Sadly a third person dies in Arizona from the sweat lodge of James Authur Ray. Another 18 were hospitalized.

By FELICIA FONSECA, Associated Press Writer Felicia Fonseca, Associated Press Writer FLAGSTAFF, Ariz.

"An Arizona homicide investigation now includes three deaths after a woman died more than a week after participating in a sweat lodge ceremony that hospitalized nearly two dozen people...Neuman was among more than 50 people crowded inside the sweat lodge run by self-help guru James Arthur Ray. An emergency call two hours after they entered the lodge reported two people not breathing... ."

============

An ex-MKP Warrior reports:

Make no mistake, the type of sweat lodge used in Arizona, air tight and lightless, is very much like the sweat lodges run by MKP.

I have been to MKP sweat lodges with 40 men in them, a number that is close to the 50 number of people in the lodge in Arizona, and I have been in sweats that have lasted well over an hour. The MKP time line leaves almost two hours for the sweat.

At my NWTA, I left the sweat lodge because I couldn't breathe. A couple of other guys left also. There was no oxygen tank around, nor a first aid kit, as MKP claims. Yes, there most likely was a man who knew how to do CPR on the weekend but was he even by the sweat lodge? He could have been a mile away back at the camp.

Once I got out of the sweat lodge, I could finally breathe. I told the leaders that I couldn't breathe in there and they said to me, "haven't you ever been to a steam room at a gym?" Well, the air tight and lightless MKP sweat lodge is hardly a steam bath!

I was wet, naked and shivering cold. I asked to go to the fire and warm myself and I was told "NO!" by the leaders. They said I had to stand next to the sweat lodge and put my hands on the outside of the plastic covering so that I could "feel the positive energy inside."

I did that for a while shivering and shaking in the cold NOVEMBER moring air which created patches of frost on the ground. I eventually went by the fire to warm myself anyway. I told them that I didn't give a &*$% about their "positive energy!"

Don't be fooled by MKP. Their sweat lodges are not exactly the "safe" and pleasant experiences that they claim them to be.

At least seven other people have died in ceremonial sweat lodges since 1993 in the United States, England and Australia, according to news accounts compiled by Alton Carroll, an adjunct professor of history at San Antonio College who also moderates the Web site [www.Newagefraud.org].

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[www.nytimes.com]

Sweat Lodge Bring Soul-Searching

Tom Tingle/The Arizona Republic, via Associated Press

Investigators are looking into two deaths that occurred in a spiritual retreat near Sedona, Ariz. The cause of death is unknown.

Published: October 11, 2009

SEDONA, Ariz. — Tucked into stunning red rock formations and canyons punctuated with splashes of green junipers, this town of about 11,500 has long been a high-end golf and tennis resort, the choice location for second homes of the well-to-do and a favorite destination for hikers, rock climbers, cyclists and sightseers.

It has also become world-renowned as a New Age metaphysical center, attracting seekers and followers of an assortment of spiritual pathways, many of whom believe healing energy is released from “vortexes” that are said to be scattered among the rock formations.

Scores of self-proclaimed mystics, healers, channelers of past life experiences (and aliens), sacred touch massage therapists, wind whisperers and vision quest guides offer their services, often for a hefty price. Many of these spiritual pathways are based somewhat loosely around Native American traditions, including the ceremonial sweat lodge.

But the deaths of two people in a sweat lodge last week at Angel Valley, a New Age spiritual retreat about six miles south of West Sedona, is causing more soul-searching among New Age practitioners and concern among town leaders.

“We are severely impacted by the fact that this happened,” said Sedona’s mayor, Rob Adams. “We need to get to the bottom of what happened.”

Kirby Brown, 38, of Westtown, N.Y., and James Shore, 40, of Milwaukee, died on Thursday after collapsing inside the Angel Valley sweat lodge. Three other people were airlifted in critical condition to Flagstaff Medical Center.

“The people in the field will take a close look at their operations, absolutely,” said Marcus, an intuitive counselor — a kind of spiritual guide — who goes by only his first name. “This is ridiculous, it shouldn’t have happened.”

At least seven other people have died in ceremonial sweat lodges since 1993 in the United States, England and Australia, according to news accounts compiled by Alton Carroll, an adjunct professor of history at San Antonio College who also moderates the Web site Newagefraud.org.

James Arthur Ray, a self-help expert from Carlsbad, Calif., led what was billed as five-day “spiritual warrior” experience at Angel Valley, which concluded with a tightly packed sweat lodge ceremony. Participants paid about $9,000 each for the weeklong retreat, which included seminars, a 36-hour fast and solo experiences in the forest.

The authorities say that at any one time 55 to 65 people were packed for a two-hour period into a 415-square foot structure that was 53 inches high at the center and 30 inches high on the perimeter. Mr. Ray’s employees built the wood-frame lodge, which was wrapped in blankets and plastic tarps. Hot rocks were brought into the lodge and doused with water. Mr. Ray, who conducted the ceremony, left the area on Thursday after declining to give a statement to the police.

Sheriff Steve Waugh of Yavapai County said a death investigation would continue for several weeks. Mr. Ray, the Angel Valley owners, Michael and Amayra Hamilton, and all the participants are part of the investigation, the sheriff said. The results from autopsies that were conducted Friday have not been released and results from toxicology tests are not expected for several weeks.

Dr. Carroll, who is partly of Mescalero Apache descent, said the Angel Valley sweat lodge was the “best example I have seen, sadly, in a long time of why it is extremely dangerous to conduct sweat lodge ceremonies without proper training.”

Katherine Lash, a co-owner of Spiritquest Retreat in Sedona and a veteran of more than 100 sweat lodge ceremonies, said she had never heard of a sweat being conducted with as many people as were involved in the Angel Valley event. “In my experience it has been very rare to have more than 20 people,” she said.

Limiting the number of people inside a sweat lodge is critical because the person leading the event is supposed to carefully monitor the mental and physical condition of each participant, experts said.

“It’s important to know who is responsible for your spiritual and physical safety in that lodge,” said Vernon Foster, a member of the Klamath-Modoc tribe who regularly leads ceremonial sweat lodge events in central Arizona.

Mr. Foster said native people would use only natural materials in the construction of a sweat lodge. “We would never use plastic to cover our lodges,” he said. “The lodge has to breathe, that steam has to go someplace.”

Sheriff’s office investigators are conducting tests to determine whether any toxins were released during the ceremony. The authorities said sandalwood “was thrown on the rocks to give the effect of incense.” A 2007 study by the National University of Singapore on the effects of smoke emitted by sandalwood incense published in the journal Science and Technology of Advanced Materials found that “continuous and prolonged exposure to incense smoke is of concern.”

Ms. Brown, said friends in Cabo San Lucas, Mex., where she lived and worked as a interior house painter, was in excellent physical condition and regularly practiced yoga and enjoyed surfing. “She was very beautiful and a very, very exceptional and unique person,” said Todd Clouser, a musician from Boston who met Ms. Brown three years ago.

Mr. Clouser said he was not surprised that Ms. Brown would attend a sweat lodge. “It was totally up her alley,” he said.

Mayor Adams said that Sedona believed that people should be free to follow their spiritual path and that metaphysical services would continue to be an important part of the area’s economy. But, he said he shared concerns of some Native Americans who complain that non-natives are, at times, exploiting their sacred ceremonial practices for profit.

“If it is simply to make money, then that’s another issue,” he said.

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Questions About 'Sweat Lodge' Rite Where 2 Died (October 11, 2009)

[www.nytimes.com]

Tom Tingle/The Arizona Republic, via Associated Press

Two people died and an estimated 19 others were taken to hospitals after being overcome while sitting in the sauna-like sweat lodge at Angel Valley Retreat Center, near Sedona, Ariz.

Another person who was at the “sweat lodge” at Angel Valley Spiritual Retreat, about six and a half miles from West Sedona, was listed in critical condition at Flagstaff Medical Center.

The two victims were identified on Saturday as James Shore, 40, of Milwaukee, and Kirby Brown, 38, who grew up in Westtown, N.Y., and lived part of the time in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Both had come to the retreat without family members, the authorities said.

The Yavapai County sheriff, Steve Waugh, said at a news conference on Saturday that his detectives were investigating the possibility of criminal negligence in connection with the incident. He said that from 55 to 65 people were gathered inside the lodge on Thursday afternoon for the purification ceremony.

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.

The lodge itself was only four and a half feet tall at its highest point, Mr. Waugh said.

A sweat lodge, similar to a sauna, is an enclosed space where water is poured on heated rocks. Such structures are often used in Native American ceremonies and are intended to cleanse the body. 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.

The people, some of whom paid more than $9,000, were taking part in a program called "Spiritual Warrior, " which was being run by the self-help expert James Arthur Ray. They had been inside the lodge for more than two hours when emergency calls were made about 5 p.m. Friday, the Verde Valley Fire Department said.

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.

Investigators said that a test for hazardous materials showed no evidence of carbon monoxide or other airborne poisons at the lodge, though they said they were still testing blood samples for evidence of toxic substances.

Dwight D’Evelyn, a public information officer for the Yavapai County sheriff’s office, said autopsies of the two victims had been conducted, but results had not yet been released.

Mr. Ray, who was in the sweat lodge for the ceremony and has been holding retreats there since 2003, has not yet commented on the incident.

The owners of the resort, identified as Michael and Amayra Hamilton, also declined to comment.

Mr. Ray has appeared on Oprah Winfrey’s television show and wrote a best-selling book, “Harmonic Wealth: The Secret of Attracting the Life You Want.”

A spokesman for Mr. Ray, Howard Bragman, told The Associated Press, “We express our deepest condolences to those who lost friends and family, but we pray for a speedy recovery for those who took ill.”

New Age programs like the ones Mr. Ray offers are common in Sedona. Anna Lisa Brown, a resident, told the Phoenix television station KNXV that people are always coming to the area for such retreats.

“I was surprised that people would put themselves in that situation, but not surprised, because people are looking for things to fulfill themselves and give themselves purpose,” Ms. Brown said.

The cost of the retreat was listed on Mr. Ray’s Web site as $9,695 per person. In it, he says its participants will “experience a new technologically-enhanced form of meditation that creates new neurological pathways.”

============

[www.nytimes.com]

2 Die and 16 Are Sickened at Spa in Arizona

Published: October 9, 2009

Two people died and at least 16 more were hospitalized after they fell ill while sitting in a sweat lodge at a New Age retreat center in Arizona, the authorities said Friday.

Tom Tingle/The Arizona Republic, via Associated Press

Two people died and an estimated 19 others were taken to hospitals after being overcome while sitting in the sauna-like sweat lodge at Angel Valley Retreat Center, near Sedona, Ariz.

The dead and injured were part of a group of about 48 people who were taking part in a ceremony on Thursday evening inside a sweat lodge resembling a large sauna at the Angel Valley Retreat Center in Sedona, the red-rocks-clustered resort town about 115 miles north of Phoenix. Officials with the Verde Valley fire department said Friday that the event had been going on for about two hours when several people fell sick, complaining of feeling light-headed.

When emergency crews arrived about 5:20 p.m., they found four people in such bad condition that they were flown to Flagstaff Medical Center, and about 14 others were in need of treatment, the authorities said. Two of the sick — identified only as a man and a woman — later died. Officials had not released the cause of their deaths as of Friday night.

That evening, at least three people were still listed in critical condition at Flagstaff Medical Center, the authorities said.

Hazardous-materials teams conducted tests for carbon monoxide and other poisons, which came up negative, the fire department said.

According to the authorities, the retreat center — a 70-acre facility that caters to the New Age tourist industry, with services like “Vortex Tours” and “Bodywork Energy Sessions” — was being rented out on Thursday.

The Associated Press reported that some of the guests had paid up to $9,000 for a multiday program run by James Arthur Ray, the former AT&T sales manager turned self-help expert who co-wrote the best-selling book “Harmonic Wealth: The Secret of Attracting the Life You Want.”

Mr. Ray has appeared widely on television, including on the Oprah Show, and claims to have helped “hundreds of individuals and organizations create harmony and wealth in all areas of their business life.”

Calls to his company, James Ray International, and to the Angel Valley Retreat Center were not immediately returned Friday night.

On its Web site, the retreat center, which is in a secluded valley surrounded by thousands of acres of national forest, bills itself as a place for people to escape their everyday lives for a “journey of self-discovery, healing and realization of your True Self.”

“The services offer a variety of counseling, guidance and healing,” the site states. “The energies of various vortexes and energy spots, the waters and the vegetation support, transform, heal and nourish as well as create a powerful supportive energy field.”

============

There is also another thread about James Arthur Ray and his so-called "sweat lodge" and other issues.
[forum.culteducation.com]

Looks like both of these groups are deliberately using plastic covering on the lodge. (its not a real sweat lodge of course, it should be called a brainwashing tent.)

Obviously that plastic would be put on the structure intentionally, to create some level of "asphyxia" and hypoxia which then can produce that head-rush and "high".

There are teenagers these days that do something called a "choking game" [en.wikipedia.org] to get high.
And of course there is the deadly "Erotic asphyxiation" [en.wikipedia.org]

These LGAT seminar leaders would choose to use oxygen deprivation to create some euphoria in the people taking the workshop.
Yet another in a long line of tactics, along with sleep deprivation, and food/water deprivation. Oxygen deprivation.

The causes of death will be released at some point, and perhaps that will shed some light on this.

Of course, one should never enter a overheated structure like that with a plastic or dense covering without proper ventilation. Its not only potentially lethal, it could cause organ damage and brain damage.

Saw an interview on an early news show this a.m. with the friend of one of the deceased. The friend is an orthodontist, trained in emergency care. They ignored her offer to help when she saw resuscitators showing signs of fatigue after performing compressions for 15 minutes. The interview was heart-breaking. She was very tearful in describing how abandoned she and others felt by Ray, who never showed his face nor spoke with attendees as soon as it was apparent there was a problem.

This reminds me of Milgram's obedience experiments.

I got chills reading about it the other day because it could've been me, back in my guru-following days. I blindly, faithfully followed guru-leaders, and employed tricks of self-delusion such as "reframing". I would have most probably deferred to the authority figure, and instead of seeing what was really going on, I would instead have "seen" that we were all on our way to enlightenment.

Very scary. I did this kind of thing in more benign situations, though some were questionable. I see, though, that had the voltage gone slowly up over the days at a "seminar", I imagine that I would've followed right along.

This is SCARY stuff!

There's gotta be a direct connection with the Mankind Project fake sweatlodges and James Arthur Ray.
James Ray could have done some of the MKP courses, is there any evidence of this?

James Arthur Ray - Mankind Project New Warrior Training [forum.culteducation.com]

Which year did the Mankind Project LGAT start using the fake sweat lodge? They say they have been doing them for 24 years.
So its very possible and likely that James Ray just copied the MKP methods, then modified them himself.

Is there actual proof that the Mankind Project also uses plastic or other non-breathable material on their fake sweat lodge?
If so, that shows a modification they designed to create oxygen deprivation.

New Warrior Training Adventure® is trying to do some serious PR [mankindproject.org] to distance themselves from James Ray, like everyone else in the New Age and LGAT business.

The Mankind Project sounds extremely dangerous, just from their catchphrase alone.

Mankind Project QUOTE: "Are you ready to learn more about who you are in 48 hours than you’ve probably learned in the last 20 years?"

The MKP catchphrase is an extremely serious warning sign, they say right there they can and will break you down in 48 hrs, more than 20 years of life experience.
The MKP catch-phrase also has the embedded suggestive PRESUPPOSITION "are you ready" in the form of a question, which is a deliberate verbal technique.
The question is permissive influence, they ask you the leading questions, your brain provides the answer they are leading you to, so you think its your idea. (they repeat that hundreds of times).

The MKP catchphrase also directly targets the IDENTITY of the person..."WHO YOU ARE".
Standard and classic stuff. Target the core identity of the person, and break then down in 48 hrs.
They can do it too.

The techniques have developed and been refined for decades now, everyone copying from everyone else, and refining them based on constant experimentation on real people.
Stay the hell away from people who openly BRAG about being able to break down your IDENTITY in 48 hrs. See how they enjoy bragging out in the open like that? Bad warning sign.

The only thing worse is when the same techniques are used by a LGAT seminar retreat, that does the opposite, and tells you its just a little "spiritual workshop" then hits vulnerable people between the eyes with a couple hundred powerful techniques group influence ever designed.
They can break down your core identity in 48 hrs, more than the last 20 years of your life, especially when people don't know what is going on. To the trained eye, that MKP catchphrase is like a loaded gun being pointed directly at your forehead.


Mankind Project leading question with embedded presupposition:
"Are you ready to learn more about who you are in 48 hours than you’ve probably learned in the last 20 years?"

Answer:
No, actually I am not ready to have the Mankind Project LGAT seminar systems set me up to have my core Identity broken down with 48 hrs of extreme persuasion techniques, to soften my mind up to enrol in countless other MKP project courses and clean out my bank account. I prefer to explore issues of Identity in a private and personal manner which are none of MKP's business.
I will NEVER allow MKP or any other seminar corporation to directly target the sense of Identity at the core of every personality, and then destabilize it, break it down, smash it, and try to reprogram it in 48 hrs to serve the interests of MKP.

Now MKP referral sales rep...here's a loaded question:

Are you ready to get the hell off my property in 10 seconds before tasting a little rocksalt square in your MKP behind that'll probably hurt more than anything you've felt in the past 20 years?

Hello All, I saw these posts and decided to research and comment. Here is what the MKP site says under its FAQ section:

[mankindproject.org]

FAQ
Q: Are you affiliated with James Arthur Ray or the Spiritual Warrior Training?

A: The ManKind Project is in no way associated with James Arthur Ray or the Spiritual Warrior Training. We are deeply saddened and
extend our heartfelt condolences to those affected by the October 2009 tragedy in Sedona, Arizona.

All,

Due to some of the concerns stated here and by men asking about MKP's men's weekend retreat and people asking "what it is about", an FAQ was created to address some of the concerns. An invitation is put here to review what has been writter on the MKP website:

[mankindproject.org]

Thank you.

FloatingFreeBear

Is this comment by "FloatingFreeBear" supposed to be satire?

If not, who do you think you are dealing with here? Idiots?
You get an Mankind Project Google alert and link to the MKP advertising and propaganda pages? Those pages are full of distortions by MKP.

Of course the MKP sweatlodges and the James Ray bogus "sweat lodges" are linked. They are both an terrible abuse of a native american tradition for profit.
They are both running damaging and dangerous LGAT seminars.

Mankind Project QUOTE: "Are you ready to learn more about who you are in 48 hours than you’ve probably learned in the last 20 years?"
[forum.culteducation.com]
That perverse catchphrase from MKP is analyzed at that link.

There are pages after pages of complaints against Mankind Project here.
[forum.culteducation.com]