I had much the same reaction at first. What the heck is this group? A strange mix of Nuage, faux-Plains NDN, alleged South American NDN, and Buddhism and Hinduism.
Then when you look at who set it up, you see. Joseph Rael's behind this bunch. He's on more than a few threads in here. Also a number of people who get praised by spiritual tourists as supposed shamans. But the ones who run this place are basically very young, almost kids, who somehow kid themselves they are even remotely qualified. Start with this guy:
http://www.sacharuna.com/miguelkavlin.htmlThat photo does not inspire confidence in me. It's almost like watching someone who thinks he's Napoleon, with hand in shirt, pompously posing. Or like seeing someone roleplay like they were in one of the Conan the Barbarian movies.
What's not amusing is that he claims Rael "inherited" him the title of chief. Well, if Rael were anything but a Nuage exploiter that might actually mean something. But Rael, while he is Ute, has never been a Ute elder.
The group also includes a New York yoga and dance teacher, a 28 year old Belgian "artist" posing plaintively for the camera, a young ballet dancer whose into Zen, a "Japanese-Bolivian contemporary dance teacher", and two others whose qualifications aren't stated, plus an acting student and masseuse who looks in he photo to be perhaps 25 and who apparently passed on, no explanation of how.
I might trust these people to put on a play or a dance performance. But put the healing of someone in their hands?
No, they are as much victims of Rael and company, and kidding themselves mightily. The ceremonies are mostly Rael's silly dances and sound chambers, lot of visualizations and lofty intentions, but not much more. What's disturbing though is that they also offer sweatlodges and ayahuasca ceremony.
