Every seminar leader who has ever taken responsibility for training people in an unorthodox setting (like a sweat lodge) must have felt a shiver when they read about the deaths of the participants in James Ray’s group.  I remember years ago I held an Advanced Trainer’s  seminar  at Pajaro Dunes on the Coast of California, and one student disappeared right after breakfast, without telling anyone anything.  This was on Day 4 of a five day training to become certified to teach our seminars.  She had been sent by a major corporation.

Since Pajaro Dunes is somewhat  isolated without any attractions other than sea, sky and a dangerous coastal road winding between the ocean and the mountains, I had a sinking feeling in my stomach as the hours passed.    The morning exercises proceeded with all of us sort of waiting for her to show up.  Lunch came and went.  By mid-afternoon, the entire class was apprehensive and worried.   We called her office.  No one had heard from her.  We called her husband in New Jersey.  He said not to worry, that she sometimes did things that were hard to explain.  Fifteen of us continued to worry.  We called the Highway patrol to see if there had been an accident on the coastal road.  No accidents.

People who had joined her for breakfast were quizzed again.  Any hints that she might leave?  None.

Sometimes, the personal growth sections of the seminar upset the world view of participants so they  would go off to think over their memories, to try to fit the new information in with  what they had always believed about themselves and others.  However, this self-examination did not take all day.

By dark the entire class was on edge.  No one ate much dinner.  We sort of pushed the food around, then we walked back down the beach to the seminar house.  It was now 8 o’clock and the night was very dark.  We were discussing what would be a logical next step in searching when the missing person walked in, sat down, picked up her note-book from her earlier place, and looked at me.  I was speechless.

I finally stammered, ” Wh….Where were you?”

She was the only person in the room that was calm.  “I needed some time alone to think over what’s been happening.  I just drove.”

This seminar  and the participants were my responsibility, but each person in the class became involved in the problem.  When you contrast this episode with James Ray’s behavior in insisting that people stay in the sweat lodge even when one  participant had passed out on the floor and others were vomiting, you have to understand why he has been arrested.  When people join your seminar, you are responsible for their safety during the proceedings which you planned.  James Ray needs some instructions  on awareness of what’s happening in real time at this moment and the normal response to dangerous signs.

He is a poor role model.