After giving the account of my experience of Don Hanson and his work on this forum recently, I then wrote to his organiser in my country with my concerns and also spoke to the owner of a venue that he worked in here.

Below is the response I received from his organiser who I had a friendship with before I met him many years ago. She has asked me to please remove what I had written. I have taken out the name of the venue he worked in as they had no idea of his history at the time.






"I reply to you now also in the spirit of communication. Don is a man I deeply respect who has helped thousands of people worldwide. This I know for myself and many others.

Though it complicates mine and Don´s work to communicate to people like xxxx, at least she knows Don. She can make up her own mind on Don’s character and whether she wants to host his workshop´s.

It is the people that do not know him and therefore never get to make up their own minds that is the concern. Such as the people that will read your post on the Cult Education Institute’s forum and may need his work but will, for sure, be totally turned off and will never get to make up their own minds.

Sexuality was explored within TCM with the intention of progressing one's spiritual development. There are few brave enough to cover this field and it is and has been uncharted territory for everyone involved. Thanks to Don going here, numerous people have had the opportunity to heal sexual trauma, including rape. They would not have been able to get the same level of understanding in relation to their traumas if sexuality had not been an open topic within the group. People have learned to know when to trust themselves, especailly in that crucial moment before abuse when it all feels off.

Please, I ask you to consider others including the people that Don is supporting in his life. His children especially and they also get to read this around their own father.

This public humiliation has, as Don has said himself, the power to destroy him.

Please can you consider the very public worldwide ramifications of this and consider removing it. I am asking this of you as we have had a history of friendship.

Sincerely,"

I gave the account of my experience of Don Hanson in response to other voices on this forum warning of him and his work, and some who have had similar destructive experiences to mine and spoken out about them in the last year. My intention was to give my account and leave it there.

However, since I gave the account there have been aggressive and threatening reactions from his followers aimed at me that have been removed from this forum as they violated forum rules. The most recent attempt by one of his organisers to manipulate me into silence is now posted above.

Each time a bullying or manipulation tactic happens it becomes clearer to me that he is taking zero responsibility for his actions and moves me into further action.

I’m just surprised they have got away with it for so long. Absolute frauds and an undercurrent of practicing evil, summoning ‘higher beings’ yet playing down religion and God at the same time. Charging silly money for ‘workshops’ and ‘phone sessions.’ Preying on vulnerable people. Now the two have spilt as a married couple. One will be out to destroy the other. Just watch.

Does anyone know if these workshops were offered earlier using other names?

Not sure Corboy as they claim to have ‘invented’ the con trick they practice. I do recall an old website in which they featured photos of particles of dust which were illuminated by the camera flash. They then passed these off as ‘supernatural orbs’ appearing around Don. Despite it being a common and explainable thing that happens in normal photographs every day.

Quote

just about anyone can find evidence of ghosts using a common device in nearly every home: a camera. Orbs have also been reported in connection with crop circles and UFOs; they are a good, all-around “unexplained” phenomenon that can be adapted to fit many paranormal scenarios.

Most orbs are simply round or oval white shapes, though they may take a variety of forms. There is not one blanket cause for all orbs; many things can create the phenomena, ranging from insects to dust. In a series of experiments, I was able to create orb photos under a wide range of circumstances. The easiest way to create orbs is to take a flash photograph outdoors on a rainy night. The flash will reflect off of the individual droplets and appear as dozens of white, floating orbs. (The effect is most pronounced in a light rain, though even a little moisture in the air can create mysterious orbs.) CSI Senior Research Fellow Joe Nickell (1994), in his own studies, found that flashes reflecting back from camera straps are a common source of orbs, as are unnoticed shiny surfaces that can reflect a camera flash...

For the rest of the article, go here:


The (Non)Mysterious Orbs
Email
Skeptical Inquiree
Benjamin Radford
Skeptical Inquirer Volume 31.5, September / October 2007

[www.csicop.org]

Reference cited by Radford:

References
Nickell, Joe. 1994. Camera Clues: A Handbook for Photographic Investigation. Lexington, Kentucky: University of Kentucky Press.

[en.wikipedia.org])

Quote

Orbs are also sometimes called backscatter, orb backscatter, or near-camera reflection.[3] Some orbs appear with trails indicating motion.[4]

[skeptics.stackexchange.com]

Quote

Orbs are photographic artefacts – specifically bits of airborne dust, water droplets, insects etc. caught in the flash of a camera. They appear out of focus because they are so close to the lens of the camera in an area called ‘The orb zone’ which is between the camera lens and the ‘point of focus’ in a photograph (namely the object you are taking a photo of, such as a person.)

When the flash of a camera goes off it will reflect off of the airborne artefacts in ‘the orb zone’ and the position between the lens and the ‘point of focus’ will cause the light reflection to appear as a circle of confusion.

An orb is what a professional photographer would call a circle of confusion, an out of focus highlight in the photo. When you take a photograph that has out of focus objects in it you will notice that the out of focus objects don’t just go fuzzy – they turn into small overlapping circles of light and the larger the circle, the fainter it is, because the light is more spread out until eventually the circles will become so large and faint that they disappear all together.

This could explain why some orbs appear larger and fainter than others rather than the idea that the spirit orb is further away from the camera. To confuse an artefact in front of a camera lens for a spirit manifestation is an easy mistake to make if you do not research into the subject and rely upon pseudo-scientific theories.

A study was done by ‘Paranormal Site Investigators’ who are based in Swindon into the orb phenomena that showed how it's unlikely that these balls of light are caused by ghosts.

The study can be found here: [www.theorbzone.com]

There's another optical effect called boke (pronounced boh kay)

[en.wikipedia.org]

The photo was taken on a beach while a party was going on and people were dancing, stirring up the dust. It was dust and just another example of an attempt to con people into believing it was something more.

I had a similar episode in a swimming pool, and after taken to his bungalow, and he gave me a massage he did not touch my genital area at all I was not engaging, and I would not permit, I told me I was feeling no healing and was tired and it ended up there.

Here some precautions to take if you are doing a retreat in a remote location.

Any adventure, whether physical or spiritual, entails risk or it would not be an adventure. Wise adventurers are humble about their vulnerability and take precautions.

If that retreat is in a foreign country, take precautions. Nations that get most of their income from tourism often hush up and deny problems.

When a young person goes missing in a third world country that is popular as a tourist destination, especially if a woman goes missing, local authorities often blame the victim, typically writing it off as promiscuity or a drug deal gone wrong.

Places like this are also popular as spiritual retreats - lovely settings, cheap labor, cheap real estate.

So, what you do is establish your credibility before you go abroad.

Give your family or friends a copy of your passport.

Two, when arriving, register at the embassy or consulate before going to the retreat facility. This establishes your street cred as a responsible traveler.
If you go missing, you're taken more seriously if you're known to have registered at the consulate and if you have family and friends from home who are raising hell demanding to know where you are and who have a copy of your passport.

Who, What, When, Where .

Who is leading the retreat - names and phone numbers

Where is the retreat - location, name of facility, telephone numbers
When -- When is the retreat, when do you return, when are your friends or family to expect to hear from you --

WHAT your friends and family must do if they do NOT hear from you by a specific time and date.

Have a friend or relative who knows where you are. Give them the name of the retreat facility and the contact information.

If you have not returned by the specified date, and your friends calls to the retreat center go unanswered, or the replies are vague, they should contact the local authorities ASAP. And if they do not get any replies in a day or so, they should contact the consulate.

Leave immediately if you discover any of the following -- no matter how much you love and trust the friend who has recommended the retreat and no matter how much money you have already paid:

You arrive and they expect you to surrender your keys, your laptop, your passport.

WTF!!!!?

This is not a retreat, this is jail. You've committed no crime. Does not matter if anyone there is your best friend, your mom, your fiance.

Any set up where they expect you to surrender these items -- RUN.

Does not matter if you'e already paid a ton of money.

Get the fuck out.

No one told you that some parts of the retreat would require nudity and you are shame tripped and accused of prudery when you refuse to participate. No one told you that the leader or senior students would spend most of the retreat undressed.

Which brings us to another important point:

Keep total control over your transportation, especially if you're going to
a retreat in a remote location. Keep your own car. Do not get guilt tripped
into ride sharing.

If you do not have your own vehicle, arrange with someone in the nearest town
to arrive and collect you if you discover you are in a bad situation and need to bug out.

Suppose you discover the retreat is creepy and you want to get away. If you've ride shared, you either do not have your own car, or if you do, you feel guilty
for sneaking away by yourself.

You owe no explanation for leaving. They may try to persuade you to stay.

Just keep mum, get someone to collect you and get out. If necessary, leave your
belongings.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/21/2017 10:38PM by corboy.

How to evaluate the social justice of a yoga retreat.

This may apply to other types of workshops, too.

Decolonizing the Yoga Retreat

[forum.culteducation.com]