Author Releases Memoir About Cult-Like Experience and Recovery, Hopes to Help Others Heal

Tomatlan, Mexico, December 8, 2014 (Newswire.com) - Under the Bloated Banyan covers a span of six years offered mostly through journals and blog entries that the author, Jillian Vriend, actually wrote during and after her time in Emotional Body Enlightenment (EBE), a high-intensity spiritual and emotional healing group based in Ashland, Oregon. Jillian shares her process after being given a harsh ultimatum about either choosing to stay in the group or giving up her budding relationship with her now current husband. The love for her husband and the Divine gives her the courage to leave (EBE) after close to five years of being deeply involved in the inner circle and being a facilitator of the paradigm. 

"It is vulnerable to share this writing in such a raw form," Jillian explains. "But, I really wanted the reader to go on this journey with me in a visceral and emotional way: from the moment I was drawn to the group, to the moments I processed deep emotional and spiritual movements, to the painful and sudden completion, to my recovery for a year afterward sorting through the experience and assessing the help and the harm. I remain grateful for the experience as it brought me so much self-awareness, a deepened connection with the Divine, and, of course, my relationship with [Wayne] my beloved soulmate."

Jillian hopes that her experience will help others recovering from EBE and other cult-like groups. Instead of labeling EBE as a ‘cult’ in a black and white way, Jillian explores these questions:

“What is it that makes a group a cult? What degree of harm or abuse (if any) is acceptable in the name of emotional and spiritual healing? Is it ever okay to ostracize someone from an entire intimate social community without allowing them to defend themselves and process their experience? How does someone reconcile the good that they experienced in such a group from the bad?” – taken from the back cover of Under the Bloated Banyan.

Under the Bloated Banyan is available to order in print or e-book on Lulu.

Currently, Jillian and Wayne Vriend are offering SoulFullHeart healing work while living on a remote, off-grid eco-ranch in Mexico. They offer group retreats, individual and couples’ healing immersions, a low-cost volunteer program with healing immersion, as well as individual sessions. Given their experience with recovery after leaving a cult-like group, they also provide help for those who are in their own phase of recovery.

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Contact: Kathleen Calder, SoulFullHeart Facilitator and Volunteer Coordinator, 622-150-3004 (Mexico cell), soulfullhearts @ gmail