Have you heard of intimate relations going on at the Ranch?

This was under another thread. My wife denied it when I confronted her, but she started dating a guy who was at the ranch while she was there. Why do you want to know? Did you loose someone to this PSI BS?


Posted: 06-18-2005 06:25 PM Post subject: Thought this was interesting Reply with quote
This letter was sent to various PSI Groups. I copied it and pasted it here. Thought it was very interesting.
"Dear PSI brothers and sisters, especially my sisters. I’m writing this letter to you all to tell you that I have had a profound experience about PSI. I don’t want to use my real name as it could lead to retribution so I’ve logged in with a different name and if someone who knows me figures out who I am I would ask that my identity be kept secret, as I’m very afraid. I started taking PSI seminars about two years ago and thought it was a very life moving experience. Shortly after taking PSI7 I came home and left my husband after a week. I had been married for ten years to a good and loving man, but at the time I thought there was more to life than what I had with him at home. I divorced him and moved in with a man I had met at the Ranch. My relationship with this man continued for almost a year when I realized he was seeing another woman, who was also taking PSI, so I left him. After confronting my boyfriend about seeing this other woman he told me he only took the seminars to meet other woman and to get laid. I left him and I continued to enroll and staff the basic and WLS, enrolled in PLD, and realized after a time I was still missing something. I spent most of my time working and earning extra money so I could pay for other PSI seminars and realized I have nothing to show for it except a failed marriage. My ex-husband continues to stay in touch with me as we have two children from our marriage and I realize this was the man I should have stayed with. I started looking into PSI a few months ago after getting some disturbing emails and found several message boards describing the tactics used by PSI to get people to break up their marriages and relationships. After reading the information I realized I made a terrible mistake with my life. I know people that came out of the Basic and used what they found to be helpful and left what wasn't. I ‘recruited’ six of my closest friends to PSI. Two told me the seminar was bullshit and because I felt threatened by their lack of understanding I didn’t see them anymore. Four went on to PSI7 and once they came back three left their husbands. I feel so ashamed that I was responsible for breaking up their marriages. One of my friends came to the same realization I did and thankfully returned to her husband. The whole thing is that PSI preys on those that cannot separate themselves from what is healthy behavior and not healthy. That is transforming the world for the better? There is something in the training that cause people to believe they are "changing" the world but really all they are doing is keeping a choice few very money happy. These people don't truly care about transforming the world because if they did, they would not allow them to overlook the needs of their families. If you are involved with PSI they have you hook line and sinker. Two years and $12,000.00 dollars I wasted. There is more to life than PSI, its life itself. The main reason I’m writing this letter to you, especially to you my sisters, is to look at these message boards. I saw my life in some of the stories I read there and I was scared and ashamed. I started to see a pattern with the tactics used by PSI to simply do one thing and that is to get our money. Google PSI and read the web sites you’ll find there and make your own decision. I’m only doing this because I learned to love all of you and know that we were all looking for something we didn’t have before, and I’ve come to understand that I still didn’t find what I was looking for and I cried because of what I gave up. My husband, my family and some of my closest friends, and know that because of the path I took I can’t go back. The righteous anger I feel lead me to an all but irresistible compulsion to act, to do the right thing, and tell you what I learned about myself and others. We can exercise free will and turn away, or stay with PSI but only at the cost of our self respect and to me that’s intolerable. God bless you all. Keri
[www.factnet.org] lace.html"

Hi. Thank you for the response. Actually, my boyfriend is at the ranch now and I just started doing research and found that sexual relations go on and I am worried, upset and don't know what to think. I had no idea that he was attending something so dangerous until after he left.

ibn143,

I lost my wife to this a couple of years ago. She attended the basic seminar and signed up for PSI7 at the end of that. She paid $3000.00 for PSI7, left and returned with a new attitude. Nothing was good enough for her. She wanted to live her life “now” as she called it. She was so excited about this new attitude that the only ones who would tolerate her were the people in her group. She would stay up nights checking her email from her PSI group as they started a group on Yahoo. She left within a few weeks of coming back from PSI7 and divorced me. She also signed up for a 9 day Leadership program, which costs $4000.00, but because she couldn’t get the funds she had to put that plan on hold.

I learned she started a relationship with a man while at the ranch. She told me later they do an exercise called “the sharing.” They apparently stand in a circle and you stare into the eyes of someone of the opposite sex by candlelight. They tell one another that they either would, or would not, like to have an intimate relationship with each other. Human beings being what they are of course something could happen and I guess it did with my wife. I even heard sex acts occur behind the barn during “the barn dance.” According to what I’ve read here and other places they are partnered with someone else and their “buddy” has them dress in sexy clothing for the dance and other exercises. I even remember her telling me they had them doing yard work in bikini’s’ and work gloves. She tells me loved it; that it showed her something about herself that she didn’t realize before. I thought she was out of her mind.

When she left she started seeing a man she met at the ranch. They were recruiting their families and friends. Most of our friends thought she was nuts. She ruined her finances, relationships with her family and once you could say she saw the light she asked me to take her back. Of course I don’t see it working anymore and told her as such. Too much drama for me.

I am sorry about your boyfriend but I fear that once he returns to you he won’t be the same. He’ll try to recruit you and use the excuse “if you really love me” you’ll go. He’ll even try using the excuse that you’ll really see how much he loves you if you go. I know, that makes no sense to me either but that’s what my wife said to me.

I hope things work out for you but be prepared to loose him because he will throw you to the side if you don’t see things his way or go to this crap. I saw this when my wife recruited her friend to take the basic. The friend spent just as much money, came back and left her husband and her children (which still surprises the hell out of me). She’s still heavily into PSI and has spent (this is rumor of course) over $12000.00 on this and is deep in debt.

Damn, I reread this and I still can’t believe it. I guess you don’t realize someone you love could destroy themselves with this and you’re the only one to see it. The only way to realize it is to live it.

If I had to offer you some advice; please, whatever you do don’t go. There is just too much evidence out there to discount those for PSI or Large Group Awareness Training programs. Someone asked me how my wife could be that stupid and at first I thought the same thing. I learned that it’s not a matter of intelligence, because some of these people are very smart, but they are looking for something in their lives that they feel they are lacking. And they are told you need to recruit the ones close to you so that they also can understand how you feel. They also tell them if you won’t go you are holding them back so you need to leave them behind.

Good luck and please be careful.

Robert-Paul,

Thank for your advice! I can't even explain how worried I am... Thanks to you I am preparing myself for his return. I will not support him continuing on with this group nor will i go. It is sooo upseting to me to hear what your wife did upon her return from the ranch. I'm very sorry. I'm glad ou are sharing your story. This sucks! PSI Sucks!!!! I feel like he is going to be a stranger when he comes back and I will not even know how to approach him- I am praying that he realizes that this is just bizzarre, but It doesn't sound like that is likely. Why do you think that PSI is not shut down by now??? You would think that people would want to put an end to this.

Idn143,

I understand how you feel. I wished I had a ready made answer for you but I don’t. I don’t think anyone here does. As for why this group still exists I have no idea. I understand it sells itself by word of mouth, and there are no regulations and/or state laws that prohibit them. This is why this bulletin board was established so people could spread the word and show them, if there willing to look for the answers, what PSI is all about.

It’s all a lot of psychological mumbo jumbo to me and if someone would have told me what this was about before my wife started it I am sure she would not have gone. Actually I sometimes blame myself for not checking into this myself before she went. I thought this was only some type of college course she was taking. If I had only known.

Just be careful. Some of the people, depending on the personality type they are, can talk you into taking this.

ibn143,

I posted this on another threat and thought it might answer some of your questions. I hope things work out for you but I agree with Robert, you could be in a losing battle when your boyfriend comes home. Stay strong and don't let him talk you into taking PSI. This crap destroyed my life and turned my children's life upside down when my wife returned from 7.

Posted on MySpace

How the Cult Works: Hypnotic Secrets

So here's my expose on how and why the group worked:
One of the really ingenious tactics they used was not to use any kind of promotion except for the very best of all: word of mouth. Everybody knows how strong word-of-mouth is, and anybody can tell you that's going to beat any paid advertisement. But these people went a step further- they had instilled it into their grads that they absolutely HAD to share this path to success with whoever they loved and cared most about.

I thought that was pretty smart. Just think: if your closest friends and most beloved family members came begging you to do something, you'd surely listen to them and consider it over just about any other source in the world, wouldn't you? I mean, what if it was your parents? Your wife or husband? And that's exactly what I saw. One woman even brought her 8 year old daughter.

As further proof that the seminar leaders found this angle to be absolutely critical, remember that nobody approached me before the meeting to give me a friendly hello. Why? Because I'd come alone- they had no convenient grad to use as an opportunity to springboard through to me. No, they concentrated on talking to the grads and getting through to THEIR guests. They knew full well that those people were the ones to work on, because they already had a very solid 'in'. Remember also that the lead guy took notice of me when I signed on and his first question was to ask who brought me.

The Moderator: He was definitely 'built up' in the grads' mind as an authority figure; unquestioned, blindly accepted, and acknowledged as somebody who had total control and commanded total admiration of the group. Again, it was creepy to see the unabashed adulation for the guy- standing ovations, big vacant smiles and laughs at whatever he said.

[b:a61a8cce57]The moderator was also quite smart early on in his speech to disavow that the group was a cult or that it was shady, all the while acknowledging it was mysterious, wasn't it?[/b:a61a8cce57] In hypnosis, one great tactic is basically to acknowledge whatever the client says, all the while you lead them in the direction you want. He also made sure to let everybody know that they had a choice to say yes or no to this, but to request that you at least give a chance and listen with an open mind. Doing this puts the guests at ease and calms them, as well as creates an "illusion of choice." If you believe you have a choice, it relieves the pressure and you remove your mental blocks and defenses to whatever you're about to hear.

Also, this talk was similar to our hypnotic pre-induction speech, in which we give to tell the client what is going to happen, what to expect, and demystify the process, etc.

Most of the talk was quite vague and nebulous- the moderator almost never gave concrete ideas or facts, but rather couched everything in methaphoric and indistinct terms- these is completely the language of trance, especially that method practiced by Milton Erickson, who could basically hypnotize somebody without them really being aware of how it was working. The way it works is that the mind of the subject is distracted, trying to address and make sense of the vagueness, while the speaker continues, throwing out more stuff, slowly overwhelming the subject's critical mind and throught processes, until they just want to escape, which they do- into hypersuggestibility and hypnosis.

The Theory of Mind diagram was more of the same- misdirection, vagueness, and giving an explanation of how the mind works. Again, we do something almost identical in hypnosis. It's part of the standard process.

Bringing Up the Grads: This was just more of the adulation and praise and attention lavished on those who succeed in the group's terms. If they deviate or fail, they are punished, ridiculed, but once they make it through, they are accepted and rewarded by the group. [b:a61a8cce57]These people who did stick it through probably have some issues on where they belong, or are looking for a place or group to have an identity with [/b:a61a8cce57](In fact, the man I'd later talk to would tell me as much, saying that he was new in town, didn't have any friends, and was sort of lonely. I also thought it was curious he waited for a year to take the class, it was as if he had come at a more vulnerable time).

Also, with this praise/reward, it becomes even more powerful when it's contrasted against earlier punishment methods- again, what better way to make somebody feel loved or appreciated than to first put them down?

RESISTANCE: The major creepy moment. In the first two days, the grads admitted resistance to the group's exercises, but almost none for the 2nd two days. This suggests that the first couple days were completely about breaking down the grads, showing them they were insignificant, wrong, and fundamentally incorrect and deeply flawed. Of COURSE there would be resistance to that. Incidentally, in almost ANY hypnosis, there is resistance of some sort, even for very positive therapy, because the subconscious is grappling with suggestions for change and there's a consequent struggle as it grapples with integrating the hypnotherapist's suggestions. And hypnotherapists actually take resistance as a positive sign, because it means that the course of therapy is working....

So 'resistance' means that the lessons are sinking into the grads, and after two day's worth of these exercises they're open to all sorts of things, reflecting sadly over this deeply vulnerable self that has been exposed and open. They go home, probably feeling broken and beaten down. But there's not much time to reflect on that and think too critically about it, because after the second day ends (at midnight), they're back at 10am the next day for another round. So they have just enough time to sleep before they return- this limits the chance they have to think too much about it and try to get out of the seminar, which they probably won't, because they can't get a refund unless they tough it out for the full four days. So they reluctantly trudge back to the group, likely expecting more abuse and breaking-down exercises.

[b:a61a8cce57]But when they come back, there's a change:[/b:a61a8cce57] the group is using a new tactic! Now, they're focusing on acceptance, more positive things, likely [b:a61a8cce57]telling them that they can change and have all they could ever want if they take the next courses and learn more what the group has to offer. [/b:a61a8cce57]And that day and the next are devoted to showing them acceptance and love, as well as heavily pitching their higher levels of courses.

In fact, I'd suspect that the group doesn't really impart much, if any, lessons for success in the first seminar. I bet, as the first session in hypnosis is really to condition the subject for more hypnosis, that the group is really just priming the individual client for more and more sessions and seminars.

Another thing that contributed to breaking down the individual's willpower and opening their suggestibility was the long hours. There are many ways to go into trance; the best known of which are things like dancing, chanting, singing (which I heard there was singing going on at these), and doing this for long periods of time. However, a lesser-known way of increasing suggestibility is by controlling the diet. Not just by fasting, but by affecting the blood sugar levels, by not eating, or eating too much. If you control the diet (which seems likely, since the first two days were held during typical dinner hours), you could affect blood sugar, making it drop and creating a subtle anxious, hypersuggestible state in your subjects.

That said, when all was said and done by the 4th day, they had created 30 people who had 'learned' that this group was the key to success and changing their lives, and were also told to share this wondrous revelation with all the loved ones in their lives. This was reinforced again after the moderator finished talking and suggested that we turn to the people who brought us and ask them why they wanted us to take the class so badly. Again, they're using the power of word of mouth (from loved and trusted friends and family) to convince and tantalize the guests, so they can continue the cycle.

So there you have it- of course, many different walks of life use these methods, but before you dismiss it, you have to admit that when a group is using all sorts of hypnotic manipulation tactics, whether or not they intend to, then they consequently must be practicing hypnotic manipulation, whether they intend to or not.

I think I've made a pretty strong case that's what this group is obviously doing and using that leverage for the sole purpose of making a lot of money from their seminars.

Oh, and here's another bit of evidence why I doubt their sincerity: Part of their name/motto is about people working synergistically together. You'd think with a focus like that, what better synergy could you get than a couple of their grads partnering up? Or better yet, a big group of them networking within each other, buttressing and backing each other up? What a strong, powerful bond, right?

But when I asked "A" if he was going to stay in touch with his fellow grads, who we had just been hearing had some sort of collective epiphany all together, he reacted like the thought had never really occurred to him. "Hm, I guess so, that might be good," he said hesitatingly.

Robert-Paul,

I read your post and thought I should add my two cent for what it’s worth. I lost my wife to PSI and her new age thinking. You really shouldn’t blame yourself because you didn’t see it coming. I spent several months blaming myself for not seeing this for what it was. It’s been hard to see the person you love doing this to themselves. I didn’t see this coming either, and it was hard to accept. I too thought ‘How could she be so stupid” or gullible; but I’ve come to the realization that I too could have been a victim of this. (God I hate that word: victim.) I wished I had an answer, but I don’t. My wife threw away her life with me. The kids see her from time to time but she is even distant with them. For example, today is Mother’s Day. The kids called her to wish her a Happy Mothers Day and she blew them off to be with her new family. My youngest is still crying and told me she hates her mother. I tell her not to, that this is just a stage she’s going through, but I fear if my wife keeps up with PSI she will destroy any chance she has of keeping the kids in her life. Now I can understand her not being happy with me, but to throw her own children away and basically telling them her new family is more important causes me to wonder what actually happened at the ranch.

Ibn143,

I wish you luck with your boyfriend. I can only tell you to take one day at a time. It's been over three years since my wifes return and she hasn't been the same since.

Samuel,

saw your post and thanks. I tell myself that most days but I sometimes slip and need to remind myself that it was not my fault. so Thanks.

ibn143,

I wondered how you were doing? Hope everything is ok.

I have experienced PSI seminars. I attended the basic, PSI 7 at the ranch, and Women's leadership seminar at the ranch. I have volunteered to staff basic as well as an advanced seminar. I have lots of experience with PSI. I would not do it again. This seminar screwed me up and I wasted five years, and thousands of dollars of my money. I lost the relationship with my first husband and lost the respect of my family and friends.