From a Sauna Detox to a Billion-Year Contract: My Wild Ride with Scientology

Beyond the Hype: How Scientology’s Tools Transformed Me

Today some clients and I were talking and they asked me about my recent seminar where I attended the “Unleash The Power Within” seminar with Tony Robbins. I explained that the firewalk I performed was not the highlight of the seminar, It was all the junk I got rid of mentally. We talked some more and then someone said something a little derogatory about Scientology.

I said, “wait a second, Scientology changed my life!”

Photo by Alexey Taktarov on Unsplash

It’s true. Some of the things I learned through Dianetics and Scientology were catalysts in me changing my entire life around.

It started one evening in Coral Gables, FL when I was walking down the street going to meet someone for dinner. I was stopped by a lady holding a clipboard outside of a 50’s-looking building.

“Would you like to take personality test?”

I asked: “What’s that?”

She explained and since I’m always early to things, I had plenty of time to kill. I said: “Sure! let’s do it!”

I took the test and the results seemed spot on. Then they asked if I would like to learn more about the mind , I could sign up for a course for a modest amount and I was genuinely curious about the whole deal and I agreed.

The Class

I came back like a week later to start the class. I’m remembering that building had a distinct smell. It wasn’t bad. I can’t really describe it, but if I ever smell something similar, I’d recognize it instantly.

I walked in and they took me to a big room, a classroom with lots of tables and chairs. Every table had a small box with objects in it. There were people reading, there were people in groups studying, lots of chatter.

It seemed exciting!

I don’t remember if it was my first lesson or not, but we had to do TR’s (Training Routines) and I was asked to sit across from some guy and just stare at him. Look him in the eyes and not laugh, not blink excessively, just keep your composure.

Bah! Stupid! But I can do this!

We started the exercise and it seemed silly at first, but then my heart started racing and started freaking out. It felt like I was in a tunnel, but somehow his eyes were attacking me.

Then all of a sudden I’m hovering 8 feet above myself and I’m looking at the situation from above.

Next thing I know, I’m back in my body and the exercise is over.

The teacher, or facilitator came by to ask me how everything went. I started to tell her exactly what happened and she was writing very matter-of-fact-ly.

“And then I left my body!,” I emphasized.

“So you exteriorized?” She asked.

“I guess.”, I mumbled.

What really made me curious is these people are just nonchalantly just writing down stuff like it’s no big deal.

They got me. I was hooked.

Auditing

I started doing some courses whenever I had some free time: maybe once or twice a week. I learned that there is something that they call the “reactive mind” and that past traumas can affect someone in the present time.

We did this exercise that when my “Auditor” would snap her fingers, I would repeat the first word that popped into my mind, until we got a string of words. I would the repeat this string of words until they “lost their charge” and had no effect.

During one of these sessions, I

felt like I was choking.

No, not choking !

I could taste salt water!

I was drowning!

This shook me up because I had no recollection of almost drowning like that.

I asked my mother if I ever almost drowned and I was surprised by her answer.

She said; “Yes. We were at the beach-you were a baby and in the water with your father. A wave got both of you and your dad had to throw you towards me like a football, because he couldn’t fight the riptide.”

Wow.

Study Tech

before you start the “heavy” course, you must learn how to study. So they have designed a way to teach people “How.”

I thought, “wow, no one ever really taught me how to study.”

In high school, I kind of just skated by, with no need to ever read or do much. I didn’t make valedictorian, but I was discovering my social life and that was top priority for me at the time.

They showed me if you read something and can’t remember what you just read, t means you read past a misunderstood word. You never skip a word you don’t understand. There are always dictionaries at every study table.

If you get woozy and want to bail on the material being studied, then you have skipped a gradient, so you should go back to a point you understand and work back up.

If you get a headache while, studying, that means you have a “lack of mass” and the topic is abstract and you need to make it more physical to be able to understand it.

That is why they had those baskets with modeling clay and stuff in it, so you could model out concepts.

I still use this knowledge.

Basic Study Manual

The Purification Program

At some point one of the coaches pointed out that if I wanted to make quicker progress, I should do The Purification Program. The Program is designed to get rid of environmental toxins and medications and other materials that are stuck in your physical body and is interfering with your progress “up the bridge”

So of course, I am fascinated by this idea and sign up for the course, This time, it;s a lot of books and it’s going to cost be some serious cash. I didn’t have that kind of money, because I was scraping by on an assistant manager at Wendy’s salary.

No worries, take out a new credit card to pay for it. And one of the members drove out to my work to get the signature (and $$) to pay for the course. I think It was the end of the month and they got a bonus if I signed up before then.

The Program

The program basically consists of sitting in a sauna for 5 hours a day, Taking supplements: cal-mag, megadoses of niacin, and oils

It was perfectly organized: we were taken to a different part of the building to an area with a eucalyptus smell. We were shown the sauna-it was a large sauna , It could hold like 10 people.

We were given our supplements and then told to jog for few blocks around the building and then come into the sauna.

By the time you are done with the run, the niacin has kicked in and given you a nice “flush” skin is red and blood vessels have dilated. Now you’re ready for the sauna.

Everything done here is monitored. The guy supervising us was a Medical Doctor and he recorded weight going in and was always available supervising and answering any questions.

Five hours a day in a sauna is a LONG time- especially with someone like me who is not crazy about sweating constantly.

You were free to come in and out to prevent from getting overheated and get in the shower to cool off.

I brought reading material, I was doing this!

Reactions

X Ray Radiation

For the first couple of days, nothing significant happened except my skin started getting better.

One day as I am leaving the sauna to cool off, I take a look in the mirror and it looks like I’d been in a fight. Both my eyes had black rings like bruises around them.

I asked the attendant what this was and he looked at them and asked me if I had been exposed to many x-rays. I said that yes, I had been a sick kid and had tons of diagnostic procedures and medicines and stuff.

He said : “Ok, get back in there! You’re just running out x-ray radiation”

Came back out about 20 minutes later and the rings were gone.

Medications

I’m sitting in the sauna and I start getting sleepy. More like “anesthesia count down to ten sleepy”

Again, I was concerned, so I asked attendant what the deal was and he said I was likely detoxing from medicines and drugs I’d taken.

Went back in until it cleared up.

Chlorine

One day there were about 5 of us in the sauna and all of a sudden a strong smell of chlorine started. It keeps getting worse until it was so bad it was burning our eyes. We all exited the sauna thinking there was some sort of chlorine spill or something like that.

The attendant asked: “Has any of you worked as a pool maintenance tech?”

We looked around and one guy raised his hand.

The attendant said “Ok! Everyone dismissed for today except for you!” as he pointed to the Pool Tech guy. “Get back in there!”

I was doing this in the mornings when I had the evening shifts at the restaurant and when I worked days, Id try to make it to the sauna in the evenings.

After about 3 weeks, everything started to taper off and I was done.

I was feeling great and there was something different about everything, I felt like I was more awake and aware. And my skin and complexion were fabulous!

Clear Body, Clear Mind

The Sea Org

At some point, the people in charge routed me to talk to someone one in the Sea Org.

It was a small glass office, like the one you are led into when you are buying a car. I was greeted by a man in an impressive looking uniform like Captain Steubing from the “Love Boat”.

He said they had been watching me and my progress and were impressed with my IQ score. He said I stood out among the other people and compared me to this woman we could see through the glass.

He basically ripped her to shreds in front of me, telling me how her life was in chaos and how she had created all of her chaos and that somehow I was different from her.

They basically offered me a job.

One catch:

I had to sign a contract for a “billion years” and I couldn’t be in debt.

Seeing I was already in debt from some of the previous courses, I didn’t qualify. Also a billion years seemed a bit long.

I thanked him and said I would consider it- I was pretty sure it was a solid no, but I didn’t want to tell him that. I was probably intimidated by the uniform.

Healing with Vitamins

This was not an official class or anything, but during my time there, I saw whenever someone was having issues with their body, they would consult with one of the counselors and they would look into a little book: “Earl Mindell’s Vitamin Bible” or see a chiropractor down the road who was apparently a Scientologist.

I used what little I learned and suggested home remedies to my Wendy’s employees and their families and developed a little side gig offering supplements to anyone willing to listen.

The Bottom Line

I know there is a lot of negative press and negativity in general about Scientology, but be clear about this: Scientology changed my life!

I’m not an active Scientologist, and don’t feel like I want to go back. But it definitely shaped me into the person that I am today.

If there is bias against the church in this article, it’s just the way that it’s run. Running an organization like an MLM encourages bad behavior.

I have moved countless times since those days, and the first piece of forwarded mail is usually from a Scientology Org.

I’m not sure I would have taken the steps to make a drastic change and decide to attend chiropractic school had it not been for my brief time in Scientology,

Love,

-Dan