Law of Attraction Gurus hosts deadly event

This is guest commentary by Coach Iyabo Asani of Reinvent Your Life

A couple of things happened this past week that did not necessarily make the front pages but are very important to the personal development world.

On the 12th of October, James Arthur Ray who was one of the gurus on The Secret about the Law of Attraction, held a retreat in Sedona, Arizona and two people died during a sweat lodge event. The participants paid almost $10,000 for a five day “Spiritual Warrior” event. They had fasted for three days prior to the sweat lodge event, eaten a breakfast buffet, and proceeded to a sweat lodge where they had a Native American cleansing ceremony with about fifty five other people according to the news reports. A sweat lodge traditionally holds twelve to fifteen people. There were no Native Americans involved in the sweat lodge process.

The whole point of the exercises were to force people to go through challenging and tough situations to uncover a higher spiritual essence.

James Arthur Ray went in to talk to the authorities but exercised his fifth amendment right to remain silent and left town without discussion with the authorities.

The news reports now indicate that although he had held sweat lodge events at this location for seven years, participants had repeatedly fallen ill and they only had a nurse on call, not even at the site.

Participants were not necessarily forced to participate in the events but they were shunned if they did not participate fully.

The second incident were the two interviews Oprah had on her show this week with convicted rapist and former boxing heavy weight champion, Mike Tyson. In these touching interviews Mike Tyson talked about never having any positive role models and never having supportive information that helped him be a better person. Now, in some sort of anger management development mode, he is making an effort to keep his emotions in check and to not put himself in complex situations that will trigger violence or anger.

For instance, his eighteen month old daughter recently died. He does not know how it happened and he does not want to know how it happened because he feels he could kill the person that was responsible.

We live in a society that believes so strongly in violence and anger. We believe that we have to struggle to gain anything. The society perpetuates it. Our corporations are infused with hierarchal power and greed. Our self help gurus advocate such methods as a way to be more enlightened.

Boxing as a sport is based on violence. And we are surprised that Iron Mike raped a woman when he was applauded his whole life for being violent and targeting his rage into winning his boxing matches?

Do not get me wrong. I am a woman and I am not an advocate of men raping women. However, I really do not know if Mike raped that young woman. I am not convinced that he did and he did pay his dues to society after a jury of his peers found him guilty.

What impressed me with Mike during these two interviews, is that he is desperately trying to figure out who he really is today. Everyone makes mistakes and errors of judgment that they wish they had not. I could relate and experience feelings of empathy while I watched that interview.

Regardless of your past, I respect a person that takes responsibility, does not make excuses and makes deliberate choices to improve their lives. Mike did this.

I believe that life is tough enough as it is. We do not need to put additional suffering and violence on top of what happens in day to day lives. There is nothing to earn. There is nothing to prove. I am not an advocate of suffering in order to grow spiritually. I am an advocate of gentleness and coaxing in the growth process.

Life can be tough enough as it is. You do not need to sweat your way out of it or box your way out of it. Obviously, neither method pays.

Iyabo Asani is a life and business coach and she helps smart boomers create abundance by discovering their Inner Genius and reinventing their lives. She practiced law for twenty years. Burnt out and frustrated, she could no longer put legal band aids on peoples problems. She help discovered that she could no longer live out of alignment with her values and life purpose. She now enjoys empowering others to attract abundance. She continues to help others discover their life purpose and live life on their terms. You can get a copy of her 40 page report on “How to Reinvent Yourself and Maintain Your Sanity” at http://www.CoachIyabo.com/reinvent

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