Rodrigo Niño was one of the early inventors of the 'Crowdfunding' concept. With the capital he collected, he had 'considerable' success in both Colombian and American real estate sectors. In 2011, he learned that he had skin cancer and was in the last stage of the disease.
His body system did not respond to back-to-back surgeries. Heeding the advice of a friend, he jumped on a plane and threw himself into the arms of shamans deep in the Peruvian jungle. First, he was treated with herbs, then he participated in ayahuasca ceremonies that gave him an inner journey with hallucinatory effects.
He had a dream in the presence of shamans: a 'new age' shared workspace/private club where the modern man can both run his business and advance his 'inner journey'. As he returned to New York, he raised a total of $650 million from 6,500 real estate investors and founded The Assamblage at the end of 2017. The Assambladge, which offers free breathing exercises, sound meditations, yoga, and cocoa ceremonies to its members every morning, noon, and afternoon, has an ayurvedic kitchen and hosts the speeches of 'marketing gurus' such as Seth Godin and Malcolm Gladwell in the evenings. It has become my 'second home' as well.
Fastest growing cult in the UK
Among the job postings listed by private clubs and wellness centers that have been opened recently, there is necessarily "in-house shamanism". The new sales policy of residence projects is based on 'spiritual journeys'. Yelp and similar 'service search and rating' platforms list the top 10 shamans near you in New York with one click.
According to a 2017 report by the Pew Research Center, half of Americans say they have tried at least one 'alternative healing' method to date. 6 out of 10 people have turned at least one 'new age' belief into a part of their daily life.
Is it possible to be born?
Shamanism is a form of belief as old as humanity. According to the 'sacred' sources of this belief, shamanism accepts nature as a living being; it keeps everything that exists as one and brother with everything created in nature. It reminds humanity that they should live in equal love with other living things without dominating nature. The title of "shaman" given to the tribal chiefs of shamanists either comes from the family background or is acquired after a lifetime of training from the shaman elders. According to the belief, people whose differences start to become apparent when they are born can be shamans. If there is excess bone in his body when he is born, this is considered a sign of shamanism.
Today, the fame of shamans has reached an international dimension. Oprah and Gwyneth Paltrow, for example, have hundreds of thousands of followers on Instagram. Or let's put Shaman Durek on stage with your applause. Durek Verrett, who comes from a family of six generations of shamans, gives private sessions for an average of $ 1000 and sells the 'Spirit Optimizer' tool, of which he is the inventor, for $ 222 on his own site. Engaged as a 'princess' since 2022. Norwegian princess Martha Louise renounced her royal duties and title in order to marry him.
As a fruit of their love, the couple designed a healing workshop called "The Princess and the Shaman" and went on a long European tour that caused a lot of controversy. (Workshop tickets were £115.)
Shaman shifts have increased exponentially in different areas: During the 2020 US Presidential Election race, shaman teacher Ana María Simeón from Peru feverishly tried to exorcise the evil spirits and spells from Joe Biden in various rituals, while another master shaman, Pablo Torres, He was busy infusing Donald Trump with power and good energy by making the snake he carries on his shoulder drink magical potions. When Biden won the presidential race, the shamanic struggle was over against Simeón. Or vice versa, we don't know!
The hotel that breaks raw eggs on its guest
Shou Sugi Ban House, which opened a few hours away from Manhattan, was promoting itself as more than a 'wellness' center when it opened a few years ago. He wanted to remind the people of the city, who were oppressed by the troubles and burdens of modern life, of "his own existence". He claimed to do this in the light of millennial 'shamanic teachings'. In the year it was opened, they were smilingly dismissing the "small" details such as the absence of a non-Tesla car in the parking lot and the fact that Mads Refslund, one of the founders of Noma, was the head chef in the kitchen. Maggie Harrsen, an expert in "shamanic healings", cracked raw eggs on the naked bodies of the guests; The glory of the 'healing' sessions, in which everyone drenched their bodies in egg white and yolk, soon spread throughout the city; The smell of eggs covered Brooklyn's 'healers' for a while. (Of course, out of curiosity, I attended one of these sessions. Although I felt some 'openings' in my body, I am not sure if it was necessary to waste so many eggs and be bothered by their smell...)
Now, when I wondered and confused how they were, I found out: Niño, whose cancer relapsed, passed away in 2020, and three 'The Assemblage' locations, each worth an average of 150 million dollars, were closed after his death.
As I read that things haven't been going well lately, that Niño handed over the CEO position at the beginning of 2019, that the project has turned into the biggest fiasco of recent years in the New York real estate market and the investor world, the investors' declarations of "we were deceived" and the lawsuits filed, my heart tightened.
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The Assemblage ceases operations following death of founder Niño