Today, we're sharing the first episode of OMMM, Getty's newest podcast and first video podcast.

This series encourages you to engage with works of art mindfully, wherever you are. Part art history, part mindfulness meditation, each episode focuses on one work of art and uses it as an inspiration for meditation and reflection.

Long-time museum educator and meditation practitioner Lilit Sadoyan translates her work leading mindfulness meditation tours at the Getty Museum into a podcast that fits into your daily routine. Between episodes, catch Lilit’s interviews with fascinating guests like a sleep historian, a mountain climber, and an art conservator, who shed new light on familiar works of art.

Today's episode features a sensory awareness meditation inspired by Vincent van Gogh's Irises (1889). Van Gogh’s Irises is one of the best known works in the Getty collection. This was one of the first paintings the artist began after entering an asylum following his mental breakdown in Arles. Van Gogh found respite and recovery in the garden—and in his art.

With irises shown in full bloom erupting directly from the damp soil, this painting makes it easy to imagine the experience of being down on the ground in a garden on a spring day. Being outside in a garden engages all of our senses—the feeling of the wind, the sound of birds, the scent of warm earth. This experience inspires the episode’s sensory meditation.

Subscribe to OMMM wherever you get your podcasts and at getty.edu/ommm, where you can also find additional images and transcripts.

Subscribe on YouTube for the video version: https://gty.art/4wZysOS