‘I failed at doing nothing’

Contestants doing their own ‘nothing’ in the annual Space-Out Competition in Seoul. Part pageant and part boredom-endurance challenge, the event was created to draw attention to the benefits of zoning out in a competitive society. — Chang W. Lee/The New York Times

STARTING heart rate: 116 beats per minute

Sitting cross-legged on a pink yoga mat, enjoying a cool spring breeze from Seoul’s Han River and listening to traffic rumbling on the bridge overhead, I am trying to achieve a stony state of inactivity.