Arizona man charged over three sweat lodge deaths

[news.bbc.co.uk]

A motivational speaker has been charged with manslaughter over the deaths of three people who fell ill during a meeting at a Arizona sweat lodge.

James Ray surrendered to police at his lawyer's office and was taken to jail.

The deaths occurred at a retreat at the Angel Valley Retreat Center, 115 miles (180km) north of Phoenix, in October.

"This was a terrible accident, but it was an accident, not a criminal act," said Mr Ray's lawyer, adding that his client was confident of being cleared.

"James Ray cooperated at every step of the way, providing information and witnesses to the authorities showing that no one could have foreseen this accident," said Luis Li.

Dehydration

Emergency services were called to the sweat lodge on 8 October after some of the 50 people at the event reported they were having difficulty breathing.

Two people fainted during the ceremony, and died later the same evening, and a third participant died a week later, after being in a coma.

A memorial has been established at the site of the sweat lodge

Eighteen people were taken to hospital reportedly suffering from illnesses ranging from dehydration to kidney failure.

Some participants have said that Mr Ray pushed people to continue taking part in the event, despite their distress.

Mr Ray, who has appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show and Larry King Live, had rented the centre for his five-day "Spiritual Warrior" event.

Reports said some of the participants had paid up to $9,000 (£5,650) for their stay at the retreat, which also reportedly included a 36-hour fast.

Andrea Puckett, whose mother, Liz Neuman, 49, was one of three who died, said she was relieved Mr Ray had been arrested.

"It helps that he is, for now, being stopped from doing what he's doing, from harming anyone else, and that's the biggest relief for me and my family right now," she told the Associated Press.

Excellent news. Justice now can sort this whole mess out.

This is great news. From now on this should do a lot in terms of more public awareness about these dangerous LGATs, as well as dangerous self-help gurus and what their true motive$ are.

(I already said this in the other thread, but worth saying again here as this news definitely deserves its own thread)

I look forward to following this case.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/04/2010 02:43PM by ResearchingTruth.

Manslaughter charge doesn't look to phase James A. Ray:

[twitter.com]
[rumorrat.com]...
[harmonicwealthweekend.com]

The Ray trial begins. Witness testifies on the stand about her experiences at the Sweat Lodge:

[www.dcourier.com]

In the James Arthur Ray trial, the jury gets to hear the voice of one of the victims:

[www.dcourier.com]

After my experience with Landmark, I've been following all kinds of LGAT experiences via this website. & I see the same pattern of my Landmark experience everywhere.

This week I received an email from Landmark to boast about their inclusion in a Time Magazine article. But when I clicked on the whole article I was shocked that it started with the James Ray sweat lodge tragedy. The writer asks why would people push themselves so far for self improvement?

He feels a similar sense of self-disenchantment and then takes the Forum to find out more. These two quotes from his accounts sound no different to my ear than what I've read about JAR's approach.

He says" The rules felt harsh, almost punitive, and yet nobody left, least of all me. In the first hour, Smith had effectively convinced us all that if we walked out on him, we'd only be walking out on ourselves."

Later on he says, "Like the Zen master who strikes his students while they try to serve him tea, Smith was unsparing. Each time someone looked to blame others or the world at large for his or her problems, he hammered back. His tone was compassionate, but the message was steely. "Who was there every time you got fired?" he demanded of the group. "It's not the economy, the climate, world conditions, your mother, your father. The right person to make a difference in your life is sitting in your chair."

Here's a link to the full piece. [www.time.com]

To me its all the same baloney but somehow because it won't kill you then its okay to waste your time/money on. Try convincing the huge numbers of unemployed that its all due to what they did? Mmmmm

Thanks GloriaG. Good to know.

Thought I would re-post this from another thread for those who may not have seen more updates from the trial and the cultic/EST-type logic weakening techniques used by Death Ray:

Quote
Sparky
http://prescottdailycourier.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=91771

From the article above:

The day's final witness, Laurie Gennari, had a starkly different take on the events of the week. She had attended several of Ray's previous seminars and said "there was always some little thing I would latch onto and I thought, that was good, maybe he'll get to the better stuff next time."

But from the moment she arrived at the Spiritual Warrior camp, for which she had paid more than $11,000 including room and board, she felt forced, even bullied, into following Ray's orders.
Her take on one of Ray's catch phrases, "play full-on," "mostly meant to me, do as he says."

She said she felt sleep-deprived and usually hungry, and after seeing people "just shot down" for questioning Ray, she decided that she was "pretty much going to keep my head down and stay off the radar by going along and not making waves."

Because she felt afraid to need an unscheduled bathroom break, she largely ignored Ray's weeklong urging that the participants hydrate thoroughly.

The sweat lodge experience was not a pleasant one for Gennari, who sat near her friend Laura Tucker and Liz Neuman. She noticed that Neuman was having trouble but, near the end of the ceremony, decided she had to leave.

As she neared the exit to the lodge, though, she said Ray told her she was too late, that she must wait until the next round was over before she could leave.
At the end, she said she "blacked out" while trying to leave and was dragged out of the lodge. After hearing of Neuman's illness and death, she said she questioned herself incessantly, and that even though she herself was weakened by the vegetarian diet, the lack of sleep and other elements, she laments she didn't do more to help.

"There's another part of me," she said, "that says why didn't you pick (Neuman) up and drag her out of there?"

Testimony in the trial, which is expected to last until early June, is set to resume Tuesday.


Interesting. I think some of the experienced posters here may verify this, but isn't this classic cult/LGAT philosophy, that is to weaken the people mentally with a low-protein diet and sleep-deprivation so they can't think straight so you can control them easier with hyponosis and suggestions?

Sparky wrote:

Interesting. I think some of the experienced posters here may verify this, but isn't this classic cult/LGAT philosophy, that is to weaken the people mentally with a low-protein diet and sleep-deprivation so they can't think straight so you can control them easier with hyponosis and suggestions?

Yes, they are. Weakness and confusion on the part of the participants make hypnotic inductions much easier. One technique is to extend class time so to speak to over 2 hours with no breaks, this really exploits the human being being's ultradian rhythms (see Ernest Rossi - The 20 minute break). What happens is that a person naturally goes into a semi trance state at certain periods(usually after 90-120 minute cycle) and a hypnotist can exploit that by implanting all sorts of post hypnotic suggestions into a person during that time.

BTW this is what Milton Erickson did, he was naturally perceptice enough to notice when people went into trance by themselves and used it in his therapy.

Another variant is have participants practice what the guru/trainer has just taught them prior to break or lunch. This is a classic LGAT method. Basically the students reinforce the teachings themselves. They become their own hypnotist. Trainers encourage this and often tell their seminar attendees to practice all night. That way they come to class the next day all zoned out.

But Ray's overall approach isn't that slick, I've seen better. The better ones don't berate or insult students at all, they massage the student's ego with platitudes and pat answers, humor and a gentle but commanding voice. Some are acutally boring(it's a technique). It's very disarming. Then they insert all sorts of post hypnotic commands and then weeks or months later you have these strange impulses to sign up for more courses and to be with guru/ hear guru's voice. For some reason thinking about guru makes you feel happy.

However down the road, all this hypnotizing starts making people self-destruct. Often times the trainer/guru inserts all sorts of commands that run counter to the person's own value and belief system. Then you get the nervous breakdowns, panick attacks, crisis of confidence, secound guessing yourself, alienation from friends, etc. This is why sham artists like Ray, Tolle and others need to continually expand their base because eventually people burn out/self destruct on their material and like vampires they need new victims to feed off of.

"However down the road, all this hypnotizing starts making people self-destruct. Often times the trainer/guru inserts all sorts of commands that run counter to the person's own value and belief system. Then you get the nervous breakdowns, panick attacks, crisis of confidence, secound guessing yourself, alienation from friends, etc."

What Walter says here is of the utmost importance.

It used to be said that trance technicians could not lead subjects to do anything against their own wills or values.

Sadly, in the short to intermediate term, this can be done. (Ditto for the awful things people do when addicted to drugs).

However, there will be a conflict between the trance-poisoned subject's core self and the implanted commands. What varies is what forms this conflict this will take and how much time elapses before the subject/victim begins to show symptoms.

What is interesting is what happens to people whose core selves were not fully formed at the time the trance technician inserts material that is alien to the subject's inner life--or what happens if a subject incurred injury to his or her core self (eg trauma victims/abuse victims) prior to their entering the orbit of the trance technician.

What is terrifying is that very many persons seeking healing from injuries to core self due to trauma are advised by foolish friends or domineering bosses to entrust themselves to the likes of J Ray or Katie or Tolle.

My blood still boils because someone tried to recruit me into Byron Katie's stuff after I had disclosed sensitive information at an Al-Anon 12 Step meeting. It is against 12 Step traditions to proslytize or recommend non 12 step literature--these meetings are supposed to be a 'hustle free' zone.


And hell yes, I am angry and feel quite entitled to make a judgement in this matter. My one regret was that I was much too polite and did not give this woman a stern, loud lecture. For she had been pimping for Byron Katie at that meeting before pouncing on me while I was still weepy after my share.

These harpies love our tears and vulnerability. They rarely recruit when we are feeling a sense of mastery--like predators, they look for those who limp.