(((NAME(S) REDACTED DUE TO PERCEIVED HARASSMENT / CYBERSTALKING / CYBERBULLYING / REVENGE POST))) | RIPOFF REPORT POST-PUBLICATION CONTENT REVIEW: EDITORIAL REDACTIONS |  This organization claims to be an educational center for natural health and non-profit for assisting indigenous communities. The basis of their programs are listening to their ministries and becoming a financial contributor to the cults personal growth in North Carolina

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NOW TO THE EDITORIALLY REDACTED POSTING(S):

The “Healer” (((REDACTED))), has used various names,(((REDACTED))) , and (((REDACTED))), but these are aliases.  He uses natural health education promises, spiritual teachings and charitable causes to draw people into his group.  Once you are within the group there are many rules, which both allow and justify the harassment and abuse which follows.  The group operates in Asheville, NC and Jupiter, Florida, as well as Chia and Supata in Colombia, South America.

The group promises spiritual growth, healing, karma cleansing, holistic health certifications, and community involvement. They extort money through “additional programs”, which if you are unable to pay they exile and verbally abuse you.  Often (((REDACTED))) used his self proclaimed “special powers” to see the future or to know a person’s destiny and karma. He uses this to manipulate and confuse people.

This cult uses group specific language and brings people in under pretenses that it was a charitable and benevolent group.  Long and vigorous days of lectures and work followed with demands that we should reduce our sleep and work harder – all intended to create dependency and brainwashing of vulnerable people.  Long days (and months) of retreat and separation from all other social groups increased vulnerability to suggestion.   Through isolation, they would extort personal property and money from students for their personal gain. Over the 9 years, I paid them over $20,000, under the assumption that I was receiving a natural health education, supporting a charitable cause, and receiving spiritual guidance.

They encouraged students to go into debt to pay, and we were told that it was our spiritual responsibility to pay for our bad behaviors. We were asked to pay their taxes and many other things.  Everything was led by what (((REDACTED))) determined, we had no rights.  Woman were used to cook and clean while men spent laborious days in construction with little to no pay.  You were required to work if you did not have substantial funds.  There was an “elite” group which often mocked the other students.  “Spiritual teachings” were used to assert control over students. 

When a student could not comply or attend pilgrimages, their personal property was held by the organization for “disobedience”.  They insisted that I live in Georgia, and when I found a job in North Carolina they held my property valued over $1500 as they did with other students.  I notified them multiple times that I was no longer affiliated with their group, and they continued to hold the property and harass me by phone and email.

When I first signed up, they promised certifications for life coaching and other holistic health modalities.  After 9 years, I never received any certifications from them.  When I contacted them about these promises I was either isolated or verbally abused.  They claimed that I wasn’t doing my work, didn't have enough money, I was too negative, and they would bully and demean me.  Often, they would not respond to me until they requested more money or was afraid I would leave.  I was vulnerable to this, as I believed in their good intent and I longed for a community to be involved with.  I can now see that these were ploys to continue to subjugate and exploit their followers.

Leader (((REDACTED))) claimed to be a yoga teacher when I first met him.  He has shown  no evidence of training, but was a very dynamic and convincing speaker.  Later he assumed the title of a (((REDACTED))).  That is the title of a spiritual authority from the (((REDACTED))) of South America.  He was not from the tribe, but used the title to assert control over his followers and to solicit donations for supporting the indigenous population, which he personally used.  He gave us fabrications to support a very bizarre story of his great achievement in this.  The Colombia authorities have questioned his legitimacy as an indigenous leader.  In response he obtained a pronouncement from a 90-year-old indigenous man stating that he is a Mama.  There is reason to believe that he coerced this elderly man to extract his signature. 

Over the years I have seen him claim to be a Ayurveda practitioner, Tai Chi teacher, and a Doctor (which is on his website.  He medically treated students.  When one woman was giving birth, he condemned her for going to the hospital.  I also saw him claim to heal a woman’s broken leg when she clearly needed medical attention.  He gave me dangerous advice over the years, including an admonishment that I would get cancer for taking medications.

This man, and his organizational directors (((REDACTED))) and (((REDACTED))), claimed to be religious leaders.  They gave long sermons on appropriate and moral behaviors.  This would be interspersed with ideas that only (((REDACTED))) had the supreme awareness to know what actions and choices a student should make.  He was often regarded as a Guru, (read dictator).  If a student didn’t agree with him they would be ostracized.  Often in high intensity settings the group was taught to question their own intuition and often (especially young women) were pushed to separate from family, friends, and partners.  They used fear, guilt, and persuasion to indoctrinate new students.  He used the power of religious influence over vulnerable people to control and exploit them.

He had liaisons with women in the group.  Young or old.  He promised to marry them and then would use this to assert his agendas.  He would then blame them for being crazy or negative, exiling them and abusing them.  He used the power of religious influence and deception to abuse women.  He attempted to “marry” me.  I saw many women abused by this behavior.  When the directors were notified of this misconduct, we were told not to tell anyone.  The sexual pressures were continuous and he would not allow most of the group to have outside partners.  During this time, I felt I would be a traitor to the group if I had friends or partners outside the group. 

The group often stated that they were an evolving holistic health community.  This included conspiracy theories about the government and other fear tactics. The children in the group were deprived of school and social interactions with the public.  They followed rigorous demands including being pushed to stay up for days on end helping to build buildings and other work.  They often seemed exhausted and traumatized.  I spoke with ex-students who held concerns and suspicions of worse child abuse, including sexual. 

Many of the activities of the directors were secretive.  There is an umbrella of a non-profit association that they say helps restore indigenous lands, but the mission often changed and was confusing and vague.  We were encouraged to fundraise money for the foundation, however there were never any statements on how this money was used.  Eventually, the group settled on a tag line “(((REDACTED)))” to raise money.  However, they never implemented any clear initiatives to support this claim.  This seemed to be completely fraudulent as there were never any actual programs. They did raise substantial amounts of money for their causes.  The “educational” events consisted solely of listening to (((REDACTED))) talk about how he was helping the world through his spiritual teachings. 

The directors of the group often asserted that the contributions of the group would go to assisting the Indigenous tribe of the Kogi in South America.  While I was part of the organization, over 9 years, I was only aware of one significant cultural activity which the money was used for.  All other known contributions were used for the expansion of the group and the director’s property ownerships.

Over the years I was subject to continual abuse and harassment.  This could be isolation from the group, ostracizing during public groups, abrasive phone calls and repeated texts.   I have had to block their calls on multiple occasions when they were trying to bully me for more money or persuade me not to leave the group.  If someone could not afford to pay, they were told that it was because they were creating bad energy and that they needed to be more compliant. 

I was abused and shamed for my weight gain at one point and told that it was bad energy and I needed to do enemas.  I was told that I was in an honored position within the group and then that I screwed it, they gave no reasoning, but left me homeless.  I was sent out of state for an “honorable” pilgrimage, and the whole time I was there I was shunned from the group and told that I screwed my role because I was lazy, and that I couldn’t come back because I was negative energy.   The triangulation between the director’s abusive patterns was very demeaning.  They told the group many lies about me in order to assert more control and isolation, such as I was sleeping with certain people.  It was very humiliating.

Over the past years I have experienced significant emotional and financial hardship due to the abuse of the group.  It was difficult to hold a job due to the rigorous demands and the fear of “bad energy”.  I experienced homelessness, extreme isolation from the group, brainwashing, and was alienated from friends, family, and social groups due to the controlling nature of the group.  This is just a glimpse of the questionable practices which I hope are investigated in more depth.