Anna Mercury: Swami’s Guru Business Pays Lavishly From Portland to Gold Beach

Solstice meditation at L’Hermitage…🙏🏻

By Anna B. Mercury

From all the information presented in the series on Swami Chetanananda, he is anything but poor.

Melinda Mandell sued him in 1997, a lawsuit against the Swami AKA J. Michael Shoemaker and Shraon Ward. The causes:  Misrepresentation, Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress, Breach of Contract, and Racketeering.

This case was settled out of court and was sealed. But I wonder how much has changed since then?

If witnesses are truthful – and I believe them – the Swami is guilty of assault, battery, sexual assault, rape, accessory to rape, human trafficking, sex trafficking, forced labor, state law extortion, statutory rape and more

Frank has told us that we may  learn about pedophilia and murder.

J. Michael Shoemaker’s affiliates include:

  1. his brother Bob Shoemaker,
  2. Kelly Ponzi,
  3. Sharon Ward,
  4. Liliana Lopez,
  5. Jen Wilhelm,
  6. Theresa and Salman Kahn,
  7. Jim Brissette,
  8. Ruth Knight,
  9. Susan Marshal,
  10. Maggie Daley,
  11. Connie Dyer,
  12. Steve Ott,
  13. Scott Hanley,
  14. Margie Pos,
  15. Alexis Sanderson,
  16. Howard and Vivina Boster,
  17. Heather Green,
  18. Karen and Jerry Sutherland,
  19. Faith and Alan Shepard,
  20. Chris Cartwright and Lisa Hoberg,
  21. Dr. Rebecca Reese,
  22. Dr. Nathan Bonner,
  23. Linda Lack,
  24. Michelle Valentino,
  25. Marilyn Ritter and on and on.

We have read about: drug use, menstrual blood rituals, jumping off bridges, attack dogs and fraudulent recruiting.

I thought it might be nice to look at some pictures.  One thing for sure. Shoemaker is anything but poor.

I had to laugh when he whines about betrayal and leaves his mansion in Portland. A mansion where he always had free servants and sex slaves.

He wrote, “On Sunday, I got into my car and drove off with 90% of my stuff to Gold Beach, Oregon, where I am now going to live.  I have no idea what is in front of me. I mean really zero. That doesn’t trouble me.”

Poor little rich renunciant….

***THE MOVEMENT CENTER, PORTLAND, OREGON***

According to https://www.nityanandainstitute.org/, “Nityananda Institute, a center for spiritual practice in the tantric tradition, was founded by Swami Chetanananda in 1971.

“In August 2008, the Institute changed its name to The Movement Center.

“The Movement Center is based in Portland, Oregon, and offers programs and instruction in kundalini meditation, hatha yoga, Vajrayana practices, health and well-being, and leadership.

“The spiritual practice at The Movement Center offers you the opportunity to tap into the highest potential that exists for you as a human being.

“We support your growth as you awaken to the power of life within you, are enlightened by discovering the dimensions of that power, and become empowered to live a life of your own design.


“The name ‘The Movement Center’ was chosen to create a new identity, one that reflects our unique Western cultural context for Eastern spirituality.

“Center refers to our core, which is total well-being, and movement refers to flow, so the name reflects the circulation of energy that is the essence of our spiritual practice.

“The name also evokes dynamic stillness, the phrase Swami Chetanananda has often used to describe the ultimate reality.”

Swami Chetanananda’s teachings arise from the understanding of the true purpose of our life on earth: that we are in this world to grow. We are here to grow spiritually, to reach a higher and finer state, to express the unimaginable possibility that exists in each of us.

The webpage for the Movement Center states you “ARE IN THIS WORLD TO GROW. The Movement Center offers you the opportunity to tap into the highest potential that exists for you as a human being. We support your growth as you awaken to the power of life within you, discover the dimensions of that power, and become empowered to live a life of your own design.”

“Love is alive inside you and is the very essence of your life.” — Swami Chetanananda

 

***BETRAYAL***

It seems, after 25 years in Portland, Oregon, Shoemaker felt betrayed and badly treated by his devotees.

Swami Chetanananda laments in social media posts (below). Shoemaker “had enough” and would leave his Portland ashram (and many devotees) behind:

Swami Chetanananda, May 18, 2019:

“After being betrayed by loved ones, thrown under the bus by friends, attacked and slandered by strangers with no actual information what so ever… I decided… enough… and retired to the wilderness to completely change my life… surprisingly… it turns out to be not an end, but a new beginning and another unimaginable possibility…!!! Thanks to the blessings of my Gurus, and the Goddess…! Amazing!

“This is the biggest change in my life since I met Rudi… and finally… I’m going to stop at failing at making everyone else happy… and start taking care of myself!”

 

Swami Chetanananda- Facebook post: WHO DO WE LOVE AND WHAT DO WE LOVE

“Where I started the ashram in Bloominton, Indiana, I lived in a place where the Klu Klux Klan was founded eighteen miles away. It was not a place that was particularly warm and fuzzy toward neo-Hindu meditators. Since it was a small town and I already had a reputation as a radical in any case, it was my experience that most of the feedback that I received in expressing love and creating a spiritual community was criticism and complaint. But, I was undaunted by that.

Our lives have been an unimaginable possibility since then, because I was fiercely committed to growing that love. I look around the meditation hall in Portland and the art and everything in it speaks to a level of sophistication in practice and learning that is really remarkable. There are ancient spiritual traditions and ancient and modern healing systems that have all come together in one place in a pretty integrated system of practice on a lot of levels. And, the beauty of the physical place is like no place in the world. So, leaving it is not exactly my idea of a happy ending.

However, going forward for each of us, whether you are just getting up in the morning or you are moving 500 miles away to a remote forest, like I am, we cannot allow ourselves to be driven by our minds and our fears or our attachments. We cannot. Each day we have to wake up and ask ourselves: “What do we love”” and “Who do we love?” ANd, we have to live our lives not from fear, not from desire, not from ambition, and not from anything other than SERVICE to who we love and devotion to what we love.

Swami and Jim Brissette

If we will make the effort to rise above all the mental and emotional land mines that are laid out in from of us as the disappointments of our ancestors which keep sprouting up in our life no matter what we seem to do, if we can train ourselves to focus on who we love and what we love to grow that love, then all the days of our life, from the insanity of our youth to the disappointments of our old age, are going to be filled with joy.

My going off to Gold Beach is changing a lot of things for all of us. I am not clear at all about what I am going to or how things will unfold, but I go there with a great deal of peace and joy, because I understand who I love and what I love. And, I am fiercely, fiercely, totally committed to growing that love until the last breath departs this body and it is no more.”

Namaste everybody,

Swami Chetanananda

***SAFE HARBOR***

This is not the first time Shoemaker skedaddled for safe harbor.

Swami Chetanananda previously abandoned his Bloomington, Indiana ashram following a federal case where “a 24-year-old member of the ashram was kidnapped by family members who intended to deprogram him,” raised serious concerns about cultlike conduct, [reported in The Oregonian].

Shoemakers protector, executive director, attorney, devotee, and spokesperson, Sharon Ward, “Sadhvi”, explains the departure from Indiana to Massachusetts, “was prompted by the spiritual community’s desire for more and better opportunities.”

“With my dearest Sadhvi Parananda.. managing director of The Movement Center!”

Decades later, another family tried to extricate their loved one from the “grip of the guru”, their efforts proved futile.

Their daughter, Natacha, would jump from a bridge in Portland and endure years of torture, before escaping the physical clutches of Swami Chetanananda.

But the unrelenting master manipulator Sharon Ward pursues such victims, vilifying, destroying and silencing anyone who leaves the ashram or speaks against Michael Shoemaker for years to come.

And just as Sharon Ward coordinated Shoemaker’s departure from Bloomington, Indiana, Sadhvi executed Shoemaker’s hushed move from Portand to Gold Beach.

 

***DOORS CLOSE***

 

According to Willamette Week,

Movement Center Is Moving: After 26 years in the historic Mann mansion in the Kerns neighborhood, the Movement Center, also known as the Nityananda Institute, is under contract to sell the property to an undisclosed buyer…

A letter circulated to community members said its leader, “Swamiji,” aka Michael J. Shoemaker, is relocating to Gold Beach, Ore., but urged anybody thinking of following him “not to convey a message that the Ashram is moving” lest it upset people in the seaside village of 2,000.

Sharon Ward, an attorney for the group, says it will buy another property in Portland and continue to offer services here and in Los Angeles.”

Doors Closed on the Movement Center in Portland, OR

Bhavana Rakho
(Remember the Feeling)

Dear Loved Ones,

We are starting a simple notification system to let you know about the status of TMC’s move.

So far, we have purchased an “anchor” property, which will house our Abbot, Swamiji, in Gold Beach, Oregon. Many students intend to move to that area. Please, this is a very small community of 2000 people. Anyone looking to rent or to purchase property there, please do not convey a message that “The Ashram is moving” or “My Guru lives here” or any such characterization. Anyone going there is going as an individual who wishes to live, work or retire there. If you have questions about this, please ask me and I will explain further.

Regarding Portland, we will continue to have a meditation center here. We are in the process of looking for one now.

Shortly we hope to have a purchase and sales agreement with the Ashram. Once it is signed and we know the timeline we will share that information with you. Possible move out dates are between Christmas and April of next year. Again, as soon as we know, we will let you know.

Michelle is researching low income housing in the Portland area. If you have questions about this or would like information about this, please contact her.

STARTING NOW:
Please, if you have any personal items of furniture, art, etc. in the common areas of the house, please take a picture of them, put your name somewhere on them (not visibly on the surface please) and send the picture and location to me. We need to give the buyer a list of items that will be transferred with the property and we don’t want to give your belongings away. Please do this by this coming Sunday, May 26.

Again, we will regularly update you and please feel free to ask me if you have any questions or concern.

Love,

Sadvi  (Sharon Ward)

“My dearest Sadhvi Parananda.. managing director of The Movement Center…!”

***FINANCES***

Shoemaker was the “Abbot” and President of The Movement Center, and Sharon Ward is the agent and secretary of the Movement Center, a foreign not for profit corporation, a tax free entity.

Shoemaker purchased the Movement Center property with financial assistance from devotees for $1.2 million, and sold it for an estimated $8.8 million in 2021.

Such profit for the not for profit Movement Center. The Real Estate Agency was Keller Williams, where one of the agents is Vivina Boster, wife of Howard Booster, aka Swami Prakashananda.

With Prakashananda and Vivina…🙏🏻💕
Real estate agent, Vivina Boster
Real estate agent Vivina Boster, wife of Howard Boster, aka Swami Prakashananda in Gold Beach with Swami Chetantananda.
Destination: Gold Beach, Oregon

Many devotees had lived in the Portland ashram for more than a decade, paying their “tuition” and doing their “Seva”, or selfless service as required. The 2016 Guidelines for Students in Residence states, “SEVA (selfess servide) is an integral part of Ashram life. Students in residence are required to have at least two house jobs, including a regular weekly dinner clean-up or breakfast clean-up. All students in residence are assigned seva responsibilities by a staff member. Seva is not a billable or reimbursable activity and does not replace tuition.”

1993 Svea “volunteers” building the Meditation Hall in Portland.

According to the moving letter, many devoted long-term students were not going to benefit from the approximately $7.6 million dollar difference in price from the purchase price of the Center to the selling price.

Paving at The Movement Center, free labor.

There was no plan to include them in the transition to Gold Beach. After decades of servitude and endless labor for the benefit of The Movement Center, they would remain alone in Portland with a list of low income housing options to guide them.

Selfless service, Seva is a means to hide wage and labor abuses. Shoemaker has been doing this for decades, and no one has stopped him.

 

***DOORS OPEN***

 

Swami Chetantananda’s 2019 post, DOORS CLOSE AND DOORS OPEN:

“On Sunday, I got into my car and drove off with 90% of my stuff to Gold Beach, Oregon, where I am now going to live. 

“I have no idea what is in front of me. I mean really zero. That doesn’t trouble me.

Video tour of Harrison Ridge Estate at Gold Beach, Oregon

Doors Await the Arrival of Swami Chetanananda in Gold Beach

“I went off to Gold Beach because it was clear that for this circumstance a door was closing on me. It was time to move on.

Instagram post: “Swami_chetanananda I’m arrived…! This is the most refined palette I’ve ever had the opportunity to create on..!”

“In life, some doors close and others open.

swami_chetanananda With Romarishi, Tara, Karen, and Matt….🙏🏻💕

“In our lives we have little choice in the matter. The consensus of current science is that free will does not exist, and that pretty much our life is going to do what it wants, and it really doesn’t give a shit what we want.

“I do believe, however, that we have the free will to choose to feel ourselves, to feel our bodies, to feel our breath, to feel the aliveness within ourselves, to feel the energy of which we are a condensation.

 “We have to train our attention to that, but we CAN feel that.

Swami Chetanananda with Sadhvi (Sharon Ward) and Valli

“Keeping ourselves centered in the present moment, holding ourselves in the awareness of ourselves and all the processes that are going on inside us and around us, and appreciating this extraordinary aliveness of which we are an expression, brings us into a state of gratitude for the opportunity to experience the beauty, sweetness, and love that is inside each of us.

“When I first started practicing yoga, there was almost no yoga in the West. We created a yoga and meditation community out of nothing. That is not entirely true. We created it out of something.

The Inner Circle Moves to Gold Beach

Top Left: Michelle, Chris Jackson, Jim Brissette, Karen Jones, Michael Shoemaker, Sarah Mocus, Kari Gronningsater, Sal Khan, Maggie Daily, Theresa Khan, Claudia Henry.

Bottom Left: Mother of Viktor Usov, Tim, Susan Marshall, Laura Santi, Patty Slote, Tom Fabrizio, Govind Cornelisun, Jerry Sutherland, Monica O’Neil

“But that something was immaterial. We created it out of the love that we experienced in ourselves as we practiced this simple awareness of body, breath and flow.

“When I started, there was no cookbook for creating an ashram in America. There was no manual.

“I am 72 years old now. I have lived my entire adult life since the time I was 20 for sharing this practice and community.

“I could begin to breathe with the experience of sweetness and joy that happens to live inside every single one of us.

swami_chetanananda On the Rogue with loved ones…!

“Living from that every day, increasingly transformed my body, my nervous system, and the entire field of my experience into, actually, an unimaginable possibility.

“Doors close and doors open.

“Planting your ass on the pillow every day, feeling your heart, holding yourself in connection with yourself, and devoting yourself to unfolding the finest place in your heart that you possibly can, will open many wonderful doors for you.

“It will reveal to you your true, true, truest nature and fill your days with sweetness and peace.

“The world has gone insane. Don’t get tangled up in that. None of us can do anything about it.

“What we can do is be our finest self every single day for the rest of our lives and choose to grow love. If we do, we are making the finest contribution that can possibly be made to this world.

“And, I will endure in my support of all of you in your effort and your activities to grow that love.

Namaste everybody,
Swami Chetanananda

 

*** Seva “Volunteers” at Gold Beach***

 

Planting “crew”
swami_chetanananda
Jerry and I… on the site of our haven kund…!
James planting at Gold Beach
I’m with the beautiful women who help hold our life together, and create the wonderful food we eat..
swami_chetanananda withJames and Maggie… presenting our plan for a sustainable organic small farm…to provide for all our food needs …JIC ..! They have done an amazing, thoughtful plan which will be implemented over the next 3yrs… I am so excited!

Forty-three acres adjacent to the Harrison Ridge Estate were purchased for the “small farm.”

Tim and James, “these men have done an amazing job of manifesting the idea we have to begin to live sustainably….”

 

***Swami Chetanananda – The Philosophy of Tantric Yoga***

“Westerners often mistakenly believe that tantric yoga is essentially a sexual practice. 

“The essence of tantra is a focus on life energy or kundalini associated with the nervous system and the environment.

“The goal of tantra, as with other spiritual practices, is the achievement of unity consciousness.

“However, tantric yoga is considered a rapid path to that goal and contains some implicit dangers.

March 20, 2017 Natasha returning from Hospital to ashram “She’ll be totally okay”

About the author

Anna Mercury

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  • Thank you so much Anna Mercury for coming forward. My real name is Jessica Becker. Please get my phone number from frank if you would like to connect. Although I really understand why you would not feel comfortable doing this,I encourage to use your real name.
    Again , thank you so much! I look forward to hearing from you.

  • To: “Single Most Thrilling Experience”

    Can you post the “not-so-incriminating texts” for us please? I’m interested in the truth.

  • Swami Chetananada forgive you all. His sweet loving mercy will never extinguish through a billion billion births.

    He protects us eternally. Love the guru.

    Return to him. It is later than you think.

  • You folks are all wrong your hurting a spiritual community with loving guru.

    Sex is not evil. But when an enlightened tantric master teaches us we as feminine forces learn to accept the highest. #stopthehateofSwamiChet

    • Oh honey- I am so so sad for you- you are obviously still in the clutches of it. They are sex trafficking children. Nothing conceptual about that at all. He is not qualified at all for sex therapy. In any way.

  • From the blog post:
    “There was no plan to include them in the transition to Gold Beach. After decades of servitude and endless labor for the benefit of The Movement Center, they would remain alone in Portland with a list of low income housing options to guide them”

    Was Jessica Becker one of the devotees kicked out on the street? Is that why she is now gunning for the guru?

    • Do you think that makes his actions ok? Ok to strangle and rape an unconscious woman 1/3 his age? Ok to manipulate a young woman 1/3 his age to get gang banged by the crusty old men and women in the ashram? Ok to ambush a recovering drug and alcohol addict to take drugs and engage in mouth peeing and prostitute threesomes?

      Which henchman are you? The only reason any of you are with him now is because you’re useful:

      Sharon – lawyer, rottweiler

      Gretchen – beard

      Jen – Moni’s replacement and by all accounts, pimp

      Theresa – zombie servant 1

      Jimbo – zombie servant 2, entertainer of moni so she doesn’t completely lose it, occasionally thrown a bone and allowed to fuck his women

      Lilliana – cook and cleaner and knows how to shut her mouth – and victim

      And of course, everyone’s favorite crackpot, Moni – put in a house all by herself because no one can bare to be around her. Kept around because she knows it all the filthy secrets and he feels somewhat responsible for driving her to complete insanity.

      The smugness of your post, mocking people left behind after devoting years of their lives to this man, shows exactly who you all are under the fake BS.

      • I was not mocking anyone. I quoted the blog post!

        Sorry, but if this was Dateline, any good reporter would have to ask, “You were taken out of a comfy lifestyle and essentially put on the street when the ashram closed, and you were not chosen to go to the new location (which is amazingly beautiful, btw). Is it possible you are making these terrible accusations against Shoemaker to get revenge on him and his followers for leaving you behind?”

        It is something people will question, so be ready for it, that’s all.

        As for the 1/3 his age, if they are adults, who cares about their age. Some women like older men. Some men like older women. It’s not exactly unheard of. Some people into BDSM practice strangulation aka breath play…extremely risky, but not unheard of, and not illegal, until someone dies. Which is why it’s so freaking incredibly risky.

        I 100% believe he took advantage of you and other women and that it was unethical of him to do so. I’m still not seeing evidence of illegality though, which could just be down to him and his right-hand woman being clever enough to avoid doing things that are straight-out illegal and provable in a court of law.

        • I was not on the street. I left before a lot of others left, and for the Danes reasons that so many of us left, because I realized that I was in an abusive cult. I have a family who would not ever allow me to be on the street, but then again, whomever you are, you know all of this. You are creating a false dilemma as a means to try to bait and switch.

          My family is aware of what you all have done as well and they will not allow any of you to get away with it either. It is so sad to me that Chet has brought you so far into his delusional world that you actually believe somehow that these base level tactics will work. Then again, I was the variable that was rather confusing because I never fit your 1950’s idea of what someone who did sex work and was coming out of rehab is like.even when I attempted to tell him that I was in the best rehab in the industrialized world.

          There are so many falsehoods that all of you buy into that you have become criminals, in a criminal enterprise. Let’s just hope that your misguided ideas go far because when the feds come for you, you will find out exactly how real Chet is. Are you 100% sure that he will protect you, love you, and care for you then? And will he do it the way does it with Jen? Bats, bestings, gang bangs, drugs, and sex with strangers dozens at a time? Because those things happen in prison as well.

          Perhaps it’s time to put your critical
          Thinking caps back on.

          • Jessica wrote: “I have a family who would not ever allow me to be on the street, but then again, whomever you are, you know all of this.”

            First of all, I don’t know all of this. I have no involvement with this cult and never heard of it until these articles here at FR.

            Second, I thought you said you stayed at the ashram because you had nowhere else to go, your ex husband cut you off financially, and your only recent work experience was low-paying retail and restaurant work, which is why I thought you might’ve been upset when the ashram closed and moved without you.

            My mistake!

          • Actually, you were asked to find other accommodations and still showed up at the freebie pile, holidays, and for supper until the doors closed. Maybe you could take The Sister Fister Reunion 2022 offline. Your poor relationship with truth isn’t helping anyone.

            While I think anyone having sex with their student who is so obviously mentally ill is abusive you are not remotely on the same level as Natasha or Eva and conveniently have left out all your not-so-innocent contributions to all of this. I’m sure someone out there has a ton of text messages to prove all this.

          • @Single Most Thrilling Experience

            Interesting… complimenting Natasha and Eva all of a sudden. So, they’re not insane, delusional parasites after all? Hmm.. you must be real scared

          • Who are we investigating here? Let’s stay focused on finding out about people who have been hurt. I just got a call about one of the women who I thought was missing. She is alive at least. This is the kind of focus we need.

          • Hi Jessica,
            I am posting this because I feel bad if it seems like I was giving you a hard time.

            I am the same commenter who posted the question about if you were there when the ashram closed. I do not mean to sound like I am against you, it was just a question that I had because your timeline there wasn’t clear from the other article.

            And this article here was the first place that I learned that the ashram closed down and just gave people living there a list of low income housing options, which sounds potentially scary for people who had been living there for years. This same article also posted pictures and focused on how wealthy Shoemaker is apparently, so I can see how people who devoted 10 years to the guy would be devastated and angered to be offered a list of low income housing options while he and his inner circle go off to live in luxury.

            Of course just because people are scared and angry about having to look for housing does not mean that he is innocent of the stuff he has done.

            And I understand from your answer that you left before the ashram closed so that answered my question there.

            I wish you all the very best.

  • What I meant to write is I will sacrifice myself and go undercover at Gold Beach to investigate. Free use of a fully equipped gym too?

  • So wait a minute… I could get a free place to stay in a beautiful setting, with my own room, free food, free meditation and yoga classes as well as personalized readings from a guru with 50 years experience, free drugs. booze and lots of kinky sex? Where do I sign?

    • And if that was advertized on the website and part of the “Intro,” then no one would have any problem. You do you boo.

    • Yes. So long as you participate in federal
      Frauds of all kinds. Including human trafficking of children.

    • There is something called INFORMED consent. I am sure that one of you trolling knows what this is, since you are surrounded by Michael’s crack team of lawyers. One you probably is one of those women. Good luck with your antiquited notions and regressive thinking. I remember having a conversation with Ruth about assault and she actually said to me that it is because I of the way I dressed.

      I also remember Sharon looking at me during a retreat and telling me how some of the younger women came to her to tell her about how the older men were making serious passes at them and they were seriously uncomfortable. Sharon is the person that we all were told to go to with any issues like this that we had. Her reaction to that was to look at me, not deal with the men, and tell me he weak millennials are.

      That is victim blaming and shaming and regressive as fuck.

      I also remember Susan Marshall attempting to boast about how progressive she was for cleaning up all of the pumps and hookers from Sandy blvd. When I asked her if she helped te hookers so that they would not be the ones to pay the price by their pumps for her actions, she looked at me and said that she was a feminist and she did all of the bra burning and matching for those women.
      That’s great that she thought that somehow that meant she gets to stop marching and still believe she is a progressive women who is pro woman and still a feminist. That is regressive thinking. This is why we have waves of feminism. We don’t stop and we help o each next generation of feminists and we help each next generation of women who are victims of our society.

      It does not surprise me looking back on it now, considering that all of those women know and participate in trafficking, covering up, and minimizing and discounting of other wonen’s very real assaults, rapes, bearings, and torturing. It does not surprise me either to learn that at least one of those women also knows that the criminal enterprise that they are part of is trafficking underage girls and boys and that includes the children who grew up in the cult.

      It doesn’t surprise me now that they also knew that some of those girls who grew up in that cult were being sexually abused by Chetanda crossing international waters to take those girls to homes in Katmandu so that he could prey on them. That is called trafficking. They know all of this,but somehow they believe that their actions are okay because they marched and burned bras, and are tough and do search and recover, and wear modest clothing and talk in a soft and quiet tone and victim blame and shame. That, surprises me every time.

  • So SEVA is basically RICO and TANTRA is basically TORTURE and these two practices underpin and regulate the living Moloch (there’s always one) who heads up this luxury existence of high minded devotion to spiritual forces?

  • I hope to re-read this article after this strangling swami is arrested. What a disgusting human. He’s a wolf, a gay wolf with beefy strong arms and mincing eyes. Great pictures Frank. You set the scene well.

  • “ …offers you the opportunity to tap into the highest potential that exists for you as a human being.”

    So this is another Human Potential Movement scam, like Nxivm.

    It’s crazy that people still fall for this bullshit. “I will tell you the secret to success and happiness. For a price. A very stiff price.”

    And the suckers fall for it. Well as a wise man said, “There ain’t no cure for stoopid.”

    Swami Chet’s scam comes dressed up with the trappings of Eastern Mysticism claptrap. Another reason for anyone with a lick of sense to steer clear.

    But then there wouldn’t be cults of common sense was more common.

  • There are photos of students of his who are no longer his students( because of his Heinous behavior and the behavior of his henchmen and traffickers). Also, what exactly is meant by an “affiliate”. If that means inner circle, that list is incorrect. If it means business, that list is incorrect. If it means current students, it is incorrect.

    I will not stop until these people are behind bars, but I have zero desire to cause harm on the people who have been his victims who have left, nor do I have any interest in taking down everyone, since many of his now former students truly DID not know what was going on, since they did not even live at the ashram. I have integrity about this.
    I am so happy that Dan and Jess have come forward, and I am so happy that those of us who have come forward are truly rallying for Natasha (It’s about time we did).

    I also did not give Frank my approval to have one of my photos up as the cover of an article. I think that it is important to allow those of us who are victims, to talk with one another, say what is okay or not okay and be listened to and respected. I think that as victims we have become acutely aware of anyone who is trying to use us in any way, even if it will get the job done. I also think that no one who did not experience this should talk for us, unless we decide on it. Again, anyone (who comes forward who was a full victim, or groomed to be on), who talks to frank is allowed to have my phone number. I encourage you to please get in touch with me. We need to come together.

    This is proving to be a messy mix of authenticity and genuine concern for the lives of others, and people who have had axes to grind with individuals who HAPPEN to have been his students. Another reason that I encourage any victim that comes forward to get my phone number from Frank.

    • If I adopted the policy you recommend, Keith Raniere would be romping around branding women. And the Gold Beach Strangler will have the laugh last. People have to either stand with him or against him.

      If someone’s photo is on his social media- posing with him – smiling with him – then they are telling the world they endorse him. They give him credibility.

      If anybody has a problem with their photo being up – or being mentioned – then call me and I will discuss it. My number is 305-783-7083.

      • If someone’s photo is on his social media- posing with him – smiling with him – then they are telling the world they endorse him. They give him credibility

        i totally agree. they are complicit.

      • You know that I am not going to stop interviewing until all of these people are behind bars. I have already committed to that because it’s the right thing to do. I am also someone who will voice my opinion on the subject that you and I do not agree on. Some of your tactics. I also know that you have taken Keith Raniere down. You know that I am aware of all of this.
        I am opinionated, independent, and also very tenacious. I am sure that you can relate.
        I look forward to the day that all of these people get to wear orange for the rest of their lives. They are extremely dangerous and there are only two ways to stop them, prison and death.

  • There are photos of students of his who are no longer his students( becasue of his Haneous behavior and the behavior of his henchmen and traffickers). Also, what exactly is meant by an ” affiliate”. If that means inner circle, that list is incorrect. If it means business, that list is incorrect. If it means current students, it is incorrect.

    I will not stop until these people are behind bars, but I have zero desire to cause harm on the people who have been his victims who have left, nor do I have any interest in taking down everyone, since many of his now former students truly DID not know what was going on, since they did not even live at the ashram. I have integrity about this.
    I am so happy that Dan and Jess have come forward, and I am so happy that we those of us who have come forward are truly rallying for Natacha (It’s about time we did).

    I also did not give Frank my approval to have one of my photos up as the cover of an article. I think that it is important to allow those of us who are victims, to talk with one another, say what is okay or not okay and be listened to and respected, I think that as victims we have become acutely aware of anyone who is trying to use us in any way, even if it will get the job done. I also think that no one who did not experience this should talk for us, unless we decide on it. Again, anyone (who comes forward who was a full victim, or groomed to be on), who talks to frank is allowed to have my phone number. I encourage you to please get in touch with me. We need to come together.

    This is provng to be a messy mix of authenticity and genuine concern for the lives of others, and people who have had axes to grind with individuals who HAPPEN to have been his students. Another reason that I encourage any victim that comes forward to get my phone number from Frank.

  • Ugh. Who wants to spend that much time in such close proximity to so many other random humans? And their possibly unwashed hair? Or dirty hands?

    If for no other reason – would NEVER join a cult – too many possibly dirty bare feet. So much possibly rank stranger breath.

    Just NO.

    Even yoga. So gross all those literal assholes in a room. And you know at least a few didn’t shower or throughly clean their butts.

    And those freaks who do yoga in super hot rooms? Are you insane? Sweaty, smelly stranger nightmare. At least 1 person has a yeast infection in that damp germy warm environment. You just know it…

    Ugh.

    It would have to be an OCD cult. Of highly clean people. Who don’t make weird chewing sounds. Or clear their throats too.much… No. Still no on the group living.

    How. Can. You. Stand. It?

  • The Left Hand Path

    Look it up.

    The Five M’s

    Maithuna (Sex)
    Mada (Booze and Drugs)
    Mamsa (Meat)
    Matsa (Fish)
    Mudra (Money)

    Always been so arrogant he could play on the tantric dark side and it’s consumed him and anything he touches.

    “You will be tested in three areas, money sex or power, possibly in all of them. It is a great responsibility and privilege to teach kundalini yoga. It is said that if a teacher betrays the sacred trust placed in him, he will be reborn as a cockroach.”- Yogi Bhajan

    He didn’t take his own advice either, obviously.

  • The whining! “After being betrayed by loved ones, thrown under the bus by friends, attacked and slandered by strangers with no actual information what so ever… I decided… enough… and retired to the wilderness to completely change my life… ” oh no! Poor Swami!

    What about your betrayal of women who were seeking spiritual development? What about you misdirecting their love, commitment, work and intention to satisfy your sick sexual deviancies, and when they started cracking, you tossed them like garbage?

    How about you take responsibility FOR ONCE in your god damn life for the road kill ALL of you stepped on and over in order to get your beautiful mansion by the sea. I wonder, do you give your victims a millisecond of a thought when you strut around your “wilderness?”

    Seriously dude, you wouldn’t last one second out in the wilderness on your own. You’re a gigantic overfed baby who can’t do a thing on his own.

  • How many women’s lives had to be destroyed for all this? How much carnage? How many of us had to be sacrificed at his alter of violence, rape and assault in order for you all to live live in luxury and for your shakti highs? I see he’s trying to set up “immersions”. Immersions in meth? Immersions in torture? Maybe put that on the brochure this time, asshole.

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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