CHILL in Inspiring Places
Mindfulness can meet us anywhere. This season, CHILL had the opportunity to bring mindfulness into two very different settings—Ravinia and the Driehaus Museum—each offering its own invitation to slow down, pay attention, and connect with the present moment.
Staying Present Under Pressure
Performing at a high level requires focus. But when the stakes are high, staying present can be easier said than done.
At Ravinia this past July, women leaders and conductors gathered for Breaking Barriers, an event directed by Marin Alsop, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's Principal Conductor at Ravinia. The weekend brought together women from the Taki Alsop Conducting Fellowship, which Alsop founded 20 years ago to support promising female conductors through mentorship, networking, and professional opportunities.
As part of the weekend, CHILL was invited to lead a session designed around a very real challenge for exceptional performers: how to stay grounded in high-stress, high-pressure environments. Rather than approaching the session as a traditional mindfulness class, CHILL Co-Founder Claire Mark led Using the Senses to Navigate Stress and High Pressure, a practical exploration of how sensory awareness can help bring us back to the present moment.
When pressure builds, our attention can easily get pulled into what happened five minutes ago or what might happen five minutes from now. Our senses offer another place to put that attention. Noticing what we see, hear, feel, smell, or even taste can create a moment of connection with what is actually happening right now.
For these women, mindfulness wasn't about stepping away from the demands of high performance. It was about developing tools to stay connected to themselves while meeting those demands.
Experiencing Art Through the Senses
A few weeks later in early August, mindfulness took a very different form at the Driehaus Museum.
CHILL Lead Instructor Darrell Jones guided two public meditation and mindfulness experiences inspired by artist Brendan Fernandes' site-specific installation In the Round. Fernandes, the Museum's first artist-in-residence, is transforming the historic Murphy Auditorium throughout 2026 through sculptural installation, movement, sound, and dance.
Rather than simply looking at the art, participants were invited to experience it through all five senses.
Sight: see with a fresh perspective.
Sound: listen with curiosity.
Smell: ground yourself through scent.
Touch: connect with your surroundings.
Taste: savor the present moment.
It's easy to move through a museum without fully experiencing what's in front of us. We look, but don't always notice. We hear, but don't always listen. We experience, but don’t always remember.
Mindfulness offers a way to change that. By bringing intentional awareness to our senses, something familiar can become new again. A work of art can become not just something we look at, but something we experience. And a moment that might otherwise pass by can become one we actually inhabit.
Mindfulness, Wherever You Are
The underlying practice of both of these settings was remarkably similar: pay attention to the present moment and notice what’s here.
Mindfulness can be a tool for meeting pressure, experiencing creativity, connecting with others, or simply becoming more aware of the moment we're already in.
