The heartbreak and death of one of my deepest dreams.

For the past month, I have felt devastated, heartbroken, shocked, and in grief. A dream of mine has died. The person I had looked up to for ten years, whom I had wanted to support in their goal of awakening humanity, meant a lot to me. Being certified in their method and training was a significant desire of mine. To have this dream completely crushed by their team was something I could not have predicted. It was blindsiding. This is also the reason I have not posted in about a month.

This article will delve into the timeline and decisions that transpired. It will be quite in-depth.

I also want to preface this article by saying that it is purely about what has happened and the decisions this business/team is making that affect their fans and followers. It discusses what they are refusing to see, which is the simple solution of marketing, and why they rejected me and others in similar situations. I still believe the spiritual teacher's content is the best out there and I still want them to continue helping people in the world.

This rejection, which others facing this issue might also experience, had nothing to do with my skills. I will provide the answers below regarding what was said in the interview.

This might confuse many readers. Simply put, the team working for a very famous spiritual teacher no longer wants people who desire to have a business or already work in the spiritual industry as a coach, spiritual teacher, therapist, mentor, or anyone teaching spirituality. The reason is that the market is saturated, and they fear this could divert attention from the specific spiritual teacher they support. Consequently, you are not allowed to attend certain events because of this. I do think the team will announce this in the future, which, as you can imagine, will backfire.

This restriction applies if you are a channeler offering perspectives and have a following, want to be a coach and help men with shadow work, teach about relationships, perform light language for your audience, teach and help people through your channelled/frequency art, help women with femininity, or be a spiritual teacher focusing on integration. The list goes on.

I have wanted to be certified in this method for a long time. My intention years ago was to be trained in multiple methods, as there is always more to learn from others about healing trauma. As a result, I would have more tools to offer clients, from somatic therapy to IFS and more. Being open to learning more should be a standard thought for practitioners, teachers, coaches etc. Over the years, many people, including other certified practitioners in exchange sessions/calls, some I know, Facebook comments, and clients I have had, have told me that I would be a good practitioner in this method. I saved up for a year as my Etsy shop became successful, and the profit was enough for the $5,555 price. I had written my application and explicitly shared my story—from my awakening, the disidentification that occurred, almost becoming homeless, and starting my business in late 2019, to working with other certified practitioners and having clients. I demonstrated my skills and poured my heart and intentions into the application, explaining why I wanted this.

THE INTERVIEW:

The interview was held in April by a team member. It was mentioned that I was not the only one facing this issue; 'lots' of applicants were affected.

At the very start of the interview, within the first minutes, this is what had happened. I and the team member had a very small 'catchup', as we had seen each other before. They then spoke about liking my comments and posts in a Facebook group, and saying they have seen me advocating for Teal and 'putting people back in reality.' They then asked me why I wanted to do this work and to be certified. I explained it is my greatest joy because I want to relieve suffering in the world.'

 Then, it was established that this competition did not imply being 'enemies' of the spiritual teacher. We were both on the same page about this, including the teachings of integration. I brought up who my competition was—those teaching the wrong things. For example, a coach with around 222K followers made a post this year claiming we never heal from trauma, only learn to deal with it better. It is people like these that are my competition. I also stated that I and others could not factually compete with this spiritual teacher because she can teach various topics and has more gifts than most people on the planet. She could talk about diet, sexuality, masculinity/femininity, relationships, chakras, other dimensional beings, and much more, whereas most people can only cover a few topics. To clarify this, it was also said to me ‘I can see your intentions in helping people are pure.’

It was also established that this was not an issue of skills or lack thereof. The team member mentioned seeing me advocate for this spiritual teacher multiple times, 'putting people in reality.' Regarding this issue, they sought my help, saying, 'I can see that you can see things other people can't, Damon,' and proceeded to ask for my perspectives on the entire issue. The interview was 1 hour and 30 minutes of back-and-forth discussion. This was an issue they were starting to encounter in their community and among their followers/fans but did not know how to address. An example was proposed to me by a team member: 'But Damon, what if a random girl from YouTube who did makeup tutorials suddenly started teaching and gained more attention than [Teacher's name], and that said teacher lost respect while the other YouTuber gained it?' My reply was simple: 'Yeah, that has to do with marketing.' There was no counter to my point, yet it was not fully accepted, as more examples of the same nature were brought up.

"Damon, I want to know your perspective on this: why do people want to be trained in this method and then start their own small kingdoms instead of joining [teacher's] kingdom?" My thoughts on this were that the teacher does not have all perspectives. Additionally, to join the teacher's kingdom, you would have to be an employee, which requires specific alignment. However, during the interview, I did not express these specific thoughts, as I was quite frazzled by the situation and the fact that my life and dream were in this person's hands. Nonetheless, the conversation continued overall. I was asked how I would feel if someone was a student of mine and wanted to learn a method I had created and start their own business. My response was that if they had a strong sense of self and their own teachings, I would be more comfortable as long as they respected what method they learnt from me by saying this.

It also became evident that the team member had not fully read my application. At the start of the interview, they brought up this issue regarding applicants who wanted to establish their own businesses. However, when they mentioned this the second or third time, I stopped them to clarify that I already have my own business. They replied, "Oh, so you are a teacher." I said, "Yes..." thinking, did you not read my application? I had explicitly stated in my application, "I started my business as a teacher in Autumn 2019," and went on to discuss working with clients, others who are certified, and my desire to learn other methods.

When I brought up that this whole issue is a marketing problem, I reminded them of the negative emails their fans had complained about for months. These emails used negative hooks that people hated. I explained that there are also positive and neutral hooks, which they could have used instead. Additionally, I mentioned a successful certified person who managed to grow from 5K to 22K followers in the last few months by cracking the Instagram algorithm using reels. The team member looked surprised when I said this.

They were also worried about people copying the teacher. I explained in depth that those who copy (and there are currently certified practitioners with their own businesses who do, such as on YouTube) lack a strong sense of self. They do not own their truth but instead repeat methods and teachings due to codependent patterns, saying things like, "But Eckhart Tolle says this," or "Aaron Abke says this." People with a strong identity know what is theirs and what is not. I gave an example using a common phrase the spiritual teacher has said and how someone who lacks identity might copy it. If someone were to take a product and claim it as their own, that would be illegal. Furthermore, there is a difference between real and fake teachers. Those whose motives are money, fame, and power have 'helping people' as their secondary motive. In contrast, those who genuinely want to help people have this as their primary motive. This difference results in a level of solidity and a strong identity when it comes to copying others.

Because time had run out, I was able to have another conversation with the team member through another call or email. I chose email, knowing they would be busy.

In my extended email, I expressed my thoughts directly to the team about this whole situation. The problem is that the team does not see their marketing as bad and fails to recognize how they are completely contradicting themselves. I provided evidence of this and will share some of what I wrote to them.

My first point was about their Instagram and how it is poor in terms of marketing as well as supporting other coaches/teachers through their reposts:

"The first thing to notice on [Teacher's name]'s Instagram is that it looks confusing and messy, filled with other people's content like quotes and funny videos. If you put yourself in the shoes of someone discovering [Teacher's name]'s Instagram for the first time, they would not know what to click on, resulting in lost attention. They might click on the recent post of the guy with long hair, thinking it has to do with the teacher, only to be more confused when it turns out to be a funny video. Then they might click on the quotes or sentences (which look amateurish) and realize they are from other people. Next, they see memes. Finally, they see [Teacher's name]'s content, but do not know which is which. While [Teacher's name]'s quotes are clear, the clips of videos and workshops are not. Compare this with the screenshot of Steven Bartlett's Instagram, where his clips from YouTube are shown with a clear sentence in the thumbnail indicating the topic. By this point, the newcomer has lost interest in understanding who the teacher is and what she teaches. We already spoke out loud about how attention is currency in this day and age in the interview.

Moreover, the bio reads, 'New Thought Leader' and 'Positive world change catalyst.' Both phrases are vague and do not grab anyone's attention because they are more personal and abstract rather than grounded and clear, like 'bestselling author,' which people immediately understand. This lack of immediate attention-grabbing marketing is a major issue. If the newcomer visits Tony Robbins' Instagram, it is clear, professional, and solely focused on him. There is no other content besides his own, and all the attention is on him.

Upon further examination of [Teacher's name]'s Instagram content, when the team reposts someone else's content, some of those posts gain more views than actual clips of [Teacher's name] at workshops or videos. While this reposting strategy might be useful for small creators, why is it being implemented here? At the root, the team is contradicting its fears of losing attention and followers by reposting other people's content. For example, a repost of the account @charlesmyssy garnered 1 million views. This is a complete contradiction to the team's fears, as this person is a coach who teaches spirituality and healing trauma, giving his video an extra 1 million views. Another example is from @Jonhillstead, whose video you reposted gained 355K views. He titles himself a 'Manifestation and Authenticity Coach.' The latter was posted only 15 weeks ago, so this is still recent."

Next, I extended my point on the emails: "They create fear, and the focus is on selling products. There was a popular post in one group from December 2022, where many people commented on their dislike of the emails, with some saying they are no longer subscribed to premium. To tell people shocking and fearful things in the email headlines to put them into a state of 'shock' to buy products, courses, etc., is misguided, especially for a demographic of people who want to heal from trauma. Who on the team thought this was a good idea?"

Because they had a problem with market saturation, I used the example of one of the most popular and influential people on the planet, who is in one of the most competitive industries: MrBeast. ‘MrBeast has an interview where he mentions he learns from the people who copy him and looks at what annoys him in their videos to see what 'not to do.' What I am saying is, even with a saturated market, this should be the standard business question asked by the team: 'How can we improve and stay at the top?' In his interviews, he also explains how he is constantly changing things up. This is vastly different from [Teacher's name]'s marketing, such as their Instagram remaining the same for years."

Two of the most saturated markets on the planet are the food and clothing industries. Yet should people not pursue their dreams in these industries? Are there never any new successful clothing or food businesses? Another very common example is health and fitness, yet there are countless growing businesses teaching people how to stay fit.

The team has a fear that someone they train or who attends their events will rise and the spiritual teacher they work for will lose followers. This is one of the most ridiculous things I have ever heard. I explained:

"There is not a single person I know or see online who does not follow multiple teachers, coaches, methods, or modalities in this field. It is evident when clicking on a random follower of someone in this sector and seeing who they follow. For instance, there is not a person who only follows stuff on reiki in this field without looking into anything else, whether that is topics on the esoteric, somatic therapy, law of attraction, crystals, aliens, therapy, parts work, light language, meditation, etc. Every person who follows a teacher will also follow others, big or small in terms of audience—it does not matter because people want as many resources as they can for healing." Click on the Instagram of any follower of this teacher. Do they 'only' follow this one teacher and her methods? Of course not! They will follow other coaches big or small, and different methods like somatic therapy, sound healing, diet, tarot/psychic readers, relationship coaches, etc. This is perhaps one of the most ridiculous, and to be frank, stupid things I have ever heard. It is like saying a person 'only' watches romantic Hollywood movies. It is mind-blowing to think that because a follower follows someone else, they will lose interest in the first teacher, especially this one, who has a far greater catalogue of content than most people. Everyone even reading this follows multiple people. Moreover, booking a session with a coach does not stop an individual from attending another teacher's workshops. If someone new enters the spiritual field and is faced with choosing between this spiritual teacher and another who, say, teaches LOA, and they reject the spiritual teacher teaching about integration, they are resistant to integration, and this cannot be controlled.

This is outrageously stupid and flawed thinking to believe that following other teachers/coaches will result in a loss of attention regarding this spiritual teacher. This means if someone follows another coach on bulimia, frequency paintings, channelling, aliens, relationships, masculinity/femininity, sexuality, etc., all topics this teacher has talked about and more. The team is externally blaming others for problems they are having with their own business.

My last point was about the blatant false advertising on the application. I attached a screenshot of the application, which states the following:

"Do you plan on utilising [the method]:

1. Just for myself, friends, and family,

2. On clients through a coaching/consulting/spiritual business

3. On patients/clients through my mental health/health care business/organization."

It also states on the application to this day: 'We also are seeking practitioners who have established practices and/or are seeking to help others with their healing journey...We also are seeking practitioners who have established practices and/or are seeking to help others with their healing journey.'

This is distasteful, to say the least. It is completely blindsiding for myself and other applicants. Imagine saving up $5555, wanting to help people in the world more, supporting this teacher, reading the application, and choosing the second box, only for the team this year to reject this but not edit the application. It is unprofessional on all levels.

This was the end of my email. Having said all of this and more in the actual email, everything I said was ignored completely in their response. This... was something I had no words for. Not even the false advertising nor the contradictions were addressed.

What is Next?

The team will likely soon announce to their audience that they no longer wish to support those who want to start or currently run their own businesses at their events and online. This includes channelers sharing perspectives online, creating frequent paintings, and teaching their interpretations to help humanity. It affects not just people like me but, as mentioned in the interview, those who are on their own missions to help humanity.

Alternatively, the team might not announce this, but I doubt it. If they don't, they would need to conduct background checks to prevent business owners they are unaware of from participating and those wanting to have a business. If they have seen you mention your business in a group or on an application, or your desire for one, you will not be able to participate. This method is deceptive, as it would appear like they are taking money from people and choosing not to do background checks for money. 

They may start to demote and strip away certifications from practitioners who are also coaches. Demotion is now a thing, as I was told. The team is considering demoting those who receive bad reviews, and they could take this further in the future. For example, a small number of certified practitioners also teach, hold their own events, and have their own social media channels where they produce content, which are on the practitioner website. These practitioners are in direct competition for attention with the spiritual teacher the team works for and could be taken down as well.

It must be said that this teacher has certified hundreds of people in this method. Yet, there are only around 10 certified individuals who are online as coaches, mentors, and business owners. Even more significant, only one person has achieved substantial success, massively growing their audience. I mentioned this person in my interview. Everyone else has not seen significant growth. The team's fear of people who have not grown in years shows their lack of understanding of marketing and business.

The team fails to recognize that one reason this spiritual teacher is the most controversial figure in their industry is due to decisions like this and their marketing/business practices. They fail to see that past business decisions, or inviting people without a strong sense of self who turn into haters, contribute to the controversy. Additionally, they have volunteers and team members who lack marketing knowledge. Current decisions, such as being uncertain about certifying business owners or people who want to start their own businesses, are a significant part of why this teacher is the most controversial spiritual teacher in the field.

These decisions will feed into the two things haters accuse this spiritual teacher of being: narcissistic and cult-like. The team does not recognize that they are feeding into these accusations because they do not understand how to run a business properly. For example, an Instagram post by the team reposted a meme mocking Christians. The person behind the marketing team has no idea what they are doing, as this post immediately created enemies and angry comments. The first comment to pop up with likes behind it expressed dislike for the video and the teacher. One thing you do not do on social media is target religions. Another example is that people who know about the rejection of applicants are probably furious. Those unaware of this spiritual teacher but who learn about this decision, friends, relatives etc of the applicants, are likely to be equally upset, further damaging her brand image.

This decision might position them as the only training method that does not allow individuals to become certified and have their own businesses. Other methods like IFS, NLP, Integrative Attachment Theory, Somatic therapy, and many more accommodate established businesses and those aspiring to become coaches.

The poor marketing practices reflect the unprofessionalism of this business/team. Upon applying, there's no confirmation email, leaving applicants in limbo. Instead of redirecting to a new page after submitting an application, it simply deletes the content, which can leave applicants anxious (There is a green box to say it has been sent but it is a pop-up alongside the deletion of what you write). The timing of training announcements is also problematic, often too late for international participants who may require vaccinations or visas. I found out some applicants asked for the process to be sped up from applying early, but the team did not speed up the process and thus a VISA could not be attained in time. This lack of consideration for applicants' logistical arrangements highlights the business's disregard for professionalism.

Moreover, complaints about marketing persist in Facebook groups to this day. The emails continue to employ false headlines, and recent incidents, such as an AI message mistaken for the teacher, reflect poorly on the business. The persistence of these misleading tactics contradicts the teacher's previous statements on authentic sales practices. The most liked comment on this was someone saying they hated these sale pitches. To use a hook no matter what to then sell a product. To negatively play on someone's emotions rather than just simply do authentic marketing. This is super contradictory given interviews this spiritual teacher has done on sales. From a 2022 workshop: 'And what's really interesting here is that sales is very much a giving act. But so many people when they're caught up in that How do I make a sale?.. You're actually stuck in this narcissism.' Very interesting, especially given the emails such as the one above falsely leading people. However, this is not surprising because the spiritual teacher has said several times, that they leave the running of the business up to other people while they themself focus on content. I wonder what they would think if they looked at their training course form.

This decision also complicates the search for competent practitioners. Not all practitioners are held to high standards or equally skilled. Without practitioners sharing their perspectives on social media, clients may work with individuals whose beliefs or approaches differ significantly from their own. As mentioned even in my last article, I have seen a practitioner spend two hours with someone I personally know, on a Live doing parts work, in a completely disconnected state, doing things 'by the book' rather than attuning to them. In the end, asking 'Did you feel that integration?' To which the person replied with a pause, 'Yeah... I think so...' And of course, those who end up turning to haters or people who have dysfunctional patterns like BPD, or didn't have a full interest in even doing the certification but got certified anyway. If practitioners are not sharing their truth on social media, their perspectives, a client could work with someone who holds vastly different perspectives on things. I have seen a practitioner mention they like Kanye West after his viral video at the end of 2022 talking about how the Nazis were not 'that bad'... Online practitioners with their own businesses provide transparency upfront, enabling clients to align with practitioners who share their perspectives.

I had envisioned sharing my training journey on social media. To make posts and stories about how good it was and why. Imagine if I had 20k followers, and they saw all of that. Suddenly they become curious about this teacher and her course. What gets more attention? That? Or the current business decision. However, this business decision now overshadows any positive promotion I could provide.

I also learned from the posts about the training that a practitioner who is already certified in this field and has a platform on multiple social media sites was able to volunteer there. Additionally, someone (and possibly others) who got certified at this training but operates as a detox coach/mentor with a YouTube channel and Instagram containing videos on 'healing'. Regarding the latter, I believe this happened because the team did not conduct a background check, which is not surprising given their lack of professionalism. This reminds me of an example mentioned in my interview about someone having a YouTube channel and then teaching spirituality. Ironically, they certified someone exactly like this. As for the former example, I think it is a complete contradiction that they are ignoring.

Conclusion:

The aftermath of this decision leaves me utterly devastated. It was difficult to process, and the emotional impact hit me fully upon receiving their email response. Conversations with others, including fellow applicants, certified friends, and followers, revealed widespread shock and disbelief. This rejection is profoundly heartbreaking, especially considering my longstanding support for this spiritual teacher. What the team do not even know is how much I have been supporting this spiritual teacher. I run an Etsy Shop with almost 2000 sales of readings. For a lot of customers, I offer to send free resources/material to them to go in-depth on topics or methods. I usually send this spiritual teacher’s videos alongside the other teachers I mention and their material. Around the time of the interview, I received a message from a customer filled with joy, expressing gratitude for introducing me to this famous spiritual teacher and they loved their content. This has happened numerous times… but the team don’t see that. Despite my efforts to support this teacher, the team views individuals like me as competition, failing to recognize our shared mission. Instead, they generalise everyone. Rather than recognising there are some people who can share the same mission and work together.