Physically and mentally exhausted, Beverley Bunn crawled to a spot near the opening of the sweat lodge, gasping for fresh air. People around her began calling out for help, some struggling to breathe, others vomiting amid the stifling heat.

This is the first horrifying account of what went on during the $10,000 retreat run by spiritual guru James Arthur Ray, which left three people dead and a further 18 in hospital.

Beverley, 43, says after five days of enduring sleep deprivation, fasting and mind-altering exercises, more than 50 “followers” of Ray entered the lodge, which was basically a 6 x 6m tent, in Sedona, Arizona on October 8.

Packed in to the pitch-black hut, Beverley says it was midway through the two-hour cleansing ceremony that people began calling out for help. She told Associated Press how she heard one person say: “I can’t get her to move, I can’t get her to wake up.”

A man yelling, “I can’t take it, I can’t breathe, I can’t do this”, lifted the back of the tent and crawled out.

Yet even as people showed signs of difficulties, Ray encouraged them to stay, Beverley claims, adding the tent was poorly ventilated, participants were dehydrated and adequate medical assistance wasn’t on hand.

Kirby Brown, 38, and James Shore, 40, died at the scene. Liz Neuman, 49, passed away in hospital nine days later. Fellow participant Sidney Spencer, 59, was airlifted to hospital suffering multiple organ failure. Her lawyer Ted Schmidt says: “If this sweat lodge had been conducted properly, nobody would have been injured, but it was reckless how they handled this…”

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The Angel Valley Spiritual Retreat Centre in Arizona, above. Image: AAP.