In New York, women are getting together en masse as part of a new club, City Girls Who Walk. From ages nine to 90, hundreds of women get together every Sunday at 12:00pm ET to walk at locations across the city, such as Central Park and along the Hudson River. It was started by Millennial, Brianna Kohn, after she moved to the city and found it difficult to make friends and navigate the urban social scene. It turns out she wasn’t alone in this feeling: many Millennial and Gen Z women are searching for connection.
The walking group has grown so big – sometimes featuring groups as big as 600 women – that it looks more like a protest than a Sunday stroll. The organisation offers a warm, welcoming, inclusive atmosphere, a safe space for participants to show up as their true selves and do something healthy, positive and meaningful together – network.
It’s an extremely simple concept that’s having an important impact on its participants. In an interview with Elle magazine, Fernanda Grace, 37, says of her experience: ‘These strangers have become amazing friends… they have become the most wonderful adventure buddies I could have ever wished for.’
Meditation en masse
Meditation – a traditionally solo activity – is getting social. As young people explore what spirituality means to them, they are turning to new and interesting outlets that allow them to connect on a more meaningful, often spiritual, level, yet also ground them. But rather than seeking out these moments of silence alone, they are going in groups – of thousands.
Mass meditations are taking place in person at some of the biggest stages in the US, such as Madison Square Garden, the SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, Bonnaroo Music Festival in Tennessee, Fenway Park in Boston and the American Museum of Natural History in New York. hOm, an Ohio-based immersive sound experience, is hosting what it calls The World’s Largest Sound Bath and City-wide Meditation in September 2023. The event is attempting to set the Guinness World Record as the largest, in-person sound bath ever at the Lower.com Field in Columbus, Ohio – which seats more than 20,000 spectators. Instagram gurus like Jay Shetty and brands like The Big Quiet are also leading in-person meditations for audiences of thousands.
