The Truth About 180 Sanctuary
180 Sanctuary is a wellness and rehab center in Pai, Thailand. This blog details my experience during my stay there, exposing the somewhat unbelievable reality —- the despicable nature of the owners and the hypocrisy of the 180 Sanctuary.
See my reviews on Google, Ready to Trip, LuxuryRehabs
NOTE: Luxury Rehabs has not approved my review yet. They get paid by referral clicks. I could not recommend 180, so obviously, that is not good for their business, so it seems they are more comfortable with hiding the truth.
What 180 Claims to Sell…
This is taken directly from their website and it is completely FALSE:
“…180 is the perfect place of private, tranquil and safe treatment for your life-transforming experience.”
I wish this information was true. That is exactly what I wanted! Unfortunately, it was a lie.
It was most definitely NOT perfect, in fact FAR FROM IT.
It was NOT private
My information was shared with other clients after I left, and
Throughout my ~3 weeks there I witnessed firsthand, several violations of client confidentiality.
It was NOT tranquil
3 separate times I witnessed the main owner, Tony Tan stomping around, cursing, screaming F bomb after F bomb at the top of his lungs, yelling at the staff, for approximately 15-20 minutes at a time.
It was NOT safe.
When one is confronted with a scary situation, one goes into ‘fight or flight’ mode. You’re either compelled to fight, flight (flee the situation) or freeze (cannot move)
I cannot sit by idly and watch innocent staff get treated so cruelly, and as such, for the first time in my life, I felt like I could have erupted into violence. Someone needed to stick up for the shy, timid and helpless staff.
You may be Wondering…
Why is he writing this blog? Is he an angry, vengeful person?
Anyone who knows me, would most assuredly say NO to this question.
The reason I am writing this is because:
I came to 180 to heal from trauma, and I left with NEW trauma caused by Tony
One week after I left 180, a staff member called to confront / accuse me of sharing my experience with current clients. (which I did not do, but how dare they!?)
Currently, 180 has a 5 star rating and new clients deserve to know the truth and what to expect
Google, Luxury Rehabs have not published my honest review
Writing this review is therapeutic for me, as it was a traumatic experience
If I can save ONE client from seeing and experiencing the trauma I have experienced, it is worth it
Main owners & co-founders: Tony Tan and Anya Tan
Before i arrived at 180, they sent me a Meet the Team PDF. Interestingly, the following 3 (out of 9) staff members (EDIT, I had to remove one of the staff members who emailed me personally to remove her picure) in the PDF are actually not there. I was there for over 3 weeks and never saw or heard of these people.
Perhaps this is simply a case of outdated prospective client materials?
Or, would it be possible that they included a lot of these staff members to make the Sanctuary appear more appealing to potential clients? Now that I have been there, experienced the lack of integrity and realize how they operate— I know which one I believe to be true.
It is also worth noting that 2 of the 9 Staff Members listed in the PDF have left the company in the last 3 weeks due to the behavior of the owners Tony and Anya. One of these 2 was treated to unkindly, unfairly and disgustingly by Anya and Tony. They stole his property from his room at the Sanctuary and refused to give it back. Absolutely repulsive.
What I Was Expecting…
I came to the 180 Sanctuary on March 3, 2022, for 4 weeks of wellness, fitness, healing, therapy and coaching.
I was expecting a perfect, peaceful, calm and serene luxury resort for healing. Just like what they sell in all of their media.
Most of the time, it is quite peaceful.
But, regularly, I heard and witnessed the CEO Tony Tan absolutely GO OFF in a vicious fit of rage, stomping around yelling and CURSING at the top of his lungs (MANY f-bombs), directed at the kind, timid Thai staff.
Absolutely scary behavior by the co-founder and boss who is teaching everyone how to understand and regulate their emotions & behaviors.
The Hypocrisy of the Main Philosophy
180 is a trauma healing center. In the 180 Trauma Resilience Workbook, Chapter 1 page 10 it states that:
“Trauma is a powerful emotional response to a distressing event such as war, an accident, the unexpected loss of a loved one, or abuse.”
On subsequent pages it details types of trauma and Abuses that Cause Trauma, page 18:
Spiritual, Racial, Physical, Emotional, Intellectual, Sexual
Trauma can be something big like war, sexual assault, etc, and Trauma can also be as simple as a parent or authority yelling at you & demanding perfection.
They teach us that our thoughts, emotions and behaviors are the result of past trauma. We are taught to understand past trauma, so that we can regulate our emotions, so they do not turn into destructive behaviors. This is the MAIN philosophy of 180.
In their words, Trauma is caused by verbal abuse.
On page 21, the Trauma Triangle, it details the Persecutor, someone who is;
Critical, put others down
Blaming and bossy
Driven by anger and resentments
Dominating, rigid thinking
Keep victims down
This is exactly the vicious behavioral abuse regularly exhibited by Tony Tan towards his staff. REGULARLY. Not to mention, this type of verbal abuse is SCREAMED at the top of his lungs, with the word f#$%, and can be heard from over 100 yards away.
My First Encounter with Dr Rage
I had been at 180 Sanctuary for 7 full days before I witnessed who I call, “Dr Rage”, the altar ego of Tony Tan.
Just like Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. I nicknamed him Dr Rage and Mr Healer.
In the morning, he calmly leads us through mindfulness meditation. 2 nights a week, he calmly leads us through sound healing therapy. At first, he seems like such a calm and gentle man.
Then, he completely changes into a raging monster and unleashes the hell and fury on his subservient Thai staff.
But the main guy who is teaching us to learn how to regulate our emotions and our behaviors—-then turns around and viciously verbally attacks his staff. He exhibited the kind of vicious, extended rage that I’ve never witnessed in my life.
It was Friday, March 11th. A quiet and peaceful night in the cafeteria. I had just finished eating alone. Anya and Tony who normally sit together were sitting very far apart in the cafeteria. I walked by Tony and his energy seemed off. I sensed trouble.
I decided to walk around the resort, taking photos. And then, I heard the most vicious and vitriolic:
“I DON’T GIVE A F#$% WHAT YOU THINK!”
“RAH RAH RAH, F#$#% this and F that, BLA BLA BLA”. (paraphrasing)
I couldn’t believe what I was seeing and hearing. I saw Tony, stomping around the cafeteria into the kitchen. STUNNED, I decided to put distance between myself and this rage. This was around 6:35pm. (I know because of the meta data time stamp on the photos I took)
I walked away towards the other villas on the far end past the gym. I could still hear it.
I walked down to the kale fields to put more distance. I could still hear it.
6:40…6:45…6:50…6:55…6:59pm.
I could still hear it.
On Friday nights, we had a Life Skills workshop from 7pm - 8pm. At 6:59pm I messaged staff asking if our Life Skills Workshop was cancelled? I couldn’t imagine that this man could go from 100mph down to his normal calm self in 1 minute’s time.
But staff responded, “Yes” the workshop was on.
I walked to the workshop, shaking. I was honestly scared. I did not want to be near this type of vicious rage. Thoughts were swirling in my mind.
“How is this happening?!”
“How can he act like that in front of clients?”
“How can I trust this guy?”
“How is this happening at a ‘perfect, serene and peaceful place for healing’ called the Sanctuary?!”
Tony and his main staff assistant arrived at the workshop about 7 minutes late. The staff member was visibly shaken. Tony had changed back into Mr Healer, just like that.
He showed us 3 lengthy videos of the most technical, scientific information about the central nervous system—-none of this information was evenly remotely appropriate for us. This is the type of video you show to neuroscience students in grad school.
The whole time, I’m sitting there, watching Tony as he checks and responds to his Line app on his phone. His staff member is fidgeting non-stop in his seat, clearly uncomfortable. He looked quite disturbed.
By the end of the 50 minutes of scientifically detailed videos which I remember nothing about—-Tony starts to explain how cravings work and how cravings are the result of stress.
I pretended like everything was normal and asked a follow up question: “How come I get cravings for addictive behavior when I am feeling happy?” He acknowledged the question and responded without answering it, basically recapping what he had drawn on the board earlier. This was normal for him to not answer my questions directly. Maybe he didn’t know? Or, maybe he was distracted, still in his anger state? Who knows.
The Aftermath
I went to my room, shocked, confused & dismayed. Honestly, I had my reservations about this man before I even came to the Sanctuary. After watching his YouTube videos, I sensed something off. My instincts were pinging that maybe this man was not trustworthy.
Thankfully, he went on a business trip for 4 days the following morning and I did not have to be around him for a while.
The next morning, no one mentioned the incident—-the 24 minutes of vicious verbal rage. The staff seemed to just swept it under the rug.
I went to the morning process group and I brought up that I was feeling quite confused about the incident and why no one seemed to be addressing the HUGE elephant in the room.
I was told by the Process group leader that “this is a good lesson for life, because life is not perfect and sometimes people get emotional.”
Ummm…OK. Gaslighting, much?
I was befuddled. I tried to speak with some of the staff members and they all immediately changed the subject. I will not divulge any more details other than to say that is was clear to me that this was not an isolated incident.
Tony Tried to Sell to Me in my 2nd Therapy
Tony returned 4 days later and told me he would make up for our missed therapy session. We had one previous session and he had given me homework, a writing assignment.
The day of our 2nd session, Tony approached me in the cafeteria and said that he wanted to talk to me about some business ideas in Vietnam (where I reside).
This was a huge red flag for me, especially after the vicious tirade a week before.
I came to 180 as a client. I had been there about 2 weeks. And this man wants to pitch me on the idea of working together?
In our 2nd session, Tony started it off, by asking “How do you like the program so far?”
Lying, I said, “I love it.”
What am I supposed to say, “I love it but I think you’re a phony. I think you’re two faced and I would prefer to never see you again.”
He says “Good, I wanted to talk to you about an idea I had about selling NFTs…bla bla bla…and another idea about a 180 Sanctuary Club.” He spent 35 minutes of our 60 minute sessions pitching me on ideas about how we may be able to partner together.
The reason he said was that, he “wanted to make sure I was not bored with too much time on my hands after leaving 180.” LOL
This is the funniest part of the whole story! This man does not know me in any way! I NEVER Have free time. I’m inundated with project after project, many things that I have not completed. One of the main reasons I went to 180 was to work on my boundaries, because I am a people pleaser and I have a hard time saying no.
What a gracious guy to help save me from having too much time on my hands!
The Second Time I Saw Dr Rage
A few more days passed and I’m sitting in the cafeteria with another new client and one of the staff. We hear the loudest, longest and most vicious F-U ring out in the halls of the Sanctury:
“F#$%&* YOUUUUUUU!!!”
It was clear that this came from a fairly far distance. I was thinking the pool area, which is well over ~100 yards away.
The staff member jumped up and ran off.
The new client was stunned, said, “Whoa, who is that?”
I said, “Oh man…uh oh. Probably Tony.”
New client said, “Who? No, not Tony.”
I said, “Yeaaaaa, it’s Tony, I’ve heard it before.”
New client said, “No, not Tony, you mean Client _______? It sounded like it came from down by the pool, maybe it was that other client?”
At this moment, I made a decision to protect this client from the truth. “yes, you’re right, it was probably that client”.
Thankfully, the staff member who ran over to see what was going on, was able to make Dr Rage realize, everyone at the resort could hear this, even the new client. It stopped.
The Third and Final Straw
In the 3rd week of being at 180, loads of new clients arrived and thankfully my mind was redirected off of the rage. I was really enjoying interacting with the new clients, learning about their stories and enjoying the camaraderie.
There were many more red flags about Tony and Anya and the odd behaviors at 180 and I will mention those later in this article.
But everything came to a head on Monday, March 28th.
It was approximately, 5pm. I was in the cafeteria, and all of a sudden, I heard the familiar sound of Dr Rage. There were a couple new clients chatting in the cafeteria and I thought,
“I gotta get out of here, I don’t want to deal with this shit again.”
I started up towards my room, which is room 106, closest to the main front desk of 180 and closest to the entryway, where they have the staff meetings at 5pm.
As I’m heading up, I can’t help but hear the brutality in his voice. The absolute vitriol. My blood started to boil. I ran up the stairs and I was about to enter my room…but I could hear the rageful tirade. And I couldn’t stop listening. He was going on and on about the littlest things, like
“TWO F#$%IN YEARS, and STILL PICKIN UP DOG SHIT…”
“HOW MANY TIMES DO I F#$%IN NEED TO SAY…”
My blood started to boil. I’m thinking…
How dare this man criticize the staff like this?
How dare he treat them so cruelly?
Who does he think he is?
What a hypocrite!
How is this behavior acceptable!?
I couldn’t let it go. I ran back downstairs. Fight or Flight kicking in.
I wanted to FIGHT THIS MAN. This vile, disgusting, fake piece of s#$% who is treating his smiling, kind, 5 star staff like DOGS.
This is NOT OK.
I walked down the stairs by the main desk, and I immediately lock eyes with Anya—-who up until this point, seemed like the kindest, sweetest person in the world. I wondered how she could be with such a hypocrite rageaholic. No one is perfect, but if you’re going to run a trauma center, how can you condone this?
And then it hit me—-she is complicit. I stopped at the bottom of the stairs. With the most evil eyes, I glared at Anya. Then, glared at Dr Rage. He stopped yelling for a second. The staff looked at me.
Approximately 20 Thai staff, cooks, cleaners, wait staff etc, were all lined up in rows, hands behind their backs, looking straight forward, masks on, just taking the verbal lashings. Whip after whip.
3 of the staff were 19 year old university work-study interns.
I muttered something to myself, like “what the actual F is this…” and I stormed off toward the pool to cool off.
5 steps in, I spun around and marched back and I was this close to running and confronting Dr Rage.
Someone needs to stand up for them!
As i returned, glaring at Dr Rage, logic crept back into my mind. I realized I needed to flee. If I stayed, I would have lashed out verbally, if not physically at Phony Tony, aka Tony Tan-trum, aka Tony the Tyrant.
I paid for and came for 4 weeks, but left 3 days early, because I couldn’t stand watching him viciously yell at the Thai staff. They all line up like soldiers, hands behind their backs, looking forward as he curses & berates them.
3rd time in ~3 weeks.
Despicable way to treat people.
Most clients are too afraid to speak up. But I could not stand by and watch people get treated so cruelly.
The Excuses
I marched up to my room and packed my belongings. Immediately messaged Anya, and several staff.
When I confronted the staff about this despicable behavior, they sent a staff member to my room. I told him that this was unacceptable behavior, against my values, and completely antithetical to the teachings and main philosophy of 180.
The man who is supposed to be teaching us how to regulate our behavior and help us heal from trauma—-is doing the very type of abuse that causes trauma.
I was told:
“Tony just likes things a certain way and that’s why he yells…”.
When I did not accept this excuse, a second staff member arrived to my room and I was told a 2nd excuse
“Tony has a disorder which causes him to rage”.
If he has a disorder, he needs to step away immediately and get SERIOUS HELP.
He is CAUSING trauma for me, other clients and staff.
My New Trauma
When I left 180, I thought I was ok. I wrote a letter to the staff, a letter to the clients and left these mementos in. my room.
BUT…
So much new information has come to light.
So much new dirt. DISGUSTING.
I have had difficulty sleeping since I left.
And I’m super stressed and anxious over the whole ordeal.
After I Left…
At first, I was willing to hide this info to protect 180. I told them, “get me out of here, and you can tell the clients I had a private family emergency.”
But a week after I left, 180 staff called to confront me about spreading info to clients (I did not).
How dare they call and try to silence me?!
No one has a right to inflict pain and trauma on others and then demand silence.
Ethical Violations of Privacy & Confidentiality
Also, I witnessed several violations of client privacy & confidentiality by the main boss, openly, casually discussing former and current clients’ diagnoses with clients in the cafeteria and in groups.
And then minutes later, he instructs all of us to not discuss anything private or confidential outside the walls of 180.
I would go into more details about this, but because it involves private client info, I don’t even want to discuss it. It is horrifying how casually this man discusses people’s private health information.
For the Staff
Overall, the other staff were 5 star. They deserve praise, recognition and kindness. The massage therapist was great. The resort and rooms are clean, beautiful and comfortable. The food is great and the wait staff was fantastic.
The Program
As far as the program—it is quite heavy on fitness, and quite light on education. The therapy was good, and the coaching and support staff were EXCELLENT. Actually, the coaching (by former clients) was the most effective and helpful for me.
Recommendation - Stay Far Away
I had to cut my time short at 180. Future clients need to know the truth.
If listening to someone viciously yell and treat people cruelly is triggering—the 180 “Sanctuary” is not a safe place.
If you want your personal info to be kept confidential, do not expect the respect of your privacy.