A few weeks ago, I visited Dream House, the infamous meditation room and exhibit on Church street. When I told my friends I was going, they immediately said they wanted to join and insisted I take them with me. Although I truly did want to experience the space on my own, I’m glad they came with me because if not, I feel as if I might have left immediately. Because I went at a relatively early time, the space was completely empty and gave me and the two others I was with to have run of the place. When we first walked in, I was surprised at the sound that was being played. I expected more natural, Buddhistic sounds rather than an electronic ring. Similarly, the bright neon lights were another unexpected aspect of the room. We found pillows on the ground and tried to get our bearings on exactly what was happening around us. I stared at the light up tapestry for a while, following the light patterns as they danced along the fabricl. I also shook my head from side to side often as it changed the sound in an interesting way. As for meditating, I couldn’t really focus on letting down my guard. When I meditate, I usually listen to piano interludes and instrumentals (my favorite being September by Agnes Obel) so this was a big change for me. Im also accustomed to body scan meditations, where someone guides me on how to breathe and what to do. However, I felt most relaxed when I played with the incense fog projector. I thought the way the fog would change shape as the different colors and images would project onto the box was pretty interesting. I also dipped my hand in it a lot, expecting it to feel like I was about to touch water. Another place I felt relaxed, weirdly enough, was the bathroom. The pink lights and subdued lights gave the space a calm feeling. When I do go back to Dream House, I would like to try and go alone and see if I can really feed into the relaxing nature of the place, rather than try and soak up all my surroundings.
