{"id":19777,"date":"2025-01-10T21:49:00","date_gmt":"2025-01-10T22:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=19777"},"modified":"2025-01-10T23:29:05","modified_gmt":"2025-01-10T23:29:05","slug":"james-arthur-ray-self-help-guide-whose-retreat-became-deadly-dies-at-67","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=19777","title":{"rendered":"James Arthur Ray, Self-Help Guide Whose Retreat Became Deadly, Dies at 67"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><\/div>\n<p id=\"article-summary\" class=\"css-79rysd e1wiw3jv0\">A rising star among New Age motivational speakers, he was brought down by a disaster during one of his retreats in Arizona, where three people died in a sweat lodge.<\/p>\n<section class=\"meteredContent css-1r7ky0e\">\n<div class=\"css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn\" data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">James Arthur Ray, an Oprah-endorsed motivational speaker who spent two years in prison for manslaughter after the 2009 deaths of three people in a sweat lodge, the culmination of a three-day spiritual program he ran in the Arizona desert, died on Jan. 3 in Henderson, Nev. He was 67.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">His brother, Jon Ray, announced the death on social media. He did not say where in Henderson Mr. Ray died or cite a cause, but he did say the death was unexpected.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Ray was struggling to succeed as a motivational speaker when he appeared in \u201cThe Secret,\u201d a 2006 documentary made by the Australian television producer Rhonda Byrne. The \u201csecret,\u201d which Mr. Ray and others espoused, was the idea that positive thinking can literally make the world shift in your favor.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Things began to move quickly for Mr. Ray. He appeared on Oprah Winfrey\u2019s show, where she lavished praise on him. Within months he was standing in front of sold-out crowds of hundreds, then thousands. In 2008 he published \u201cHarmonic Wealth: The Secret of Attracting the Life You Want,\u201d written with Linda Sivertsen, which reached The New York Times\u2019s best-seller list.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"Dropzone-1\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn\" data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">He was, Fortune magazine declared in 2008, \u201cthe next big thing in the highly competitive world of motivational gurus.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"ImageBlock-3\">\n<div data-testid=\"imageblock-wrapper\">\n<figure class=\"img-sz-medium css-d754w4 e1g7ppur0\" aria-label=\"media\" role=\"group\">\n<div class=\"css-1xdhyk6 erfvjey0\" data-testid=\"photoviewer-children-figure\">\n<div class=\"css-nwd8t8\" data-testid=\"lazy-image\">\n<div data-testid=\"lazyimage-container\" style=\"height:251.33333333333331px\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><figcaption data-testid=\"photoviewer-children-caption\" class=\"css-gbc9ki ewdxa0s0\"><span class=\"css-jevhma e13ogyst0\">Mr. Ray spoke at what he called a \u201cHarmonic Wealth Weekend\u201d in Jersey City, N.J., in March 2009, a few months before three people died at his Arizona retreat.<\/span><span class=\"css-14fe1uy e1z0qqy90\"><span><span aria-hidden=\"false\">Yana Paskova for The New York Times<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"Optimistic-4\">\n<div class=\"css-1336jj\">\n<div class=\"css-121kum4\">\n<div class=\"css-171d1bw\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"css-asuuk5\">\n<div class=\"css-7axq9l\" data-testid=\"optimistic-truncator-noscript\">\n<div data-testid=\"optimistic-truncator-noscript-message\" class=\"css-6yo1no\">\n<p class=\"css-3kpklk\">We are having trouble retrieving the article content.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-3kpklk\">Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-1dv1kvn\" id=\"optimistic-truncator-a11y\">\n<hr \/>\n<p>Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/myaccount.nytimes.com\/auth\/login?response_type=cookie&amp;client_id=vi&amp;redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2025%2F01%2F10%2Fus%2Fjames-arthur-ray-dead.html&amp;asset=opttrunc\">log into<\/a>\u00a0your Times account, or\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/subscription?campaignId=89WYR&amp;redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2025%2F01%2F10%2Fus%2Fjames-arthur-ray-dead.html\">subscribe<\/a>\u00a0for all of The Times.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-1g71tqy\">\n<div data-testid=\"optimistic-truncator-message\" class=\"css-6yo1no\">\n<p class=\"css-3kpklk\">Thank you for your patience while we verify access.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-3kpklk\">Already a subscriber?\u00a0<a data-testid=\"log-in-link\" class=\"css-z5ryv4\" href=\"https:\/\/myaccount.nytimes.com\/auth\/login?response_type=cookie&amp;client_id=vi&amp;redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2025%2F01%2F10%2Fus%2Fjames-arthur-ray-dead.html&amp;asset=opttrunc\">Log in<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-3kpklk\">Want all of The Times?\u00a0<a data-testid=\"subscribe-link\" class=\"css-z5ryv4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/subscription?campaignId=89WYR&amp;redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2025%2F01%2F10%2Fus%2Fjames-arthur-ray-dead.html\">Subscribe<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A rising star among New Age motivational speakers, he was brought down by a disaster during one of his retreats in Arizona, where three people died in a sweat lodge.James Arthur Ray, an Oprah-endorsed motivational speaker who spent two years in prison for manslaughter after the 2009 deaths of three people in a sweat lodge, the culmination of a three-day spiritual program he ran in the Arizona desert, died on Jan. 3 in Henderson, Nev. He was 67.His brother, Jon Ray, announced the death on social media. He did not say where in Henderson Mr. Ray died or cite a cause, but he did say the death was unexpected.Mr. Ray was struggling to succeed as a motivational speaker when he appeared in \u201cThe Secret,\u201d a 2006 documentary made by the Australian television producer Rhonda Byrne. The \u201csecret,\u201d which Mr. Ray and others espoused, was the idea that positive thinking can literally make the world shift in your favor.Things began to move quickly for Mr. Ray. He appeared on Oprah Winfrey\u2019s show, where she lavished praise on him. Within months he was standing in front of sold-out crowds of hundreds, then thousands. In 2008 he published \u201cHarmonic Wealth: The Secret of Attracting the Life You Want,\u201d written with Linda Sivertsen, which reached The New York Times\u2019s best-seller list.He was, Fortune magazine declared in 2008, \u201cthe next big thing in the highly competitive world of motivational gurus.\u201dMr. Ray spoke at what he called a \u201cHarmonic Wealth Weekend\u201d in Jersey City, N.J., in March 2009, a few months before three people died at his Arizona retreat.Yana Paskova for The New York TimesWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and\u00a0log into\u00a0your Times account, or\u00a0subscribe\u00a0for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber?\u00a0Log in.Want all of The Times?\u00a0Subscribe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19779,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19777"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19777\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19780,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19777\/revisions\/19780"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}