Anthony James, Soma Veda Institute, Native American Indigenous Church

[BlackWolf]

http://www.thaiyogacenter.com/tyc/sweat.html

This group here has what they call a “Near Full Moon” Sweat lodge.  They claim to borrow traditions from a number of tribes.  They also claim to have received teachings from “Huichol, Tarahumara and Mescalero traditions”. They also mention that the lodge is “clothing optional”

Dr. Anthony B. James is the appointed leader of the ceremony. One website claims he was trained in the Buddha Sawan tradition from Thailand.
The Website says


 “Dr. James is a fully adopted Crow tribal Member of the Whistling Water Clan, son of the late medicine man Floyd Realbird. Dr. James is one of four living persons given the Crow Chanupa or pipe ceremony directly by Chief Floyd Realbird. Dr. James was introduced to the Sweat Lodge ceremony by the late elder Sun Bear of the Bear Medicine Tribe, progressed in his education under Charla and Tarwater of Spirit Wind (Cherokee Nation, Ala.), then trained under Crow medicine men and women on Crow Agency, Montana for seven years”


They also say
“Additional training and authorization was received from Acasio Acatecatl Oltehua Spiritual Leader and healer, born in the Nahuatl Nation of Veracruz”

I know there are Nahuatl people in Mexico, but I never heard of this “Nahuatl Nation of Veracruz?  I’ll have to research this some more. 

They are also requesting a 7 dollar donation

“We request a donation towards the regular day fee of $7.00 per person applies for all activities on the premises. This applies whether you sweat or walk in the gardens!”

[NDN_Outlaw]

What rock do these people crawl out from ?

[Cetan]

I think their website alone gives clear evidence they should be moved to frauds. Pictures of their ceremonies. And this sentence
"This ceremony will be made clear for beginners and elders alike. All good people are welcome. The Lodge will be co-ed. The Lodge is Sky Clad and or clothing optional. Ask if you don't know what this means. "

[Defend the Sacred]

"Sky Clad" is Wiccan (and now eclectic Neopagan and Nuage) jargon for "nude".

I think it came into use from Gardner's lifting of the Sanskrit term "Digambara", and passing off this Hindu idea as ancient English. Or maybe he was trying to say it was Celtic, I'm not sure. Either way, the original idea in India is it's part of a vow of extreme renunciation (choosing to go naked outdoors, all the time, in all weather, letting go of all bonds to the material world, even clothing), not what Gardner presented it as (weekend nudists, or getting naked for a ritual in someone's living room on the full moon). From Wicca -> Neo-Wicca -> Wiccan-influence Neopaganism -> Nuage groups a go-go. From vow of poverty to naked nuagers at pricey weekend retreats.

http://www.thaiyogacenter.com/tyc/sweat.html

The Thai Yoga Center would like to invite you to a community ceremony for cleansing and purification performed in a traditional way. We have established an all nations or one nation lodge to honor the native way for all tribes and nations. A beautiful twelve pole lodge with path to sacred fire is opened to those sincere individuals who wish to share and be blessed in this way. As we are peoples from many and various backgrounds the lodge is set up and run in an eclectic fashion suitable for this purpose. This means elements of tradition are borrowed and incorporated from Ojibway, Lakota, Dakota, Crow, Cherokee and Rainbow traditions as described by Black Elk, Sun Bear, Floyd Realbird, Kathleen O'Sullivan, and Ed McGaa of Mother Earth Spirituality. We also incorporate and honor teachings from our friends and elders of the Huichol, Tarahumara and Mescalero traditions. Prayers will be made, Sacred fire fashioned and water pored in a good way. We may begin and end with the pipe ceremony.

[emphasis added]

Yeah, this is a mess.
ETA: I checked out their photos. Whole bunch of nons... and:

Sad to say, I'll bet that's their token NDN. *shakes head in dismay*

[NDN_Outlaw]

Not a lot to debate here. Move them on to frauds. Good work Black Wolf.

[educatedindian]

There's nothing even remotely close to Mescalero Apache tradition I can see, no mention of Apache elders who supposedly taught them.

There is a Whistling Water Clan among the Crow. This article has a bit on the Crow clans, and there's nothing in this description that would allow an adopted member to do ceremony.
http://www.umt.edu/journalism/news_pages/archives/December/Dec02/Old_Elk.html

Not too surprising though, since they claim Sun Bear taught them. Though he usually taught fake versions of Lakota ceremony.

There are some Nahua people near Veracruz, but the only references to that nation I found were in websites promoting this ceremony seller who taught them, Acasio Acatecatl Oltehua.

-------------------
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://www.fedekal.org/acasio.htm&ei=ums3S82CEomWtgeEtqSJCQ&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=6&ved=0CBUQ7gEwBQ&prev=/search%3Fq%3DAcasio%2BAcatecatl%2BOltehua%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26sa%3DG
Acasio Acatecatl Oltehua is president of the Federation of Kalpulliz

Acacio has extensive experience in the Mexican-old tradition of training comes from the tradition, and experiences of his life working on extensive research studies conducted by Kalpulli Coacalco in the State of Mexico in 1978. Acacio has extensive experience in the Mexican-old tradition of training comes from the tradition, and experiences of his life working on extensive research studies conducted by Kalpulli Coacalco in the State of Mexico in 1978. The dare has traveled to Mexico, USA, Canada, Alaska and India for cultural exchange expeditions history and tradition in many Indian reservations. A had the wonderful opportunity to learn from the elders of many indigenous communities of this continent. The exchange between these nations cultic teachings included in the traditions, customs, medicine and ceremonies of the indigenous people to travel to many Indian reservations, and was adopted by nation Rosebud Lakota reservation in South Dakota medicine man father HENRY LEONARD CROW CROW DOG DOG.Where to start the Sun Dance in 1980

Many of the communities involved in the conservation of indigenous traditions.

He is the Tekuktli the Olmec kalpulli Xalapa Veracruz Mexico and the spiritual leader of the kalpulli Tonalteokalli [El] Paso Texas.

He directs the sun dance in Xalapa, Veracruz Mexico since 1993. He led the Sun Dance in Axixik in Guadalajara from 1995 to 1999. He also leads the Sun Dance in Durango. Durango since 2005. He is a master huhetlahtolli. It was instrumental in the interpretation of the petroglyphs in Tanqs Hollow State Park. their participation provides a historical perspective of this continent.

Against all odds due to geographical isolation of the mountainous area where the nation grew and completed his studies, herbal study is a sculptor who works with precious gems and minerals and is a craftsman who enjoys working in different hobbies as carpentry and woodcarving.

Parents, brothers, sisters and the rest of his family live in the mountains of the Sierra de Zongolica Veracruz Mexico.
Married to Ramona F. Acatecatl, Acatecatl and resides in El Paso Texas.
Acasio's vision is to preserve the mexicayotl and ancestral traditions.

----------------------
But the rest of the group resides in Mexico.

Dr. Anthony James, the owner of this little fraud venture, has an ego the size of a mountain. His bio...

----------------------
Dr. Anthony James CMT, ND, MDAM is teacher, writer, explorer recognized worldwide as the Father of Thai Yoga and Thai Massage in the US. As the only Aachan and Master teacher of Thai Yoga in the US his uplifting and empowering teachings bring insight and sophisticated understanding to Yoga and Yoga therapies. He began exploring Yoga and Martial Arts at the age of 11 and has never stopped seeking dynamic, life and health transforming teachings and methods. His own life and experience of accident, injury and cancer lead him to explore many additional systems of healing and to incorporate them into a cohesive system of SomaVeda@. Additionally Dr. J, a Crow tribal member by adoption, incorporates his native american heritage and teachings in a vital way.

He has been teaching Thai Yoga and Thai Massage full time since 1983 and has accumulated many honors and recognitions from the Thai People. Among his many accomplishments are;
Wrote and published the very first book on Thai Yoga and Thai Massage in 1983.
Started the very first Thai Yoga Program in the US in 1984
Received Friend of Thailand Award for contributions to Thai Culture from Royal Thai Gov't 2002
Received Aachan (Master Teacher) recognition and Certification, Anantasuk School, Wat Pho Association of Traditional Thai Medical Schools/ Royal Thai Ministry of Health 2006

More than 6000 students have come through Dr. J's classes to date!

As a leader and Indiana Jones style adventurer , Dr. J has lead over 100 eco-friendly tours of Thailand , Burma and India for over the last 25 years. A writer for many magazines and publications since the 80's and author of Thai Yoga Books, Video's and electronic media.

Courses developed by Dr. James are intended to take the principles of basic Thai Yoga / Thai Massage to a whole new level and understanding in the context of both traditional and modern medical ideas and techniques. As a Western MD specializing Indian Ayurveda and Alternative Medicine and Naturopath (ANMA), Dr. James is uniquely qualified to bridge the gap between Thai, Ayurveda  and western health concepts....

----------------

Not just a huge ego, but some of those claims are obvious lies.

Tribes don't adopt and he has no Native heritage except in his own mind.

Running an eco tour doesn't make you Indiana Jones.
Indiana Jones was a thief and exploiter anyway...

Obviously the first books on Thai yoga were written by Thais. And online you can find several other western authors making the same claim as well.

Friend of Thailand Award? I found travel agents who got the same award.

Aren't Buddhists supposed to let go of ego?

[my side of the street]

Anthony James is now running his Soma Veda Thai Yoga Center as part of the Oklavueha Native American Church under the auspices of James Flaming Eagle Mooney. What follows is from www.somaveda.com/about/

"On June 27, 2012 the Oklevueha “Earth Walks” Native American Church INC, a Utah nonprofit corporation and church, declared The Oklevueha Native American Church of SomaVeda to be an independent branch of the ONACS  headed by Dr. Anthony James, and Julie James as long as the trees and grass grow and rivers flow.
This charter and recognition was delivered by Chief Executive Officer James Warren “Flaming Eagle” Mooney of the Oklevueha Native American Church INC, a Utah Corporation and Co-founder of the allied and communal Native American Church with the Lakota Sioux Nation Native American Church of South Dakota, and as an American Native Indigenous “earth” based and “healing” religion that is known as the Oklevueha Native American Church and /or NAC.
The Charted Declares that Dr. Anthony James is Chief Executive Officer and Julie James is President as long as they walk mother earth."

  According to the website, Thai Yoga/ Thai Massage is indigenous to North America:

 " The Declaration further states that The ONACS branch Church under the guidance of Dr. Anthony B. James and Julie James will receive all rights and protections that the spiritual and incorporated trunk of the Oklevueha Native American Church receives. This Charter establishes SomaVeda Integrated Traditional Therapies as a Bona Fide Native Indigenous Medicine and spiritual practice of the SomaVeda ONAC."

  The Soma Veda Institute website makes little mention of ONACS---it just turns up in logos and some of the legal policies. ONACS is being used to establish legal protections for massage and yoga instruction and the people that receive certificates through Soma Veda. Those who get Thai Massage and Natural Medicine certificates through Soma Veda offer services as spiritual counselors or practitioners of the church. They are told that their clients must join the church: (from the membership page on the website referenced earlier)

  "No previous experience is necessary! The ONACS Participant Membership is suitable for those individuals wishing to receive ONACS member services and or counseling and with all legal protections afforded to ONACS and sovereign ecclesiastical jurisdictions. All ONACS Students, Practitioners, Teachers, Ministers must have their clients and practice partners join at this level. (Please note: ONACS Participant Level Members/ APM are NOT authorized to perform professional services, they are approved to receive, support, and participate only. Any abuse of this privilege should be reported to ONACS immediately.)"

  Maybe the Oklavueha NAC deserves its own thread?


   

[educatedindian]

Got a request about him. Anthony James has gotten more elaborate and ridiculous with his claims. A whole new set of claims about who he is and who supposedly taught him. And a whole new "church" of white wannabes who don't seem to know his long history of lying and fraud.

One thing hasn't changed. His new "church" still uses the old web address.

----------
https://www.somaveda.com/about-naic/
NAIC Is a Authorized and Genuine Native American Church Tribal Organization

[Neither church nor part of any actual tribe.]

Effective September 22, 2016 the elders of the Native American Indigenous Church Inc., a Florida nonprofit religious corporation and church, declared The NAIC as an Integrated Auxiliary of the Priory of Saving Grace

[PSG is made to sound like a Christian church. It's just a shell that James set up on paper, in the same city with him as the only ond involved.]

directed by ministers and medicine persons Dr. Anthony James, Dr. Julie James as long as the trees and grass grow and rivers flow.

The founding charter declares that Dr. Anthony B. James is Chief Executive Officer and Julie James is President as long as they walk mother earth.

[Neither a church nor a tribe or actual tribal organization would appoint anyone for life. And they are both SELF appointed.]

Our Mission:

Native American Indigenous Church Inc. A UN WHO DESA NGO & Federally Registered-Recognized Native American Church/ Indigenous Tribal Organization

[Every single claim of recognition is phony. The UN, WHO, and federal govt don't recognize churches, tribal or otherwise.]

We believe in the rights of Mother Earth. NAIC was established to provide our community with service, education, spiritual fellowship, Sacred Medicine and healing. To protect, promote, exercise and practice the beliefs, practices and traditional religion of Christian and Mother Earth based Native American spiritual traditions, ceremony, sacred practices, Indigenous and traditional Natural Medicine ways

[Nothing remotely Christian in NAIC, and nothing actually Native except some corrupted versions of ceremonies. The claim of which tribes they come from keeps changing. There's also a lot of faux Buddhism and faux Hinduism.]

 both personally and in offering of Spiritual Education, Training and Functional Ministry practicing Indigenous, Traditional, and Natural Medicine as a sacradotal duty and obligation of sacred people via our SCNM Seminary College, Thai Yoga Center (College of Ayurveda) and Sacred Ceremony.

The NAIC Bylaws further states that The NAIC branch Church under the guidance of Dr. Anthony B. James and Dr. Julie James

[Neither are actual doctors. They have "degrees" in "natural medicine" not accepted by either the medical profession or academia. Or any tribal people.]

will receive all rights and protections that the spiritual and incorporated parent religious organizations Priory of Saving Grace, Sacred Medical Order Church of Hope

[This is an alt medicine "group" of a total of three people in College Station, TX. One of them is, seriously, a pilates instructor.]

and the Holy Apostolic Orthodox Catholic Church of the East in America’s Chaldean-Syrian Rite receives.

[This is a mainstream Orthodox Christian church but it has very few churches in the US, and none in FL where James is based that I can find. There's no sign I see that this claim of his is true.]

Although clearly SomaVeda Integrated Traditional Therapies® incorporates indigenous and traditional religious therapeutics, medicine theories and principles from North and South America,

[Actually it doesn not at all. It takes from white imposter James Mooney's phony version of the NAC.]

it’s origins are from the indigenous and traditional, tribal people of Asia and South East Asia.

[False again. It's James's phony westernized imitation of mainstream Buddhism and Hinduism, neither one of them tribal at all.]

Indigenous peoples of any country, band, tribal or familial organization are free to incorporate indigenous and traditional medicines from anywhere they are found in the world, provided they do not violate any practices of integrity

[It violates every practice of integrity since it's based on fraud.]

and are inherently in agreement or concordance with the honoring of spirit and Mother Earth.

[Fraud inherently doesn't honor anything.]


All indigenous persons are children of Mother Earth. As the indigenous traditional religious therapeutic medicine practices of our Asian  brothers and sisters have been offered to us in this spirit

[They were not offered by any Native, Davis stole and bastardized them.]

we choose to adopt certain of these practices and to incorporate them into our practice of healing. This Charter establishes SomaVeda Integrated Traditional Therapies® as a Bona Fide Traditionally based Native Indigenous Medicine

[Mixed with Buddhist and Hindu practices, it's NOT traditional.]

and spiritual practice of the NAIC (Faith Based Tribal Organization).

[White wannabes are inherently not tribal.]


We additionally honor and respect the sovereign right of any particular tribe or tribal organization to determine the content, practices and traditions that they uniquely observe.

[Theft and bastardization proves they have no honor or respect for anything.]

Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem

[That order ended in 1572. Some members merged with other orders.]

NAIC Recognized Native American division: The Grand Priory of the United States of America.

[This group can be joined pretty easily at https://www.st-lazarus.us/membership ]