Jane Lyons: A Mother Tries to Save Her Daughter From Vicious Strangler Swami Chetanananda

Swami with Vienna

FR is investigating what happened to Eva. She fell into the hands of J. Michael Shoemaker, AKA Swami Chetananda.

Eva was living at the Movement Center of Portland. Paramedics carried her out on a stretcher at three in the morning.

Swami Chetanananda had been training her.

Jessica Becker saw Eva carried out of the center.

Jessica Becker said she saw Dr. Jen Wilhelm come flying down the steps to follow Eva, who left in an ambulance.

Wilhelm is a chiropractor and one of the Swami’s followers.

After the accident, Eva returned. There were various stories. One was Eva slipped on a treadmill in the gym. Another was, she had fallen in the park. And one that seemed the official ashram story. She was insane. It was mental illness. Nothing physical happened.

Jayne Lyons is Eva’s mother. She visited Eva at the ashram after her accident.  She tried, but could not get her daughter out. When Jayne tried too hard, the Swami’s henchwoman, Sharon Ward, threw Jayne out of the ashram. Eva did not go with her mother.

A source from the ashram spoke to me on condition I do not reveal her name. She said, “After her accident Eva was peeing on towels in her room and disheveled. Of course trauma head injury is related. Clearly she did not want to leave her room to use the rest room. She was taken for a VD screening. There was a false Positive HIV screening.”
 
She went for a VD test. It seems probable that the Swami sexually and physically abused Eva. Add to that the horror of getting a false positive on an HIV  test.  A woman already in a traumatized condition, beaten on the head, strangled, now thinking she will be facing HIV.

Later, Eva left. She sued and won a settlement. She signed an NDA, preventing her from disclosing what happened. Her mother did not sign an NDA.

She wants to prevent Swami Chetanananda, AKA J. Michael Shoemaker from harming others.

Jayne told part of her story in: Mother of Choking Victim Names Inner Circle of the Strangler Swami Chetanananda

Here is more information on what happened to Eva.

By Jayne Lyons

I spent about two weeks caring for my daughter after her “accident” at The Movement Center. I arrived late at night, since my plane had been delayed.

The Movement Center gates were locked. I had no phone, so I had to jump the fence and scurry across the lawn in the dark, hoping Sharon Ward’s dogs were not out roaming the grounds.

I had visited my daughter at the Center before and learned about Ward’s dogs, the strange deaths of Liz Bazzani and other residents of the Center, ‘open eyes’ meditation, and the shrine to “Rudi”, but I had no idea about the depth of abuses that were being carried out inside the Movement Center until Frank exposed them in his articles.

Soon after I arrived, I found my daughter and took her by ambulance to the hospital. She was given a diagnosis and a follow-up plan that included bed rest. We returned to the Movement Center, where a room had been arranged for the two of us.

The Movement Center in Portland where the Swami and his disciples lived until recently.

The Movement Center was the most bizarre place. A creepy old mansion with lots of nooks and crannies, beautiful gardens, and furnishings.

There were Buddhist paintings of demons, gods, and goddesses in uncomfortable situations, bloodily eating headless victims or twisted into sexual unions, all over the walls. There was quiet, no shoes, no music, no radio, and almost no people. Everyone was hidden.

It had a “Rosemary’s Baby” vibe to it.

Totally different from all the Facebook photos of happy people eating delicious meals, participating in rituals, or working together for the good of humanity.

swami_chetanananda
Janet, Gretchen and Steve had Birthdays this weekend… Theresa and Salman created the celebration…

Instead, the residents were glassy-eyed with hollow stares. Few people would talk to me. Most would leave if Sharon Ward or Howard Boster were around when I tried to speak to them.

I never saw J. Michael Shoemaker. I learned later that he referred to me as a “dark force in the universe” and “full of demons.”

Swami and Sharon Ward

No wonder it seemed that people were mostly terrified to encounter me.

I was warned not to talk to certain people because they would be too high to make sense. No one could or would tell me what had happened to my daughter. Nothing was adding up.

I tried to talk to the leadership of the Center, Shoemaker, Ward, and Boster, but none of them would speak to me. They hid or ran away.

With Prakashananda [Boster] and Vivina…🙏🏻💕

When I saw her in the hall, I tried to talk to Jen Wilhelm, and she brushed me off, saying she had to go to work and that my daughter was “delusional.” That is what Lilianna Lopez told me as well.

Jen Wilhelm and Swami

Why would two people say the same thing, “delusional,” about an accident? Ward told me, passing in the hall, that the Movement Center was not “liable” for any harm that had come to my daughter.

Several people spoke to me outside the center or behind a closed door. Jessica Becker gave me a handwritten note and then told me to destroy it, because she was fearful it could fall into the wrong hands. Something strange was going on.

I kept asking questions, trying to understand what had happened to my daughter. The pieces of the puzzle would not fit together, that my daughter had either fallen in the park, got shaken on an exercise machine, or was “delusional.”

 

This is what Shoemaker looks like. He is so proud of his muscles. My daughter weighed under 115 pounds when he was “training” her.

Finally, Sharon Ward told me I had to leave the Center because I was “spreading rumors”. I got kicked out and could not take my daughter with me.

After leaving the Center, I enlisted the help of various cult specialists, Dr. Steven Hassan, Kent Burtner, Dr. Ken Garrett, and Dr. Margaret Eichler. All of whom, except Kent Burtner, were cult survivors themselves.

Steven Hassan is an author, speaker, and consultant on “the protection, rescue and recovery from destructive cults.”
Kent Burtner

Kent Burtner had provided exit counseling to former members of Shoemaker’s group in the past. Together, a plan was put together based on Dr. Steve Hassan’s approach to help my daughter leave the coercive control of J. Michael Shoemaker.

***

Moni O’Neil and Swami

After I left the ashram, the Swami became concerned that I might cause problems. Shoemaker texted Eva. I have many screens between Eva and Shoemaker.  I sent the ones that showed Shoemaker trying to control Eva or influence her to protect him. Maybe these will help you to understand how Shoemaker harms and controls others.

It took time, but she was able to free herself and start her recovery from her time in a dangerous and damaging, high control group.

Eva has been slowly recovering from her trauma of being a resident of The Movement Center.  I am sad that my daughter could not explain how she was abused. I am sad that she was so indoctrinated at the time she spoke to law enforcement that she did not understand what had been done to her.

Jessica Becker alerted me to the abuses at The Movement Center. She tried to help me. When the “inner circle” knew what she was doing, they attacked her.

 

At one point, Eva admitted she was taken advantage of to Jessica.

Heather Gail George tried to get Eva to drop her lawsuit. George stood up for Shoemaker. Another woman, Faith Shepard, also sent messages to Eva, about the legal approach.

Law enforcement has been informed of what I saw and heard. But, they say they cannot intervene until a “victim” comes forward.

They tell me over and over, “no victim, no crime”. My testimony is only hearsay and not “evidence”. Shoemaker and his criminal group have everyone terrified or silenced.

I understand the fear, the flying monkeys, Shoemaker’s loyal devotees have come after those who speak out. Until a credible victim speaks out to a law enforcement officer who understands cult mind control, nothing will be done to stop Shoemaker. He and his group have been harming people for over 50 years. It is time for this to stop.

I thank Frank Parlato for believing me and for publishing the testimonies of abuse and harm. I believe together we can stop Shoemaker and his group.

.

 

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  • What date did Eva finally move from the Ashram? Was she still there in July when they were texting? What was the event that finally made her move out because the injury occurred back in May right? I wish these articles were a little easier to follow.

  • I just have one basic question.

    What kind of organization of ANY KIND is NOT FORTHCOMING about injuries sustained by a member on the premises? The member needs emergency hospital treatment, and is taken out on a stretcher, but when the victim’s mother comes to help her no one will tell her what happened?

    What kind of place would do that?

    Chet, his minions and attack dogs, immediately went into defense mode with no regard for the victim or her mother. The mother was kicked out and shunned.

    What kind of loving caring compassionate highly evolved spiritual place is this?

    They began to care when they sensed a law suit…they cared about damage control for their nest of bloodworms.

    Come out you rotting demons. Show your real faces. You are outted.

    This whole place needs an exorcism.

  • I remember someone trying to give me this excuse of “They fall madly in love with him and get mad when they won’t commit to him”. Yeah, ok. That might have worked when he was a young buck but FYI? Women in their 20’s are not looking to “start a life” with a man in their 70’s and come on, that would be like making out with their Grandpa.

    Stop it.

    These are the same exudes made when anyone falls into the grips of a psychopath people actually like. “He’s never done that to me”.

    Well aren’t you lucky. You must be really special, right? This is manipulation and mind control, this is exploiting people with severe trauma that came there to heal or grow as a spiritual being. This is also the dark side of Tantra. Left path. Hindu flavored demon worship. These people have NO IDEA what they are REALLY feeding their Kundalini energy to. They just do and say whatever he tells them because he’s “helping them grow”. Nope, he’s eating you. Nom nom. For you survivors out there.

    My loves. No one can take your precious Mother Father God given innocence. No matter what, He only has power over you if you believe he does. Take back what the Goblin King has stolen.

  • Thank you Jayne for advocating for Justice to protect all of us. The descriptions are chilling – and confirmed by Jessica –

    The text messages confirm the psychological hold. I’m so sorry for your daughter but she has a fierce mother who, with the lead of FR and others coming forward, you will take out one sick predator.

    None of this is consensual!

  • How is this polygamy cult really all that different from this one?

    How could you women not be grossed out when the baby girls you watched him treat like daughters their entire lives became his “lovers” as soon as soon as they came into their bodies. Seriously? WTF is wrong with you? I feel awful for them. They have been the most brainwashed of all by people whose only job should have been protecting them.

    They REALLY must believe they have no semblance of family to return to if this is all they have ever known. So traumatizing. I’m so sorry, ladies. You deserved so much better. Trade up the “brand” of religion, tweak a few minor details. The core of this is an identical script. “Be Sweet” is to Warren Jeffs what Surrender Your Tensions”. Is to Michael Shoemaker.

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Af2ygn68Pi4

  • Connection heals, and truth is life’s medicine to help humans confront their own wrong patterns and beliefs, so that growth can occur and the human can continue to evolve. Nobody who genuinely wishes to grow shuns truth, they welcome it with gratitude, accountability, and dignity, like finding water in the desert. They welcome the pain and humiliation of truth, and integrate the lessons learn, changing their behavior and perspective going forward.

    Shoemaker has misunderstood his entire life what connection is actually about, what creates genuine depth of connection and loyalty? This is something he never figured out no matter how hard he has tried. Because of this he has had to employ threats, violence, lies, manipulation, and fear tactics his entire life to keep his enterprise together.

    Just because he himself was born a pervert, SEVERELY physically and emotionally abused by his father, his god-honest childhood needs neglected by his shrinking mother, BDSM and sex were the paths that spoke to him and helped him integrate pain and suffering into his understanding of life, alchemy, and the world.

    This doesn’t mean that this is the only way for people to learn these noble truths, but he fixated on it and felt the need to impose what worked for him on everyone.

    His complete lack of humility and respect for this world and for the diverse experiences, nature, and perspectives of others has paved the path to where we all find ourselves now, finding a modicum of relief and resolution in this heartbreaking string of reports making his behind the scenes crimes public.

    5 decades this man has been “teaching”. 5 decades he has been thrashing about and not caring who gets injured or exploded in the process. How could he ever grow beyond this, if all he ever knew growing up was the dominance/submission modeled by his parents, the martyrdom and manipulation strategies of his mother, and the deeply internalized sense of unworthiness and rejection he internalized staring from his pre-verbal years in this world.

    It is of course extremely likely that he was also sexually molested frequently by the priests at the church his family frequented.

    He is both masochist and sadist, and never learned to love or take pity on himself, never received unconditional love from a guiding figure, so of course he has never learned how to genuinely be that for anybody else. He cannot imagine a heaven that is beyond these models of pain inflicted on purpose as a vehicle for learning, so he cannot create it.

    In essence he has partaken in the rape and abuse of his own mother his entire life, projected onto meek, soft, small or “submissive” women.. contributing full circle to his god-honest genuine human needs never being met, his hunger and desperation never satiated, and assuring that he have only battered and crippled women as his mother going forward for countless lifetimes.

    • I can’t for the life of me understand how this demon has not been outed before 2022.

      Comments are being made by people who obviously are or have been involved with him and his house of horrors but were compliant or afraid to protect each other. Is it fear that keeps anyone from going to the police? Don’t the people around him who say they are seeking truth and love care what happens to his chosen victims?

      Doesn’t anyone feel a responsibility to protect their ashram family? The web of lies, deceit, and secrets has choked the life out of the whole group, regardless of whether or not they are hanged upside down on the wall.

      How can you sit in open-eyes meditation asking for your heart to be open, when you allow The King Salami Pig in front of you to devour your family? The one thriving is Michael Shoemaker. The rest of you are brain-dead maggots embedded in the soles of his feet. He doesn’t give a rat’s ass about you. You are the disposables.

    • Tantric practices don’t have to involve twisted sex stuff. I remember articles in Yoga Journal about people trying it. Just to have a more powerful enlightened experience. Didn’t involve gross stuff. Of course someone always perverts and twists it.

      Yogis and Christian monks have always tried to subdue the flesh w extreme measures of self-abuse. Siddartha was about to die and changed his mind to become Buddha. I’m not sure if hypnosis or perversion of others thru evil means works culturally. The behavior of Shoemaker makes me believe there must really be a Hell somewhere. Like in Dante’s Inferno.

  • I’ve always believed that men who violently ass fuck women with objects are potential murderers. I can almost feel the horror reading these Strangling Swami stories.

  • I always knew something was up with Faith Shepard. Too “good to be true”. Everyone thought that she was “so wonderful”. She was always sucking up to Monica and anyone who could get close to that she beast has to have one or several corroded screws loose.

    Pretending to be so mothering and nurturing to these women often starved for some female kindness and taking all their confidences back to the snake pit to “prove her worthiness”and get a seat in the “special circle”.

    Shameless social climber. Worst part is she has a daughter of her own. Reading that she was texting this poor traumatized woman and trying to influence her put the mystery of Gretchen together for me too. Also presents as almost angelic, beloved by all but at the end of the day both’s only real function is to guard and feed their monster. These are the women that keep other women gaslit and long confused like “He can’t be that bad if Faith or Gretchen believe in him”.

    Heather George is no big surprise.

    She’s one of Chets prettiest show ponies and she very obviously loves that status. I do wonder about the oaths these health practitioners made and I hope this is being reported as if either Heather George or Jen Wilhelm ever treated any of these victims they were in fact their patients and they had a legal obligation to report this abuse. So much toxic feminine. So little sisterhood.

    • Gretchen is Gaslight Personified. How she can look in the mirror and sleep in his bed, pretending they have some kind of marriage relationship when he tells all his girls he hasn’t fucked her years is beyond sanity. Again we have someone who’s idea of themselves and what they present is more important to them than reality. Maybe they’re not so different afterall.

    • HI [redacted] I really hope that you reconsider using this platform for your own sick agenda to destroy Faith. If you do not stop, then it is very clear that you have become the abuser of your worst nightmares. You are the Narcissist that you speak of, you are the sociopath we have all heard about, and you are the psychopath who took your kids away from you.

      I will again highly recommend that you stop using this platform to try and destroy Faith. It also only minimizes what we are doing, and remember that I come from a huge Jewish family. Everyone and everything that I care about, they care about.

    • At least Theresa doesn’t try to pretend she’s a sweet kind person, everyone knows she’s a full-on Bitch.

  • So what caused her injuries? I thought Eva was the victim who was hanged upsidedown from a hook on the wall and dropped on her head. Only Eva can clarify the events leading up to her ambulance ride. Every post raises a thousand questions.

    The text messages here are the most significant evidence. The rapist definitely expressed a little “tension” at the prospect of being investigated. Good thinking Jayne. This all needs to be sorted out in definitive detail and an investigator needs to be knocking on the door of the Gold Coast mansion.

    Lets get this deviant vampire down to the police station.

    Jayne, you are doing an incredible job of trying to stop this man and blow the lid off of Shoemaker’s cult, the henchmen and the minions who live there. Thank you Frank Parlato for picking up this story.

  • What is “the silly week” and what is the newspaper article chokey’s referring to? And the letter “sadhvi hand-delivered”

    Frank I hope you have some more actual victims of this a-hole prepared to come forward.

      • Well, “actual”, you know, not second hand reports, but actual, like Jessica. The kind of witness that puts this a-hole away. Didn’t think it was so hard to understand. Maybe slow your roll and focus on the “actual” scumbags in this story.

        I still would like to know what the texts refer to.

        • Lol, Jessica B is “second hand” according to your logic as well, as far as I know (which is more than you, trust me) she was not part of the inner circle either.

          A mother documenting what she witnessed in the ER is not second hand, and in exchanges she saw via text is not “SECOND HAND” either, nor is what she had to deal with in any way directly with Sharon or any of the “handlers” in order to try to rescue her daughter. You actually need to slow YOUR roll, armchair lawyer, because family members in a suit can be actual victims of bereavement, intimidation, attacks, harassment and stress even if they’re not the main target.

          • I actually know a great deal. But nevertheless, Jayne herself has said the police won’t take her statement because she is not a victim. Calm the fuck down love and direct your rage where it belongs.

          • @Tina, your aggression and bullying is exactly what stops victims coming forward.

          • Hey Tina, I dont feel you are either aggressive or bullying.

            Not quite sure of the purpose of ‘Not British’ though?

          • The mother says that Eva never told her what happened to her at the ashram. So how can the police prosecute anything when the mother can’t even say what happened to Eva? She just has a bad feeling. Her intuition is probably right, but again, the victims themselves need to come forward. Easier said than done, of course.

        • To anonymous for this comment:

          “actually know a great deal. But nevertheless, Jayne herself has said the police won’t take her statement because she is not a victim. Calm the fuck down love and direct your rage where it belongs.”

          1) ok anon if you say so, you know a great deal of…something 😐

          2) you must not know much thats relevant because police lie and also are not actually trained at all the nuance of law. But most of all they lie. You dont have many police experiences do you?

          3) I am calm. You are projecting and its obvious because youre defensive. You must think only really angry people are capable of summoning the mental strength to write paragraphs. I wonder what this says….

          4) saying “calm the fuck down” even if i was angry is called a tone policing ad hominem. Its a red herring. Im not angry while typing this btw. Its just knowledge i have a great deal of, while you have a great deal of knowing about….something else im sure. 🤔

  • Well, Shoemaker is definitely not master of his own mind and dick, but he and his human rottweiler are certainly expert in the 10 D’s. For his victims, take note, this is his MO against you. Be prepared. Be strong. Remember your worth.

    Deflection
    Delays
    Denials
    Discounting
    Deception
    Dividing
    Dulcifying (appeasing)
    Discrediting
    Destroy
    Deal (compromise or co-optation) – only when he’s cornered by the law.

  • Eva is a credible witness. She must come forward to the police if this can go anywhere.

    NDAs do not protect against a crime. The texts show just how powerful she is and how scared they are of her. I hope she can understand that by Shoemaker and Sharon sending so many people after her, she is dangerous to them. I know just how hard this is. But if she can, she must say something.

    • None of you are alone. Not you Eva, not me, not Natacha, and not any of the estimated 1000 victims.

      Those of us who are saying our names to show you that we aren’t afraid. There is power in numbers. Chet created an army for himself, but remember, in that, he created three armies for his victims, and that list is always growing because he is incapable of stopping.

      And, we have the real proof, we are walking proof. As my stripper friends would say, “Gotch ya back girl, you just worry bout what’z up front.”:):)

About the Author

Frank Parlato is an investigative journalist.

His work has been cited in hundreds of news outlets, like The New York Times, The Daily Mail, VICE News, CBS News, Fox News, New York Post, New York Daily News, Oxygen, Rolling Stone, People Magazine, The Sun, The Times of London, CBS Inside Edition, among many others in all five continents.

His work to expose and take down NXIVM is featured in books like “Captive” by Catherine Oxenberg, “Scarred” by Sarah Edmonson, “The Program” by Toni Natalie, and “NXIVM. La Secta Que Sedujo al Poder en México” by Juan Alberto Vasquez.

Parlato has been prominently featured on HBO’s docuseries “The Vow” and was the lead investigator and coordinating producer for Investigation Discovery’s “The Lost Women of NXIVM.” Parlato was also credited in the Starz docuseries "Seduced" for saving 'slave' women from being branded and escaping the sex-slave cult known as DOS.

Additionally, Parlato’s coverage of the group OneTaste, starting in 2018, helped spark an FBI investigation, which led to indictments of two of its leaders in 2023.

Parlato appeared on the Nancy Grace Show, Beyond the Headlines with Gretchen Carlson, Dr. Oz, American Greed, Dateline NBC, and NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt, where Parlato conducted the first-ever interview with Keith Raniere after his arrest. This was ironic, as many credit Parlato as one of the primary architects of his arrest and the cratering of the cult he founded.

Parlato is a consulting producer and appears in TNT's The Heiress and the Sex Cult, which premiered on May 22, 2022. Most recently, he consulted and appeared on Tubi's "Branded and Brainwashed: Inside NXIVM," which aired January, 2023.

IMDb — Frank Parlato

Contact Frank with tips or for help.
Phone / Text: (305) 783-7083
Email: frankparlato@gmail.com

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