Name: Yoga and Meditation in the Galleries
Start: 2025-04-06T09:00:00-04:00
End: 2025-04-06T11:00:00-04:00
Location: Peabody Essex Museum

Sunday, April 6, 2025 from 9—11 am
In-person event
Location: East India Marine Hall
Members $5; nonmembers $10
Advance tickets are required; space is limited.
Register Here: pem.org/events/yoga-and-meditation-in-the-galleries-0406
This class is designed to be accessible to all ages and abilities. No prior experience with yoga or meditation is necessary – all are welcome! Limited seating will be available in the gallery during meditation.
Sealed water is permitted in the gallery during yoga and meditation.
We recommend that you wear comfortable clothing and silence your phone or devices for this program to get the most out of this mindfulness practice.
Join us for a morning of yoga and meditation! First, deepen your breath and take in the serenity of historic East India Marine Hall during a yoga class led by MOTA Fitness, Wellness & Spaces. Then, stick around for a guided mindfulness practice.
About the Yoga Gallery:
East India Marine Hall was built using local Cape Ann granite in 1824-25 by the architect Thomas Waldron Sumner. It was the headquarters for the East India Marine Society, PEM’s founding organization. This group of 22 sea captains and traders sailed all over the world from Salem and started the oldest collecting museum in America in 1799. East India Marine Hall is the historical and physical heart of the museum; over time, added gallery spaces have surrounded it. Recently restored to its original elegance, the building is a National Historic Landmark.
East India Marine Hall currently houses nine carved ship’s figureheads that are juxtaposed with amplified music and sea ballads as a part of Scottish artist Susan Philipsz’ exhibition If I With You Would Go. Philipsz uses sound to heighten awareness of space, emotion and memory. Her choice of a song about a young woman lured away to sea is a mythical and cautionary echo of the mercantile and maritime history embodied in this historic hall.
Observing art can induce a “flow state” of mindfulness and activate the same part of the brain that more traditional mindfulness practices, like meditation and yoga, do. Join us on the first Sunday morning of every month (second Sundays for holiday weekends) in a guided practice of “mindful looking.” Come be still, relax and connect more deeply with artworks from PEM’s collection. A different work or part of the museum will be featured in every class.
About our Collaborators:
MOTA
Based in Union Square in Somerville, MOTA is a queer, BIPOC & woman-owned yoga, fitness and wellness studio whose founder and instructors prioritize making participants feel “seen, safe and at home.” MOTA teachers practice trauma-informed yoga, which aims to anticipate and understand the needs of trauma survivors and support their physical and emotional well-being during class. Learn more here.
Meditation Guide
Mindfulness sessions are led by Learning + Community Engagement’s Public Programs Coordinator Lillian Santiago (she/her). She is an artist, educator and researcher specializing in the arts and health, holding a Masters of Education in Arts, Community and Education; certification in Holistic Health and Wellness; and a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree.