Get a-mung the clouds and trees

Tucked away in a side street near an urban park named Seoul Forest is a tea shop that barely seats 10. Here, you cannot talk. Your phone must be on silent. No shoes allowed.

The rules have one aim. Relax. Just space out.

As South Koreans enter the living-with-Covid phase of the pandemic, some are easing back into social life by visiting public spaces where they can be alone and do very little. Nothing is the new something in South Korea as people desperately seek refuge from the pressures of living as functioning adults in a global pandemic in a high-stress and fast-paced society with soaring real estate prices and often gruelling work schedules.

At a Space Out Competition this year, competitors sought to achieve the lowest heart rate possible while sitting in a ‘‘healing forest’’.

The concept is seeping out into a handful of public spaces in South Korea. This month, theatres throughout the country premiered a movie simulating a 40-minute plane ride above and through clouds.

It is a sequel to a movie released this spring, Fire Mung: 31 minutes of footage of a burning campfire.

Researchers say such spaces and experiences tap into growing sentiments of feeling trapped and lonely in year two of pandemic life.

Spacing out is known in Korean as ‘‘hitting mung’’, a slang usage of the word ‘‘mung’’ to describe a state of being totally zoned out. (In this case, ‘‘mung’’ describes a state of blankness.) Now popular are the terms ‘‘forest mung’’ and ‘‘foliage mung’’, meaning spacing out while looking at trees or foliage.

There is ‘‘fire mung’’, or spacing out while watching logs burn, and ‘‘water mung’’, being meditative near bodies of water.

Cafes such as Green Lab, the shop near Seoul Forest, have enjoyed a steady stream of visitors throughout the pandemic by offering spaces to heal and ‘‘hit mung’’. Over tea, customers can read, write poetry, meditate or simply stare out at the trees.

Similar spaces have opened in other parts of the country.

At a Jeju cafe named Goyose, the upstairs area is reserved for people to spend time alone. The cafe provides stationery so you can write letters to yourself over coffee and dessert.

According to media reports, a cafe in the southern city of Busan offers a ‘‘fire mung’’ area where people stare at a screen showing a video projection of a campfire.

On Ganghwa Island, off South Korea’s west coast, a cafe named Mung Hit also offers no-activity relaxation areas. In one section is a single chair facing a mirror for anyone who wants to sit and stare.

There are nooks for meditating, reading, sitting by a pond or the garden, or enjoying mountain views. No pets or children are allowed.

The cafe opened in April 2019 with the goal of providing a ‘‘selfhealing space’’, and it drew many visitors once the pandemic hit, said Ji Ok-jung, the manager.

‘‘Hitting mung is a concept of emptying your heart and your brain so you can fill them with new ideas and thoughts. We opened because we wanted to create a space for people to do just that,’’ Ji said. ‘‘It is a place where people can heal themselves. It is something only you can do for yourself, not something someone else can do for you.’’

‘‘It is a place where people can heal themselves. It is something only you can do for yourself.’’

Ji Ok-jung Cafe manager