There are concentration exercises taught in yoga in which the student learns to maintain a fixed, blinkless gaze for increasingly lengthy periods of time. I think the exercise may be called 'tratakam'. And I have read that this same exercise is part of the training for magickal practices--magickal ritual involves the use of trancework carried out in a highly disciplined manner by a grou
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Pilates is great. In fact, you'll not only get a pleasant mood boost and a nicely chiseled midsection---you may even discover that your BM's become more regular! All verifiable, no need to take someone else's word for it. Go girl.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

A lot of these mavericks busted loose during the 60s and 70s when common sense was unfashionable, even in academic circles, and fantasy over-rode fact checking. Those were the years when Carlos Castaneda wrote a novel submitted it as his Ph.D dissertation and earned a Ph.D from UCLA. His work has since been exposed as bogus. It was a good time to start a group. I suggest that you write down a
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

We have gotten lots of reports on this message board from people concerned about this group. As for deprogramming, you'd need to talk with Rick Ross. Given that your wedding is about one month away and you've already been in a fender bender, I would recommend taking care of yourself, first and formost. Since your friends are Asian, they may be especially vulnerable to LGAT indoct
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

stress. Before we go further, first thing to do is take a deep breath and take care of yourself. You mention that you were in (or nearly were in) a car accident. Plus you work in a psych emergency room. So it sounds as though you're already maxing out. As they say during the safety lecture on airplanes, first put on your oxygen mask before taking care of others. I recommend cont
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Its the one where I quoted material on the SPP from that Google group citation. Good luck. I'd recommend that if you attend that SPP class, note the emotional and the intellectual atmosphere. Agenda driven groups are usually tense--they're on the defensive, not telling you the full truth. A true philosophy class and teacher should convey an atmosphere of rigorous but ultimately fr
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Since you're in NYC, you could post something on (New York) in the Community Discussions section. Tell em 'I am recovering from cult involvement. I am working on my own education, decided to take a class in philosophy. This school looked legit. Then I happened to ask about it offhandedly on and someone found THIS stuff doing a Google search Something like that. Tell people
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

and have such an air of old fashioned legitimacy, that its hard to clue in that something is going on. The other thing that makes this a tough one to spot is that they apparently started off from a study group once led by Ouspensky, who had studied with Gurdjieff and then broke with him. Until Gurdjieff began publishing his own books, the only written material available for persons interested
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Gary Lachman's book Turn off Your Mind The chapter is entitled 'Get With the Process'.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

They started in London, as a spin off from an Ouspensky study group. The London group is called School of Economic Science. They have advertisements for philosophy classes, but what is covertly taught is derived from bogus Gurdjieff and Ouspensky material. You can be involved for years and get sucked in gradually before you really know what is going on. Strict old fashioned dress cod
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

in his or her direction--its actually draining for you, and in the long run, a trap. Cultivation of energy is very different from someone rousing your energy so as to tap it for themselves. Here is an example of someone who did it ethically. I watched a practitioner of Taoist Chi Gong heal someone. The man had a back ache and the teacher, without touching him, channelled some energy to th
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

these long term esoteric groups can really get under a person's skin. They're intimate, like family. Dont know if this is of use, but I was entangled with a Christian minister and the relationship turned cultic. The guy did all the right things, had a local reputation as a saint and a hero, taught all the right things. But only after working with a therapist who has modeled agen
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

trance--especially since you note that it wasnt the content that was significant but the emotional tone. Given that you're still painfully influenced by all this after 5 years out of the group, some counseling with an expert might be worth a try. Rick can probably recommend some exit counselors in your area--that can ensure the cult issues will be addressed first. Look for someone who has
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

If you are looking for a therapist There was a psychiatrist at UCLA school of medicine, Louis Jolyon West, who was a cult expert. He died a few years back. If you ever think you need referral to a therapist, you might phone the psychiatry department at the school of medicine, ask who on staff is continuing Dr West's work, and then say, 'I need a list of therapists who have been train
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Reading Prophetic Charisma by Len Oakes will probably help you make sense of all this and dispell a lot of the mystique. Sounds like Michael gave you all 'hits of energy' to attract even more energy from you as a group. Its interesting how you mention that the energy behind the teaching was more important than content. This very long URL will take you to an article on a Google dis
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

First, just to let you know, I am not a qualified Zen teacher and have barely managed to begin stablizing a practice. I think its a matter of discovering the difference between genuine practice vs what some have called 'Black Zen'--where the intellectual part of Zen is used to mind-fuck people. Someone at our practice center said, 'Its 1950s Zen (Alan Watts Zen) when people
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

It appears you were recruited in a highly skillful manner. Thats scary. 1) Identify the issues in your life right at the time you were recruited. Recruitment usually succeeds when it coincides with a period of vulnerability. Feelings you put on hold as your involvment deepened may come back now that you no longer have the distraction of the group 2) The hardest thing to give up is that shar
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

This article may give some additional clues. See if it applies to your situation. Its long but well worth reading.
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

How you were recruited Do they target people with certain characteristics? Do they recruit by hitting on psychotherapy clients? Some groups encourage disciples who are in helping professions to reel their clients into the group. This is considered an unethical 'dual relationship' according to most guidelines governing conduct for therapists, health care professionals and attorneys
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

I have noticed that many cult leaders have remarkably vivid, expressive eyes. The other night, while on a Google search I found material for a mail order course on hypnosis/influence enhancement which mentioned, among other things a technique called 'soft eyes' and 'using the power of your gaze'--which immediately made me think of first-person reports I have read concerning th
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

it lingers but eventually wears off. Thats why many of these groups want you to keep coming back. The euphoria turns into something to cling to. And as the Buddhists have discovered, clinging to anything impermanent is what leads to suffering. Producing deep, changes in a person's inner landscape that is in harmony with that person's identity is not something that can be achieved
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

a person on another listserve recently complained that Rick would NOT put she'd sent on a group she was worried about in the material in the RR.com archives . 'Rick wants all info already documented and published and he wants me to get him the web links for all published facts (that which comes aside from me). ' (paraphrase) Nothing gets posted in the RR.com database archives
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

a person on another listserve recently complained that Rick would NOT post material she'd sent on a group she was worried about. 'Rick wants all info already documented and published and he wants me to get him the web links for all published facts (that which comes aside from me). ' That was her complaint! Nothing gets posted on RR.com concerning a group unless that material
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

a person on another listserve recently complained that Rick would NOT include in the RR.com database/archives material she'd sent on a group she was worried about. 'Rick wants all info already documented and published and he wants me to get him the web links for all published facts (that which comes aside from me). ' (paraphrase) Nothing goes into the RR.com database archive
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

a person on another listserve recently complained that Rick would NOT include in the database archives material she'd sent on a group she was worried about. 'Rick wants all info already documented and published and he wants me to get him the web links for all published facts (that which comes aside from me). ' (paraphrase) To re-iterate: This is a balanced website. The off
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

because there are forums and websites that represent a diversity of viewpoints. Balance exists on this site. All the archived material for each group contains the official website of that group, along with the reports by troubled participants. It is not just disgruntled people who use this site--students, journalists, social scientists and other scholars use it as a resource. They would not do
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

'When the evidence is in your favor argue on the basis of the evidence. That is the most powerful position When the evidence is against you, argue the law--thats the second most powerful position'. When both law and evidence is against you, yell, pound the table, and attack your adversary's personal life.' the LGAT people keep telling us to do their work for them by c
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

is time taken away from wife and family.
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

If you want indoctrination, will not provide it. For one thing, RR.com cannot control the physical environment, or script the social interactions. All it does is offer reading matter, from which you pick and choose. RR.com provides the opposite of indoctrination and equip people to make their own decisions whether to expose themselves to reportedly controversial groups. You can read
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"

Unlike the LGATs in its database, does not prosyletize. This site does not generate 'pop' up ads or blinking ads on other websites. You will not be tiresomely hit on by friends, bosses, coworkers, and urged to log on to And, if you do, by chance decide to try it is FREE. You dont have to leave your home, go to any meetings. And there are no published reports of people suff
Forum: Large Group Awareness Training, "Human Potential"