Hi,

My girlfriend is very involved in yoga. This has changed her behavior very much, she is now very detached from everything and told me recently that she would leave her job and our relation to spend at least one year there again, possibly longer.

Val

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What specific yoga teacher or group is she involved with?

YOGA????

OMG what is up with you people?? Your girlfriend practices Yoga and then dumps you, what if she had taken up knitting, macrame, art classes, foreign language classes or pottery?? Maybe she just dumped you, 'cos eerrr ya know she dumped you........end of story..

Is this a website for the paranoid always looking over your shoulder for the next cult or consiracy theory? OK I get it if people get sucked into cults like The Moonies or Children Of God, but Yoga? Come on people, lighten up and let's have some fun while we are here on this planet for such a short time.

starbright:

You seem to be here with some sort of agenda.

On another thread you apparenly saw no blame in a "therapist" have a sex with a client.

See [board.culteducation.com]

Do you always blame the victim?

In California there have been enough problems with the ethics of yoga teachers that a group agreed upon a code of ethics.

See [www.culteducation.com]

rr

I am here with no agenda. I found your site quite by accident whilst doing a Google search on Abraham Hicks.

I am very impressed with the large amount of information on here and lots of it upon reading was very interesting, however I can't help but feel that there are lots of things that are being labelled on here as "Cults" when they just seem to be ways of life people have chosen.

I didn't say I saw no blame in a therapist having sex with a client, what I did say is that when you are the "wronged" party it is all too easy to blame the person that your partner is having the affair with. And as for the word [b:381e67e6de]therapist[/b:381e67e6de], well this is the term that Vigilant used, I would suggest that anybody can set themselves up as a therapist these days with no University degree required or any governing body to account to for their actions. I could start myself up as one tomorrow if I so desired.

Obviously this "therapist" his wife was seeing did not feel it necessary to abide by any code of ethics. If he was a medical doctor of some kind I am sure there would be some board you could report him to, but as for a therapist?

And just for the record I consider Vigilant to have been the [i:381e67e6de]victim[/i:381e67e6de] here.

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Val
told me recently that she would leave her job and our relation to spend at least one year there again, possibly longer.

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If she is going to spend a year there and leave her current life, that's nothing to do with a relationship naturally breaking up, it does sound more like excessive devotion to a particular spiritual practice/teacher.

starbright:

Thanks for the clarification.

Only some of the groups discussed on this message board and/or included in the database have been called "cults."

See [www.culteducation.com]

And also [board.culteducation.com]

Many mentioned are simply controversial groups or movements.

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lots of things that are being labelled on here as "Cults" when they just seem to be ways of life people have chosen.

True.

The Waco Davidians, followers of Jim Jones and Charles Manson all viewed their involvement as a "ways of life," which they had "chosen."

However, examining such ways of life, others may question the influence and surrounding circumstances that led to these choices.

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[b:22e61fd2e3]kath:[/b:22e61fd2e3]
If she is going to spend a year there and leave her current life, that's nothing to do with a relationship naturally breaking up, it does sound more like excessive devotion to a particular spiritual practice/teacher.

Possibly inadvertently, you have hit the nail square on the head here. Usually when someone withdrawls from their life situation so suddenly and completely after joining a yoga group you often find that in their practice of yoga stands a guru teacher they are devoted to and manipulated by.

I've done yoga on and off for years and by far the most 'enlightening' classes were the ones who concentrated on you finding out for yourself what parts of the practice helps you attain your own physical, emotional and spiritual well being. In those situations there was never a head teacher/guru type person whose philosphies you were encouraged to take on and show devotion to.

I know I sound a bit like a hornet blower with the few posts I have done here mostly centred around this aspect.... But I truely believe that the minute you take dramatic changes after joing any group you need to have a good look at what is really happening and why you are doing this and your motive. Brainwashing by a 'spiritual' guru, even if the guru isn't the one running the classes, but is one who started that partcicular School of Yoga can often be extremely subtle and almost go unnnoticed for a long time.

For most people who do things like yoga and meditation their initial aim is mostly to find relaxation and ways to cope and deal with what is happening in their lives and enhance it... Not to suddenly up and walk away from it all... I'm not sure if I even successsfully made a point here... but I tried... lol...

Welf

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[b:ccc79fcb75]starbright:[/b:ccc79fcb75]
YOGA????

Yup yoga... sad eh.... you would be surprised at the hidden agenda some of these Schools of Yoga have and the motives of the particular spiritual guru who started a particular School of Yoga. Yoga sounds harmless enough and in many instances the practice is mostly harmless enough... Just watch what particular group you join up with to do it...

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[b:ccc79fcb75]starbright:[/b:ccc79fcb75]
Come on people, lighten up and let's have some fun while we are here on this planet for such a short time.

Exactly, life is for fun while we are here on this plant for such a short time... And that's one big reason why you wouldn't want to find yourself in a position where you spend your life being manipulated and subtly cohersed by other people to live your life according to their spiritual philosophies and beliefs. Especially more so where the end product is to get you so involved that in good faith you drop everything about your current life and you spend your life and money devoted to them. Helping them ultimately feed and grow bigger and better and wealthier...

Welf

Thank you rr, kath and Welf for sharing all these thoughts, opinions and takes on life on this forum.

I can only conclude that it's a very sad and sick world we live in where we have to be ever vigilant, watchful of other people's ulterior motives and looking over our shoulder to see we aren't getting conned.

Whatever happened to peace, joy, kindness, love and happiness? And no I am not some trippy, dippy, pot smoking, flower power hippy, I am a 53 year old grandmother who is sometimes disillusioned by the world we live in but who is trying so hard to get to a better place in it whilst I am here.

Take care