Episodes
-
Despite what most coaches would have you to believe, many of them are struggling to make the kind of money and bring in the kind of engagement, attention and enrollment they used to. Why is the coaching industry crumbling? To answer that question, we delve into several more: Why do people say the coaching industry is a giant pyramid scheme? What should people do if they feel that they've been scammed by their coach? And what's about ethical coaches?
Clinical input and research courtesy of Mary Claire Ferachi (MA, LPC, LAC) and Katie Smith (MA, LPC, MFT-C)
Theme music by Will Shishmanian -
What happens when spirituality and wellness-related tools end up giving us material for obsessive and unhealthy fixations?
-
Missing episodes?
-
Susun Weed is a well-known herbalist living on a farm in Upstate New York. For decades, her survivors have told stories of being beaten, broken down, drugged and trafficked by her while paying for her courses and apprenticeships, yet Susun remains praised and platformed in the American herbalism community. How can this be, when so many (including law enforcement) have known about her abuse for so long?
-
How exactly do new-age and wellness influencers successfully convince people to give them so much money? This episode explores nine specific sales tactics, from love-bombing to prosperity gospel
-
Guess what- most of those divine femininity influencer ladies? sleep with each other. all the time. While simultaneously building brands off of content that only acknowledges the validity of heterosexual relationships.
This is the story of how a community that claims to accept everyone manages to be homophobic as hell. -
wtf is homeopathy? Does it refer to all holistic health practices, or one modality in particular? How is it different from herbalism? And most importantly, does it have any credibility?
-
What drives someone to do vigorous exercise in a hot room packed with smelly, stinky people? Is sweating actually an effective form of detox, and does hot yoga really deliver the workout you think it does? This episode investigates three specific hot yoga brands- Bikram Yoga, Forrest Yoga and Baptiste Yoga- and explores the question of whether or not it's ethical to create your own trademarked yoga name brand in the first place.
CW: sexual abuse
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to 'Cornucopia' by Jose Calarco
-
What happens when cultural appropriation becomes deadly? James Arthur Ray killed three people in October 2009, but has been able to successfully re-launch his career as a spiritual self-help salesman. How was he able to manipulate people to override their most hard-wired survival instincts, and how was he able to bounce back and even profit off of the story?
Seeksafely.org Support this work: https://www.patreon.com/katyaweissandersson -
This episode does two things:
1. Explores the story of the mysterious death of Carla Jean Shaffer and the local self-fashioned guru, Aaravindha Himdara, who swears he had no part in it 2. Explores the dilemma of what happens when both sides of a story give you red flags Scofield's original piece on Carla Shaffer's death Scofield's Love Has won Audio Documentary Support this work -
This episode delves into two particularly dogmatic and pseudoscientific diets within the holistic wellness world: raw veganism and the Weston A Price diet. We also revisit the Medical Medium as Katya reports back after doing his celery juice challenge
Support this work: https://www.patreon.com/katyaweissandersson
-
The Twelve Tribes is a messianic cult with communities and businesses worldwide; they camouflage themselves seamlessly with hippie communities and recruit new people as actively as they can. Not only are their teachings horrifically racist, antisemitic and homophobic, but countless survivors have reported experiencing child abuse, sexual abuse and more. What's worse: no one quite knows who's died and been buried on their grounds.
FBI Document
Support this work -
In the new-age world, one particular tactic is being used more and more frequently to dismiss and silence criticism. It's being used by Bauhauswife, Angela Sumner, The Holistic Psychologist, followers of the Love Has Won cult and its now-deceased leader Amy Carlson, and countless others. This episode identifies and takes apart this tactic.
-
The Love Has Won cult has been preying on people, abusing their followers and drawing in money for years, but it looks like their leader, 45-year-old Amy Carlson aka "Mother God," has been found dead. This episode takes a closer look at this QAnon-aligned, Colorado-based spiritual group.
https://www.risingabovelhw.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/lovehaswon https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRxD3eH19hE Support this work at: http://www.patreon.com/katyaweissandersson -
Katya gives an uncomfortable and belated answer to a very popular set of questions and concerns regarding the Conspirituality Podcast
-
Today's new-age polarity scene not only shares an alarming overlap with Conservative Christian "Traditional Gender Roles" culture, but also owes much of its origins to the 1992 relationship self-help bestseller Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus by fraudster and scammer "Doctor" John Gray.
-
Is it the hottest trend sweeping the new-age and self help world, helping people hack their lives and relationships with a fundamental law of the universe, or is it just centuries-old recycled misogyny?
-
This episode dives into the controversial "Freebirth" movement and their views on everything from birth to surrogacy to COVID to race to...porn and the rights of transgender people?
-
After many years of experience, Davidia Turner was tired of being used as the “token Black teacher” at yoga studio after yoga studio. So in the midst of a wild 2020, she walked away from studio teaching. On this episode, Davidia tells her story in her own words.
Davidia's Website
Patreon to support this podcast
Yoga is Dead Episode -
What happens when a corporation puts on a performance of values and makes a brand out of wholesomeness, but carries out a very different reality behind the scenes?
Whole Worker Union -
This episode tells the story of the sex trafficking cult NXIVM, and how devastatingly NXIVM's story of abuse parallels existing groups and leaders in the new-age and wellness world. Doe Paoro features in a powerful guest interview telling her own story of experiencing woo-sphere predation, and the factors that enabled it.
- Show more
