Kralcx´s Experience

kralcx, Buffalo, NY USA


My Tanglewood experience


Wow, where do I start. I will do my best to keep this as fair and balanced as I possibly can. To begin, let me introduce myself; last week I completed a 4 week stay at the Tanglewood Wellness Center. My 4 week stay consisted of a 21 day water fast and 7 days of refeeding. In the beginning everything was okay. Let me state that before going and still to this very day I believe in water fasting. The reason why I choose the Tanglewood Center was because I was unsure if I could complete a 21 day fast on my own, (my previous best had been five
days), so I wanted to be supervised. My will is strong; I'm not the type of person who needs his hand held. So for the first 21 days there really was nothing negative that I experienced. After all you just lay around all day and drink water. However, let me point out some of the observations that I made during the first 21 days of my stay at Tanglewood. First thing I noticed is the library contains extremely few if any health books. There was a lot of fiction books, national geographic magazines, books on how to make money, buddist philosophy,etc., etc., but no books on health. I quickly learned that Loren Lockman believes he is right and everyone else is wrong. Loren doesn't want anyone to pollute their minds with a health philosophy that is different than his. I also observed that he likes to make money. I always thought his no refund policy was a little extreme, but it didn't effect me personally so I thought little of it. Loren charges 10 cents a minute to use either the computer or the telephone. Loren charges 50 cent per article of clothing you want to wash. Loren has a small gift shop, he charges double the price of a shop just down the street. If you break your fast early for any reason Loren will charge you an extra $30 a day for food that cost him at most 75 cents (I have seen this with my own eyes). (I also saw a girl leave 4 weeks early and receive no refund). I also observed through Loren's lectures that he gives twice a week, that he is not as knowledgable as he would like people to believe. For example, Loren will tell you that you control your own destiny. You may inherit genetic weaknesses from your parents but you control your diet and thus your own outcome in life. Yet when a question was asked why he has all grey hair. Loren angrily stated that it is genetic and it runs in his family. Another guest followed up that question by telling Loren that grey hair comes from a lack of minerals. She then asked Loren how can he get enough minerals in his diet if he just eats fruit. Loren just said he has been doing what he has been doing for over a decade and he feels fine. I also observed that Loren has a bad habit of telling someone something, in my opinion, just to get them to shut up. For example, one of the female guests was concerned about snakes and spiders (a perfectly reasonable fear, since we are living in a jungle). Loren quickly said there are no poisionous snakes or spiders living in Panama. I'm no rocket scientist, but even I know a blatent lie when I hear one. As fate would have it one night while I was in the bathroom standing up urinating I heard something hit the furniture that was next to the toilet. It was a very big spider and turned towards me. I use to live in Georgia where they have poisionous spiders and snakes (that is how come I know they also exists in the jungles of Panama), and this spider looked like a Brown Recluse. Loren has a philosophy of not killing any insect or animal that is on his property. So I went and got a staff member to get the spider out of my room. She used a glass and a dust pan to remove the spider. She dropped the spider off on the grass right in front of my room (she should have taken it further away), as soon as the spider hit the grass it climb right back up the porch and tried to get back in the room, however it couldn't because the door was closed. This spider was fast and aggressive. I went
online to find a picture of what I saw the night before; it turned out to be a Chilean Recluse! It is the same as a brown recluse just a different name in a different country. This spider is very poisionous and can kill people. When I told Loren what I found in my room, he told me in nature some spiders that are harmless look like poisionous spiders so they won't get eaten. Needless to say, my BS detector went into overdrive when he said that! Also for anyone that cares, tarantulas and scorpions were seen on the property as well. I also observed a problem with Loren's personality. Loren requires all the interns to read a book about Non-Violent Communication. That immediately made me feel uneasy. This should be a peaceful community,
why would anybody NEED to read a book about Non-violent Communication? From my observation the interns were very good, the only person who had trouble talking to people was Loren himself. I personally observed Loren tell a young distraut girl with mental illness, "...to get the fuck out of here!" This also happens to be the same girl who left 4 weeks early. I also observed Loren pout like a little boy who didn't get his way, when two of the guests wanted to break their fasts early against Loren's wishes. All that I wrote above took place during my first 21 days. The first 21 days were easy compared to the last 7 days of refeeding. I have severe candida and I am a meat eater. My tongue during the entire length of the fast was so coated, it looked snow white AFTER I brushed it! I told Loren I didn't want to eat any fruits, he insisted and I had no choice. Even medical doctors don't have the power to force you to do something against your will. However when it comes to refeeding you either eat what Loren gives you or you will just continue fasting until you leave (the above sentence is NOT a joke!). My face broke out immediately from day one of refeeding all the way up to and including today as I write this post. (It has gotten better since I left the Tanglewood Center). Loren's flippant remark was it was just a coincidence that happened; he adamantly stated it had nothing to do
with the fruit. Many noted fasters, such as Professor Ehret state that not everyone should do a long fast. Particular meat eater's, and you don't break a long fast with fruit. During the fast all of the poison's stay in your body and become concentrated. Fruit which is a power cleanser when it hits the concentrated poison's can cause severe shock to the body. Just for the record during my entire 21 day fast I had no bowel movement, yet I could feel the impacted plaque matter in my colon (it would cause me physical pain at times). I knew the fruits were not good for me, yet I had to eat them ( I had to eat something because otherwise I would be too weak to make it home). By the way I lost 28 pounds; I was only 162 when I started. Some more observations. Loren firmly believes that it is his way or the highway. He will not change from his strict refeeding schedule even if it harms the patient. Once I was strong enough to walk into town I would smuggle back tomatoes and cucumbers for myself and three other guests who were in a weaker condition than me. Loren will kick you out of the retreat if he catches you bringing in outside food. I should have never been put in that poisition in the first place! After observing how Loren doesn't listen to the guest's concerns about their bodies. And how Loren believes anyone can do a long fast. Loren during his lecture liked to brag how his youngest client wasn't even a year old. At that time I was thinking to myself I wondered if Loren has ever killed anybody before. Then I read on this site that he had indeed. In my humble opinion Loren is dangerous! Loren likes to keep at tight rein on the interns. He doesn't want them talking to the guests, and they can't do anything without Loren's approval. It was very strange to me to see these interns, who's ages are: 50, 48, 49, and 38 behave so fearfully of Loren. And lastly on the last lecture day before I left I tried to explain to Loren why so many of the guest's were upset with him. I let Loren know that my talking to him wasn't for my benefit (since I was leaving in two days) but so he could grow and learn so he doesn't make the same mistakes with new guests coming to the Tanglewood Center. He ignored everything I said and got so upset he looked as if he was going to cry. Loren takes ever guests vital signs everyday to make sure they are okay. The next day after I had that talk with him, Loren did not take mine and another guest's vital's. Loren when upset behaves like a spoiled child! There is probably more that I could say, however I will stop for now. I hope this report was fair and balanced, and I hope it helps someone to make a more informed decision about the Tanglewood Wellness Center. If you have any more questions don't hesitate to email me.