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New investigation for BBC Sounds and Radio 4 uncovers shocking allegations of sexual exploitation, grooming and trafficking linked to a yoga movement with followers in the UK, as British woman speaks out against accused guru Gregorian Bivolaru
bbc ^ | 9 December 2024

Posted on 12/27/2024 1:46:17 AM PST by Cronos

A new investigative podcast series for Radio 4 and BBC Sounds has uncovered shocking allegations of sexual exploitation, grooming and trafficking, linked to the teachings of convicted sex offender and ‘bad guru’ Gregorian Bivolaru. The 72-year-old Romanian is spiritual guide to thousands of students at yoga schools affiliated to Atman - the International Federation of Yoga and Meditation.

...Miranda first joined tantric yoga classes at Tara Yoga Centre near Old Street, London, in 2017. After becoming involved in a wider movement of Gregorian Bivolaru’s followers, she says that within two years, she found herself at the centre of an international web of trafficking and sexual exploitation.

Atman promotes the teachings of Gregorian Bivolaru, a convicted sex offender who was charged in France in November 2023 with human trafficking, organised kidnapping, rape, and the French criminal offence of organised abuse of weakness by a sect. He is also wanted in Finland on aggravated human trafficking charges.

...Miranda says that through a series of encounters with different parts of the international movement, she ended up participating in sexualised rituals, and she says she was tricked into travelling to a villa near Prague where she was persuaded to work as a webcammer for a live online pornography business for six months. She also describes how she and other female followers were driven through Paris blindfolded to meet the fugitive guru at a secret location for a so-called initiation involving prolonged sexual intercourse; the reason Miranda says she went is because she believed it was part of a spiritual programme set for her by her guru, and promoted as an essential next step by the community, teachers and classes she’d come to trust, and she didn’t want to fail. She says she now believes it is a cult.

(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: atman; gregorianbivolaru; romania; sexcrimes; tantricyoga; yoga
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A Romanian yoga guru?

Who makes you swear an oath on the BIBLE and then mixed yoga with Christian, etc. beliefs -- and they didn't set off any alarm bells?

This is a really good podcast --

This is World of Secrets, Season Six, The Bad Guru, a BBC Radio 4 investigation available to listen first on BBC Sounds from December 9.

1 posted on 12/27/2024 1:46:17 AM PST by Cronos
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To: Cronos

2 posted on 12/27/2024 1:47:13 AM PST by Cronos
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To: Cronos
Who makes you swear an oath on the BIBLE and then mixed yoga with Christian beliefs?

This is what happens when the Pope loves Muslims more than Christians. Someone needs to the fill the void.

3 posted on 12/27/2024 1:58:29 AM PST by Right_Wing_Madman
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To: Cronos

Women will believe anything.


4 posted on 12/27/2024 2:11:48 AM PST by Mr. Blond
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To: Cronos

“tricked into travelling to a villa near Prague where she was persuaded to work as a webcammer for a live online pornography business for six months”/


5 posted on 12/27/2024 2:19:09 AM PST by 9YearLurker
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To: Mr. Blond

Or pretend to.


6 posted on 12/27/2024 2:19:55 AM PST by 9YearLurker
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To: Cronos

With new AI tools, soon anyone with an evil streak can start a side hustle in their spare time as a pimp or mysterious cult leader. And with AI bodycams recording and documenting everything, women may no longer be able to play the dumb victim, or win the lawsuit lottery game. 24-hour bodycam legal protection will soon be a normal function of cell phones, if TikTok isn’t already doing that.


7 posted on 12/27/2024 2:22:31 AM PST by Reeses
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To: All

8 posted on 12/27/2024 2:56:16 AM PST by Liz ((This then is how we should pray: Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. ))
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To: Cronos

“She says she now believes it is a cult.”


Ya think?


9 posted on 12/27/2024 3:01:34 AM PST by CFW
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To: Cronos

Swearing an oath on the Bible is contradictory to the Bible.


10 posted on 12/27/2024 3:44:09 AM PST by tired&retired (Blessings )
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To: Cronos

Tantric yoga - for Horizontal voters.

During These Times of Stress and Uncertainty Your Doshas May Be Unbalanced.

https://www.yogapedia.com/a-simple-guide-to-tantra-yoga-what-it-really-is/2/11244


11 posted on 12/27/2024 3:54:06 AM PST by Libloather (Why do climate change hoax deniers live in mansions on the beach?)
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To: Cronos

Similar stories are heard in any religious group where the religion is used to control people and discipline their followers in rigid legalism that promotes a dependency relationship rather than healthy self actualization.

I have studied cults and cult deprogramming for most of my life. They typically target the most vulnerable, i.e. young women who have just left their parent’s household and have not yet found a sense of self.

Freshmen in college are one of the prime targets. They are away from their parents and searching for a new group dependency identity. This is also why the gay and lesbian movement targets this group.

I have worked with patients who were not lesbians, but had a lesbian experience in their freshman dorm. This was followed by a strong group validation and congratulations for becoming “One of us.”

The same is true of the pro-abortion group.

These groups do everything they can to isolate the young person from their family and friends, along with the moral values held by them.

They often use nicknames for the person so they formulate a new identity around that name in the new group.

These same techniques are often used in many Christian churches.


12 posted on 12/27/2024 3:59:50 AM PST by tired&retired (Blessings )
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To: Libloather

Very few people, including those who proclaim to practice it, truly understand tantric yoga.


13 posted on 12/27/2024 4:01:18 AM PST by tired&retired (Blessings )
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To: Mr. Blond

“Women will believe anything”

So true. There is a good documentary about the NXIVM sex cult on HBO. Upper class, seemingly intelligent, women were brain washed into becoming sex slaves for the guru. It’s amazing how gullible they were. Reminds me of the upper class, wealthy female Democrat voter.

https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/tv/a33658764/what-is-nxivm-sex-cult-celebrities-stars-the-vow-hbo-true-story/


14 posted on 12/27/2024 4:07:01 AM PST by DeplorablePaul
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To: Cronos

she sounds somewhat gullible ...


15 posted on 12/27/2024 4:10:41 AM PST by bankwalker (Repeal the 19th ...)
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To: Cronos

I can’t imagine anyone getting involved in Tantric Yoga being surprised that it involves sex.


16 posted on 12/27/2024 4:11:42 AM PST by jdege
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To: Mr. Blond

Yes, but she finally woke up. “She says she now believes it is a cult.”

These are not uncommon stories from all over the world. A charismatic leader forms a cult and the female members must have sex with him to achieve enlightenment.


17 posted on 12/27/2024 4:48:32 AM PST by ProtectOurFreedom (Marxism is a politics for the ugly, unwanted, uneducated, unhealthy, and insane.)
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To: Cronos
What's wrong with a 20 minute workout? Isn't that enough?


18 posted on 12/27/2024 6:19:16 AM PST by jerod (Nazis were essentially Socialist in Hugo Boss uniforms... Get over it!)
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To: Mr. Blond

“Women will believe anything.”

Look at the Covid pandemic and the crazed mask Karens, which are still around and roaming free by the way.


19 posted on 12/27/2024 6:43:56 AM PST by dljordan (What would Michael Collins do?)
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To: Mr. Blond

which is why they are such poor voters ... statistically speaking ...


20 posted on 12/27/2024 6:47:29 AM PST by bankwalker (Repeal the 19th ...)
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