inna Shnayder.

The series was started in 2014 by Jesse Israel, who started gathering a group of friends in his New York apartment for meditation sessions. He wanted to create a way for folks who aren’t yogis or mindfulness experts to dip their toes into meditation. Since then, the group has held over 25 events across the country in spots like Madison Square Garden and Fenway Park.

As part of a 10-day tour, the Big Quiet has made its way through cities like Los Angeles, Denver, and Nashville en route to DC.

Tickets for the event are $35 and include a complimentary Tuft & Needle meditation pillow. A percentage of ticket sales will be donated to Choose, which battles climate change, and Kula for Karma, which introduces folks recovering from trauma to meditation.

National Museum of Women in the Arts; 1250 New York Ave. NW

 

Mimi Montgomery Washingtonian
Home & Features Editor

Mimi Montgomery joined Washingtonian in 2018. She’s written for The Washington Post, Garden & Gun, Outside Magazine, Washington City Paper, DCist, and PoPVille. Originally from North Carolina, she now lives in Del Ray.