Meditation truck offers moment of zen in heart of bustling New York City

NEW YORK (REUTERS) - Certified meditation teacher Kristin Westbrook offered guided meditation sessions in her converted RV truck on Wednesday (July 26) in midtown Manhattan and encouraged frazzled passers-by to join her for a 10-minute mental break.

Leaning against her vehicle, which was parked around New York's Bryant Park and alongside several food trucks, Ms Westbrook, 50, said she opened "Calm City", a mobile meditation studio, in May to alleviate people's stress as it helped her with her own.

In town from Massachusetts, Susan, 55, saw the parked truck while walking back to her hotel in Times Square and stopped for a 10-minute session costing US$10 (S$14).

"It's a total reset," said Susan, who did not wish to provide her last name. "Any sort of high-level stress, it just would bring it right down, remind you to breathe, remind you to come inside, remind you to just ground your feet and just drop in. It's perfect."

The Calm City mobile studio, which seats up to nine people at a time, hosted about four customers total on a recent Wednesday, according to Ms Westbrook.

She hopes to partner companies around the city for corporate events and eventually expand her business by operating more trucks.

Ms Westbrook, a New Jersey native, said a two-time battle with breast cancer and stressful job as a creative director in Manhattan inspired her to open the mobile studio, which is now her full-time job.

"I wanted to make it as convenient as a food truck so that you could just pop in, get 10 minutes of calm and then go back to work without it being a big time or travel commitment," said Ms Westbrook, who has been meditating since 2001.

"I love when people come in here and mediate because the look on their face just changes so much when they leave. It's so relaxing and purifying. People walk by and they are like, 'Oh wait, let me see what's going on in here.'"