In October, James Arthur Ray, a self proclaimed guru held a five day Spiritual Warrior retreat in Sedona at Angel Valley. Participants paid almost $10,000 each to attend and it took in half a million dollars. If James Arthur Ray is a person of true integrity, he should make a compassionate gesture and return all monies to all participants. This can never compensate for the trauma the participants went through, but it is the decent thing to do. Those who paid so much money to be part of the retreat trusted the facilitator. He had a reputation as a charismatic speaker having appeared on Oprah, Larry King Live, The Today Show and in the movie The Secret. Something went terribly wrong during a sweat lodge that was part of the program during the Sedona retreat.

Three people died and several people got very ill. Authorities are investigating what happened and there are still no definite answers to explain why people died and got ill. It may have been the construction, using plastic and cramming so many people in such a small area. It may have been oxygen deprivation. It may have been the fact that participants had just finished vision quests that involved going without water or food for two days and their bodies were not ready to handle the stress. It may have been a combination of factors. Authorities are investigating this tragedy to determine the cause.

This tragedy saddens us all and reflects on the integrity of those who live in Sedona and earn their livings as healers and spiritual workers, even though the facilitator was not from the area. He was just renting a space. Residents of Sedona, who earn their livings helping tourists on their spiritual journeys, need to be shining examples of how to conduct a spiritual business with integrity. Sedona attracts spiritual seekers and is a wondrous place to pursue spiritual interests. The local energy is conducive to spiritual pursuits. There is a healer or reader or vortex guide on every corner in Sedona. Some are highly skilled experienced professionals. Some are not. There are no criteria to label yourself a spiritual professional. If you ask what organizations a spiritual professional belongs to and what their experience is, you’ll get a resume, which is better than nothing, but there are some people with a list of credentials a page long, who are unethical. It’s all about integrity. One safeguard is to ask whether the person you are considering working with has signed a professional pledge of integrity. Even this isn’t a guarantee of integrity.

To form his own principles, James Arthur Ray, says he interviewed Peruvian shamans, Amazon witch doctors and a kahuna in Hawaii. Seeking fulfillment, he visited the Catacombs, Egyptian pyramids, museums of Paris and a castle in Portugal. After a trip to South America, Ray began incorporating sleep deprivation, fasting, fire and glass walking, and sweat lodge methods into his retreats. His professional credentials are as a motivational speaker, not a shaman or traditional ceremonialist or spiritual healer. Mr. Ray apparently had minimal or no training in the proper way to conduct a traditional sweat lodge ceremony. Many mistakes were made, including the number of participants, not allowing people out, the length of time involved and charging for the ceremony. This is not the Native way. His emphasis was on enduring pain and confronting fear. Sweat lodge ceremonies are not meant to be torture sessions. They are meant to cleanse a person without placing them in mortal danger. The facilitating of traditional ceremonies needs to be left to the experts. Sweat lodges and other traditional ceremonies are not play things for curious spiritual seekers. They are to be presented with honor by experienced facilitators, whose focus is on the well being of all participants.