Manipulation and Lies, from a Phony Teacher

I studied with Zhen (aka Zhenevere Sophia Dao, aka Zhenzan Dao, aka Daniel Villasenor) for many years at the Mogadao Institute. Over those years Zhen presented herself as a trustworthy and reliable teacher, and I believed it. Within a few months all of that changed when Zhen betrayed me, lied to me, manipulated me, gossiped behind my back, attempted to split up my relationship, pursued my partner, acted out of integrity, and hypocritically went against the very words she teaches. After this horrible experience I left Zhen and the Mogadao Institute.

I hope that this testimonial helps current students who are still studying with Zhen to see the truth and get out of a toxic community with an unsafe teacher, as I believe Zhen and the Mogadao Institute to be. I hope that this testimonial can reach people interested in studying with Zhen before they do so, in order to see the truth about her and the Mogadao Institute. May you never have to go through the hell that I, and many others have.

I thought I could trust Zhen wholeheartedly, which I now know is not the case.

I learned that Zhen would say many demeaning things about me and my character behind my back. I heard this from three different people. In class she would praise me, and my character. This was very demoralizing to hear, as she carried herself with an exuberant air of being the most trustworthy person alive, and made it seem like she was the exemplary of being in integrity. She most definitely isn’t.

Zhen also attempted to sabotage my relationship by getting between my girlfriend and me, and then actively pursued my girlfriend.

One day she pulled me aside to talk to me. At this point Zhen recently changed their preferred pronoun from ‘they’ to ‘she’ and was starting to take female hormone therapy and estrogen. In class she was speaking very bluntly and openly about her being a woman. She clearly took a lot of pride about being a woman, to an almost boastful extent. But when she pulled me aside she said:

“I need to talk to you… MAN TO MAN… I know you and Gabrielle have something special going on and I don’t want to get in the way of that. I want you to know that I am BEYOND RELATIONSHIP.”

            Why would she even pull me aside to tell me this in the first place. That means she was thinking about it. So wrong and dirty and a lie straight to my face.

To me it seems Zhen used the phrase “man to man,” as a way to reach me, to make it feel as if I could trust her. She even gave a little nudge, nudge, wink, wink kind of thing as if to make it feel authentic. I now see how this was a huge red flag. For Zhen to be so adamant in class and in public about being a woman, and being a transwoman, and then when she is out of the public eye saying “man to man,” shows she is acting out of integrity and using gender as a tool and weapon in my opinion.

In hindsight I also see how big of a red flag it is for her to have said, “I am beyond relationship.” The entire program that she founded is built upon eros and relationship.

Then Zhen persuaded me to start dating other women. She told me that Gabrielle was too old for me, and that it wouldn’t work. She said I should just move on and not talk to her. What horrible advice from a person who claims to be a spiritual teacher and relationship counselor.

She most certainly is neither, just an actor playing the roles. She has no formal training, studying, or tradition for the Mogadao practice. She just makes it up out of thin air and changes it regularly in order for people to keep paying money to stay up to date. She also claims that she gives relationship counseling but has no training and is not licensed to do so. Fraud.

Anyways after telling me to stay away from Gabrielle, she started telling Gabrielle to stay away from me. She started to actively pursue Gabrielle even though Gabrielle constantly said that I am not interested you, I love my boyfriend and want to be with him.

Zhen was persistent and did her best to attempt to split us up, manipulate us, keep us from talking, and make us turn on each other. It was horrible.

One of the worse things Zhen did was try to influence and push me toward another woman in the school. She would constantly try to make me feel like we belong together and that this other student was the one for me, not Gabrielle. While I was in a relationship with Gabrielle, Zhen said she would give me and this other girl relationship counseling together. Messed Up.

When I confronted Zhen on what was going on and why she was trying to interfere with my relationship she used the “man to man” trick on me again.

“We need to sit down and talk sometime… Man to man…

Let me explain to you what was really going on with Gabrielle and I…”

Hearing her try to use this on me, after all the ways she betrayed me, manipulated situations, and lied I was done with her abuse and the toxic school forever, and walked away.

In reading this and the other testimonials on the website I hope you too are able to have the courage to walk away from Zhen and the Mogadao Institute. And if you are thinking about studying with Zhen I would highly recommend to save yourself the trouble, money, time, and energy, and DON’T. I believe Zhen is an abusive teacher and Mogadao is a toxic program.