Oh f*ck, did we join a yoga cult?! We thought it was an organization that was changing the world through yoga - because the yoga felt so amazing and that's what the "methodology" was supposed to help us do. But the deeper we got in, the more indoctrinated we became. We've learned a LOT since then about manipulation, coercion, abuse of power and undue influence. (Be a yes, don't get me started...) And we're going to share it with you here. Super casual style, not fancy. It's just us and our opinions and true stories. We are allowed to speak our truth. We hope this helps people.
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Oh f*ck, did we join a yoga cult?! We thought it was an organization that was changing the world through yoga - because the yoga felt so amazing and that's what the "methodology" was supposed to help us do. But the deeper we got in, the more indoctrinated we became. We've learned a LOT since then about manipulation, coercion, abuse of power and undue influence. (Be a yes, don't get me started...) And we're going to share it with you here. Super casual style, not fancy. It's just us and our opinions and true stories. We are allowed to speak our truth. We hope this helps people.
10 - Cult Expert Dr. Janja Lalich on How We Became the "Perfect Followers"
Journey Into Yoga Cults
52 minutes 29 seconds
3 years ago
10 - Cult Expert Dr. Janja Lalich on How We Became the "Perfect Followers"
Listen to our mind-blowing conversation with Dr. Lalich and we describe in detail the process of going through Baptiste training and her explanation of how it's deliberately designed to make us into "perfect little followers" and pretty soon taking on the doctrine of the group as our own. We have learned to commit and not speak out so any red flags we see are put on a "shelf" until one day the shelf breaks and we start to untangle and question everything. Classic techniques used since the 60's and 70's birth of the Large Group Awareness Trainings (LGAT) era have been re-purposed by Baron and Baptiste Yoga which are touted as "self-help" are actually designed to cause self abuse and train the participant to abuse and gaslight themselves using the "tools" learned in the trainings. Learn how to not "cult-hop" from one high control group to another by recognizing the sign and techniques used by many different types of cult-like groups.
Janja Lalich, Ph.D. is a researcher, author, and educator specializing in cults and extremist groups, with a particular focus on charismatic relationships, political and other social movements, ideology and social control, and issues of gender and sexuality. She has been a consultant to educational, mental health, business, media, and legal professionals, as well as having worked with current members, former members, and families of members of controversial groups.
A former Fulbright scholar, Dr. Lalich is Professor Emerita of Sociology at California State University, Chico, where in 2007 she was awarded the Professional Achievement Honor. Also, Dr. Lalich is the founder and director of the Center for Research on Influence and Control. She received a B.A. with Honors from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. She has a Master’s in Human Development and a Ph.D. in Human and Organizational Systems from Fielding Graduate University in Santa Barbara, California.
Dr. Lalich has written and lectured extensively and is author, coauthor, or editor of numerous books, articles, and chapters. Her most recent book is Take Back Your Life: Recovering from Cults and Abusive Relationships (Bay Tree Publishing, 2006), a fully-revised and expanded edition of her first book, Captive Hearts, Captive Minds, which has been the number-one book used by former cult members and their friends and families to better understand cult experiences and their consequences. Another of her recent publications is the critically acclaimed Bounded Choice: True Believers and Charismatic Cults (University of California Press, 2004), based on her research on the Heaven’s Gate cult, the group that committed collective suicide in 1997, and her own 10+ years’ experience in a political cult, the San Francisco-based Democratic Workers Party. Most importantly, this book puts forth Dr. Lalich’s “bounded choice” theory, which offers a new approach for understanding the dynamics of “self-sealed” groups and the true-believer phenomenon.
Resources:
Follow Janja Lalich @janja_lalich
Books: Take Back Your Life; Bounded Choice, Escaping Utopia, Captive Hearts, Captive Minds, Cults in Our Midst
Take Back Your Life Recovery https://www.tbylr.com/
Shows Janja has appeared in: The Lost Women of NXIVM; Seduced; Cults & Extreme Beliefs
Mentioned in this episode:
Karma Cola (book) "what happens when the traditions of an ancient and long-lived society are turned into commodities and sold to those who don't understand them" https://www.amazon.com/Karma-Cola-Marketing-Vintage-International-ebook/dp/B007SGM28W
Kumaré (movie) https://kumaremovie.com/synopsis.php
Journey Into Yoga Cults
Oh f*ck, did we join a yoga cult?! We thought it was an organization that was changing the world through yoga - because the yoga felt so amazing and that's what the "methodology" was supposed to help us do. But the deeper we got in, the more indoctrinated we became. We've learned a LOT since then about manipulation, coercion, abuse of power and undue influence. (Be a yes, don't get me started...) And we're going to share it with you here. Super casual style, not fancy. It's just us and our opinions and true stories. We are allowed to speak our truth. We hope this helps people.
