Hearts Are Healed with Hearts

What is a true rest? Godowon Healing Center teaches us that rest begins when one stops for a moment. By dong so, the center explains, one can pick up the threads that can lead to new energies one can create for one’s life.

Stay and Feel

There is “Morning Letters from Godowon,” starting the day for 3.8 million people with mail with short, meaningful thoughts and episodes every morning. Godowon Healing Center is a meditation healing center established by the writer Godowon with donations from members.

The center, located in the deep woods of Jajubongsan in Chungju, is reminiscent of a small village with more than 10 scattered buildings in unique and charming colors all over the forest. These buildings, established one by one with donations since the opening in 2009, are used for accommodation, a meditation hall, library, and food laboratory with characterful designs.

They have more than lovely designs. The buildings, constructed carefully in an environmentally friendly manner with rice straw and red clay, even provide you with good health. In the “white sky house,” a ger-type meditation place where you can feel sounds more vividly by amplification, you can have a peaceful time with meditation. In the “house of sharing,” you can experience the happiness of a meal with a table full of seasonal food. In the “dream over dream library,” which is filled with donated books from the founder and members, you can get new lessons from a book.

While you are listening to the sound of wind while sitting in the open-air bath of Ongdalsaem green spa, which is made with red clay, natural stones, and cypress trees, it feels like the old fatigue stacked up inside the body and soul are all washed away.

Ongdalseam Stay, Understand Pause for a Moment

The core of Godowon Healing Center is meditation. It focuses on sparing time out of complicated urban life to meditate and gaining heart-warming energy with love and gratitude from meditation.

The most impressive event here is the “pause” time, when you can stop all work and have time to be immersed with a gong alert. You should stop walking and moving with the gong alert even while you were going for a walk in the forest with a “morning guide” who leads meditation

If you take a pause, you can hear all the sounds of birds, wind, falling leaves, and the breathing of your neighbor more vividly. After a couple of practices, you can hear the sounds of nature, and eventually, the sounds of your own heart. The gong of pause even rings in the middle of meals for a moment. You can feel the mix of food inside your mouth and feel the delicate smell of the food in front of you. The pause will present to you inexplicable feelings and impressions.

If you want to spend a few days and truly experience the time of immersion, you can apply for the Ongdalsem ‘Nature Meditation Stay.’ In Nature Meditation Stay, you can enjoy a healthy meal while staying at the ‘Green House in the Forest,’ relax freely in the nature of Ongdalsem, and have time to meditate. You can experience one or two meditation programs during your stay.

These may seem too profound to enjoy, but if you actually experience it, you will find yourself in the serious approach and you will get unexpected and precious realizations. Ongdalsem, hidden deep in the mountains, is definitely full of rest, “helping you feel comfortable” who is tired of living a busy life.

Things To Do

Unjeong Sikdang

This restaurant specializes in daseulgi (marsh snail), which are found in clear waters of Chungcheong, served in soup or salad form.
∇ 3432-1, Jungwon-daero, Chungju-si, Chungcheongbuk- do

Tangeumdae Park

This park has a highly regarded view of the Namhangang River and the nearby dense pine forest.
∇ 105, Tangeumdaean-gil, Chungju-si, Chungcheongbuk- do

Chungjuho Lake

Built by the construction of the Chungju Dam, Chungjuho Lake is sizable enough for some to refer to it as an inland sea.
∇ Jodong-ri, Dongnyang- myeon, Chungju-si, Chungcheongbuk-do

Cheongnyongsa Temple Site

This temple site is home to historic sites like the National Treasure No. 197 of Korea, Stupa of State Preceptor Bogak at Cheongnyongsa Temple Site, Chungju.
∇ San32, Oryang-ri, Sotae- myeon, Chungju-si, Chungcheongbuk-do