And the first class is free, with no obligation to sign up for more.

Luckily, there are 15 minutes between classes, so you can take your time leaving. It took me a while to kind of snap out of it.

I left Unplug Meditation feeling relaxed - maybe too relaxed. For whatever reason, I thought there would be more women, but maybe it was just my particular class that day. Interestingly, my classes consisted of three men and me. We sat on the floor on comfy pads that could be flattened or folded up like chairs in a darkened room with soft, soothing music. She didn’t tell us that we had to put all thoughts out of our minds, but that we should allow our thoughts to come and go as they please. My guide was Natalie Bell, who calmly and gently guided my small group to be present in the moment. I was curious to see how the guiding process would go, considering my idea of stress reduction has been yelling, “ Serenity, now!” Rest assured, there is no yelling at Unplug Meditation. Unplug Meditation’s founder, Suze Yalof Schwart z, is a former fashion editor who opened the studio as part of her own spiritual journey. Many of the studio’s guides have advanced degrees and are trained in mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) techniques. Unplug, located on the eastern edge of Santa Monica in West Los Angeles, is a studio dedicated to the art of meditation with 30- and 45-minute drop-in classes that focus on everything from simple mindfulness to stress reduction while driving in traffic.

Suze schwartz