Women in Chongqing, a city in southwestern China, are ‘meditating’ in shallow graves in a ritual that is meant to help them cope with the devastating effects of divorce.

These photos capture the women sleeping in the graves with only a thin piece of plastic separating them from the cold earth.

It seems the strange ritual is actually helping the women cope with their divorces: one woman can be seen crying with her fists raised in the air.

The idea of such a bizarre meditation method was invented by a 30 year old local, Liu Taijie. She was having troubles after her own divorce like depression and other hardships.

Liu said: “When a person is desperate, he or she could almost feel they’re near death. By lying in the grave, my students could try to experience death.”

She added: “This will remind them that they have not done many things in their life and that they need to forget about the past and start a new life.”

Liu continued: “I know how a woman felt when she was feeling abandoned. I had the thought of committing s*icide when I got divorced.”

This is her second business and it seems that it is a roaring success in her small town. “Failure is not scary. I want all the divorced women to live their own lives and to achieve their own goals. Women must reply on themselves and be our own Queen,” Liu believes.