Yoga cult survivor who escaped before disturbing initiation shares red flags that alerted her to leave
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The survivor of a Yoga cult is speaking about her horrific experience in a new documentary three years after the cult’s leader was arrested.
Gregorian Bivolaru ran the ‘Movement for Spiritual Integration into the Absolute’, a cult that would initially present itself as a Yoga school before putting people through disturbing initiations.
This terrifying story is the focus of Apple TV’s brand new documentary Twisted Yoga which features interviews with several victims of the cult.
Ashleigh Freckleton joined this cult in 2018 without realising, believing she had joined a ‘Yoga school’ in London. She joined the school after a bad breakup, stating in an exclusive interview with LADbible that she was hoping to learn some coping techniques.
What she didn’t know was that the ‘Yoga school’ she had joined allegedly held ‘transfiguration’ rituals for ‘integration’, which involved having sex with the self-professed guru Gregorian.
Ashleigh found out about the school through one of her brother’s friends, stating that early on it was simply all about yoga and things ‘snowballed’ because she ‘trusted them, and trusted their judgement’. Prior to her full initiation she was taken on a trip to Romania, leading her to nearly leave the Yoga school.
She said: “I left Romania and was ready to leave the school and I was like ‘that was weird was that a cult’ I’m not really sure.I was in a very bad place and I took myself to the yoga class as a way to try and feel better because the practices have been so effective in kind of regulating my nervous system which we know is supported by science.
“I went into the centre and I sat down and they started playing this music. I was in a meditative posture and the feeling of calm and serenity that came over me and I started internally laughing at myself and going ‘how did you think this was a cult that’s ridiculous this is the safest most wholesome purest serene place to be’ and like all of my doubts vanished.”
Read more https://www.ladbible.com/entertainment/tv/cult-twisted-yoga-documentary-misa-ashleigh-survivor-107213-20260313
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