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dabcult
I Know for sure that Trinity is sending mass email telling people that
they will be able to be taking ayahuasca in America if they join his church right now ...for only his church members will be able to attend ceremonies ..
If Gayle is right ....then it is a monumental scam ..by a guy who cannot even enter the USA ...

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Workplace, an Ashram, or a Cult?
Inside the sexual harassment lawsuit against Jivamukti Yoga.

Slate/April 5, 2016

By Michelle Goldberg

[culteducation.com]

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At Jivamukti, Lauer-Manenti was known as Lady Ruth, an honorific bestowed on her by Geshe Michael Roach, a tantric Buddhist most well-known for leading a three-year silent retreat in the Arizona desert at which one of his followers died. Lady Ruth was quirky and ethereal, heedless of pedestrian personal boundaries; former teachers I spoke with describe her probing for details of their romantic relationships and casually stripping in the studio offices to change clothes for class. Besides being an eminent yoga instructor, she’s an artist with an MFA from Yale. Faurot saw her as “spiritually advanced.”

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[fox2now.com]

Former members of polygamist sect led by Warren Jeffs reveal secrets in FBI documents

“There was so much class distinction and shunning of people,” said a former cook for the family of Bishop Lyle Jeffs, the prophet’s brother and right-hand man. She spoke of seeing shopping carts full of meat and turkeys earmarked for the bishop’s family while others made do with rice and beans.

The new social structure came about, as so many things do in the FLDS, when prophet Warren Jeffs had a revelation. This one came on December 12, 2011, about four months after he started serving the life sentence in Texas.

He told followers that God ordered him to create a United Order of members most worthy of heaven. And, before the month was up, his brother Lyle was lining up members at the old elementary school and quizzing them about their lives and faith to determine who was, indeed, worthy. They were instructed to hand over everything they owned and told the church would provide for their earthly needs.

The prophet — and there is little doubt Warren Jeffs is still the FLDS prophet — chooses who will be included in the United Order. His brothers, Lyle and Seth, serve as “bishops” and carry out the prophet’s wishes at FLDS compounds along the Utah-Arizona border and in the Black Hills of South Dakota.

The cook, Allene Jeffs Steed, told the FBI last year that while she prepared feasts of lobster and shrimp for the bishop, her own children “lived off toast.” She used duct tape to hold her kids’ shoes together. And hers wasn’t the only FLDS family to go without.

“We were literally starving,” Sheryl Barlow told the FBI in February. She lived in a house with 40 people and said they subsisted on noodles, brown rice, tomato juice and, when they were lucky, bread or a few containers of yogurt.

Federal prosecutors allege that food for the families of church leaders was ordered separately from stores such as Costco, while other members were left to shop at a warehouse of pooled resources called “the bishop’s storehouse.” Often, there wasn’t enough in the storehouse for everyone, and those at the bottom of the FLDS pecking order had to settle for whatever was left.

“We had little children that were starving, big people that were starving,” Barlow said. “It wasn’t enough to sustain.”

Fear and small numbers have long silenced the “apostates,” as the FLDS calls its turncoats. They’d be cut off from their families, shunned and harassed. Now, there are just too many of them. In some cases, entire families are leaving the fold

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As that trial ended, another case began in Salt Lake City with criminal charges filed accusing 11 FLDS members — including Lyle and Seth Jeffs — of engaging in a food stamp swindle and money-laundering scheme that raked in some $12 million.

“Bleeding the beast,” the FLDS calls it. The “beast,” of course, is the federal government.

While families entitled to the food stamps went hungry, federal prosecutors allege, church leaders funneled food purchased with federal assistance into their own pantries or illegally exchanged food stamps for cash to plow into church projects — including publication of the prophet’s 854-page book of prison revelations, titled “Jesus Christ, Message to All Nations.” One witness who worked in the front office estimated the printing costs at $250,000.

Cash was obtained by ringing up ghost “purchases” at two FLDS-owned stores in Short Creek, according to a federal indictment accusing bishops Lyle and Seth Jeffs and nine other church members in a scheme to fraudulently obtain food stamp cards and launder money. At times, the FLDS stores’ food stamp sales rivaled those at Costco or Walmart, federal authorities alleged. They say the laundered cash was used on big-ticket items such as a Ford F-350 truck ($30,236), a John Deere tractor ($13,561) and $16,978 in paper products, to list a few.

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dabcult

Most people who take ayahuasca ARE benefitted, some experience tremendous benefit and healing. From my experience, the number of people with bad outcomes may be only about 2-3%. I DO NOT KNOW WHERE YOU GET THESE NUMBERS ?
Long term effect on the brain ...we do not know

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dabc
have also see ...people that are long time leaders in the Santo Daime people who have drank gallons and gallons of the brew ...that have become overcome by
lust and started to use their "LEADER" PADRIHO ....position to abuse sexully many many gulible woman.

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“Jivamukti gives you this antidote. You have something now. You’ve been in therapy, you’ve done all these things, but you’re still not healed,” she said. “You feel like you want a way to move forward with your life and transform, and they give you something. They give you something you can dedicate your whole life to.”

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At Jivamukti, Lauer-Manenti was known as Lady Ruth, an honorific bestowed on her by Geshe Michael Roach, a tantric Buddhist most well-known for leading a three-year silent retreat in the Arizona desert at which one of his followers died.

[culteducation.com]

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On thinking about it, the victim could probably easily win if she can prove the following:

1. Did the victim have good reason to believe that if she did not comply with Lady Ruth's requests, her career would be negatively affected?

2. Did Jivamukti make it clear, if unwritten, that dissent of any kind was intolerable?


If either statement is true, then Faurot has a solid case. Universities and corporations understand this so why shouldn't a stinky old ashram?

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I've done yoga for more than 15 years, and studios like Jivamukti and Bikram and the teachers mentioned in this article have been a total turnoff for me. If everyone is crowding around someone and fighting to get into their class, I go to another class. When people are expressing wide-eyed devotion to the person beaming beatifically at the front of the room, that makes me look a lot more critically at the person who's at the front of the room. And if a yoga teacher isn't capable of bringing their own water to class, then I don't really know if they're capable of teaching me anything valuable.

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These predators become experts at identifying the people who will be most vulnerable to their advances.

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I was just going to post the same thing! The fact that power was given means nothing in this regard. To an extent, we've "given" power to many adults in our lives, like our bosses. This woman was in a teacher/boss capacity and manipulated an intimate relationship. The fact that the relationship was entered into willingly initially should have any bearing.

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The problem is that abusers work like those entertainment hypnotists: they start with a simple request of say, 50 people, and find the 30 people suggestible enough to go along with it. Then they slowly escalate the requests, winnowing down the field from 30 people willing to do some of the requests, then 20 people willing to do half the requests, 10 people willing to do most of the requests, until they have three people who are so suggestible that they're willing to humiliate themselves because they're gullible enough to believe they're truly hypnotized.

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It may be cultish, but Holly made a choice to worship there. Nobody forced her.

. 1 day ago
No nobody forced her. But remember, this was both her boss, and her pastor. A double dose of influence - and after spending all that money, can you blame her for being afraid to fall out of favor and therefore loose the good (well paying) shifts?
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The P
The P 23 hours ago
. Nobody forced her but it's not like they stated up front that her job would include creepy behavior from her supervisor/spiritual advisor as well as retribution if she spoke out against these abuses. There were clear negative impacts to her job as a result of her complaints against her supervisor. It's pretty clear cut sexual harassment and there are laws in place to hold people and businesses accountable for this behavior.
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On thinking about it, the victim could probably easily win if she can prove the following:

1. Did the victim have good reason to believe that if she did not comply with Lady Ruth's requests, her career would be negatively affected?

2. Did Jivamukti make it clear, if unwritten, that dissent of any kind was intolerable?


If either statement is true, then Faurot has a solid case. Universities and corporations understand this so why shouldn't a stinky old ashram?

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There have been plenty of scandals involving south Asian mystics and gurus. I spent some time at Satchidananda Ashram and was aware of the allegations, though not in depth, against its founder before I went to stay for an internship program. Coming from a Protestant Christian background, guru worship never felt right to me, but my experience there actually made me ambivalent when I did learn more about the allegations. On one hand, I get annoyed with people who think that woman have nothing better to do with their energy than falsely accuse others of sexual misconduct toward them. On the other hand, the competition for closeness to the guru had to make me wonder whether jealousy could lead to the accusations. (To be clear, I had no personal contact with Satchidananda, just the monks and nuns conducting the program.) After I learned the extent of the allegations, my first instinct took over, but there were good and spiritually gifted people there (who were also betrayed, IMO) and it didn't make me devalue my experiences there.


The only difference I see is that this is happening in a newer generation of U.S. yogic culture that is in upscale studios and not spartan monasteries. The offenders seem to be western teachers. I don't doubt that guru worship creates a setting that is ripe for letting unethical people commit sexual abuse. The desire to turn yoga into an exercise program has made westerners forget that it's a spiritual practice. That could be a good thing for the many who need it, but it holds the same dangers that deference to religious authority figures has generated for many religions.

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Human Kindness Foundation in Durham N.C, which is an ashram-style commune based on helping prisoners was exposed when their founder/leader and guru Bo Lozoff was found to be sleeping with just about everyone working there.

(URL inserted by Corboy -- [www.indyweek.com]

Bo died in a motorcycle crash not too long after the sexual escapades were exposed and the place shut down. It re-opened after his death and is still operating today. He had required the workers to give up all personal wealth/property and devote themselves entirely to the cult.

Look at the history of Kripalu Yoga Center. The contrast between the bare-walled cells that the students/disciples slept in versus the beautifully appointed house the guru built for himself is pretty striking.

Ironically, after guru was unmasked as serial sexual predator, many Kripalu-ites joined up with John Friend, who, of course, turned out to have the same predilection for sleeping with his youngest, hottest students.

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Lozoff's guru is the now-deceased Neem Karoli Baba, whom Lozoff claims to have seen in a dream when he was 8 but never met. Author Ram Dass described Baba in his biography, Miracle of Love, as a "master of abuse" who sheltered criminals but also had sex with his devotees. Baba tormented devotees with "playful" abuse such as making arbitrary and often conflicting demands and humiliating them publicly, as a means to "loosen the minds" of followers.

Catherine Wessinger, professor of The History of Religions and Women's Studies at Loyola University in New Orleans, said Baba's biography is relevant in analyzing Lozoff's behavior.

"He's got a spiritual calling, or he feels he does," she said of Lozoff. "He feels he's following his guru in terms of the service he was doing, but also it's possible he was following his guru in terms of sexual activity. He just seems blind to the fact that these women were not in a position of having much choice. Their choices were pretty limited, given their circumstances. He doesn't really see that."

The sexual power dynamic between Lozoff, a spiritual teacher, and the woman parolee and other female acolytes was at best unhealthy and at worst abusive, according to Wessinger and another religious studies expert.

Sexual yoga and tantra "can be abused," Wessinger said, adding, "Ideally, it's about two partners engaged in spiritual practice together. The inequality in these relationships [at Kindness House], and also the lack of knowledge on the part of the women, would have put them at a disadvantage. I don't see where it would have been spiritually beneficial to the women where they weren't equal partners in that sexual and spiritual relationship."

She said Lozoff's insistence that he was a "mystic," and not a teacher, was specious.

"Lozoff is claiming he's not a guru, he's not a teacher—he's claiming to be a mystic. Yet, how would these women have known anything about sexual energies, tantra, chakra, unless he taught it to them? That would have put him in a teacher role."

Timothy Miller, professor of Religious Studies at the University of Kansas and an expert on intentional communities, said a common problem among all faiths is for leaders to have unchecked power.

"I think it's bad for people to be in a position of leadership where not only do they have authority and power, but also they have people looking up to them and telling them how wonderful they are."

He said that, in an environment of adoration, it's hard to "keep your bearings."

"If he [Lozoff] set down these rules, and expected people to follow them, there's no reason to think he didn't intend to follow it himself, originally," he said. "But things change, and you get carried away. And people are sexual beings, men and women alike. It's a temptation that's there."

Miller said having a mystical calling is common across religious beliefs, and in the proper perspective, can be beneficial.

"What becomes a problem is that you decide, therefore, you're superior," he said. "It can make you think 'I'm so spiritually advanced that the normal rules don't apply to me.'"

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Going off about Lozoff

Editor's Note: Our Aug. 27 cover story, "The two faces of Bo Lozoff," generated significant response from supporters and critics of the spiritual leader. The Indy stands behind the story; we made two corrections (see note on story).

Shortly after the interview with Lozoff, we received and confirmed information that he had contacted one of our sources by e-mail and phone, pressing her to discuss with him why she approached the Indy. The Indy also received e-mails from Lozoff and his supporters asking us not to run the story.

Before the story was published, Lozoff contacted his supporters via e-mail, criticizing the Indy and suggested "if they feel so moved" they should write letters to the paper. This isn't to say that all the supportive letters were prompted by that e-mail, only that there was an attempt to organize such an effort.

A full transcript of the interview between reporter Matt Saldaña and Lozoff is posted on the online story. There are more than 50 comments from readers online. More letters will be printed next week.

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Melissa Lozoff
Durham

The writer is Bo Lozoff's daughter-in-law.

I was a tremendous admirer of Bo Lozoff, the Prison Ashram Project and Kindness House. I met him and the staff in 1996 and began volunteering regularly, as I revered their simple lifestyle, devotion to service and spiritual practices very deeply. Shortly after I began volunteering, Bo created a Spiritual Order that I became a novice and then member of. I did not take the precepts, requirements or vows lightly and was delighted to have found a structured, accountable mechanism to give my spiritual life a greater emphasis.

In fall 2002, I began dating a woman whom I had met while volunteering at Kindness House. Within a very short period of time I discovered that she had been involved with Bo sexually and romantically. I was crushed, outraged, in a state of utter disbelief.

In the weeks following, there was a major damage control effort prompted by Bo and endorsed by the board: how this was all sacred, spiritual and mysterious. I went on to marry this woman in haste despite a resounding amount of information that suggested I might want to wait. I look back now and see that I was in a haze of naivety and spiritual hypnosis. I take full responsibility for this.

Yet I never heard a word from Bo or any member of the Board. No "Sorry, buddy, no hard feelings." These acts are not, in and of themselves, inexcusable or irreparable. But what is excruciatingly violating and traumatizing is the silence. Bo had no accountability for his actions to me whatsoever. And, perhaps even more frightening, no accountability to the Board.

My marriage has all but dissolved. I don't want to imply that Bo is the sole reason, but I've never been able to put that incident behind me. I hope someone or something can help Bo. I hope I can open my heart and trust again.

Bill Wagner
Hillsborough

I have volunteered at Human Kindness Foundation for over five years, mainly reading and responding to a portion of the 500-plus letters they receive weekly from prisoners. I know what Bo's writing means to them. Many of these inmates have opened themselves up to spirituality after reading Bo's book We're All Doing Time. In the forward of that book, the Dalai Lama writes, "It is futile to harbor hatred and ill-will even towards those who abuse us."

Unfortunately, it appears that Mr. Saldaña and some of the people interviewed for the article are coming from such a place of hostility. I don't necessarily agree or disagree with Bo's unconventional style of spiritual healing. Nor do I dismiss the suffering that some individuals feel over what happened to them in their relationships with Bo. However, I believe that lashing out at him and HKF with such malice is counterproductive. Such enmity will negatively affect the work of HKF, and all organizations that promote spirituality and service to humankind.

I sought Bo's help when I felt completely stuck in my life, precisely because I knew him to be unconventional and that he would think outside the box. We met together several times in his office (which did have a window) and spoke at length. I credit him with helping me on my spiritual journey and encouraging me to continue to work at my current relationships, including the one with my life partner. I am forever grateful not only to Bo, but to HKF for following their calling to serve God and humankind.
RB
Durham

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I'm the woman in the article who arrived in 1999. I really don't think Bo understands the harm he has caused; otherwise why would he continue to minimize and invalidate my experience so much? For Bo to call our relationship "mutual sexual behavior" is not taking into account the power differential and my prior history of abuse. Bo describes the situation as "painful and confusing to us both," whereas I'd call the fallout downright devastating. My life and my marriage have mostly been a mess since I left Kindness House, and while I've done a tremendous amount of personal healing, my marriage is also ending from what I consider the toxic fallout of this situation.

The only reason I approached the Indy is because I don't want other women (or men, for that matter) to be hurt. Yes, this is a private, personal matter, but Bo has a very wide reach, thus my inclination to go with a public venue and warn followers who are not aware of Bo's other side. People who came to KH as vulnerable as I did deserve to know (even now) what they're getting into, since Bo does not have any checks and balances on his behavior.

The fact that Bo engaged in deceitful behavior that took advantage of me emotionally, psychologically, spiritually and sexually, not just once but over a sustained period of time, and not just with me but with other women, is a violation and betrayal of relational trust that must be condemned and condemned loudly and publicly, as the scandal of pedophilia within the Catholic priesthood has taught us. As the gay community often reminded us during the days when public support for AIDS victims was weak, "silence = death."

Name withheld by request
Chapel Hill

As a volunteer and friend of Human Kindness Foundation for 15 years, and a constant visitor to Kindness House over the lifespan of that community, I am absolutely certain that Bo Lozoff has never "psychologically terrorized" or been physically violent with another human being.

The parolees who came to Kindness House brought plenty of their personal issues into the daily life of the community, to the extent that often its other members were not able to get their own work done. Bo never stopped caring about, supporting and showing incredible generosity to anyone who came to Kindness House, including specifically those who "came forward with allegations."

It is tragically easy for someone who has no direct experience of the circumstances, and is crediting only one side of the story, to create an impression of what is already assumed. And for the public to then assume implications to be truth. Bo Lozoff has given the whole of his life—every iota of it—in service to others. I don't know of anyone else about whom that could be said.