Sri Hanuman
06-24-2009, 08:48 PM
I got a copy of the complaint. Humanzee, if I got it to you do you have the ability to scan it and post it here?
Sure thing, Mr. Browning. Pdf, or JPEG?
Sure thing, Mr. Browning. Pdf, or JPEG?
View Full Version : Dahn Yoga & Tai Chi Centers
Samuel Browning
06-24-2009, 09:35 PM
I don't have a preference, its over 50 pages, what would be easier? send me a pm, with your name and address and I'll send it out tomarrow.
hungryjoe
06-24-2009, 10:35 PM
Sam,
The pdf is reference 17 of the Wikipedia article on this cult.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dahn_yoga#cite_note-16
The pdf is reference 17 of the Wikipedia article on this cult.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dahn_yoga#cite_note-16
Sri Hanuman
06-25-2009, 10:38 AM
Sam,
The pdf is reference 17 of the Wikipedia article on this cult.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dahn_yoga#cite_note-16
Yep, here's the direct link:
http://www.abc15.com/media/news/3/6/5/36599b81-d3fc-4c54-9928-6aebc56b2f27/DAHN_YOGA_LAWSUIT.pdf
The pdf is reference 17 of the Wikipedia article on this cult.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dahn_yoga#cite_note-16
Yep, here's the direct link:
http://www.abc15.com/media/news/3/6/5/36599b81-d3fc-4c54-9928-6aebc56b2f27/DAHN_YOGA_LAWSUIT.pdf
Sri Hanuman
08-03-2009, 07:11 AM
Ok, this time around, Forbes Magazine has posted an article about Dahn.
http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2009/0803/fraud-dahn-yoga-centers-body-brain-and-wallet.html
Dahn Yoga: Brain, Body, and Wallet
More statements about Dahn's hard sell, them encouraging members to take out loans and use their college tuitions to pay for Dahn classes.
Exherpts:
Fifteen months and dozens of workshops later she says she was not only out a big chunk of change but, as she puts it, "fully cooked"--indoctrinated into a cult.
Shipley, now 25, is one of 27 former Dahn practitioners who filed suit in Arizona in May claiming the group subjected them to psychological manipulation and fraudulently induced them to spend thousands of dollars on Dahn yoga classes and retreats in Sedona, Ariz. and other places. The punishing techniques, they say, included forced isolation from friends and families, exercises like bowing 3,000 times all night long without breaks, disciplining members by sticking their heads in the toilet and making them lick other members' feetand having them hold certain poses, like the push-up position, for 20 to 30 minutes at a time. On top of those charges, the suit alleges that Ilchi Lee, the 57-year-old Korean founder of Dahn and its spiritual leader, sexually preyed on young female disciples.
Dahn Yoga calls the suit frivolous and has filed a motion to dismiss on various grounds, including prior settlements with three of the plaintiffs. Two of those settlements included unusual provisions forbidding the former members from complaining about Dahn Yoga to any government agencies. Ilchi Lee is also seeking to dismiss counts against him personally, contending he wasn't directly involved.
And now the part that constantly pisses me off, but the one they try using too often with positive results:
Calling Dahn Yoga a cult, says company rep Joseph Alexander, "is laughable" and "culturally racist. … It's no different from acupuncture when it came to this country. It just takes a lot more educating for people to accept it."
What really gets me, is they try to claim cultural difference as an excuise for what they do. Imagine this: Systema calling everyone here who disagrees with their methods racist and culturally insensitive, since Systema is unique part of Russian culture that you just wouldn't understand.
Let's put it this way. Bullshit is bullshit, and a cult is still a cult, no matter what country, race, or religion. I say this as a practicing Taoist (and yes, they try to claim that they are Taoist.)
A South Korean weekly magazine reported that Dahn World had global revenue of 170 billion won in 2003 (that's $133 million today). Dahn World boasted in that publication that margins far exceeded those of Korean car manufacturers. Some internal documents seen by forbes suggest Dahn will take in an estimated $34 million this year in the U.S.
The lawsuit's allegations echo what many cult experts like Steven Hassan, Rick A. Ross and Cathleen Mann have been saying for years about Dahn. Hassan, a Somerville, Mass. mental health counselor who has helped scores of former Dahn members, says the group uses deceptive recruitment and mind-control techniques to create a dissociative disorder among followers, splitting them off from their families and value systems. Dahn's spokesperson says these unfounded "rumors and innuendoes" are simply efforts to hurt a large and visible brand in yoga training.
The current suit isn't the first against the group. In 2002 former Dahn devotee and manager Sun Hee Park filed suit in California state court, alleging that Dahn brainwashed her and its other members for profit and that she was coerced into having sexual intercourse with Lee. The defendants settled the case for an undisclosed sum.
...
Lee has written that he rediscovered the long lost art of Dahn training while in his early 30s on a 21-day fast on Korea's Moak Mountain in 1980. He began teaching the methods in a public park and opened the first Dahn Center in downtown Seoul in 1985. Lee later opened centers across Korea, and corporations like GoldStar (now LG Electronics), SK Group and Daewoo Group invited Lee to teach Dahn to their employees. Corporate clients now include such companies as Posco (http://finapps.forbes.com/finapps/jsp/finance/compinfo/CIAtAGlance.jsp?tkr=PKX) ( PKX (http://finapps.forbes.com/finapps/jsp/finance/compinfo/CIAtAGlance.jsp?tkr=PKX) - news (http://search.forbes.com/search/CompanyNewsSearch?ticker=PKX)- people (http://people.forbes.com/search?ticker=PKX)), a Korean steel company, and Rockwell Samsung Automation, a Korean division of the Wisconsin company.
Dahn practitioners pay fees ranging from $89 to $180 per month. But the plaintiffs allege that the organization pressures members to take intensive training courses, enabling them to become paid "Dahn Masters" who work for one of the Dahn centers or affiliated companies. The workshops, anywhere from a day to three weeks, cost up to $10,000 each. Plaintiffs say Dahn induces students to take out loans and max out their credit cards to pay for the classes. Marjory Gargosh, 61, took out a home equity loan to pay for training; she says she ultimately sold her house to pay for $69,000 in Dahn classes.
On average the non-Korean plaintiffs owe $30,000 as a result of their Dahn experience. Dahn's spokesperson says the organization doesn't encourage members to take loans and that the plaintiffs are hurting because "they didn't manage their money well."
...
Shipley says she spent some $45,000 on Dahn-related programs (including the $32,000 in loans still unpaid). Obtaining these funds, Shipley says, was part of her "money training," a means of showing her commitment to Dahn. Shipley says her Dahn mentor spent countless hours helping her research potential sources of funding and accompanying her to banks. Among the loans she received was a $5,500 Sallie Mae (http://finapps.forbes.com/finapps/jsp/finance/compinfo/CIAtAGlance.jsp?tkr=SLM) ( SLM (http://finapps.forbes.com/finapps/jsp/finance/compinfo/CIAtAGlance.jsp?tkr=SLM) - news (http://search.forbes.com/search/CompanyNewsSearch?ticker=SLM)- people (http://people.forbes.com/search?ticker=SLM)) loan paid directly to a Dahn affiliate, the Sun Institute, a New Jersey massage school, for "DahnMuDo" training, a 12-day course in noncombative martial arts she attended in Sedona.
Yeah, non-combatative martial arts. Bullshidometer is ever ringing.
Dahn centers sell a variety of products it deems healing-related. Nina Miller, a plaintiff in the Arizona suit, is seeking reimbursement for the $1,800 she spent on a gold painted "Okum turtle"--an item purportedly made from "living metallic materials" that "optimizes harmony within the body." For $450 Dahn sells a kit that includes a Brain Respiration Quotient, a transmitter that uses light and sound to supposedly stimulate the brain, and Power Brains, a brain-shaped handheld vibrator that is said to increase awareness during meditation.
I've seen those before. Basically a small tennis-ball sized rubber brain that vibrates, with lights inside. They do sell em for about $150 ea.
Testimonials on the company's Web site claim brain wave vibration has lowered high blood pressure, corrected lazy eyes and healed the symptoms of multiple sclerosis. But the company cannot point to any independent peer-reviewed studies vouching for its effectiveness. Brian Cummings, a neuroscientist at the University of California, Irvine, says calling it pseudoscience would be generous. "Exercising, stretching and meditating may be beneficial to health. But there is no science behind the claim that vibrations in the body alter brain activity in a meaningful way," says Cummings.
And this is where Lee manages to dodge the bullet on a major scale. I guess running a multi-billion dollar cult affords excellent legal advice.
Dahn claims that founder Ilchi Lee is no longer directly involved in the company but instead runs a consulting firm, BR Consulting, which owns the intellectual property used by Dahn Yoga. (Lee is seeking to dismiss the suit against him on this basis as well.) But according to the plaintiffs, Ilchi Lee controls them all. They claim Dahn's profits are transferred to Lee and used to fund a lifestyle that includes a horse ranch in Arizona, high stakes gambling, a yacht and a private jet. forbes confirmed that BR Consulting owns the jet, the horse ranch and some residential properties.
And now he's working his way into your kid's schools.
Last January Ilchi Lee visited P.S. 65 in the South Bronx, which Dahn claims has incorporated brain education exercises into the curriculum. Students played with Lee's trademark wooden staff while teachers joined him in a brain vibration session. A spokesperson for the New York City Board of Education confirmed that brain education has been implemented in some fashion in 44 New York City public schools in the past year, all at the initiative of individual schools. The board was unaware of the allegations in the Arizona suit.
Hopefully more of this info gets out to a wider audience soon.
http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2009/0803/fraud-dahn-yoga-centers-body-brain-and-wallet.html
Dahn Yoga: Brain, Body, and Wallet
More statements about Dahn's hard sell, them encouraging members to take out loans and use their college tuitions to pay for Dahn classes.
Exherpts:
Fifteen months and dozens of workshops later she says she was not only out a big chunk of change but, as she puts it, "fully cooked"--indoctrinated into a cult.
Shipley, now 25, is one of 27 former Dahn practitioners who filed suit in Arizona in May claiming the group subjected them to psychological manipulation and fraudulently induced them to spend thousands of dollars on Dahn yoga classes and retreats in Sedona, Ariz. and other places. The punishing techniques, they say, included forced isolation from friends and families, exercises like bowing 3,000 times all night long without breaks, disciplining members by sticking their heads in the toilet and making them lick other members' feetand having them hold certain poses, like the push-up position, for 20 to 30 minutes at a time. On top of those charges, the suit alleges that Ilchi Lee, the 57-year-old Korean founder of Dahn and its spiritual leader, sexually preyed on young female disciples.
Dahn Yoga calls the suit frivolous and has filed a motion to dismiss on various grounds, including prior settlements with three of the plaintiffs. Two of those settlements included unusual provisions forbidding the former members from complaining about Dahn Yoga to any government agencies. Ilchi Lee is also seeking to dismiss counts against him personally, contending he wasn't directly involved.
And now the part that constantly pisses me off, but the one they try using too often with positive results:
Calling Dahn Yoga a cult, says company rep Joseph Alexander, "is laughable" and "culturally racist. … It's no different from acupuncture when it came to this country. It just takes a lot more educating for people to accept it."
What really gets me, is they try to claim cultural difference as an excuise for what they do. Imagine this: Systema calling everyone here who disagrees with their methods racist and culturally insensitive, since Systema is unique part of Russian culture that you just wouldn't understand.
Let's put it this way. Bullshit is bullshit, and a cult is still a cult, no matter what country, race, or religion. I say this as a practicing Taoist (and yes, they try to claim that they are Taoist.)
A South Korean weekly magazine reported that Dahn World had global revenue of 170 billion won in 2003 (that's $133 million today). Dahn World boasted in that publication that margins far exceeded those of Korean car manufacturers. Some internal documents seen by forbes suggest Dahn will take in an estimated $34 million this year in the U.S.
The lawsuit's allegations echo what many cult experts like Steven Hassan, Rick A. Ross and Cathleen Mann have been saying for years about Dahn. Hassan, a Somerville, Mass. mental health counselor who has helped scores of former Dahn members, says the group uses deceptive recruitment and mind-control techniques to create a dissociative disorder among followers, splitting them off from their families and value systems. Dahn's spokesperson says these unfounded "rumors and innuendoes" are simply efforts to hurt a large and visible brand in yoga training.
The current suit isn't the first against the group. In 2002 former Dahn devotee and manager Sun Hee Park filed suit in California state court, alleging that Dahn brainwashed her and its other members for profit and that she was coerced into having sexual intercourse with Lee. The defendants settled the case for an undisclosed sum.
...
Lee has written that he rediscovered the long lost art of Dahn training while in his early 30s on a 21-day fast on Korea's Moak Mountain in 1980. He began teaching the methods in a public park and opened the first Dahn Center in downtown Seoul in 1985. Lee later opened centers across Korea, and corporations like GoldStar (now LG Electronics), SK Group and Daewoo Group invited Lee to teach Dahn to their employees. Corporate clients now include such companies as Posco (http://finapps.forbes.com/finapps/jsp/finance/compinfo/CIAtAGlance.jsp?tkr=PKX) ( PKX (http://finapps.forbes.com/finapps/jsp/finance/compinfo/CIAtAGlance.jsp?tkr=PKX) - news (http://search.forbes.com/search/CompanyNewsSearch?ticker=PKX)- people (http://people.forbes.com/search?ticker=PKX)), a Korean steel company, and Rockwell Samsung Automation, a Korean division of the Wisconsin company.
Dahn practitioners pay fees ranging from $89 to $180 per month. But the plaintiffs allege that the organization pressures members to take intensive training courses, enabling them to become paid "Dahn Masters" who work for one of the Dahn centers or affiliated companies. The workshops, anywhere from a day to three weeks, cost up to $10,000 each. Plaintiffs say Dahn induces students to take out loans and max out their credit cards to pay for the classes. Marjory Gargosh, 61, took out a home equity loan to pay for training; she says she ultimately sold her house to pay for $69,000 in Dahn classes.
On average the non-Korean plaintiffs owe $30,000 as a result of their Dahn experience. Dahn's spokesperson says the organization doesn't encourage members to take loans and that the plaintiffs are hurting because "they didn't manage their money well."
...
Shipley says she spent some $45,000 on Dahn-related programs (including the $32,000 in loans still unpaid). Obtaining these funds, Shipley says, was part of her "money training," a means of showing her commitment to Dahn. Shipley says her Dahn mentor spent countless hours helping her research potential sources of funding and accompanying her to banks. Among the loans she received was a $5,500 Sallie Mae (http://finapps.forbes.com/finapps/jsp/finance/compinfo/CIAtAGlance.jsp?tkr=SLM) ( SLM (http://finapps.forbes.com/finapps/jsp/finance/compinfo/CIAtAGlance.jsp?tkr=SLM) - news (http://search.forbes.com/search/CompanyNewsSearch?ticker=SLM)- people (http://people.forbes.com/search?ticker=SLM)) loan paid directly to a Dahn affiliate, the Sun Institute, a New Jersey massage school, for "DahnMuDo" training, a 12-day course in noncombative martial arts she attended in Sedona.
Yeah, non-combatative martial arts. Bullshidometer is ever ringing.
Dahn centers sell a variety of products it deems healing-related. Nina Miller, a plaintiff in the Arizona suit, is seeking reimbursement for the $1,800 she spent on a gold painted "Okum turtle"--an item purportedly made from "living metallic materials" that "optimizes harmony within the body." For $450 Dahn sells a kit that includes a Brain Respiration Quotient, a transmitter that uses light and sound to supposedly stimulate the brain, and Power Brains, a brain-shaped handheld vibrator that is said to increase awareness during meditation.
I've seen those before. Basically a small tennis-ball sized rubber brain that vibrates, with lights inside. They do sell em for about $150 ea.
Testimonials on the company's Web site claim brain wave vibration has lowered high blood pressure, corrected lazy eyes and healed the symptoms of multiple sclerosis. But the company cannot point to any independent peer-reviewed studies vouching for its effectiveness. Brian Cummings, a neuroscientist at the University of California, Irvine, says calling it pseudoscience would be generous. "Exercising, stretching and meditating may be beneficial to health. But there is no science behind the claim that vibrations in the body alter brain activity in a meaningful way," says Cummings.
And this is where Lee manages to dodge the bullet on a major scale. I guess running a multi-billion dollar cult affords excellent legal advice.
Dahn claims that founder Ilchi Lee is no longer directly involved in the company but instead runs a consulting firm, BR Consulting, which owns the intellectual property used by Dahn Yoga. (Lee is seeking to dismiss the suit against him on this basis as well.) But according to the plaintiffs, Ilchi Lee controls them all. They claim Dahn's profits are transferred to Lee and used to fund a lifestyle that includes a horse ranch in Arizona, high stakes gambling, a yacht and a private jet. forbes confirmed that BR Consulting owns the jet, the horse ranch and some residential properties.
And now he's working his way into your kid's schools.
Last January Ilchi Lee visited P.S. 65 in the South Bronx, which Dahn claims has incorporated brain education exercises into the curriculum. Students played with Lee's trademark wooden staff while teachers joined him in a brain vibration session. A spokesperson for the New York City Board of Education confirmed that brain education has been implemented in some fashion in 44 New York City public schools in the past year, all at the initiative of individual schools. The board was unaware of the allegations in the Arizona suit.
Hopefully more of this info gets out to a wider audience soon.
antidahn
08-24-2009, 10:49 PM
I used to live with a Dahn member. They were warned ahead of time about the news stories and were coached on what to say. When I asked her about the lawsuit I was told a nearly exact quote that Mr Alexander said about the lawsuit. This person works at Dahn and has been exploited for free labor, has no paid time off, and has spent nearly $20k on Dahn training and trips in two years. I hired a professional therapist who specializes in cults in order to help get her out. We had an intervention in an attempt to get her out. Being out of Dahn has caused her to become paranoid and make things up about people trying to hurt her. She has impacted her entire famliy in this mess of lies. This organization is very controlling. Even though I tried to talk to them about the financial impact they were having, they pushed her to go on trips and even borrowed her money to help her go. Of course that led to lost income and increased debt.
Sri Hanuman
08-25-2009, 11:14 AM
See if you can get your friend to post here about her experience. Unfortunately, heresay isn't much to go by.
Sri Hanuman
11-15-2009, 05:20 PM
I haven't updated this thread in a while, mainly due to lack of major developments, and rehashing of old news on various sites. Recently, however, this article on scienceblogs.com by Nick Anthis caught my attention.
http://scienceblogs.com/scientificactivist/2009/03/dc_celebrates_pseudoscience.php
The Scientific Activist
As featured in:
http://scienceblogs.com/scientificactivist/upload/2007/08/time%20cover.jpg (http://www.time.com/time/archive/preview/0,10987,1158971,00.html)
Profile
A postdoc by day and a scientific activist by night, Nick Anthis isn't letting his research in protein structure and function get in the way of defending scientific and social progress.
DC Celebrates Pseudoscience (http://scienceblogs.com/scientificactivist/2009/03/dc_celebrates_pseudoscience.php)
Category: Washington (http://scienceblogs.com/scientificactivist/washington/) • pseudoscience (http://scienceblogs.com/scientificactivist/pseudoscience/)
Posted on: March 21, 2009 11:10 AM, by Nick Anthis (http://scienceblogs.com/scientificactivist/)
From The Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/20/AR2009032003232.html):
The D.C. Council, in a flourish of whereases, proclaimed March 16 Brain Education Day, responding to a nationwide call from a brain-wave guru in Sedona, Ariz. (The Montgomery County Council was set to make the same proclamation Tuesday but canceled at the last minute. And supporters in Fairfax County missed the submission deadline.)
The council's formal resolution says brain education helps "create physical, emotional and social well-being, as well as higher achievement." The proclamation closes by praising its "potential to improve the human condition."
So what is brain education?
If a recent class at a Dahn Yoga Center in Alexandria is any guide, it's a whole lot of shaking. Students wear matching white uniforms, stand in a circle and, after vigorously and rhythmically pounding their bellies, shake. Their heads, their shoulders. Their hips, their knees. The shaking, practitioners say, vibrates the brain, calms brain waves and helps clear the mind.
"It's so much less weird than it sounds," practitioner Joanne Steller said after class. "It refreshes your mind."
Practitioners follow a five-step training system -- such as "brain versatilizing" -- to achieve better HSP, or "health, happiness and peace." The method was developed by Ilchi Lee, originally from South Korea, who oversees an international brain education organization headquartered in Sedona, otherwise known as the "New Age Capital" of the world.
Fortunately, not everyone is buying this nonsense:
A similar proclamation in Montgomery was ready to go when staffers who vet ceremonial proclamations -- there are about two each week -- went to the brain education Web site to check the group out. "When we checked, we decided it was not appropriate," said council spokesman Neil Greenberger. "We like to use our good judgment to make sure something is appropriate for Montgomery County."
Ignoring for the moment how bizarre the actual methods are and the fact that their developer, Ilchi Lee, is a longstanding purveyor of pseudoscience (http://www.badscience.net/2004/10/brain-sensitising/), what did Montgomery County staffers find when they visited the Brain Education website (http://www.powerbrainedu.com/)? The website makes various claims about improving mental performance, and it even cites two published studies (http://www.powerbrainedu.com/research.html). Unfortunately, neither is published in a mainstream or widely-available journal (a major red flag).
The first was published in the Korean Journal of Educational Research, which is not available in English and not subscribed to by my university (and I couldn't find any more information about this journal on the web). The second study was published in the Journal of Brain Education.
This one is also not available in English, but, better yet, it's published by the "University of Brain Education (http://eng.ube.ac.kr/index.asp)". Guess who the president of this "university" is? Ilchi Lee, of course.
The Brain Sciences website does include a couple of charts from this latter publication, which you can take a look at for yourself here (http://www.powerbrainedu.com/research.html). They show a marginal improvement in a few different intelligence tests (no details on how these were conducted), but these results are meaningless without any error bars (my guess is that none of these improvements are statistically significant given the small sample sizes used).
They also adjusted the graph axes in a way to make the data appear as favorable as possible. If this is representative of what's in these two studies, then it's no surprise they couldn't publish any of this in a more respected and widely available journals.
If a quick examination of the Brain Education website is all it takes--as Montgomery County staffers found--to discover that the claims about Ilchi's curriculum are groundless, then why is DC recognizing this pseudoscientific nonsense?
http://scienceblogs.com/scientificactivist/2009/03/dc_celebrates_pseudoscience.php
The Scientific Activist
As featured in:
http://scienceblogs.com/scientificactivist/upload/2007/08/time%20cover.jpg (http://www.time.com/time/archive/preview/0,10987,1158971,00.html)
Profile
A postdoc by day and a scientific activist by night, Nick Anthis isn't letting his research in protein structure and function get in the way of defending scientific and social progress.
DC Celebrates Pseudoscience (http://scienceblogs.com/scientificactivist/2009/03/dc_celebrates_pseudoscience.php)
Category: Washington (http://scienceblogs.com/scientificactivist/washington/) • pseudoscience (http://scienceblogs.com/scientificactivist/pseudoscience/)
Posted on: March 21, 2009 11:10 AM, by Nick Anthis (http://scienceblogs.com/scientificactivist/)
From The Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/20/AR2009032003232.html):
The D.C. Council, in a flourish of whereases, proclaimed March 16 Brain Education Day, responding to a nationwide call from a brain-wave guru in Sedona, Ariz. (The Montgomery County Council was set to make the same proclamation Tuesday but canceled at the last minute. And supporters in Fairfax County missed the submission deadline.)
The council's formal resolution says brain education helps "create physical, emotional and social well-being, as well as higher achievement." The proclamation closes by praising its "potential to improve the human condition."
So what is brain education?
If a recent class at a Dahn Yoga Center in Alexandria is any guide, it's a whole lot of shaking. Students wear matching white uniforms, stand in a circle and, after vigorously and rhythmically pounding their bellies, shake. Their heads, their shoulders. Their hips, their knees. The shaking, practitioners say, vibrates the brain, calms brain waves and helps clear the mind.
"It's so much less weird than it sounds," practitioner Joanne Steller said after class. "It refreshes your mind."
Practitioners follow a five-step training system -- such as "brain versatilizing" -- to achieve better HSP, or "health, happiness and peace." The method was developed by Ilchi Lee, originally from South Korea, who oversees an international brain education organization headquartered in Sedona, otherwise known as the "New Age Capital" of the world.
Fortunately, not everyone is buying this nonsense:
A similar proclamation in Montgomery was ready to go when staffers who vet ceremonial proclamations -- there are about two each week -- went to the brain education Web site to check the group out. "When we checked, we decided it was not appropriate," said council spokesman Neil Greenberger. "We like to use our good judgment to make sure something is appropriate for Montgomery County."
Ignoring for the moment how bizarre the actual methods are and the fact that their developer, Ilchi Lee, is a longstanding purveyor of pseudoscience (http://www.badscience.net/2004/10/brain-sensitising/), what did Montgomery County staffers find when they visited the Brain Education website (http://www.powerbrainedu.com/)? The website makes various claims about improving mental performance, and it even cites two published studies (http://www.powerbrainedu.com/research.html). Unfortunately, neither is published in a mainstream or widely-available journal (a major red flag).
The first was published in the Korean Journal of Educational Research, which is not available in English and not subscribed to by my university (and I couldn't find any more information about this journal on the web). The second study was published in the Journal of Brain Education.
This one is also not available in English, but, better yet, it's published by the "University of Brain Education (http://eng.ube.ac.kr/index.asp)". Guess who the president of this "university" is? Ilchi Lee, of course.
The Brain Sciences website does include a couple of charts from this latter publication, which you can take a look at for yourself here (http://www.powerbrainedu.com/research.html). They show a marginal improvement in a few different intelligence tests (no details on how these were conducted), but these results are meaningless without any error bars (my guess is that none of these improvements are statistically significant given the small sample sizes used).
They also adjusted the graph axes in a way to make the data appear as favorable as possible. If this is representative of what's in these two studies, then it's no surprise they couldn't publish any of this in a more respected and widely available journals.
If a quick examination of the Brain Education website is all it takes--as Montgomery County staffers found--to discover that the claims about Ilchi's curriculum are groundless, then why is DC recognizing this pseudoscientific nonsense?
Sri Hanuman
11-15-2009, 05:29 PM
It seems that the mayor of Cambridge similarly announced an Ilchi Lee eday, stated in this article (Boston Skeptics)
http://bostonskeptics.com/?p=226
What caught my attention here, was one of the responses by a Mr. James Croft, who attended the event.
I would like to point out that I was at the Dahn Yoga Forum at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and it was not “sponsored” by the school – they simply provided the space. When I made the school aware of the pseudoscientific nonsense that suffused the three hour presentation (and the vaguely disturbing chanting they encouraged us to do) the Dean ofthe School was appalled, and has reviewed HGSE’s policies regarding which organizations to rent its space to.
Furthermore, I did write to the mayor about her endorsement of this nonsense, and did receive a very swift reply from her office saying they were also appalled, had confronted Dahn Yoga, and had received an extremely unsatisfactory resonse (the mayor’s representative described it as “scary”). The mayor’s office has also reviewed their policies, I am told.
James Croft
Harvard Graduate School of Education
http://bostonskeptics.com/?p=226
What caught my attention here, was one of the responses by a Mr. James Croft, who attended the event.
I would like to point out that I was at the Dahn Yoga Forum at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and it was not “sponsored” by the school – they simply provided the space. When I made the school aware of the pseudoscientific nonsense that suffused the three hour presentation (and the vaguely disturbing chanting they encouraged us to do) the Dean ofthe School was appalled, and has reviewed HGSE’s policies regarding which organizations to rent its space to.
Furthermore, I did write to the mayor about her endorsement of this nonsense, and did receive a very swift reply from her office saying they were also appalled, had confronted Dahn Yoga, and had received an extremely unsatisfactory resonse (the mayor’s representative described it as “scary”). The mayor’s office has also reviewed their policies, I am told.
James Croft
Harvard Graduate School of Education
littleoldme
11-16-2009, 03:15 AM
This is another of those Moonie-like schemes in which "students'" are encouraged to leave their families and work for only room and board, proselytizing others constantly and worshipping their guru. Many of the victims awaken before they drown in this syrup of nonsense-and-hype, but those who don't either drop out or suicide, grow older and poorer by the day — both financially and emotionally. But it's safe from government interference; that veteran of scam Reverend Moon is living proof of this country's protection and support of such quackery. "
Thanks for this, very interesting
There is a lot of this going on in the world
IME this kind of thing is the new face of people trafficking in the noughties
No need to kidnap people, beat them and force them to work insanely long hours in factories, living in crowded, insanitary conditions on starvation rations.
All you need to do is to set up a cult and people will volunteer for it, believing that, by their hard work and suffering, they are becoming enlightened.
Thanks for this, very interesting
There is a lot of this going on in the world
IME this kind of thing is the new face of people trafficking in the noughties
No need to kidnap people, beat them and force them to work insanely long hours in factories, living in crowded, insanitary conditions on starvation rations.
All you need to do is to set up a cult and people will volunteer for it, believing that, by their hard work and suffering, they are becoming enlightened.
sambosteve
11-16-2009, 10:48 AM
I have to catch up on this thread...sorry if I have missed anything. But, I wanted to mention that the Dahn Yoga center near my house has changed their name. They now call themselves the "body mind health center" or something like that (I will confirm the new name). It is the same people, same brochures, etc, just they are trying to re-brand themselves.
Sri Hanuman
11-16-2009, 10:52 AM
I have to catch up on this thread...sorry if I have missed anything. But, I wanted to mention that the Dahn Yoga center near my house has changed their name. They now call themselves the "body mind health center" or something like that (I will confirm the new name). It is the same people, same brochures, etc, just they are trying to re-brand themselves.
It's a move to diversify their image.
In schools, it's Brain Education, Brain Respiration, Brainwave Vibration, etc. Pretty soon, it will be hard to keep tabs on the org, as they are developing various names and sub orgs.
One thing you gotta hand to the group, great PR and web marketing. I heard off-hand (one of the former members... don't quite remember which one) that they hire people in India to mass click on their links to raise their page rankings, as well as leave positive reviews on Amazon.
This is second hand info at best, so I can't confirm it, but thought it's an interesting unvalidated rumor to mention.
It's a move to diversify their image.
In schools, it's Brain Education, Brain Respiration, Brainwave Vibration, etc. Pretty soon, it will be hard to keep tabs on the org, as they are developing various names and sub orgs.
One thing you gotta hand to the group, great PR and web marketing. I heard off-hand (one of the former members... don't quite remember which one) that they hire people in India to mass click on their links to raise their page rankings, as well as leave positive reviews on Amazon.
This is second hand info at best, so I can't confirm it, but thought it's an interesting unvalidated rumor to mention.
Sri Hanuman
11-16-2009, 03:48 PM
Here's a list of current Org. names for Dahn:
http://www.freedomofmind.com/resourcecenter/groups/d/dahn-hak/
NameDahn HakAlternate name(s)- Dahnhak
- Dahn Center
- Holistic Fitness Center
- Dahn Tao Institute
- Healing Society
- Sedona Dahn Retreat
- Tai Chi Yoga Health Center
- Tao Aerobics
- Zen N’ Fit
- Energy Training Centre
- BR Holistic
- HSPHolistichttp://www.freedomofmind.com/furniture/offsite.gif (http://hspholistic.com/)
Front Groups
International Graduate University for Peacehttp://www.freedomofmind.com/furniture/offsite.gif (http://www.peace.ac.kr/eng/eng_index.asp)
The Korea Institute of Brain Sciencehttp://www.freedomofmind.com/furniture/offsite.gif (http://www.kibs.re.kr/eng/eng_index.asp)
Sedona Ilchi Mediation Centerhttp://www.freedomofmind.com/furniture/offsite.gif (http://www.ilchimeditation.org/)
CGI Holistic Fitnesshttp://www.freedomofmind.com/furniture/offsite.gif (http://www.cgifitness.com/)
HealingPlaza.comhttp://www.freedomofmind.com/furniture/offsite.gif (http://www.healingplaza.com/)
DahnMuDohttp://www.freedomofmind.com/furniture/offsite.gif (http://www.brholistic.co.uk/html/dahnmudo.htm)
Body & Brain Magazinehttp://www.freedomofmind.com/furniture/offsite.gif (http://www.bodynbrain.com/)
Body & Brainhttp://www.freedomofmind.com/furniture/offsite.gif (http://bodynbrain.org/)
http://www.freedomofmind.com/resourcecenter/groups/d/dahn-hak/
NameDahn HakAlternate name(s)- Dahnhak
- Dahn Center
- Holistic Fitness Center
- Dahn Tao Institute
- Healing Society
- Sedona Dahn Retreat
- Tai Chi Yoga Health Center
- Tao Aerobics
- Zen N’ Fit
- Energy Training Centre
- BR Holistic
- HSPHolistichttp://www.freedomofmind.com/furniture/offsite.gif (http://hspholistic.com/)
Front Groups
International Graduate University for Peacehttp://www.freedomofmind.com/furniture/offsite.gif (http://www.peace.ac.kr/eng/eng_index.asp)
The Korea Institute of Brain Sciencehttp://www.freedomofmind.com/furniture/offsite.gif (http://www.kibs.re.kr/eng/eng_index.asp)
Sedona Ilchi Mediation Centerhttp://www.freedomofmind.com/furniture/offsite.gif (http://www.ilchimeditation.org/)
CGI Holistic Fitnesshttp://www.freedomofmind.com/furniture/offsite.gif (http://www.cgifitness.com/)
HealingPlaza.comhttp://www.freedomofmind.com/furniture/offsite.gif (http://www.healingplaza.com/)
DahnMuDohttp://www.freedomofmind.com/furniture/offsite.gif (http://www.brholistic.co.uk/html/dahnmudo.htm)
Body & Brain Magazinehttp://www.freedomofmind.com/furniture/offsite.gif (http://www.bodynbrain.com/)
Body & Brainhttp://www.freedomofmind.com/furniture/offsite.gif (http://bodynbrain.org/)
littleoldme
11-17-2009, 02:20 AM
I used to live with a Dahn member. They were warned ahead of time about the news stories and were coached on what to say. When I asked her about the lawsuit I was told a nearly exact quote that Mr Alexander said about the lawsuit. This person works at Dahn and has been exploited for free labor, has no paid time off, and has spent nearly $20k on Dahn training and trips in two years. I hired a professional therapist who specializes in cults in order to help get her out. We had an intervention in an attempt to get her out. Being out of Dahn has caused her to become paranoid and make things up about people trying to hurt her. She has impacted her entire famliy in this mess of lies. This organization is very controlling. Even though I tried to talk to them about the financial impact they were having, they pushed her to go on trips and even borrowed her money to help her go. Of course that led to lost income and increased debt.
Only just read this
Sorry to hear about this person
FWIW I think that "interventions" (if you mean what you think I mean) seldom work and can push people further apart
I know people this happened to, although with other cults.
It's devastating for families to see their loved one getting embroiled in and abused by cults, but interventions where cult members are kidnapped by their friends and families (this is what you mean yes?) to save them from cults usually only result in driving the person back in to the arms of the cult.
Also some specialist cult "therapists" are not even properly qualified and insured therapists, just, often well meaning, ex cult members who call themselves therapists but who never had a thorough, ongoing professional training. Some are simply entrepreneurs preying on the desperate wishes of families to be reunited with their loved ones.
I hope that your friend was able to leave the cult in their own way, on their own terms.
Only just read this
Sorry to hear about this person
FWIW I think that "interventions" (if you mean what you think I mean) seldom work and can push people further apart
I know people this happened to, although with other cults.
It's devastating for families to see their loved one getting embroiled in and abused by cults, but interventions where cult members are kidnapped by their friends and families (this is what you mean yes?) to save them from cults usually only result in driving the person back in to the arms of the cult.
Also some specialist cult "therapists" are not even properly qualified and insured therapists, just, often well meaning, ex cult members who call themselves therapists but who never had a thorough, ongoing professional training. Some are simply entrepreneurs preying on the desperate wishes of families to be reunited with their loved ones.
I hope that your friend was able to leave the cult in their own way, on their own terms.
littleoldme
11-17-2009, 02:51 AM
It's a move to diversify their image.
In schools, it's Brain Education, Brain Respiration, Brainwave Vibration, etc. Pretty soon, it will be hard to keep tabs on the org, as they are developing various names and sub orgs.
One thing you gotta hand to the group, great PR and web marketing. I heard off-hand (one of the former members... don't quite remember which one) that they hire people in India to mass click on their links to raise their page rankings, as well as leave positive reviews on Amazon.
This is second hand info at best, so I can't confirm it, but thought it's an interesting unvalidated rumor to mention.
This is absolutely typical of how cults like this operate
They are polymorphic entities who can easily shut down one "front" and leave zillions of others still operating
They will almost certainly be found to have associations with some Micky Mouse "human rights" organisation who they will use to claim that they are being harassed and oppressed and denied their human rights.
They will also quote selectively from bona fide HR organisations, such as Amnesty, to help state their case. I even tried contacting Amnesty about one really evil cult that was using Amnesty's name to support their cause and the people at Amnesty's response was "this happens a lot but we cannot really control the way in which people use our name".
This is a really good example
http://www.gregorianbivolaru(dot)com
I've broken the link for obvious reasons
This guy is wanted for a range of very serious crimes, including people trafficking, organising prostitution, sex with a minor, money laundering, tax evasion, other stuff too.
Here he is on the Romanian Police Most Wanted page
http://www.politiaromana.ro/urmariti/detalii.aspx?id=738
Like Dahn he has his supporters busy on the www trying to discredit anyone who posts any criticism of him, they have controlled his wiki page and edited out any negative stuff, they just portray him as some kind of persecuted enlightened master, you can expect this kind of things from the people at Dahn too.
I would put money on them having literally hundreds, if not thousands, of business entities, some very obviously linked, some you have to dig around a bit to find the links.
Just for example, this is one of Dahn's entities here in the UK
http://www.stress.org.uk/
They claim to have "helped" the Kent Police. Well now the people at the Kent police know all about them and are looking into it.
In schools, it's Brain Education, Brain Respiration, Brainwave Vibration, etc. Pretty soon, it will be hard to keep tabs on the org, as they are developing various names and sub orgs.
One thing you gotta hand to the group, great PR and web marketing. I heard off-hand (one of the former members... don't quite remember which one) that they hire people in India to mass click on their links to raise their page rankings, as well as leave positive reviews on Amazon.
This is second hand info at best, so I can't confirm it, but thought it's an interesting unvalidated rumor to mention.
This is absolutely typical of how cults like this operate
They are polymorphic entities who can easily shut down one "front" and leave zillions of others still operating
They will almost certainly be found to have associations with some Micky Mouse "human rights" organisation who they will use to claim that they are being harassed and oppressed and denied their human rights.
They will also quote selectively from bona fide HR organisations, such as Amnesty, to help state their case. I even tried contacting Amnesty about one really evil cult that was using Amnesty's name to support their cause and the people at Amnesty's response was "this happens a lot but we cannot really control the way in which people use our name".
This is a really good example
http://www.gregorianbivolaru(dot)com
I've broken the link for obvious reasons
This guy is wanted for a range of very serious crimes, including people trafficking, organising prostitution, sex with a minor, money laundering, tax evasion, other stuff too.
Here he is on the Romanian Police Most Wanted page
http://www.politiaromana.ro/urmariti/detalii.aspx?id=738
Like Dahn he has his supporters busy on the www trying to discredit anyone who posts any criticism of him, they have controlled his wiki page and edited out any negative stuff, they just portray him as some kind of persecuted enlightened master, you can expect this kind of things from the people at Dahn too.
I would put money on them having literally hundreds, if not thousands, of business entities, some very obviously linked, some you have to dig around a bit to find the links.
Just for example, this is one of Dahn's entities here in the UK
http://www.stress.org.uk/
They claim to have "helped" the Kent Police. Well now the people at the Kent police know all about them and are looking into it.
Sri Hanuman
12-15-2009, 08:44 AM
A discussion of Dahn's use of sleep deprivation tactics. Posted as of Sep. 09 here:
http://www.groundreport.com/Lifestyle/Dahn-Yoga-Cult-Uses-Sleep-Deprivation-Intimidation/2906876
Features the testimony of Amy Shipley, one of the former Dahn members.
http://www.groundreport.com/Lifestyle/Dahn-Yoga-Cult-Uses-Sleep-Deprivation-Intimidation/2906876
Features the testimony of Amy Shipley, one of the former Dahn members.
Dahn Yoga & Tai Chi Centers
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