Patterns of Persuasion
this is NOT courting, this is coercion

Apprentices, Patients, Employees, Practitioners or Colleagues, and Workshops Participants, were sent emails, icards, ecards, various love notes generated online, written poetry, touched, made to feel cared for, supported, but then sympathies are drawn on and women found themselves being told things that he "never told anyone else". Christopher confided things about his youth, about growing up in New Zealand, supposed stories of his upbringing. Many women found themselves caring for their practitioner though they were the patients. Patients and Workshop Participants were often recruited and invited to become his students and "apprentices". Practitioners or Colleagues who would also enter Christopher Hansard's office as patients would find their offer of payment would be reduced or declined altogether and an "exchange" would be set up.
In these "exchanges" Christopher would receive massages and it was most often while massages were being performed that Christopher would proposition the Practitioner, Massage Therapist, or Student. During massages, Christopher insists he be completely naked, and often if not always, becomes visibly aroused.
Massage Sessions where Christopher is the recipient and 1 to 1 Patient Appointments often conclude with an innocent "hug". It is during the hug that Christopher Hansard will often try to kiss the Massage Therapist, Patient or Student and persuade them to "surrender" to him. Students and Patients were invited to become "consorts" and made to feel this was a special position that only they held with him, and were explicitly told that he only took part in such practices with them, no one else.

Patients were often put in positions where they would touch Christopher Hansard. They were told a variety of reasons for this spanning from "overcoming fear of men" to "meditation" and getting in touch with "masculine energies"

Most alarming is how many women were told that they were involved in a "Sacred Union" or "Marriage". Many women were convinced that they were taking part in Tantric Sexual Practices. It was always suggested that Christopher Hansard would visit them in their dreams. The myth that was built up around him suggested that he was a spiritual being who seemed to be omnipresent, or all around. This was facilitated by some rather irresponsible media attention and 3 books published by a publisher who failed to check that his story was true. 3 books where he claims to have been "chosen" by a Tibetan Master and was "recognised" as a "Lha Khu" or "Thunderbeing". It has also been suggested to patients or those he chooses as partners that they are like him, or a "Lha Khu" and are therefore "special" and unique as well.

Women were coerced into sexual acts by being told that it would benefit their health, spirituality, and that those acts would "bind" (them) to Christopher Hansard, and would create a "sacred marriage".
This continues regardless of or despite his marriages, engagements, or "relationships" of any sort.

Patients are encouraged to be students or it is suggested that they already are, and in that position if not already before making that transition from patient to student, massages are administered as Christopher Hansard often claims to be sick, or falls ill with flu-like symptoms. He is known to "black out" which also put him invariably in the position of being "cared for" by his patients, students, and colleagues. It is often when he is supposedly "ill" and being taken care of, that most incidences occurred and the "carer" would be coerced into sexual acts with Christopher Hansard.

Patients are told it "is all part of the process" when they do not get help or see benefit or worse, when they for whatever reason do not "surrender" to him as they are invited to do, and they find themselves confused, and dealing with profound feelings of depression. They blame themselves. If challenged, Christopher Hansard has been known to tell patients that it is due to their own feelings of transference, that he is clear about his boundaries as a practitioner, but that aside he never really saw you as a patient, but more as a "friend"

Those who are being wooed or courted are asked questions such as "What colour do you think our children's hair will be", he will suggest that the sexual encounters are "Sacred" and refer to your union as "Marriage", he will tell you as patient, student, or colleague that he needs you to be his "friend" that you have a "special connection".

There was no "nervous or emotional break-down" as has been previously suggested. Any feigning of "getting help" or "therapy" are done to evade accountability and consequence and to draw upon sympathies, nothing more, and has allowed Christopher Hansard to continue to practice and move on to other patients. We have reason to believe his current public "partner" is or was a patient within this year. 2008

Allegations of Sexual Offences have followed Christopher Hansard for the span of his entire 'career'.

Coercion occurs in any one or all of the above manners and are summarised in the below list.
1. Massage treatments where Christopher Hansard is the recipient
2. By inviting Patients to become a Student or "Apprentice" or suggesting that you already are
3. Constant sexual comments and innuendos, references to your body, your sexuality, your sex life, and constant compliment.
4. Drawing on your sympathies (for example: he is the victim of harassment or the victim of scorned women as opposed to women he exploited, assaulted, or abused)
5. You are "more of a friend" than a patient, and any sexual acts are part of a "Sacred Marriage" or "Sacred Union" and "Women are Sacred"
6. Suggesting in any way or form to you as a patient the possibility of a future together, marriage and even children.
7. Suggesting a "special connection", past lives, past connections, special places, etc.
8. Inviting patients to practice Tantra, and suggesting that they are the only ones he has ever propositioned in this manner. Suggesting that you are the only one that he "practices" with.
9. Suggesting to you that he will "work" with you in your dreams, or that he is always working with you on many levels. He is "with" you, or "inside" of you.
10. Christopher Hansard puts himself in a position of supposed vulnerability to you, where there is a dramatic role reversal, and you are taking care of him, touching him, massaging him, and re-assuring him, as he has blacked out, fainted, fallen sick or is himself a victim.
He often makes comments suggesting that he feels no one could possibly love him as he can not love himself, and many many others.

*the above are from actual experiences and are the stories of many women who were once patients, students, practitioners, workshop participants, staff, friends, and who were made to believe they too were "partners".

Hello Gita,

You seem to speak with a lot of inside knowledge about Hansard's tactics and the nature of his personality. Do you have any information concerning his back story. Specifically, how he first hatched his story and the research methods he used to creatively support his story. This is important because it speaks to the power of his deception and the "means of his madness." It could also be the basis for legal action based on false pretenses.

Thanks.

Hamdulilah Gita!
May all who have suffered exploitation and abuse by charlatans live each day as Tigers.
May they have the courage to speak and act to save others from the same fate
May Christopher Hansard's addictions, illusions and self-deception be transformed into genuine insight
May all beings be happy and have the causes of happiness.
Metta,
Pema

Christopher Hansard & the Art of Transference
*a sincere thanks to a former practitoner and later victim for the information below

Transference is a term first used by Sigmund Freud to describe a process in analysis or therapy. Freud noted that many of his patients seemed at some point to begin to place certain feelings, like romantic love or parental love, onto the therapist. When this process occurred the therapist could use this position to help restore the client to more normal feelings by responding in ways unlike that of the person upon which the original feelings were based.

Most commonly, transference is of a romantic nature. This does not have to be limited to relationships between client and therapists of different sexes. It is also not an indication of homosexuality, although a client with a same sex therapist may be terribly confused regarding romantic feelings toward one of the same sex.

In these cases, however, the therapist simply represents the people in the client’s life who should love him or her. The role of lover is projected onto the therapist because the therapist is usually the only person in a client’s life who is completely invested in the client, and views the client without judgment or agenda.

It can be quite difficult to discuss feelings of a romantic nature with a therapist. However, the therapist is usually aware of such feelings whether or not they are discussed. Discussion can prove to be healing and helpful, and ultimately move the client out of the transference state into a place where such feelings might be relocated back to a spouse or partner. Christopher Hansard was very much aware of these feelings, and did not relocate or divert them back to patients spouses or partners but chose instead to encourage these feelings which lead to many inappropriate sexual relations with his patients and clients through out the years. These inappropriate sexual relations never left the treatment until now. Christopher Hansard is no longer 'practicing' alongside what he considered to be his peers, nor is he under the watchful eyes of those he once called his "apprentices", he is no longer in a legitimate relationship, nor does he have a wife and child at home. Therefore his sexual relations with patients have moved outside the 'privacy' of his treatment rooms for perhaps the first time.

There is some inherent danger in transference to both client and therapist. Some therapists may transfer their own feelings onto a client. Where romantic feelings for a therapist are involved, the client would generally do anything a therapist asks, including any sexual behavior. This is strictly illegal, but there are abuses of laws protecting clients. Similar laws apply to others who might be subject to transference, such as members of the clergy, teachers and those in other medical fields.

It is important to recognize transference as a normal stage of therapy. However, if a therapist appears to reciprocate romantic feelings, engage in touching of a sexual nature or attempt to initiate a sexual relationship, this therapist is no longer of help and should be reported as in violation of the many laws guarding against such. In this case, the therapist does considerable harm to patients.
*excerpt from wisegeek.com

We need to understand that during his 16 years of practice, Christopher Hansard has been using these same patterns of coercion and has in fact been using transference to coerce his patients in to granting him sexual favours. By taking advantage of his patients transference and vulnerability, patients were lead to believe they had a choice, they were lead to believe they therefore consented to these acts with Christopher Hansard. The truth is, they didn't. The words of one such patient at having first realised what had in fact occurred were

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He made me do things I didn't want to do... things I never would have done!

Christopher Hansard has had many years to fine tune and hone this skill. This is Christopher Hansard's own "Art of Deception"

Patients, Students, Workshops Participants, Coordinator's and Colleagues... you have nothing to be ashamed of. There was clearly an Imbalance of Power as we are well aware Christopher Hansard created an air of authority as a "Master Physician of Tibetan Dur Bon Medicine", and he accepted nothing less than your total submission in some cases. A designation that we now know to be false and was used only as means for his own sexual gratification and addiction.

Imbalance of Power

Therapeutic relationships often include an imbalance of power, in which verbal and emotional abuse is possible. A practitioner may try to become a substitute for your parent. Another may want to be perceived as a close friend. Your feelings about them may become distorted. Entanglements and transferences are features of such relationships. Abusive practitioners can use transference to ...

Manipulate or seduce you
Intimidate or frighten you
Invalidate your perceptions
Encourage more sessions (that are not needed)

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My therapist was wonderful - charming, witty and good looking. And married ... and his couch was good for many things. When I found out that he had sex with other clients, I ended our sessions ... but I really miss him.

Transference can put a therapist in a powerful position and a client into a vulnerable position. A therapist using parental transference to exploit or abuse clients could be called professional incest.

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My therapist was like the loving father I never had and I would do anything he said. When he suggested a weekend together, I agreed ... but afterwards I felt more and more used ... he still calls me and wants me to purchase more sessions.

*excerpt from soulwork.net therapist damage/client abuse/transference

October 8th 2008 Excerpt from Christopher Hansard's blog
what do we do to stop all this madness?

The answer will not be found in learned institutions,

in pundits, gurus of any type, the yellow pages

or by calling information

radio psychologists and chat show hosts

will be hiding underneath their wallpaper



People forget that they are part of humanity

that they are not other other people

that we are totally responsible

each for the other



If only we had known this before we stepped into your office, 'willing' victims of your assaults. You told us time and time again, I am not a guru, while you demanded full submission, threw things at us, demeaned us, broke us, all "for our own good". You told us healing comes from within, while you told us to surrender to you and that there was no other way, that to stop treatment might be harmful to our health, a detriment to the teachings. It was all "part of the process", our suicidal thoughts, our deepening depression, the guilt and confusion as you told us that we were special, that what we were doing was sacred, as your wife and child waited for you at home, as your girlfriend was in the next room sorting out your books and financial mess.

Now you denounce "pundits, gurus, and radio psychologists" as you subscribe now as ever to online psychics, numerology, horrorscopes, pornography (check his computer). You are an addict, a genius, a psychopath full of delusion that continues to be condoned by the therapists you merely use as a sort of veneer to hold those who would have you imprisoned in silence, for what you continue to do in your 'treatment' rooms despite going public with a patient in February, despite propositioning another in May, and the ongoing sexual favours from those in your 'care' now.

Christopher Hansard, you make me sick.
To all those who continue to condone this man's actions out of some form of sympathy or because your own career was benefited in some way, you should be ashamed, or at the very least you should be "enlightened" to the fact that this man has caused damage, and continues to cause great harm to those who visit him at his practice in Victoria, those you send to workshops in Arizona, South Africa, Latvia, Denmark, Norway...

As Christopher says, "we are totally responsible"
We are all responsible for allowing this man to continue. Do not be silent. Please submit your Police Statement alongside mine.

Dear Gita and Pema,
I only stumbled upon this forum today when looking up Christopher Hansard after having read his books and noting that he was involved in a centre and was a practitioner. I was considering whether he could help a friend of mine and as such, this simple investigation on my part has led to some unpalatable reading. I haven't read every post but began at the outset with Pema's enquiries and have ended up here.

Therefore I add my thanks to Pema and Gita in helping me to avert what could have been a disaster had I followed through and tracked down some therapy from this man. Who would have thought that one must do due diligence on a book? By publishing his books without verification of the source as non fiction, many people would find credibility where it has been found that it is not.

I realise that there is anonymity on forums, I am unused to them but can see that there may be opportunities to ofload negativity and that things may on occasions become disproportionate. However, there is far too much in this case which weighs against Hansard and too much evidence emerging which no doubt can be verified.

I am shocked and disturbed to read the accounts enlarging upon unorthodox and disreputable practices involving Christopher Hansard. I do not need to come from any other perspective than at this time a bystander who narrowly missed an involvement as I do not think that there is an argument or endorsement for such practices.

Speaking however from some experience and an abuse of ethics towards me when younger from a psychologist, I can recognise the horror of it all and the confusion that may prevent some women from coming forward as they blame themselves for the circumstances that led to the unhealthy relationship.

It is a very clever trick on the part of the therapist to afford responsibility towards a victim and I would urge that however difficult it is to unravel the mental roundabout or thoughts that disallow any divulgence, please if anyone is confused in any way, do just tell your story, if only at first to yourself, perhaps in writing. Then if you can go further and contact the authorities mentioned by Gita and perhaps speak with Pema, the expression will begin the healing process from such a destructive experience.

I do hope Pema that you can write what you need to as a journalist because truth matters especially when people are being misled and hurt.

The commonsense information given by Gita is really helpful, I am sure to those who need to know where they can go.
I know that many others have contributed to this exposure also, much to their credit as it seems that some have been fearful.

This is my very first post as I have very little time as a rule, but as well as hoping that I have done this correctly, I also felt it important to comment.

Welcome May and thank you for your contribution and comment.

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May
...there is far too much in this case which weighs against Hansard and too much evidence emerging which no doubt can be verified.

I want to assure you and the other readers who may stumble upon this forum as well as the many other online discussions taking place, that I personally would not make any such assertions without the evidence to support my statements. This forum has proved a very valuable resource for the victims of Christopher Hansard, as well as you offer a place to express their anguish and at times their anger. It is understandable. Now we need to direct that anger into positive action, to join together to prevent Christopher Hansard from harming others. This is a pattern of his that has not only occurred the length of illustrious career as a 'healer' but in all likelihood in New Zealand as well. It is a pattern that is not simply going to go away.
Nor are we, Christopher Hansard.

Dear Gita,
Thank you and it is clear to me how valid your assertions are. The forum is most certainly a valuable resource as you say. I will contact the publishers of his books to make a complaint.
I sincerely hope that this man can be stopped.