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Old 10-10-2009, 10:40 PM   #1
THE eXchanger
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Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Spiritual eXplorer-Canada
Posts: 4,915
Default James earl ray - sweat lodge - gone wrong :( prayers please

JAMES EARL RAY - SWEAT LODGE - GONE WRONG PRAYERS PLEASE
MY best friend Elaine, is there,
please send good energy, and, prayers to her
(i don't know, if she is OK)
no answer on her cell phone
thank you
love/susan
The eXchanger

http://beyondgrowth.net/guru-critici...-lodge-fiasco/

James Arthur Ray’s Spiritual Warrior Event Kills 2,
Injures 19 in Sweat Lodge Fiasco
written by Duff McDuffee on October 9th, 2009

The news is going around that our pal James Arthur Ray
has two dead participants
and 19 hospitalized after a 2-hour long sweat in Sedona, AZ.

Some partipants paid up to $9000 f
or this “Spiritual Warrior Event.” From the AP release:

Many people began feeling ill after about two hours in the sweat box, emerging lightheaded and weak, said Verde Valley Fire District Chief Jerry Doerksen.

Two hours in a sweat lodge!? This is insane. (UPDATE: I’ve been informed–by my girlfriend–that 2 hours or even much longer is commonplace for sweats. I still think this is insane.) I remember doing a sweat with the Boy Scouts, and it was about 15 minutes before we got out and dumped ourselves with cold water. Ever spent 2 hours in a sauna with no break?

But this is the logic of these kinds of workshops–break you down to build you up. Tony Robbins’ Unleash the Power Within is very similar–long hours, no breaks, constant full-on exercises. While there is usually no explicit instruction that you must remain with the group, the pressure to do so can be enormous even when way beyond your limits.

I’m guessing that these deaths and injuries were not a result of “carbon monoxide” (which tested negatively) but intense psychological pressure to remain in a dangerous situation far beyond the limits of safety and sanity.

I know several people who have gone to the hospital for various reasons after “large group awareness trainings” such as Ray’s “Spiritual Warrior Event.” Many people online have complained of received mild to moderate burns on their feet after Tony Robbins’ firewalk, for example. It’s time we brought these gurus to justice and demanded that personal change workshops be safe for all.

When something goes wrong in such a seminar due to it being overly intense and dangerous, usually the victims are blamed for “not taking 100% responsibility,” thus dodging the responsibility of the seminar leaders. Personally, I think we should hold James Arthur Ray 100% personally responsible for the death of these two seminar participants, up to and including going to jail.


Seminar leaders are responsible for making their workshops both effective and safe for all. There are many safe and gentle methods and techniques for powerful change that have little-to-no risk, and do not require having a breakdown in order to have a breakthrough. It is long past time that we put limits on dangerous techniques for change and promoted safe and effective ones.

UPDATE 6:56pm 10/9/09

James Ray has deleted all of his recent tweets that had to do with the Spiritual Warrior Event or death. I think these tweets are interesting and instructive, given the context. Luckily, they are all still available in search.twitter.com.

These were posted on JamesARay’s Twitter account before and during the Spiritual Warrior Event (shown from oldest to newest, the opposite order as to how things appear on Twitter):



James Arthur Ray has an opportunity in this terrible situation to be a spiritual warrior and take full responsibility. Rise up to the challenge, Mr. Ray. It’s time for a new paradigm in personal change workshops, don’t you think?

UPDATE #2, 7:57pm 10/9/09

The news is breaking all over the web. Here’s a great little piece about James’ Ray’s Death Lodge, where we learn that some of the participants lack health insurance. So in addition to the almost $10,000 ticket price, expect another $10,000 in medical bills. I smell class-action lawsuit.

Here’s a slideshow from ABC news in Arizona, with a recording of the 911 call, and a short video (upper right). Two people were not breathing, and then on a later call there were three people not breathing. Just awful. Why didn’t they catch this earlier?

$9695 each times 64 people = $620,480. James A Ray could have easily afforded to have medical staff on hand.

Here’s some sales copy from James A Ray’s site (before they take it down):

You’ll accelerate the releasing of your limitations and push yourself past your self-imposed and conditioned borders (no more coloring inside the lines)…

The excessive focus on pushing past your boundaries (treating inner objections as “resistance”) is in my opinion what creates the conditions for dangerous approaches to personal change.

You’ll define and enforce your own boundaries—without someone else telling you what they should be…

Clearly this did not happen on this retreat, or those who were feeling ill would have simply stepped out of the sweat lodge. The psychological pressure to conform is often enormous in such workshops, and individual boundary-setting is usually discouraged.

You’ll experience, at the spiritual level, the ancient methodologies of Samurai Warriors; and gain a true understanding of the authority and strength that come from a life of honor…

Again, this is an opportunity for James A Ray to act with honor in the face of death. Deleting Twitter posts to cover your tracks is a bad start. And the patriarchal hypermasculine metaphor of the samurai again shows its shadow in the death and injury of these workshop participants.

The investment is ONLY $9695 per person.

This was an advanced, 6-day seminar for people who had already attended one of James Arthur Ray’s introductory workshops. The structure appears to be the same as Tony Robbins’ workshops–get them in for free or cheap for the first seminar which is structured to be one big sales pitch for the very expensive advanced course. Caveat emptor!

UPDATE #3

Techcrunch has picked up the story, due to the issue of the deleted Tweets. I think we should read this as the Law of Attraction in action—dishonorable acts of cowardice actually attract more attention than transparency and honesty, a lesson for us all.

UPDATE #4

Please also read my followup post to this one, entitled The Dark Side of The Secret: Reading James Arthur Ray’s Sweat Lodge Disaster through a Magickal Lens.

UPDATE #5
The New York Times has picked up the story (requires login). Here’s a quote:

Joseph Bruchac, an expert on Native American traditions and author of “The Native American Sweat Lodge,” said that number far surpassed the 8 to 12 typically present at such a rite. “It means that all these people are fighting for the same oxygen,” he said.

Traditional lodges are usually made of willow branches and covered in canvas or animal skins, and are not meant to be air-tight. The authorities said that the lodge at Angel Valley was covered in plastic and blankets.

Questions have also arisen about the length of time the people were in the lodge — about two hours. A ceremony usually lasts no more than an hour, Mr. Bruchac said.

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