For earlier material about Agama Yoga, go here.
[forum.culteducation.com]
There is this note at the end of the "Being Broken" article:
[coconuts.co]
Just so happens some of the Trip Advisor material can be viewed here on CEI message board.
[forum.culteducation.com]
One item from Tripadvisor here:
“CULT, Beware! Yikes !”
Review of Agama Yoga
[www.tripadvisor.com]
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Pressure on monogamous couples
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[forum.culteducation.com]
There is this note at the end of the "Being Broken" article:
[coconuts.co]
Quote
*Certain names have been changed to preserve the anonymity of sources.
(Editor’s Note: TripAdvisor has removed the reviews that alleged rape at Agama Yoga. They remain visible in Google searches.)
If you have experienced sexual assault at Agama please write to: bangkok@coconuts.co
Just so happens some of the Trip Advisor material can be viewed here on CEI message board.
[forum.culteducation.com]
One item from Tripadvisor here:
“CULT, Beware! Yikes !”
Review of Agama Yoga
[www.tripadvisor.com]
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Reviewed November 1, 2013
CULT, Beware! Yikes !
These people have a reputation on the island for taking advantage of the young yoginis of the course. I've found many incongruencies and contradictions with their course. Often you'll overhear other patrons of agama quietly grumble in small groups, I found that when I approached and inquired more details of their disdain they would shush me or shun me.. Often afraid that I was "one of them" or that one of them was listening.
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Reviewed July 26, 2013
A powerful practice with poor guidance
I spent about two years with Agama at its different locations in Thailand, India and Mexico. It’s is a wonderful place to get an education on the fundamentals of true yoga. The Level 1 class will likely change your life for the good.
However, the practice is extremely powerful, and it is difficult for many people to keep their heads straight. Some women loose all inhibition (when a bit of inhibition can be useful) and men become a source for a lot of unnecessary emotional pain (due to having multiple sex partners).
One of the first things you learn when arriving in Thailand is that Swami will have sex with pretty much any attractive woman, so he can “teach her” about Tantra. This is not a rumour. He said it in front of me more than once, and I know women he’s slept with. In fact, he will sleep new students, often after hypnotizing them, and those who are clearly in an emotionally vulnerable state.
Agama will teach you how to harness immense power, but it does a poor job of demonstrating how to use it. I learned a lot there. Yet the teachings and environment lead me to making some really big mistakes in my personal life.
Be careful!
Pressure on monogamous couples
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Reviewed July 25, 2013
Lovely retreat, unecessary segregation.
My partner and I attended a Tantric retreat at Agama yoga. Overall, we had a positive experience and came out with a very heightened spiritual connection. However, I feel that this was the case largely because we remained very focused on our own experience rather than what was happening around us.
My partner and I are in a monogamous relationship. Being a tantric retreat and us not being too experienced with this practice, we assumed there would be many other couples, however there ended up being far more singles and only one other couple was monogamous.
This was just fine with us until some activities arose where we were only allowed to participate if we did so with others.
When asking if we could participate all the same but only with each other we were told that was not the point of the exercise and we could not. We felt a lot of pressure to participate both verbally and non verbally but in the end decided it was not for us and were forced to go home.
After standing outside and seeing everyone get undressed and sexual with each other, switching every couple of minutes, we were very content with our decision. Only a few minutes later, the other monogamous couple ran out in tears. The next day, many women arrived in tears and the energy was completely different between many couples. It was clear that boundaries has been crossed the night before.
Tantric intimacy is a practice between a man and a woman. We were confused as to why it was considered so wrong in this environment to participate in every aspect with your 'one and only'. Surely, this would create a far more pure and powerful energy than with someone you just met?
We felt this divide was very unnecessary and uncomfortable.
In contrast, like I said, staying focused on our own interactions brought us great joy and we experienced many beautiful revelations in our relationship . We took a lot away from this retreat and met some very inspiring people. Most of the activities brought us to a new level of 'closeness' and we truly learned a lot about ourselves and our relationships. We really enjoyed the verbal teaching as we were given a vast amount of information on tantra, communication and the relationship between Shiva and Shakti. This, along with the variety of wonderful mediation practices we learned, we still reference today. Living in Thailand at the time, this one definitely one our highlights.
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