You’ve probably seen him on Instagram. A bald monk with a calm, soothing voice shares life advice on your feed. Millions of views. Thousands of comments from people who feel truly moved.
Yang Mun is not a real person. He is an AI character created entirely with HeyGen by creator Shalev Hani. And accounts like his are rapidly growing across Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube right now.
Shalev grew Yang Mun to over 2.5 million Instagram followers with a straightforward formula: one clear concept, around 20 minutes of production time, and HeyGen. No camera. No studio. No conventional talent or production team.
Who is watching
Yang Mun speaks to adults aged 25-50 who scroll Instagram looking for something most feeds cannot provide. Shalev Hani, the creator behind Yang Mun, describes his audience as “adults who seek calm, emotional clarity, and spiritual grounding.” They do not want noise. They want a moment of stillness. And they are not alone. We are living through a wellness shift where slowing down and prioritising mental health have moved from niche interests to mainstream priorities.
Video drives the entire strategy. “Video is the core medium for conveying presence, tone, and trust,” Shalev explains. “A text post can share wisdom. A video makes you experience it.” That is why he builds everything around video and nothing else.
The challenge
Before HeyGen, every video required considerable manual effort to script, record, edit, and publish. Shalev describes his earlier process as “slower and more resource-intensive, limiting consistency.” He could manage a few videos per week, which sounds reasonable until you understand how Instagram actually works. The algorithm rewards consistent daily posting. A few posts a week means reduced reach, slower growth, and a ceiling that Shalev could sense but could not break through.
The deeper challenge was sustainability. “Maintaining regular posting without burnout” was the specific pain point. The meditative nature of the content required precise control over tone and pacing. Keeping that standard while publishing frequently enough to grow became a grind that simply could not be sustained.
“Use technology to support the message, not distract from it.”— Shalev Hani, creator of Yang Mun
Why HeyGen
Shalev started looking for an AI video solution when he realised he needed to “scale content while preserving authenticity.” He was not looking for a shortcut. He needed a tool that could handle the production load without bringing the uncanny valley effect into the final product.
He evaluated several platforms and selected HeyGen for one key reason. In his words, “It felt the most human and non-intrusive, keeping the focus on the message.” Other tools added visual or tonal elements that pulled attention towards the technology. HeyGen did the opposite. It blended seamlessly into the content.
Onboarding was quick. Shalev and his team became comfortable with the suite of tools “in less than a few days.” There was no steep learning curve and no prolonged experimentation. They moved from first use to production-quality output almost immediately.
How it works
For the Yang Mun account, ideas come from two main sources: recurring audience struggles and timeless spiritual themes. Shalev says he does not chase trends. He looks for the overlap between what people need right now and what has been true for centuries. That combination gives each video both immediacy and depth.
He writes short, simple scripts. That is the single most important lesson Shalev learnt early. When asked what he wishes he had known from the start, his answer was direct: “Simple scripts perform best.” The temptation with AI video tools is to write longer and more complex content because the technology can handle it. But the audience does not want complexity. They want one idea, delivered clearly. When he does not have a script ready, he uses HeyGen's script writer to create one.
The other features he depends on the most are “avatar delivery and voice.” No fancy graphics. No complex, layered edits. The format stays minimal and message-first because, as Shalev says, “minimal, message-first videos are what really connect with people.” Since it’s so easy to create videos on HeyGen, he produces content in batches, writing scripts and creating multiple videos in a single session, then scheduling them across the week.
Do audiences mind that he’s AI?
This was Shalev’s biggest concern before launch. He admits that “authenticity was the concern” from the very beginning. If the audience felt deceived, the entire project would collapse.
What happened was the opposite. “The audience’s response settled it,” Shalev says. People focus on the message, not the technology. Comments and engagement patterns show that viewers connect on an emotional and spiritual level. No one checks whether the monk is real. They absorb the teaching, reflect on it, and share it.
When asked about the most unexpected benefit of using HeyGen, Shalev did not point to speed or cost savings. He highlighted connection: “how naturally audiences connect with the content.” When the message is genuine and the delivery is consistent, the technology becomes almost invisible.
The results
“We went from creating a few videos each week to publishing content daily,” Shalev confirms. That one change transformed the entire trajectory of Yang Mun.
Posting frequency, reach, and engagement all increased. But the deeper impact is what publishing every day actually means for a mindfulness brand. Spiritual guidance is not something people look for only once a week. They come back to it every morning, every evening, and whenever they need a mental break and a sense of calm. Daily publishing made Yang Mun available to his audience in the way they truly needed him.
Overall, HeyGen videos performed as well as, or even better than, traditionally produced content. Shalev credits this largely to consistency: “Equal or stronger because of consistency.” The algorithm rewards publishing every day. The audience values reliability. HeyGen made both possible without any compromise on quality.
“The most unexpected advantage has been how naturally audiences connect with the content.”— Shalev Hani, creator of Yang Mun
The playbook
Yang Mun is not an anomaly. He is a blueprint. The same system that built this account works for any creator or brand seeking a consistent, recognisable AI-powered video presence.
The principles carry over directly. Start with a clearly defined audience and a clear message. Use HeyGen’s avatar and voice tools to create a character people recognise and trust. Write simple scripts. Batch your production. Publish every day. Let the technology handle the production load so you can focus on the creative decisions that truly matter: what to say, how to say it, and why your audience needs to hear it.
Shalev now teaches this exact system.“The same system used to build and scale Yang Mun is now taught in a dedicated course for creators and brands who are building AI-powered characters.” It covers everything from character creation and scripting to production workflows and publishing strategy.
What’s coming next
Shalev plans to guide Yang Mun “towards deeper teachings and a wider reach.” The HeyGen feature he is most excited about is “even greater emotional nuance in delivery with Yang Mun in different environments and settings”. It is the ability to convey subtle shifts in tone that makes the content feel even more present and alive.
But the core philosophy remains the same. Technology serves the message. The message serves the audience. Everything else is just noise.
