Louise Hay, advocate, speaker and author dies age 90
Statement from Hay House
Our beloved friend and founder Louise Hay transitioned
this morning, August 30, 2017 of natural causes at age 90. She passed
peacefully in her sleep.
Louise was an incredible visionary and advocate. Everyone who had the
privilege to meet her, either in person or through her words, felt her passion
for serving others.
Considered a founder of the self-help movement, Louise was dubbed “the
closest thing to a living saint.” She published her first book, Heal
Your Body, in 1976 (at age 50) long before it was fashionable to
discuss the connection between the mind and body.
Louise started what would become her life’s work in New York City in
1970. She began attending meetings at the Church of Religious Science and then
entered a ministerial program. She became a popular speaker at the church, and
soon found herself counseling clients. This work quickly blossomed into a
full-time career. After several years, Louise compiled a reference guide
detailing the mental causes of physical ailments and developed positive thought
patterns for reversing illness and creating health. This compilation was the
basis for Heal Your Body, also known affectionately as
“the little blue book.”
Louise was able to put her philosophies into practice when she was
diagnosed with cancer. She considered the alternatives to surgery and drugs,
and instead developed an intensive program of affirmations, visualization,
nutritional cleansing, and psychotherapy. Within six months, she was completely
healed of cancer.
In 1980, Louise began putting her workshop methods on paper. In 1984,
her second book, You Can Heal Your Life,
was published. In it, Louise explained how our beliefs and ideas about ourselves
are often the cause of our emotional problems and physical maladies and how, by
using certain tools, we can change our thinking and our lives for the better.
You Can Heal Your Life became
a New
York Times bestseller and spent 16 weeks on the list. More than 50
million copies of You Can Heal Your Life have
been sold throughout the world.
In 1985, Louise began her famous support group, “The Hayride,” with six
men diagnosed with AIDS. By 1988, the group had grown to a weekly gathering of
800 people and had moved to an auditorium in West Hollywood. Once again, Louise
had started a movement of love and support long before people began to wear red
ribbons on their lapels.
In 1987, what began as a small venture in the living room of her home
turned into Hay House, Inc.: a successful publishing company that has sold
millions of books and products worldwide and now has offices in California, New
York, London, Sydney, Johannesburg, and New Delhi.
“Meeting Louise changed the direction of my life,” said Reid Tracy, President and CEO of Hay House, Inc.
“Her passion for serving others translated into everything she did.
Simply by working alongside her, an analytical accountant like me transformed
into someone who became aware of the power of affirmations and self-love. Being
able to learn from her has been one of my life’s greatest blessings. The beauty
of Louise was that you didn’t have to work alongside her to learn from her, you
felt like you were there with her with every word you read or heard.”
Hay House has published works by many notable authors in the self-help
movement, including Dr. Wayne Dyer, Doreen Virtue, Dr. Christiane Northrup, and
Esther and Jerry Hicks, among others.
Louise was very vocal in her belief that age was irrelevant to achieving
one’s dreams. To that point, at 81, Louise released her first-ever film on her
life and work, You Can Heal Your Life: The Movie.
Hay House will carry on Louise’s legacy and continue to publish products
and online learning courses that align with her message of self-improvement and
self-love.
Louise Hay’s estate, as well as all future royalties, will be donated to
The Hay Foundation, a nonprofit organization established by Louise that
financially supports diverse organizations supplying food, shelter, counseling,
hospice care, and funds to those in need.
The service in honor of Louise Hay will be a private and intimate event.
In lieu of flowers, we welcome your donations to the Hay Foundation. www.hayfoundation.org
Read more
Remembering Louise Hay, One
Positive Thought at a Time
