Florida author: How I lost $500,000 to a California cult
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Linnell describes feeling an “inner peace, warmth and love” like she had never felt before in Lakshmi’s meditation class. This was enough to convince her that she had to somehow talk Lakshmi into taking her on as a student. It eventually happened, but not before Linnell had committed to paying thousands of dollars in tuition.
“For sure they targeted me because they knew I was well off,” Linnell said. “It was part of their operating model. Sending people out into the world to make more money so they could pay more tuition, and we were like their minions. We could justify it because we believed that we were only making more money because of their coaching.”
Much of what Linnell describes in “The Burn Zone” as Lakshmi’s teachings will come across as obvious flimflam: hidden mystical portals, a bizarre dress code and dark beings who apparently took exception when Lakshmi’s students used social media, danced, or kept too many family mementos.
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Speaking of her troubled relationship with her mother, who became an alcoholic after the death of her husband, Linnell believes that this determined not only her relationship with men, but also her need for validation which led her to fall so completely into Vishnu and Lakshmi’s clutches.
“My relationship with my mom led me to carry a lot of self-doubt, which often allows others to treat us poorly,” Linnell explains. “I realized later that this is the start of every abusive relationship. I’ve learned so much from what I went through, that when I see toxic relationships I now realize there is a clear pattern.”
Getting sucked into the University of Mysticism by Lakshmi and Vishnu, Linnell was forced to cut ties with her loved ones, including her twin brother and all her friends who weren’t involved with the cult. When Linnell moved to New York City under orders from her spiritual leaders to earn her MBA and build a $10 million business, she quickly became entangled in a disastrous romantic and business relationship that caused her to lose over $500,000.