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SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5) ― Dahn Yoga has been around for about 30 years and claims it can help you achieve physical and spiritual enlightenment. But, two dozen former members are suing the organization, claiming their experiences with Dahn Yoga were more harmful than helpful. Their lawyer insists the organization is "a cult."

There are six Dahn Yoga Centers in the Bay Area. Go to a class and you'll do chest-tapping, stretching and something called "Brain Wave Vibration" where participants are instructed to make small movements with their heads, while listening to a recorded message.

Meredith Potter, who now lives in San Francisco, attended a Dahn Yoga class in Boston in early 2005.

"I was having some issues with my lower back, digestive issues, and I was just getting the feeling that I needed to move my body," she said. Potter signed up for $1,100 worth of classes to start. She soon enrolled in more demanding programs that she says consumed all of her time, energy and money.

Potter said as part of her training she was instructed to hold poses for 90 minutes at a time, and perform hundreds of bows. "Your arms start to shake you legs start to shake, you feel like you are going to die," she recalled.

Still, convinced of Dahn Yoga's benefits, Potter became a full time Dahn employee. She said that's when her life became even more rigorous and regimented.

"I started working 100 plus hours a week. I was sleeping five or six hours a night," she said. Potter said her job was to enroll new members in expensive programs. She said the goal for most yoga centers was to take in about $25,000 a month.

"There was a lot of pressure to make that money, no matter what. I found myself just thinking about money, just trying to make money. I didn't care how," Potter said.

In all, Potter said she paid the organization $84,000. Half for her training and half to help meet membership quotas.

Former Dahn member Jade Harrelson, who bears a striking resemblance to Potter, has a different story. She said the group's founder, Ilchi Lee, sexually assaulted her back in 2006, after summoning her to South Korea to work alongside him.

"People were trying to tell me 'He is so enlightened,' and then it turned into 'Well, this is an honor.' It was so difficult to get across this was a reprehensible act," Harrelson said.

Potter and Harrelson are both represented by Ryan Kent, a Marin County lawyer, who's suing the Dahn Yoga organization on behalf of 24 former members for fraud, undue influence, failure to pay wages, and several other claims.

Kent, who called Dahn Yoga a "cult", said the organization targets vulnerable college kids and brainwashes them with "psychological manipulation" and "thought reform techniques," to get their money.

"They max out their credit card debt and they max out their student loans at around $30,000 to $50,000. That's the general rule for these kids that otherwise have no assets," Kent said.

The suit claims that money collected from students supports Ilchi Lee's extravagant lifestyle. "He's making $1,000,000 a month net from his U.S. operations," Kent said.

The Dahn Yoga organization refutes the claims in the lawsuit.

Joseph Alexander, a spokesman for the group, said the suit is an attempt to get money from Dahn Yoga and that the sexual abuse claim was added to make it "more emotional." Alexander said, "They have twisted healthy and normal practices to make them look like torture."

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