2+1 die, 19-1 overcome at Arizona retreat sweat lodge - Why We Protest

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10-09-2009

post #1 (link to here)

POS

Member

2+1 die, 19-1 overcome at Arizona retreat sweat lodge

The Associated Press: 2 die, 19 overcome at Arizona retreat sweat lodge

Quote:

PHOENIX — A sauna-like sweat lodge at an Arizona resort meant to provide spiritual cleansing became a crime scene Friday after two people died and others became ill during a two-hour session inside the crude structure.
In all, 21 of the 64 people crowded inside the sweat lodge Thursday evening were transported to hospitals. Four remained hospitalized Friday evening — one in critical condition and the others in fair condition.
Authorities haven't determined the cause of the deaths and illnesses; tests for carbon monoxide and other contaminants were negative. Yavapai County sheriff's spokesman Dwight D'Evelyn said authorities were checking into whether any of the attendees had pre-existing medical conditions and the possibility that some of them might have been fasting.
Among those sickened were a middle-aged man and a woman who were unconscious, according to a 911 call, and a third person who was found not breathing.
"It's not something you'd normally see at one of the resorts there, and it's unfortunate regardless of the cause," D'Evelyn said.
Investigators were working to determine whether criminal actions might have been a factor in the incident, D'Evelyn said.
The Angel Valley Retreat Center sits on 70 acres nestled in a scrub forest just outside Sedona, a resort town 115 miles north of Phoenix that draws many in the New Age spiritual movement.
Self-help expert and author James Arthur Ray rented the facility as part of his "Spiritual Warrior" retreat that began Oct. 3 and that promised to "absolutely change your life." The schedule had few details about what participants could expect, other than thrice-daily meals and group gatherings that started at 7 a.m. and ended 16 hours later.
The details came in a lengthy release of liability that acknowledges participants may suffer "physical, emotional, financial or other injuries" while hiking or swimming, or during a multi-day personal and spiritual quest in the wilderness without food or water or the sweat lodge.
No one was required to participate in the activities.
Some participants told detectives they paid up to $9,000 for the event. In a testimonial on the Angel Valley retreat's Web site, Ray said it "offers an ideal environment for my teachings."
Ray spokesman Howard Bragman confirmed that his client was holding an event at the retreat, as he has done in the past. Authorities said Ray was inside the sweat lodge Thursday evening and was interviewed.
"We express our deepest condolences to those who lost friends and family, but we pray for a speedy recovery for those who took ill," Bragman said. "At this point there are more questions than answers, so it would not be appropriate to comment further."
Ray's company, James Ray International, is based in Carlsbad, Calif.
Ray's most recent posting on his Twitter account said: "Still in Spiritual Warrior ... for anything new to live something first must die. What needs to die in you so that new life can emerge?"
The posting and two others were deleted Friday afternoon.
A woman who answered the phone at the Angel Valley resort Friday said its founders, Michael and Amayra Hamilton, would have no comment. A call to the Hamiltons' home went unanswered.
The Angel Valley Spiritual Retreat Center, built on former ranch property in the high-desert and red-rock country of northern Arizona, bills itself as a natural environment for self discovery and healing through a holistic approach aimed at balancing the mind, emotions, body and spirit.
The property includes American Indian structures such as teepees, guest houses and outdoor labyrinths made of stones.
Sweat lodges, like that held on the final day of the Angel Valley retreat, are commonly used by American Indian tribes to cleanse the body and prepare for hunts, ceremonies and other events. The structure used Thursday was crudely built and covered with tarps and blankets.
Stones are heated up outside a lodge, brought inside and placed in a pail-sized hole. The door is closed, and water is poured on the stones, producing heat aimed at releasing toxins in the body.
The ritual is helpful in restoring balance and changing people's attitudes and self-image, said Joseph Bruchac, author of "The Native American Sweat Lodge: History and Legends."
American Indian sweat lodges typically hold a maximum of 12 people.
People have died in sweat lodges in the past. They were either sick tribal elders who voluntarily stayed until they died or people who had heart conditions and were in poor health.
"The sweat lodge needs to be respected," Bruchac said. "When you imitate someone's tradition and you don't know what you are doing, there's a danger of doing something very wrong."

I wonder if this is the same Michael Hamilton ?

Michael L. Hamilton - Scientology Service Completions | Truth About Scientology Statistics Project

anonymous rulz

10-09-2009

post #2 (link to here)

xenubarb Bring Me Slappy Location: Area 5150	Re: 2 die, 19 overcome at Arizona retreat sweat lodge Unconfirmed, but reports that these idiots paid over $9000 (yeah, yeah) to bake in a stupid steam oven are wafting about. Like the unresolved spirits of native americans who are probably outraged by the hijacking of their culture by idiot New Age Indian wannabes. San Diego Anons: They Troll Deep. <----BALLS BALLS BALLS BALLS

10-09-2009

post #3 (link to here)

Anonymous

We Are Legion

Re: 2 die, 19 overcome at Arizona retreat sweat lodge

Quote:

Originally Posted by xenubarb

Unconfirmed, but reports that these idiots paid over $9000 (yeah, yeah) .

the article in the OP mentioned this

10-09-2009

post #4 (link to here)

Vir

川原戦人

Location: Unlimited Chess Works

Re: 2 die, 19 overcome at Arizona retreat sweat lodge

I see American native traditions might be where Hubbard took the inspiration for the purification rundown.

Quote:

Some participants told detectives they paid up to $9,000 for the event.

Just saw a report on BBC World (the TV channel). They said it was over $9,000, and that seems to be right for next year at least:
James Arthur Ray | Live Events | Spiritual Warrior | Create wealth in all areas of your life: Financial, Relational, Mental, Physical and Spiritual.

Quote:

You owe it to the rest of your life to get to Spiritual Warrior as quickly as you can. The investment is ONLY $9695 per person.

Hubbard would have felt at home at the Modern Magick event:
James Arthur Ray | Live Events | Modern Magick | Create wealth in all areas of your life: Financial, Relational, Mental, Physical and Spiritual.

Norway: AnonNorway Ning | Japan: JapanAnon, サイエントロジー | New comics site: Anon Comix
Jeff Stone | What is Dianetics? | I'm on Twitter and Brightkite as NorwAnon.

10-09-2009

post #5 (link to here)

Anonymous We Are Legion	Re: 2 die, 19 overcome at Arizona retreat sweat lodge AND WE LAUGH

10-09-2009

post #6 (link to here)

Anonymous

We Are Legion

Re: 2 die, 19 overcome at Arizona retreat sweat lodge

Quote:

Originally Posted by Z҉A҉L҉G҉O̚̕̚

AND WE LAUGH

so very heartily.

10-09-2009

post #7 (link to here)

mirele

KoX, Phx Chptr

Location: Mesa, Arida Zona

Re: 2 die, 19 overcome at Arizona retreat sweat lodge

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vir

I see American native traditions might be where Hubbard took the inspiration for the purification rundown.

Just saw a report on BBC World (the TV channel). They said it was over $9,000, and that seems to be right for next year at least:
James Arthur Ray | Live Events | Spiritual Warrior | Create wealth in all areas of your life: Financial, Relational, Mental, Physical and Spiritual.

Hubbard would have felt at home at the Modern Magick event:
James Arthur Ray | Live Events | Modern Magick | Create wealth in all areas of your life: Financial, Relational, Mental, Physical and Spiritual.

Not just that, you had to pay $1600 to Angel Valley separately. Then, if you looked through the list of crap you'd have to bring with you, you'd be out $15,000-$20,000 after you got all the CDs and stuff. Not cheap, especially if you're going to get sick in the sweat lodge.

Sedona's a really beautiful place; it's a pity it's overrun with overpriced art and new age woo.

10-09-2009

post #8 (link to here)

Anonymous We Are Legion	Re: 2 die, 19 overcome at Arizona retreat sweat lodge Hmmmm, 'warriors' 'sweating out toxins' 'over 9,000$' Why oh why does this smell badly of moar 'tech' gone horribly wrong?

10-09-2009

post #9 (link to here)

Anonymous We Are Legion	Re: 2 die, 19 overcome at Arizona retreat sweat lodge they should have all died, dumbasses.

10-09-2009

post #10 (link to here)

failboat

Commodore

Location: Back and to the Left

Re: 2 die, 19 overcome at Arizona retreat sweat lodge

I saw that article on Drudge earlier today!

Anyway, I thought I'd leave this here.

Mike Hamilton - Scientology Service Completions

Oh, also, from www.taxexemptworld.com

Quote:

ANGEL VALLEY MINISTRIES
13513 ANGEL VALLEY RD
SEDONA, AZ
86336-9552

Classification (category under which an organization may be tax exempt)
Religious Organization

Taxonomy (classifies an exempt Internal Revenue Code 501 (c)(3) organization)
Protestant

Foundation Type
Church

So I'm not certain this guy is a Scilon. Still digging for a middle initial.

(edit)

I don't think he's associated with Scientology, based on his links.

Fail Fleet Naval Vessel awaiting orders.

Last edited by failboat; 10-09-2009 at 08:30 PM..

10-09-2009

post #11 (link to here)

TomVorm

Member

Location: Follow the chum trail

Re: 2 die, 19 overcome at Arizona retreat sweat lodge

A brief search turns up a match for Michael E. or Michael M. Hamilton (age 60, of address in Sedona, AZ, and past addresses in Columbus, IN, Temecula, CA, Colorado Springs, CO, Akron, PA, Mountain Center, CA, and Riverside, CA), with a long list of business names (and variations):

ANGEL VALLEY INSTITUTE AND SPIRITUAL RETREAT CENTER Religious Organizations
ANGEL VALLEY SPIRITUAL RETREAT CENTER LLC Religious Organizations
ANGEL VALLEY MINISTRIES Religious Organizations
ANGEL VALLEY RANCH
ANGEL VALLEY RANCH PROPERTIES, LLC
HOLISTIC BUILDERS LLC General Contractors-Single-Family Houses
MICHAEL'S VISION INC
MICHAEL'S-LOG-HOME-SERVICES LLC General Contractors-Single-Family Houses

Associates include Michael Jaeger (age 50), Paul W. Groff, and Lynn L. Groff (age 51), and Dorothy Mae Hamilton (age 79).

Angel Valley has an interesting website: http://www.angelvalley.org/

According to an online Arizona state website, the license for Holistic Builders LLC (of Camp Verde, AZ) has been
suspended for lack of a bond payment.

http://www.azroc.gov/clsc/AZROCLicen...enumber=183942

Last edited by TomVorm; 10-09-2009 at 08:10 PM..

10-09-2009

post #12 (link to here)

LocalSP Member Location: Pangea	Re: 2 die, 19 overcome at Arizona retreat sweat lodge This is the guy holding the seminars: James Arthur Ray \| Blog: Tom Cruise and Scientology... From the tone of his blog I don't think he is real enamored with scientology. Take Scientology: It’s basically the kazoo of religions — the few who play it are die-hards, but, to everyone else, it’s little more than a joke.

10-09-2009

post #13 (link to here)

Anonymous We Are Legion	Re: 2 die, 19 overcome at Arizona retreat sweat lodge He sounds like a former scilon that figured out the BS and decided to go into business himself. Sort of like what Hubbard did after OTO.

10-09-2009

post #14 (link to here)

Anonymous

We Are Legion

Re: 2 die, 19 overcome at Arizona retreat sweat lodge

Quote:

Originally Posted by LocalSP

This is the guy holding the seminars: James Arthur Ray | Blog: Tom Cruise and Scientology...

From the tone of his blog I don't think he is real enamored with scientology.

From his blog:

Quote:

I remember leaving my Scientology "auditing" sessions being totally exhausted!(As well as much lighter in my wallet with many more multiples of sessions to go).

If Ray paid for auditing, he knew about the purif.

Obviously, he knows about sweat lodges thru his study of other "modalities," too. So it's not a direct link or anything, but JAR paid Scilons good money for some of his knowledge.

10-09-2009

post #15 (link to here)

4Dlulz a /b/rother	Re: 2 die, 19 overcome at Arizona retreat sweat lodge hmmm, anyone else wondering if this is a scilon front group? sounds a lot like purification rundown Chanology is the holy grail of epic win and lulz, because it means that a powerful cult had been bent over and raepd by some very bored teens with honestly nothing better to do. Disregard that, I suck kawks

10-09-2009

post #16 (link to here)

RedOrbifold

Modly Luck

Re: 2 die, 19 overcome at Arizona retreat sweat lodge

as already posted, not scilon. religion, but not scilon

suspicious though

Quote:

ANGEL VALLEY MINISTRIES
13513 ANGEL VALLEY RD
SEDONA, AZ
86336-9552

Classification (category under which an organization may be tax exempt)
Religious Organization

Taxonomy (classifies an exempt Internal Revenue Code 501 (c)(3) organization)
Protestant

Foundation Type
Church

OT7 Outside Processes Solo
1. Find some plants, trees, etc., and communicate to them individually until you know they received your communication.
2. Go to a zoo or a place with many types of life and communicate with each of them until you know the communication is received and, if
possible, returned.

10-09-2009

post #17 (link to here)

Lightattheendofthetunnel

Member

Re: 2 die, 19 overcome at Arizona retreat sweat lodge

Quote:

Originally Posted by RedOrbifold

as already posted, not scilon. religion, but not scilon

suspicious though

Yes it is suspicious at this point, if only by the exorbitant cost, are they a non-profit? lol. All Scientology front groups are non-profits for the most part. It's hard to confirm at this point but it could be the scilon with the same name, certainly wouldn't surprise me. "AfterSecondchancethereisno3rdchance.com" ?, but in all seriousness it shows the dangerousness of these mega sweat=out programs.
Toxins exit the body through the liver and kidney, not sweat glands but don't tell Scientology.

Quote:

THE HEALTHY SKEPTIC

You sweat, but toxins likely stay
Infrared saunas have become a popular option to detoxify. But medical experts say they don't help much.

A Sunlight Saunas model bathes users in infrared heat, a popular way to try to get rid of toxins. (BD Pruitt / Sunlight Saunas / August 9, 2007)

By Chris Woolston

Special to The Times

January 28, 2008
E-mail Print Share Text Size

The products: We all carry the residue of modern living deep within our bodies. We get mercury from fish, pesticides from apples and polyvinyl chlorides from that "new-car smell." A 2005 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study of more than 2,000 people across the country found traces of more than 60 toxic compounds, including such nasty stuff as dioxins and uranium, in the blood and urine of participants. As the CDC noted then, nobody really knows what -- if anything -- these substances are doing to our bodies. But plenty of people are eager to get rid of them.

Worries about toxins have spawned an industry of pills, tonics, diets -- and even absorbent foot pads -- that promise to flush away, suck out or otherwise banish the poisons in our lives.

If you're willing to spend several thousand dollars on your personal detox mission, Sunlight Saunas wants to make you sweat. A lot. Its home saunas bathe users in infrared heat that can reach 140 degrees, enough to open up anyone's pores.

Touted in books such as "Detoxify or Die" and offered at some health spas, infrared saunas have become an increasingly popular option for detoxification. Sold online, the sit-down Sunlight saunas cost up to $6,000, although you can get a budget, lie-down model for a little less than $2,000.

The claims: Sunlight Saunas claims many health benefits -- including weight loss and pain relief -- but most customers are simply hoping to sweat away toxins, says company spokesman Dalton Garrison. "People are looking for new ways to detox," he says. As the company's website explains, "sweat carries toxins out of the body and pushes [them] out of the pores." According to Garrison, heavy sweating washes away pesticides and industrial chemicals but is especially effective in removing heavy metals such as lead, mercury and arsenic.

The company doesn't claim that sweating away toxins will prevent any particular illness, but Garrison says he hasn't had a cold in years.

The bottom line: Sweat does contain trace amounts of toxins, says Dr. Dee Anna Glaser, a professor of dermatology at St. Louis University and founding member of the International Hyperhidrosis Society, a medical group dedicated to the study and treatment of heavy sweating.

But, Glaser, adds, in the big picture, sweat has only one function: Cooling you down when you overheat. "Sweating for the sake of sweating has no benefits," she says. "Sweating heavily is not going to release a lot of toxins."

In fact, Glaser says, heavy sweating can impair your body's natural detoxification system. As she explains, the liver and kidneys -- not the sweat glands -- are the organs we count on to filter toxins from our blood. If you don't drink enough water to compensate for a good sweat, dehydration could stress the kidneys and keep them from doing their job. "If you're not careful, heavy sweating can be a bad thing," she says.

Sweating definitely won't help clear the body of mercury or other metals, says Donald Smith, a professor of environmental toxicology at UC Santa Cruz, who studies treatments for metal poisoning. Almost all toxic metals in the body are excreted through urine or feces, he says. And less than 1% are lost through sweat. In other words, you'll do far more detoxifying in the bathroom than you ever could in a sauna.

Prescription-strength chelation drugs such as EDTA are the only products proven to remove significant amounts of metals from the body, Smith adds.

Although holistic practitioners often prescribe chelation for all sorts of illnesses, the drugs are only FDA-approved for cases of severe metal poisoning.

Smith sums up his thoughts on Sunlight Saunas' detoxification contentions in one word: "Baloney."

Garrison says he has heard such comments before.

"Traditionalists may think this is goofy," he says, "but we've sold thousands of these."

Is there a consumer product you'd like the Healthy Skeptic to examine? E-mail the details to health@latimes.com.
Copyright © 2009, The Los Angeles Times

Last edited by Lightattheendofthetunnel; 10-09-2009 at 09:18 PM..

10-09-2009

post #18 (link to here)

Anon-007

BANNED

Re: 2 die, 19 overcome at Arizona retreat sweat lodge

Quote:

Originally Posted by LocalSP

This is the guy holding the seminars: James Arthur Ray | Blog: Tom Cruise and Scientology...

From the tone of his blog I don't think he is real enamored with scientology.

If anyone is remotely interested, James Arthur Ray (aka James Ray) shot to fame as one of the pseudo experts in "The Secret" (the motivational movie / DVD)

10-09-2009

post #19 (link to here)

EyeOnSci

Member

Re: 2 die, 19 overcome at Arizona retreat sweat lodge

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anon-007

If anyone is remotely interested, James Arthur Ray (aka James Ray) shot to fame as one of the pseudo experts in "The Secret" (the motivational movie / DVD)

Interesting. Cult after cult...

EyeOnSci

Somebody's Watching You.

youfoundthecard.com
Xenu.net Xenutv.com exscientologykids.com/voicesinunison.html
whyaretheydead.info

10-09-2009

post #20 (link to here)

Carrethorne Member	Re: 2 die, 19 overcome at Arizona retreat sweat lodge Well thats one cultish enterprise that's gonna get the hammer. Lets hope the whole affair puts a scare up the scienos. Must've been pretty damn hot plus I'd wonder what they were given prior.

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