It’s Friday and my alarm goes off at 4 a.m. I shower, brush my teeth and I’m out the door into the brisk air. I pick up two friends who are crazy enough to join me on this early morning adventure.

Most of them are young and modishly dressed. They kneel Oriental-style on a living-room floor in West Hollywood, some 20 strong, facing a homemade altar and rolling Buddhist prayer beads between their ...