A German priest has taken stress relief to an all-time high — or low, as the case may be — when he developed a rather bizarre strategy to help parishioners escape the stresses of daily life by having them lie in a true-to-life open grave.

“I meant it as a meditative exercise.” pastor Thorsten Nolting, from the western German city of Duesseldorf said. “I wanted people to think about what weighs on them down in the darkness and gather the energy to resist it.”

Nolting said his plan went “horribly wrong” when journalists’ relentlessly questioned parishioners that were “laid to rest,” destroying the serenity and atmosphere of the event.

“It wasn’t silent, as it should have been. They ruined it. (They) would not go away, even when I asked them.” Nolting said.

Extraverts who could cope with the unrelenting questioning were happy to climb down into the 6.5 foot (2 meter) long hole, and then rave about their “resurrection.” Nolting added.