James Arthur Ray

James Arthur Ray (born November 22, 1957) is an American self-help businessman, motivational speaker, author and convicted criminal who was found guilty in 2011 of causing three deaths through negligent homicide.

A former telemarketer, Ray taught Stephen Covey motivational seminars while employed at AT&T and claimed he later worked two years for the Covey foundation; however the company has no record of him as an employee or contractor.

He dropped out of junior college in 1978 and eventually started working at AT&T, initially as a telemarketer, later as a sales manager and trainer.

He started his own seminars and motivational speaker events in the early 1990s, launching his first company in 1992.

Ray set up the now defunct James Ray International, Inc. in Las Vegas in 2000.

Ray is an advocate of the pseudoscientific Law of Attraction; his teachings have been described as "including a mix of spirituality, motivational speaking, and quantum physics".

In an interview, Ray answered about personal responsibility, "I fully know, for me, that there is no blame. Every single thing is your responsibility ... and nothing is your fault. Because every single thing that comes to you is gift ... a lesson."

Ray has advocated for the New Thought belief that positive thinking can heal physical ailments, and he has claimed to have used willpower to stay free of all illness.

Writing for The Guardian, Andrew Gumbel described the pseudoscientific claims as "quantum flapdoodle", "because it claims to be rooted in Heisenberg's uncertainty principle and other tenets of modern physics".

Concerns have been raised since 2000 regarding the safety and soundness of his methods.

Former attendees of Ray's seminars have reported unsafe practices and lack of properly trained medical staff in 2005.

A New Jersey woman shattered her hand after she was pressured by Ray to participate in a quasi-martial arts board-breaking exercise.

After several unsuccessful untrained attempts, the woman sustained multiple fractures during the seminar that was held at Walt Disney World.

In 2005, preceding the events of October 2009, a serious injury involving hospitalization was reported at the Angel Valley Ranch during a "Spiritual Warrior" retreat led by Ray.

Verde Valley Fire Chief Jerry Doerksen's department responded to an emergency call that a 42-year-old man had fallen unconscious after exercises inside a sweat lodge.

In 2006 he appeared on CNN's Larry King Live and was one of several narrators in the film The Secret.

He also appeared on the Today Show and Oprah.

Participants of a James Ray "Spiritual Warrior" exercise in 2006, after signing waivers, were told to put the sharp point of an arrow used in archery against the soft part of their necks and lean against the tip.

A man named Kurt sustained injuries during this exercise as the shaft snapped and the arrow point deeply penetrated his eyebrow.

Ray has described his childhood as impoverished, claiming that, "The hardest part of my childhood was reconciling how Dad poured his heart into his work, how he helped so many people and yet he couldn't afford to pay for haircuts for me and my brother," in his 2008 book Harmonic Wealth.

A classmate of Ray's recalled that, "Ray always dressed well and knew he'd make something of himself."

In October 2009, three participants died while taking part in a ritual, led by Ray, at one of his New Age retreats.

In July 2009, Colleen Conaway attended a seminar hosted by James Ray International, Inc. in which the attendees were directed to dress as homeless people.

She jumped to her death at the Horton Plaza Mall in San Diego.

She died as a result of injuries, and according to police, she had no identification on her person.

On October 8, 2009, at a New Age "Spiritual Warrior" retreat conceived and hosted by Ray at the Angel Valley Retreat Center in Yavapai County near Sedona, Arizona, two participants, James Shore and Kirby Brown, died as a result of being in a nontraditional sweat lodge exercise for several hours, personally conducted by Ray.

Eighteen others were hospitalized after suffering burns, dehydration, breathing problems, kidney failure, or elevated body temperature.

Liz Neuman, another attendee, died on October 17 after being comatose for a week.

The attendees, who had paid up to $10,000 to participate in the retreat, had fasted for 36 hours during what was claimed to be a vision quest exercise before the next day's purported sweat lodge.

During this period of fasting, participants were left alone in the Arizona desert with a sleeping bag, although Ray had offered them Peruvian ponchos for an additional $250.

After this experience, participants ate a large buffet breakfast before entering the nontraditional structure built for what they had been told would be a sweat lodge ceremony.

The site owner reported she learned after the event that participants went two days without water before entering the structure.

Following the deaths, Ray refused to speak to authorities and immediately left Arizona.

According to participants in the heat endurance exercise (which was misrepresented by both Ray and his organization as a "Native American sweat lodge ceremony" ), a note was left that said Ray was unavailable—as he was in "prayer and meditation".

Ray was arrested in 2010, and in 2011 convicted of three counts of negligent homicide.

He served two years in Arizona state prison and was released under supervision on July 12, 2013.

Following his release, Ray re-launched his self-help business.

Ray's father was an Oklahoma preacher at the Red Fork Church of God in Tulsa.

Ray later confirmed, during a 2013 interview with Piers Morgan, that he fled the scene rather than staying to assist with the aftermath, because "I was scared."

Investigations were commenced by the Yavapai County Sheriff department.