Tag: sweat lodge

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.”

James Arthur Ray has become a self-help superstar by packaging his charismatic personality and selling wealth. Those who first attend his free seminars hear a motivational mantra that promises that they can achieve what he calls “Harmonic Wealth” — on a financial, mental, physical spiritual level.

He uses free seminars to recruit people to his expensive seminars, starting with $4,000 three-day “Quantum Leap” workshops and moving on to the weeklong $5,300 “Practical Mysticism” events and the $9,000-plus “Spiritual Warrior” retreats like the one that led to the sweat lodge tragedy.

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.