The Yoga Gospel

Getting a day off to the right start begins before even getting out of bed, yoga teacher Het Heru tells her students.

While lying on the back, lift one leg and extend it straight, she tells them. Flex it, pull the toes toward the body and count to 30.

Do the same with the other leg. Then get out of bed, open a door or window and take 10 breaths.

“Before you even go to the bathroom, open the window to get the fresh morning air and breathe deep,” she said. “Finally, bounce up and down on the balls of your feet for 30 seconds. Then go brush your teeth.”

Het Heru, who was once known as Cheryl Harriman, is a respected yoga instructor who ran the Harriman Studio of Yoga in West Los Angeles for 15 years. She is now virtually on a mission to spread the practice of yoga in Los Angeles’ black community.

“With all the revelations about hypertension and stress among black people, I want to get the people involved in yoga to reduce the problem,” said Het Heru, who has adopted the name of the ancient Egyptian goddess of love, music, sensuality and beauty.

She teaches on Tuesday and Thursday evenings in a small gallery filled with colorful paintings at the William Grant Still Arts Center at 2520 West View Drive in the Mid-City area.

At a recent session, seven students gathered to relieve the tension of their stress-filled day.

“I look forward to coming here,” said Crystal Woods, adding that yoga releases the tension that builds up in her shoulders after a day’s work at an auto insurance company. “I love to release the spiritual and emotional energy.”

Het Heru teaches what she calls African holistic yoga, which is not as physical as the classic Indian or hatha yoga, which emphasizes flexibility.

“I work from the inside out,” she said.

For decades, the ancient practice of yoga has been embraced by Americans as a healthier alternative to tranquilizers. It is as much a philosophy of life as it is a series of exercises for improving the function of body and mind. Over the years, yoga’s popularity has been enhanced by celebrities who have joined the ranks of its adherents.

Pop artist Peter Max, who gained fame in the 1960s for his wildly colorful paintings, is one of them. In an interview last week, he said, “If I had to sum up yoga in one sentence, I would say yoga is loving all and serving all. When you are tense you get angry. Yoga releases the tension and the anger.”

Het Heru began her path toward becoming a yoga teacher as a teenager.

“There is an old saying that when the student is ready, the teacher will appear,” said Het Heru, 47. She credits her yoga career to her teacher, Indra Devi, a woman she said is known among devotees as the first lady of yoga. “I was very blessed to have studied with this incredible woman.”

At her Harriman Studio, Het Heru taught hundreds of students a week. She also taught classes for the Junior Blind and organized meditation workshops.

One of the students, Paul Jackson, has been taking classes with Het Heru for a dozen years.

“I love it because it improves the quality of life,” said Jackson, 49, who looks forward to the classes and the feeling they give him. “After the workout you can feel the difference. I’m getting a tingling sensation as I speak.”

Jackson jokingly added: “And it’s a lot cheaper than drugs.”

Het Heru is excited about her classes at the art center, seeing them as her first step toward making yoga accessible to a much larger community.

“I want to spread the word about Yoga to the black community, not just in Los Angeles,” she said, “but all over the world.”