๐ INTRODUCTION
Many people spend their lives searching for happiness through success, achievement, recognition, and creative expression.
Some become musicians.
Some become artists.
Some dedicate themselves to careers they love.
Yet even after accomplishing their dreams, many still find themselves asking deeper questions:
“Who am I?”
“How should I live?”
“What is my true self?”
This meditation testimonial shares the remarkable story of Park Young-ae, one half of the legendary Korean folk duo Hyunkyung and Youngae, whose music continues to be loved more than forty years after its release.
After leaving the music world, Park Young-ae built a successful career as an artist, exhibiting her work in Korea and Japan while earning recognition for her innovative creativity.
Yet despite her achievements in both music and art, the deepest questions of her life remained unanswered.
Through this meditation, she finally discovered the freedom, happiness, and peace she had been searching for since childhood.
This meditation testimonial beautifully illustrates how letting go can sometimes bring more fulfillment than any achievement ever could.
๐ฌ MEDITATION TESTIMONIAL: โFROM FOLK SINGER TO ARTIST TO MEDITATION INSTRUCTORโ
By Park Young-ae | Folk Singer, Artist, and Meditation Instructor
More than forty years have passed since Hyunkyung and Youngae released our only album.
Yet even today, people still listen to our songs.
Sometimes I hear that fan clubs still gather to play our music.
Whenever our songs are featured in television programs or films, people ask:
“Who sang this song?”
“These voices are so pure and beautiful.”
Honestly, it amazes me.
I believe the songs became free because I never tried to possess them.
They no longer belong to me.
They belong to the world.
๐ธ THE BEGINNING OF HYUNKYUNG AND YOUNGAE
The story began during my freshman year at Seoul National University.
My friend Lee Hyun-kyung and I were asked to sing together because we both played acoustic guitar.
The audience response was overwhelming.
After that, people constantly invited us to perform.
Soon we were singing original songs written by friends and senior musicians.
One day, a radio station invited us for an appearance.
The producer asked:
“What’s your group name?”
We looked at each other and answered:
“We don’t have one.”
The producer laughed and replied:
“Then let’s call you Hyunkyung and Youngae.”
That was how the name was born.
From then on, we performed everywhere as Hyunkyung and Youngae.
Although we only performed during our university years, our music continued touching people long after we stopped singing.
๐ค โWHO AM I?โ โ A QUESTION THAT NEVER LEFT ME
Even while standing on stage and smiling, I carried a question inside me.
Since childhood, I constantly wondered:
“Who am I?”
“How should I live?”
“What is my true self?”
Outwardly, I looked cheerful.
Internally, I often felt sadness and anxiety.
After graduation, many of my friends quickly found direction.
They pursued careers.
Graduate school.
Marriage.
Stable lives.
But I felt lost.
There were even times when I wanted to leave everything behind and disappear into the mountains.
The questions inside me never disappeared.
๐จ FROM MUSIC TO ART
Eventually, I chose a new path.
Art.
I shifted from Western painting to Eastern painting and later studied ceramics in graduate school.
Over time, my work expanded into:
โข Painting
โข Ceramics
โข Printmaking
โข Seal carving
โข Calligraphy
โข Video performance art
My work gradually gained recognition.
I held exhibitions in Korea and Japan.
Art critics praised my work for being:
โข Clean and uncluttered
โข Elegant and peaceful
โข Innovative and unconventional
One exhibition even gained attention because visitors could walk directly on paintings spread across the gallery floor.
From the outside, everything looked successful.
Yet inside, I still wasn’t happy.
๐ SUCCESS COULDN’T ANSWER MY QUESTIONS
By the time I reached fifty years old, the same questions remained.
The same anxiety remained.
The same dissatisfaction remained.
And surprisingly, art itself became another burden.
I found myself thinking:
“I am a painter.”
“I am an artist.”
“I want recognition.”
“I want praise.”
Without realizing it, I had become trapped by those thoughts.
The freedom I originally sought through art seemed further away than ever.
๐ฟ DISCOVERING THE HAPPINESS OF LIVING WITHOUT THE MIND
At the point when I felt completely exhausted, a friend introduced me to meditation.
As I reflected on my life and gradually let go of accumulated thoughts, memories, and attachments, something remarkable happened.
Suddenly, everything became clear.
I realized:
“I had never truly been living in the present.”
Instead, I constantly forced reality to match the ideas stored inside my mind.
Even while creating art, I would think:
“I should create this kind of work.”
“I should become this kind of artist.”
I was always trying to shape the present according to the past.
No wonder I felt burdened.
I was living that way in every part of my life.
โจ MY WANDERING FINALLY ENDED
As I continued meditation, something gradually disappeared.
The confusion.
The anxiety.
The endless searching.
For the first time, I felt certain that my wandering had ended.
I discovered what it meant to simply live.
Without forcing.
Without controlling.
Without carrying unnecessary thoughts.
Like water flowing naturally.
Today, I wake up in the morning feeling happy.
Not because something special happened.
Simply because I am alive.
That happiness is difficult to explain.
It can only be experienced.
๐ WHY I BECAME A MEDITATION INSTRUCTOR
Eventually, I decided to become a meditation instructor.
I wanted to share with others the same happiness I had discovered.
These days, I spend much of my time teaching meditation.
Sometimes, unexpectedly, I hear an old Hyunkyung and Youngae song playing somewhere.
Whenever that happens, I remember something important.
Back then, I never sang because I wanted to become famous.
I simply sang.
That is why I could let the songs go without regret.
And because I let them go, they became free.
They gained a life of their own.
They became not mineโbut the world’s.
Just like a bird can only truly fly once it is released.
That is also the principle of life.
๐ โWHEN I OPEN MY EYES, I FEEL HAPPYโ
Today, when I wake up in the morning, I feel happy.
And sharing that happiness with others makes me even happier.
Looking back, I spent decades searching through music, art, and achievement.
Yet the greatest discovery came when I learned how to let go.
That was when the answers finally appeared.
And that was when genuine happiness began.
