At the Hollywood Forever cemetery, people gather amid the tombs to do yoga.
Kundalini yoga, to be precise. With some hypnosis thrown in.
latimes.com/lifestyle/stor…
The organizers call it “hypno-yoga,” and they’re not the only ones combining the millenniums-old Indian practice with with the therapeutic technique pioneered in the 18th century.
Hypno-yoga practitioners are scattered across the country & the internet.
latimes.com/lifestyle/stor…
But Ellen Heuer and Monique Reymond are the only ones doing hypno-yoga at Hollywood Forever, and offering it for free (for now, at least). Donations are accepted, of course, with the net proceeds going to charity.
latimes.com/lifestyle/stor…
Although Hollywood Forever is her first cemetery, Heuer has been a trained hypnotherapist for 30 years — she filed for a trademark on the term “hypno-yoga” in 2000 (it expired in 2009).
latimes.com/lifestyle/stor…
Reymond started teaching yoga classes at the cemetery last year in large part because outdoor sessions posed less risk of COVID infection.
The teachers & many students say there’s something appropriate about conducting hypno-yoga classes amid the dead.
latimes.com/lifestyle/stor…
Yoga and hypnotherapy are not for everybody.
The combination requires pliability of both body and mind, along with a knack for tuning out worldly distractions. But there’s nothing exclusive about these sessions.
latimes.com/lifestyle/stor…
The story is not without some behind-the-scenes drama.
It turns out that achieving peace and harmony was no easier for the people leading the hypno-yoga classes than the students they tried to guide.
Read more from @jcahealey at latimes.com/lifestyle/stor…
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