Seventeen years ago I went to Arizona to study and train in Transforming Cellular memory with Don Hanson. The day after I arrived there I was sexually assaulted by him in a disused quarry outside of town where he had brought me for a 'swim'. I was told that I was 'too tense for spirit to work with me' and he began to massage me and then suggested I undress. I was concerned for my survival at that point and did what he suggested, leaving my underclothes on. The massage became an assault when he put his hands between my legs and touched my genitals. I froze at that point and became very confused.
Several days later after this he violently rejected the challenge made to him on this during a circle by his wife of the time. A sexual seduction and ultimatum was made by him and what followed for me were two and half years of chaos, soul loss and sexual harassment. I was repeatedly told that I had a chastity belt around my hips due to my religious education - and that I needed to get my sexual energy flowing again. It was true that my hips were locked up - there had been a lot of violence in the house I grew up in.
When I finally got up the courage to leave the group I experienced intense backlash from the people still involved in it. I understood this was due to the level of denial and spiritual bypass that exists within the group dynamic. I had gone through it myself and had defended him fiercely when he was challenged by others when I was caught up in him and the group dynamic.
It took many years to recover from my experiences there. When people didn't do what Don wanted they were labelled as being in 'victim consciousness' and blamed for not taking responsibility.
During my recovery I have sat with many sides of the situation and looked at why I stayed in relationship with him for so long, why I didn't speak up, why I allowed myself and others to be bullied and harassed and where my responsibility for myself lay as a 28 year old adult when I met him. I did give my power away, I did put his voice before my own, I did try to make the situation work as best I could, and I did believe for a time that I was healing. However in truth I came away from it more traumatised than I ever was before I went in. I was very young, very naive and in a very vulnerable position when I met him. I did have childhood trauma and this was greatly exacerbated rather than healed by his behaviour.
I have also examined what was his responsibility as a teacher and therapist and someone I was paying throughout that time for training and healing. I have come to understand that due to the power differential inherent between a teacher and student or a therapist/healer and client, that the responsibility for the sexual assault and exploitation sits firmly with him.
In the years that followed my departure from the group I met a significant amount of others who were devastated by their experience of him and his work, including several who were also sexually manipulated and coerced. I tried to have him stopped from working in my country but as he is not from here and I was over 18 when it happened there were no legal grounds for it.
In the absence of being able to make a formal complaint against him, what I wanted was that he no longer continue to work in a field where there are vulnerable people seeking help and healing. I work in these areas now and know of several therapists and healers who have lost their licenses to practice, and their work and livelihoods for far less violation of boundaries and unethical behaviour than what I experienced during my time with him.
As my experiences happened so long ago and I did challenge him on it after I left and did receive an email from him in 2003 apologising for ‘drawing me into his misbehaviour’, I had hoped that his treatment of people had improved and that he no longer caused harm or had sexual relations with the people attending his workshops. However I recently met yet another person who was struggling after being in contact with him, and was about to email him directly to query his current practices when I came across this thread.
I am so sorry to hear yet again that others have gone through what I have. While I am sure there are some people who benefit from the work itself, the reports that the sexual abuse patterns are still active and that people are traumatised from it signals a highly dysfunctional system wrapped up in the guise of 'spirit and light'
I met the woman who committed suicide named in the newspaper article listed in the first post in this thread. In my recollection which I have cross checked with others who were there, she disclosed that she had been sexually abused as a child to the group. This was ignored by Don who said he would come back to it later as he wasn't feeling any energy in it. She was visibly distressed for the rest of the session. Afterwards she withdrew into herself and I never saw her again. When she committed suicide there was a major outcry in the media, I had left the group at this time, and moved to another country to recover from what had happened.
In the wake of the Harvey Weinstein allegations and subsequent revelations of abuses of power and sexual misconduct in many industries I am heartened to see so many people, mostly women but some men too, speak up of their experiences and finally not be blamed for getting caught in someone elses' power play and predatory behaviour.
Yes to echo the first post in this thread, be very careful of him and his work, and I suggest that if you are unable to 'feel any energy or truth' in what I am saying that perhaps you may have become numb to the pain of others if it's not what you want to hear. I was numb for many years at a very fundamental level when involved with him.
Several days later after this he violently rejected the challenge made to him on this during a circle by his wife of the time. A sexual seduction and ultimatum was made by him and what followed for me were two and half years of chaos, soul loss and sexual harassment. I was repeatedly told that I had a chastity belt around my hips due to my religious education - and that I needed to get my sexual energy flowing again. It was true that my hips were locked up - there had been a lot of violence in the house I grew up in.
When I finally got up the courage to leave the group I experienced intense backlash from the people still involved in it. I understood this was due to the level of denial and spiritual bypass that exists within the group dynamic. I had gone through it myself and had defended him fiercely when he was challenged by others when I was caught up in him and the group dynamic.
It took many years to recover from my experiences there. When people didn't do what Don wanted they were labelled as being in 'victim consciousness' and blamed for not taking responsibility.
During my recovery I have sat with many sides of the situation and looked at why I stayed in relationship with him for so long, why I didn't speak up, why I allowed myself and others to be bullied and harassed and where my responsibility for myself lay as a 28 year old adult when I met him. I did give my power away, I did put his voice before my own, I did try to make the situation work as best I could, and I did believe for a time that I was healing. However in truth I came away from it more traumatised than I ever was before I went in. I was very young, very naive and in a very vulnerable position when I met him. I did have childhood trauma and this was greatly exacerbated rather than healed by his behaviour.
I have also examined what was his responsibility as a teacher and therapist and someone I was paying throughout that time for training and healing. I have come to understand that due to the power differential inherent between a teacher and student or a therapist/healer and client, that the responsibility for the sexual assault and exploitation sits firmly with him.
In the years that followed my departure from the group I met a significant amount of others who were devastated by their experience of him and his work, including several who were also sexually manipulated and coerced. I tried to have him stopped from working in my country but as he is not from here and I was over 18 when it happened there were no legal grounds for it.
In the absence of being able to make a formal complaint against him, what I wanted was that he no longer continue to work in a field where there are vulnerable people seeking help and healing. I work in these areas now and know of several therapists and healers who have lost their licenses to practice, and their work and livelihoods for far less violation of boundaries and unethical behaviour than what I experienced during my time with him.
As my experiences happened so long ago and I did challenge him on it after I left and did receive an email from him in 2003 apologising for ‘drawing me into his misbehaviour’, I had hoped that his treatment of people had improved and that he no longer caused harm or had sexual relations with the people attending his workshops. However I recently met yet another person who was struggling after being in contact with him, and was about to email him directly to query his current practices when I came across this thread.
I am so sorry to hear yet again that others have gone through what I have. While I am sure there are some people who benefit from the work itself, the reports that the sexual abuse patterns are still active and that people are traumatised from it signals a highly dysfunctional system wrapped up in the guise of 'spirit and light'
I met the woman who committed suicide named in the newspaper article listed in the first post in this thread. In my recollection which I have cross checked with others who were there, she disclosed that she had been sexually abused as a child to the group. This was ignored by Don who said he would come back to it later as he wasn't feeling any energy in it. She was visibly distressed for the rest of the session. Afterwards she withdrew into herself and I never saw her again. When she committed suicide there was a major outcry in the media, I had left the group at this time, and moved to another country to recover from what had happened.
In the wake of the Harvey Weinstein allegations and subsequent revelations of abuses of power and sexual misconduct in many industries I am heartened to see so many people, mostly women but some men too, speak up of their experiences and finally not be blamed for getting caught in someone elses' power play and predatory behaviour.
Yes to echo the first post in this thread, be very careful of him and his work, and I suggest that if you are unable to 'feel any energy or truth' in what I am saying that perhaps you may have become numb to the pain of others if it's not what you want to hear. I was numb for many years at a very fundamental level when involved with him.