Meditation in the museum
For several weeks now, thick meditation cushions have been lying on the floor of Room 124 in the Bode Museum in Berlin-Mitte. These, along with a specially placed bench, invite visitors to leave behind the worries and fears of everyday life through meditation and mindfulness – and thus support their own mental health.
“The Healing Museum – Mindfulness and Meditation in the Art Space” is a collaborative project between the Bode Museum and the Experimental and Clinical Research Center (ECRC), a joint institution of Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin and the Max Delbrück Center.
A Buddha and a pope
Also displayed in the room are a painting and seven sculptures, which include a seated Buddha in a meditation pose made of slate, and a bronze bust of Pope Gregory VII. These objects are intended to evoke the interwoven traditions of meditation in Buddhism, Islam, Christianity, and Stoicism. They also serve as stations for various meditation and mindfulness exercises.
An audio guide directs visitors through a total of eight exercises – some designed for couples and others for children. Visitors can also access the guide with headphones and a mobile phone via Bode Museum web pages specifically designed for the exhibition. Some meditation stations invite participants to sit; other exercises are done standing or walking. All share one goal: to focus participants’ attention fully on the here and now.
Mindful instead of fearful
“The idea for the project came from Bode Museum curator María López-Fanjul, whom I’ve known personally for a while,” says Professor Carmen Infante Duarte, who heads the Innate Immunity & Neuroinflammation working group at the ECRC. “I was immediately excited and arranged a meeting with the ECRC directorate.” Duarte and López-Fanjul implemented the concept together with Professor Friedemann Paul. Paul heads the neuroimmunology outpatient clinic at the ECRC and supports the project on a scientific level.
“Our patients suffer from currently incurable inflammatory diseases of the central nervous system, such as multiple sclerosis or Neuromyelitis optica. This causes them significant psychological stress,” says Paul. “They worry about how their illness will progress and how the disease-related limitations will affect their work and personal lives.” Some of them develop sleep disorders or even depression.
According to Paul, the psychological side effects of neuroimmunological diseases are neither sufficiently researched nor well treated. This is where the idea of the healing museum comes in. “We offer our patients free museum visits so that they can practice meditation and mindfulness exercises – in the hope that their mental state and possibly even the symptoms of their actual illness will improve,” explains the physician.
The first study is underway
A small study on this approach funded by the Freundeskreis der Charité is already underway. “At the moment, we can accommodate around 50 to 100 participants at the healing museum, interview them before and after about their disease-related stress, and scientifically evaluate the results,” says Paul. He hopes additional funding can be secured to allow more people to take part in the study.
The healing museum is not just for patients. To support mental health, anyone who wants to escape daily stress and find calm is invited to take part in the guided meditation and mindfulness exercises. To make the exhibition accessible to as many people as possible, the Bode Museum is providing a total of 2,000 free tickets during the project’s first year. These can be ordered online.
Text: Anke Brodmerkel
Further information
The healing museum – mindfulness and meditation in the art space
Bode Museum, Am Kupfergraben (Entrance via Monbijou Bridg), 10178 Berlin
Öffnungszeiten: Mi - Fr 10 - 17 Uhr, Sa + So 10 - 18 Uhr
Free tickets and further information: The Healing Museum
