As anyone who’s been crammed into a stuffy, smelly, loud and delayed subway train will already know, commuting can be pretty stressful, to say the least. But what if your commute was totally different? What if, for instance, you could board a train full of mindfulness activities, from meditation to arts ‘n’ crafts? That’d be a bit less stressful, right?
Well, that’s a question soon to be answered in the UK by the launch of a new ‘wellness train’. The new service will be operated by LNER and will launch this May.
It’ll initially be a one-off service to raise awareness for Mental Health Awareness Week (from May 9 to 14), and will feature loads of generally lovely stuff to do, with various carriages dedicated to classes on knitting, doodling, macramé and origami. The sessions will be led by craft experts, all with the intention of enabling travellers to switch off from ‘everyday noise’ and focus on their own mental health.
Now, if you ask us, trains can – when they’re not a commuting nightmare, that is – often be a pretty chilled and relaxing form of travel. Combine that with mindfulness, and, well, it’s difficult to imagine a more wholesome and therapeutic journey.
LNER’s ‘wellness train’ will run from London King’s Cross to Lincoln, leaving at 8.06am on May 7. Tickets start at £50 and include a ‘mindful’ food menu, goodie bag and pep talk from reality TV star James Middleton.
You can buy tickets and find out more here.
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