Introduction
I am not sure how long this blog will last. Not sure how often I
will post. Not sure if anyone will read this blog. Not sure if I will post for
a while and decide to take it down. Will I post its link as a way of
advertising it, I’m not sure; perhaps I
will one day but then another day I will decide to delete it. Because that is
the kind of inner conflict I have around Dahn Yoga. So, I am open to all of it.
And I can say, this is what I need to publically post now.
This is my way of exploring truth, because I am not sure what the
truth is. Not sure if Dahn Yoga is "all bad," like is it a cult? Cult is such a loaded word. When I was a
Master I would say to myself, “Perhaps yes, it is a cult, but I'm okay with
being apart of it because it is doing such good and feels so right for me to be
in it, so if they call it a cult, so be it, then I am in a cult." But that
time of being in Dahn Yoga as a Master and running a Center is over for me now.
And I question myself.. is starting a blog about it okay? Because in the Dahn
Yoga Organization, which is what I will refer to it as, anything negative
online is called anti information and is harmful to the group. Have I become
apart of the anti Dahn Yoga movement?
My goal isn’t to berate the group and say, "They are bad. I
am right and good" although sometimes I go in and out of that place; my
goal is to seek truth. What is truth? Is there truth unique to certain people?
Or is there absolute truth?
For me, my time ended at Dahn Yoga abruptly. And I write this blog
wanting to mask my identity, so even now I struggle with sharing my experience
completely and so openly. I’m not afraid of the Organization, please don’t
confuse the two. Upon leaving, I never got chased or harassed crazily. But yet
leaving was not easy. There was a layer of internal confusion that I faced. Because
I was told, being a Master in Dahn Yoga was a way towards my personal enlightenment
and eternal salvation; and that information turned into fear and confusion and
kept me from leaving. There were not people chaining me up physically, but perhaps
mentally, emotionally and spiritually there was information holding me there. I
mean some organizations have the mental, spiritual, emotional AND physical
hold, luckily it wasn’t like that. Yet I
wonder if that’s why it may be trickier. Because people were nice. But they were scared
for you. They wanted to save your soul and being a member meant you would be
saved. That’s what we believed. That’s what they still believe. So they were nice but perhaps they were actually
just scared.
And by the way I didn’t wake up one day saying, “I am going to
join an Organization (or cult?).” This
is how my journey went, and I can see now more and more the evolution of what
happened: my role, my life’s experiences, and the Organization’s role. Was I a
victim? I don’t think so, not entirely. I think information was withheld from
me and the life of a master was so mysterious and prestigious that I had no
idea actually the amount of pressure that was on them. I didn’t realize all
that was expected of them, their extremely huge and arguably unsustainable
goals. ((I have so many ideas that could help them reach more people if they
were open to operating differently)). But they operate with this sense of
urgency. Literally they tell us, “The
world is in a bad place right now. There are two outcomes, one of Light and one
of Dark. We are headed towards the Dark outcome. We have until 2020 until there
is no turning back. So we need to act fast! We need more members to help us
share this great movement.” It’s so powerful. Scary too. But I can see truth in
it. Yet, their EXTREME sense or urgency forced us to ask a lot of the members
and people coming “to just check it out”. We knew we couldn’t tell everyone,
“We have only until 2020.” We had to play it cool but act fast. So information
was released as someone became more and more devoted. See in a Master’s heart all that we truly
want is all meant for good. We want a world of light, love and peace. PLEASE
know that. But there is a real darkness in Dahn. I witnessed and participated
in it. For example, at our group Master-only
meetings, the regional Master would say, “It doesn’t matter what they (the
student) wants to do (regarding to programs/upgrading memberships). What do you
want them to do?” We would spend time making elaborate plans for all of our
members but ultimately it was to make more money. In our minds, to justify the HUGE
emphasis on money (15K-25K+ monthly goals per center) by remembering the money
goes to fund all of our goals. And keep in mind we believe our goals would help
world peace. See how it is kind of confusing? Such good intentions but the
methods were some times hideous, shameful, and sickening really. Sometimes soaking up as
much money as we could from the same people, and sometimes these people DID NOT
HAVE money, they used credit cards, loans, further indebting them. Or profiling
and grooming people we knew had money, because the fact they had money. BUUUT
it was for peace, so that’s how we justified it, I guess.
Despite having occasional depression, I left not because I was
depressed but when I read enough “anti-information,” and general cult
information. In all that I was reading (and exposing my self too) I realized so
many groups promise the very thing Dahn Yoga was promising me and that was spiritual
“enlightenment” and “salvation.” Most of
the other groups had a sense of urgency too! I started realizing other groups were
promising the things I was promised and then I started wondering, “Am I in a
cult? Like seriously. How could someone in X group think they have the way when
I am certain I have the way. Because I am certain Dahn Yoga IS the way. How could we both be right? And besides if
they are a cult is dahn yoga a cult too?”
I was reading, in a lot of these groups, there was always one
“enlightened” leader on top, promising and guiding with the importance of
getting new members with a sense of urgency so all of Earth could live in this ideal
sense of peace. There was a profiling and grooming system to get ideal people
to become members so they could help the cause; all of the groups had what seemed to be a good
cause! I was realizing, Dahn’s structure and ways fit into the definition of
cult. But my Dahn Yoga identity would say, “BUT Ilchi Lee (the founder of Dahn)
and Dahn Yoga IS the path to enlightenment, salvation, and world peace. WE have
THE methods like yoga and meditation. We want world peace and we have something
to change the world. If we have more members WE CAN DO IT. WE ARE creating it.
Those other extremist groups are more detrimental. Not us. People don’t fully understand
Dahn Yoga. We have good intentions. I DO WANT to spend 15 hours a day towards
creating peace on Earth. Of course the
organization needs lots of money, we have big goals. NO ONE is making me do
anything. I want this. I don’t need a romantic partnership and kids, THAT will
distract me. DAHN IS HELPING ME stay focused. I can’t fully tell my parents
what I’m doing because THEY wont understand us. I’m not hiding, they just wont
understand. WE are the solution. WE ARE RIGHT………Wait…..Right?”
I started to get very confused and understandably I am still exploring
my confusion. This is what this blog is. An exploration of Truth. Probably
mostly Dahn related, but who knows perhaps this blog will evolve into something
else. I am open, more open now than I was. In Dahn Yoga it’s us vs. them. And
now I am the “them” and yet I have had incredible experiences, unbelievable
experiences as a student and master in Dahn Yoga so I don’t want this blog to
be me vs. them. I’m not saying Dahn Yoga is all bad, BUT no more do I say it is
all good. Dahn Yoga is both good and bad. They have quite a dark side that can
be damaging financially, emotionally, spiritually and mentally. And yet they
have such a positive side, I mean of course they do that’s why I took classes
and then left my life to become a Master for years. People don’t just join bad
things. IT has good. IT does. Please
know that. I can see me posting all about the good. I have a lot of good from
it, during it, and because of it. Dahn
Yoga is good too. It really is!
And for now this is where I
will begin. Thankyou
same ! I feel the same way . I just want truth
ReplyDeleteI am a 20 year victim. If anyone needs support please reach out to me directly at: Liane.torcoletti@gmail.com
DeleteThank you for the insight. So many of us have been through similar experiences and feel the same conflicted emotions. All in all, I have no regrets but can never return to that initial, naïve state of mind. It helps to read through your experiences.
ReplyDeleteThankyou for letting me know this post helped you process your own experiences. I agree that when I read other people’s experiences it helped me. And actually other than the lawsuit articles there’s not really any recent blogs about Ex-Masters which is why I started this. Ex members can relate to it too but also I created a forum and voice for ex masters or current masters who are struggling. Because that’s also what’s interesting ALL masters contemplate quitting with varying degrees with morals but mostly because how hard and exhausting it is. Anyway, I know you posted along time ago, but hope all is well with you
DeleteThanks for following up. To be clear, I had completed the Dahn Master course and received the buk bop, but was never a full time employee. We did, however, have a strong center with a very tight sense of community and camaraderie amongst those of us who completed the training. There were many of us who agreed that “those were the best days of our lives.” But something happened. The new region manager became flippant and transparent in his zeal to “fleece” the members. A lot of very active and loyal members became frustrated and dropped out. It seemed that they tried even harder to coerce the remaining members to commit more and more money. Surprisingly, the best features of the practice, very intense physical training and deep meditation practice, was more or less abandoned in favor of joining “groups” which carried $10,000 price tags and promoted only further fundraising. The new center manager was a younger master who couldn’t hide her frustration in alienating her members in a desperate attempt to sell the new “Mago castle membership”. In short, nearly all that made the practice wonderful became, well, “ugly.” At this point, I yearn for the return of the practice which genuinely focused on developing spiritual growth and genuine empathy for all humans. Is it possible to get that magical time back? I am still a member, due to the lifetime membership, but the thought of returning to the daily practice brings mixed feelings. Will I feel wonderful again or frustrated and angry as the center manager tries to take advantage once again. I would gladly share my thoughts with her, but history has taught that she cannot hear anything but her own sales pitch. Like you, I miss it and want it back, but want to cleanse the practice from the ugly, rigid and greedy cancer that seems to lie within. It has been three years recovering from the detachment. I seemed depressed and confused for a really long time. At this point, I can keep moving away, or try to reconnect in a more healthy manner. Can that be done? I appreciate your efforts nd I’m sure others feel the same. What do you think?
DeleteHi again~ I started writing you back and what I said was longer than allowed, so instead of shortening, I decided to elaborate even more and posted it as another blog. If you don't want your comment to be featured so vividly I can take it down, please let me know, its totally okay. And like I said at the end please let me know your thoughts if youd like to share
DeleteWhat is going on now?? I too got involved much like you did. Wow, so many of us in the same boat.
ReplyDeleteHi there Jeannie, thanks for asking and caring and yet “what’s going on now” is quite a loaded question for me. I’ve written dozens of pages with a lot of time invested yet haven’t felt the calling to post again yet. Not sure your level of involvement, like if you were also a center master / some sort of manager but as you know there’s so many layers and parts, making it so complex that it becomes easier to say nothing than to go through the effort in writing it out especially in a public way which is why I have yet to post again. Also because I’m using my energy towards my life and my goals and I will say I’ve grown in so many beautiful loving ways and in which I think Dahn was stunting my hearts expansion/growth. I am curious of your experience and if you’re up for sharing feel free to post here or privately And yet totally understand if you’re not up for it. Wish you the best!
DeleteI just did "finding true self" and did not get anything out of it. I enjoyed the exercise classes I have taken but at this training felt myself being sucked into/agreeing to future classes I have no interest in. I felt I couldn't honestly say that I did not find enlightenment from the workshop since everyone else there was having an emotional/spiritual breakthrough and I felt nothing. All weekend I had a bad feeling like this was a cult/MLM and just a quick google brought up ALOT of stuff like this. I will not be going back and that includes the "reinforcement" class I already "promised" to attend.
ReplyDeleteThankyou for your comment and honesty. I think a fair amount of people experience that workshop like you but like you said there’s not room for that opinion there. To add, group psychology tells us that most people tend to go along with the group mind even if they don’t agree; we want to fit in, not rock the boat. But you definitely aren’t alone and I’m glad you shared your opinion to the overall conversation about Dahn Yoga.
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ReplyDeleteI have paid $1,000 towards BMT (Brain Management Training) and it always hurts my brain when I fork over the payments of $200 per month. Wondering if anybody ever asked for money back if they decided they didn't want to do training and what the response was?
ReplyDeleteIndeed you can ask for refund up to 24-48 hours before the training you committed too. But sounds like you may not have then picked up a date. And it sounds like your wanting a refund but know the center manager may not accept right away and will likely try and talk you into going (because they do think you’ll get a lot out of it)and if you want to,go but if you don’t you may have to be assertive. You should and will get all that money back but you may have to call/email a lot. Goodluck in whatever you decide!
DeleteI have paid $1,000 towards BMT (Brain Management Training) and it always hurts my brain when I fork over the payments of $200 per month. Wondering if anybody ever asked for money back if they decided they didn't want to do training and what the response was?
ReplyDeleteI am a 20 year victim. If anyone needs support please reach out to me directly at: Liane.torcoletti@gmail.com
DeleteJust as an FYI - I can tell you what happens if you ask for a refund. It doesn't end well.