Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 8, No. 3, 2009, Page 62
The future of CUT, which still keeps it‘s 750-person underground shelters stocked with food
in case of apocalyptic disaster, is uncertain. Says University of Montana sociologist Robert
Balch, who specializes in cults and unconventional religions, ―You had a clear figurehead
that became the focus of the organization, the object of adoration. When that‘s suddenly
removed, it throws people into a tailspin.‖ Since Prophet‘s death, 15 people have claimed to
be the next ―messenger.‖
The New York City school system has dropped an educational program that it paid the Dahn
Yoga organization $400,000 to run in 44 schools. The Brain Education (BE) for Enhanced
Learning classes lead children through physical and breathing exercises intended to help
them concentrate and ―unleash‖ their ―PowerBrain.‖ The program was developed (according
to the Dahn web page) by ―pioneering brain philosopher‖ Seung Hiuen Ilchi Lee, who
directs 130 Dahn health centers and two training retreats. Some people formerly involved in
Dahn Yoga call it a cult.
Ichi Lee, the South Korean businessman who founded the national chain of yoga and
wellness centers called Dahn Yoga, recently dedicated a 40-foot statue, representing the
―Soul of the Earth,‖ in Cottonwood, AZ. Former employees call Dhan ―a totalistic, high-
demand cult group‖ that presses followers for large sums of money. The apostates say
members regard Lee as an ―absolute spiritual and temporal leader.‖ A lawsuit filed in an
Arizona federal court maintains that recruits ―are unknowingly subjected to an intensive
program of psychological manipulation, indoctrination and various techniques of coercive
thought reform designed to induce them to become Ichi Lee‘s disciples and devote
themselves to serving him and his ‗vision.‘ ‖ Dahn denies the charges and says the plaintiffs
are ―disgruntled former employees‖ [according this report by Kyra Phillips and David
Fitzpatrick, CNN, 1/5/10]. Dahn publicity includes praise from Nobel Peace Prize winner
Oscar Arias, president of Costa Rica, and Broadway producer/choreographer Tommy Tune.
A clinical professor of neurology at New York University praises the work of the International
Brain Education Association, founded by Lee, who teaches that ―brain wave vibration‖ can
ease some of the debilitating symptoms of illnesses such as diabetes and arthritis.
Miss Indonesia, Kerenina Sunny Halim, who competed in the Miss World Contest in South
Africa in December, told the Jakarta Globe that she is a member of The Family
International, an American cult with a history of child and sexual abuse scandals. She
characterized The Family as a ―non-governmental organization‖ for which she did
humanitarian work in Aceh after the 2004 Asian tsunami. An Indonesian representative of
The Family referred to the sexual abuse as ―ancient history.‖ He said some members might
have done things they shouldn‘t have done, as in any family, pointing to the Catholic
church‘s sexual abuse scandals, for example.
Raymond Jessup, the first member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter Day Saints (FLDS) Texas settlement to be tried for sexually assaulting an underage
girl, to whom he was joined in a ―spiritual marriage,‖ was convicted of a second-degree
felony and sentenced to ten years in prison in early November. Jessop, who allegedly has
nine wives, still faces a bigamy charge. ..
A Schleicher County, TX, jury in December, after two hours of deliberation, convicted FLDS
member Allan Eugene Keate of sexual assault of a child he was alleged to have
consummated a marriage to an underage girl in 2006. He faces a maximum sentence of life
in prison because, unlike Raymond Jessop—an FLDS member convicted earlier on a similar
charge—Keate‘s alleged crime occurred after the Texas legislature added an enhancement
to the penal code. The prosecutor said DNA evidence ―conclusively proves beyond any
conceivable reasonable doubt‖ that Keate fathered a child with the girl when she was under
the age of consent. The defense, which suggested the pregnancy might have been the
result of in vitro fertilization or artificial insemination, argued that the state was really
The future of CUT, which still keeps it‘s 750-person underground shelters stocked with food
in case of apocalyptic disaster, is uncertain. Says University of Montana sociologist Robert
Balch, who specializes in cults and unconventional religions, ―You had a clear figurehead
that became the focus of the organization, the object of adoration. When that‘s suddenly
removed, it throws people into a tailspin.‖ Since Prophet‘s death, 15 people have claimed to
be the next ―messenger.‖
The New York City school system has dropped an educational program that it paid the Dahn
Yoga organization $400,000 to run in 44 schools. The Brain Education (BE) for Enhanced
Learning classes lead children through physical and breathing exercises intended to help
them concentrate and ―unleash‖ their ―PowerBrain.‖ The program was developed (according
to the Dahn web page) by ―pioneering brain philosopher‖ Seung Hiuen Ilchi Lee, who
directs 130 Dahn health centers and two training retreats. Some people formerly involved in
Dahn Yoga call it a cult.
Ichi Lee, the South Korean businessman who founded the national chain of yoga and
wellness centers called Dahn Yoga, recently dedicated a 40-foot statue, representing the
―Soul of the Earth,‖ in Cottonwood, AZ. Former employees call Dhan ―a totalistic, high-
demand cult group‖ that presses followers for large sums of money. The apostates say
members regard Lee as an ―absolute spiritual and temporal leader.‖ A lawsuit filed in an
Arizona federal court maintains that recruits ―are unknowingly subjected to an intensive
program of psychological manipulation, indoctrination and various techniques of coercive
thought reform designed to induce them to become Ichi Lee‘s disciples and devote
themselves to serving him and his ‗vision.‘ ‖ Dahn denies the charges and says the plaintiffs
are ―disgruntled former employees‖ [according this report by Kyra Phillips and David
Fitzpatrick, CNN, 1/5/10]. Dahn publicity includes praise from Nobel Peace Prize winner
Oscar Arias, president of Costa Rica, and Broadway producer/choreographer Tommy Tune.
A clinical professor of neurology at New York University praises the work of the International
Brain Education Association, founded by Lee, who teaches that ―brain wave vibration‖ can
ease some of the debilitating symptoms of illnesses such as diabetes and arthritis.
Miss Indonesia, Kerenina Sunny Halim, who competed in the Miss World Contest in South
Africa in December, told the Jakarta Globe that she is a member of The Family
International, an American cult with a history of child and sexual abuse scandals. She
characterized The Family as a ―non-governmental organization‖ for which she did
humanitarian work in Aceh after the 2004 Asian tsunami. An Indonesian representative of
The Family referred to the sexual abuse as ―ancient history.‖ He said some members might
have done things they shouldn‘t have done, as in any family, pointing to the Catholic
church‘s sexual abuse scandals, for example.
Raymond Jessup, the first member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter Day Saints (FLDS) Texas settlement to be tried for sexually assaulting an underage
girl, to whom he was joined in a ―spiritual marriage,‖ was convicted of a second-degree
felony and sentenced to ten years in prison in early November. Jessop, who allegedly has
nine wives, still faces a bigamy charge. ..
A Schleicher County, TX, jury in December, after two hours of deliberation, convicted FLDS
member Allan Eugene Keate of sexual assault of a child he was alleged to have
consummated a marriage to an underage girl in 2006. He faces a maximum sentence of life
in prison because, unlike Raymond Jessop—an FLDS member convicted earlier on a similar
charge—Keate‘s alleged crime occurred after the Texas legislature added an enhancement
to the penal code. The prosecutor said DNA evidence ―conclusively proves beyond any
conceivable reasonable doubt‖ that Keate fathered a child with the girl when she was under
the age of consent. The defense, which suggested the pregnancy might have been the
result of in vitro fertilization or artificial insemination, argued that the state was really
