U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar is asking both the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate the circumstances related to the “Spiritual Warrior” program run by motivational speaker James Arthur Ray.

Three people died as a result of Arthur’s New Age version of a sweat lodge ritual.

“I’ve taught that we’re all going to have adversity and we can’t run from it,” Ray said at a recent recruitment session in Denver.

Meanwhile the founder of the website Americans Against Self-Help Fraud says he hopes and prays the sweat lodge incident “will put a chilling effect on the self-help industry.”

When participants exhibited weakness, Ray urged them to push past it and chided those who wanted to leave, she said. “I can’t get her to move. I can’t get her to wake up,” Bunn recalls hearing from two sides of the 415-square-foot sweat lodge. Ray’s response: “Leave her alone, she’ll be dealt with in the next round.”

It marks a significant revelation in the criminal investigation into Ray over the episode because it portrays him as driving participants to stay in the lodge despite signs all around him that the situation had gone bad. [video]

A Minnesota woman who was hospitalized with damage to multiple organs after she was overcome in an Arizona sweat lodge ceremony died Saturday, sheriff’s officials said.

The death of 49-year-old Liz Neuman brings the total number of deaths from the Oct. 8 incident at a resort near Sedona to three, Yavapai County sheriff’s spokesman Dwight D’Evelyn said.

Authorities are treating the deaths as homicides, but no charges have been filed.

The investigation into the two deaths and numerous injuries that occurred during a James Arthur Ray “Spiritual Warrior” seminar at the Angel Valley Retreat near Sedona has turned from a death investigation into a homicide investigation, said Yavapai County Sheriff Steve Waugh said.

Asked why the deaths have been classified as homicides and the investigation upgraded, Waugh said, “We believe there are indications that it was not accidental, and … we feel that there should be some culpability on some individuals.” [video]

The owners of a resort where two people were overcome in a sweat lodge and later died are asking for prayers in hopes that something positive will come out of what they say was a tragic and unexpected accident.

The Hamiltons had rented the facility just outside Sedona to self-help expert James Arthur Ray for his five-day “Spiritual Warrior” retreat.

Two people have died and 19 others were taken to hospital after being overcome while in a sauna-like room at a spiritual retreat in Arizona.

Investigators are speaking to staff and guests and carrying out toxicity tests in an effort to find out what happened.

Reports said some of the sweatbox participants had paid up to $9,000 for their stay at the retreat. [video]