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Surviving Modern Yoga: Cult Dynamics, Charismatic Leaders, and What Survivors Can Teach Us
Grounded in investigative research and real survivor stories, Surviving Modern Yoga uncovers the physical and sexual abuse perpetrated by Ashtanga yoga leader Pattabhi Jois—and reckons with the culture, structures, and mythos that enabled it.
The revised edition of Practice and All is Coming from Conspirituality co-host Matthew Remski
Yoga culture sells well-meaning westerners the full physical health, good vibes, and spiritual growth. Here, investigative journalist Matthew Remski explores how cultic dynamics, institutional self-interest, and spiritualized indifference collude to obscure the Harm happens in plain sight.
Through in-depth interviews, insider analysis, and Remski’s own history with high-demand groups, Surviving Modern Yoga brings to light how we’re each susceptible to cult abuse and exploitation. He shows how, with the right kind of situational vulnerability and the wrong kind of guru, the ideas we hold close about ourselves—like It wouldn’t happen to me or I’d speak up for victims—fail to protect us.
Remski reckons with his own complicity in spiritual power dynamics, and shares how a process of disillusionment allowed him to recognize harm. He does the same for readers, peeling back the veneer of yoga marketing to reveal the abuse, assault, and silencing perpetrated against seekers who trusted Jois as a mentor, their guruji—even a father figure. Each survivor speaks in their own words, on their own terms, reclaiming agency against an insular, in-group culture that enabled a charismatic leader’s devastating harm—and positioned him as its only remedy.
Surviving Modern Yoga also includes practical tools to help
Understand how high-demand groups trap would-be targetsEvaluate their own situational vulnerabilitiesLearn to listen for loaded, red-flag languageCultivate their literacy of cult tactics
The revised edition of Practice and All is Coming from Conspirituality co-host Matthew Remski
Yoga culture sells well-meaning westerners the full physical health, good vibes, and spiritual growth. Here, investigative journalist Matthew Remski explores how cultic dynamics, institutional self-interest, and spiritualized indifference collude to obscure the Harm happens in plain sight.
Through in-depth interviews, insider analysis, and Remski’s own history with high-demand groups, Surviving Modern Yoga brings to light how we’re each susceptible to cult abuse and exploitation. He shows how, with the right kind of situational vulnerability and the wrong kind of guru, the ideas we hold close about ourselves—like It wouldn’t happen to me or I’d speak up for victims—fail to protect us.
Remski reckons with his own complicity in spiritual power dynamics, and shares how a process of disillusionment allowed him to recognize harm. He does the same for readers, peeling back the veneer of yoga marketing to reveal the abuse, assault, and silencing perpetrated against seekers who trusted Jois as a mentor, their guruji—even a father figure. Each survivor speaks in their own words, on their own terms, reclaiming agency against an insular, in-group culture that enabled a charismatic leader’s devastating harm—and positioned him as its only remedy.
Surviving Modern Yoga also includes practical tools to help
Understand how high-demand groups trap would-be targetsEvaluate their own situational vulnerabilitiesLearn to listen for loaded, red-flag languageCultivate their literacy of cult tactics
- GenresNonfiction
380 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 14, 2024
24 people are currently reading
139 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
May 11, 2024
2.5 stars
Firstly, I would like to extend my gratitude to North Atlantic Books, Matthew Remski and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced reader copy (ARC) in exchange for an honest review.
"Surviving Modern Yoga: Cult Dynamics, Charismatic Leaders, and What Survivors Can Teach Us" by Matthew Remski is a significant and necessary contribution to the discussion of abuse in the yoga world, and I appreciate the author's efforts to shed light on this critical issue. I think for anyone that has engaged with a yoga community divorced from its site of origin, this book provides a lot of insight into how that cultural divide can be exploited and manipulated. In an age of increasing agnosticism, it's interesting to see how yoga has been posited as an answer to many Western audiences. Remski's research is undoubtedly vast and valuable, as he raises essential questions about power dynamics, charismatic leaders, and the impact of cult-like behavior in yoga communities.
Despite all this, I found the book to be a challenging and disappointing read. Remski's choice to narrate this in the first person and his constant justification of his own feelings as well as his need relay every personal association he had to the subject matter became tiresome. This shifted focus from the stories of the survivors and detracted from the overall message of the book.
I also felt the structure of the book could have been improved. A tighter narrative, a narrowed focused and more concise language would have made the book more engaging and accessible to a broader audience. As it is the book reads too long, and tries to accomplish too many things at once, again diluting the impact.
Overall I regret to say this was a difficult book to get through for me. While I believe that Remski's research and the broader discussion of abuse in yoga are vital and need to be addressed. I think the structure and the narrative approach could have been refined. I recommend this to anyone who's had an experience, even if they don't particularly view it negatively, in a modern yoga community. I think this book offers a lot of valuable insight and I hope it opens the door to further discussions and research on the matter.
Firstly, I would like to extend my gratitude to North Atlantic Books, Matthew Remski and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced reader copy (ARC) in exchange for an honest review.
"Surviving Modern Yoga: Cult Dynamics, Charismatic Leaders, and What Survivors Can Teach Us" by Matthew Remski is a significant and necessary contribution to the discussion of abuse in the yoga world, and I appreciate the author's efforts to shed light on this critical issue. I think for anyone that has engaged with a yoga community divorced from its site of origin, this book provides a lot of insight into how that cultural divide can be exploited and manipulated. In an age of increasing agnosticism, it's interesting to see how yoga has been posited as an answer to many Western audiences. Remski's research is undoubtedly vast and valuable, as he raises essential questions about power dynamics, charismatic leaders, and the impact of cult-like behavior in yoga communities.
Despite all this, I found the book to be a challenging and disappointing read. Remski's choice to narrate this in the first person and his constant justification of his own feelings as well as his need relay every personal association he had to the subject matter became tiresome. This shifted focus from the stories of the survivors and detracted from the overall message of the book.
I also felt the structure of the book could have been improved. A tighter narrative, a narrowed focused and more concise language would have made the book more engaging and accessible to a broader audience. As it is the book reads too long, and tries to accomplish too many things at once, again diluting the impact.
Overall I regret to say this was a difficult book to get through for me. While I believe that Remski's research and the broader discussion of abuse in yoga are vital and need to be addressed. I think the structure and the narrative approach could have been refined. I recommend this to anyone who's had an experience, even if they don't particularly view it negatively, in a modern yoga community. I think this book offers a lot of valuable insight and I hope it opens the door to further discussions and research on the matter.
January 19, 2025
My favorite passage from this book; almost universally applicable to anyone who has been coerced or overcome in a religious / spiritual community:
“Interviewing me back then as a member of a new religious movement; a researcher basing their studies solely on a member’s internal experience might have gathered rich information on how these beliefs, reinforced by group practice, affected my work, finances, diet, political will, sex life, even dreams. But they might not have considered how this web of commitments was simultaneously harming me through emotional, financial, and labor manipulation. They may have assumed that I was freely participating in a movement that spoke to my needs and values. But the truth is, that the group spoke to my needs and values because it had convinced me that it did. In fact, the group actually programmed into me needs and values that I did not previously have. Only six months into my relationship with the group, I firmly believed that I was working my way out of a meaningless, mundane existence towards successive levels of enlightenment and that my progress would be accelerated to the extent that I viewed the leader and his inner circle as divine beings who were guiding me. Further, any negative experience I had relating to them was the projection of my own delusional mind. It took me three years to remember my pre-indoctrinated state and to see that beneath the trappings of religious authenticity the leader was an intellectual, emotional, and sexual manipulator. No one is free when they are being lied to. I’m much freer and happier with my critical thinking restored; but there has been a cost. My psyche remains heavily armored against the possibility of being deceived. This makes it difficult to remain open to the intuitive, aspirational, and imaginary aspects of life. This is what I think of when I hear ‘spiritual abuse’: I lost six years of my life to the high-demand groups I was in. I suffered physical, economic, emotional, relational and cognitive deficits for years afterwards, but the thing that hurts the most to this day is the wound of cynicism every-present like a door standing perpetually open to distrust and melancholy. When I close that door, I can feel a cozy innocence return in flashes.”
“Interviewing me back then as a member of a new religious movement; a researcher basing their studies solely on a member’s internal experience might have gathered rich information on how these beliefs, reinforced by group practice, affected my work, finances, diet, political will, sex life, even dreams. But they might not have considered how this web of commitments was simultaneously harming me through emotional, financial, and labor manipulation. They may have assumed that I was freely participating in a movement that spoke to my needs and values. But the truth is, that the group spoke to my needs and values because it had convinced me that it did. In fact, the group actually programmed into me needs and values that I did not previously have. Only six months into my relationship with the group, I firmly believed that I was working my way out of a meaningless, mundane existence towards successive levels of enlightenment and that my progress would be accelerated to the extent that I viewed the leader and his inner circle as divine beings who were guiding me. Further, any negative experience I had relating to them was the projection of my own delusional mind. It took me three years to remember my pre-indoctrinated state and to see that beneath the trappings of religious authenticity the leader was an intellectual, emotional, and sexual manipulator. No one is free when they are being lied to. I’m much freer and happier with my critical thinking restored; but there has been a cost. My psyche remains heavily armored against the possibility of being deceived. This makes it difficult to remain open to the intuitive, aspirational, and imaginary aspects of life. This is what I think of when I hear ‘spiritual abuse’: I lost six years of my life to the high-demand groups I was in. I suffered physical, economic, emotional, relational and cognitive deficits for years afterwards, but the thing that hurts the most to this day is the wound of cynicism every-present like a door standing perpetually open to distrust and melancholy. When I close that door, I can feel a cozy innocence return in flashes.”
January 18, 2025
Looking at the ways yoga can be cult-y and how it was impacted by me too. Dragged a bit for my taste but wanted to read more on yoga before considering a teacher training course 🤔
June 19, 2024
Whoa. As a former baby Ashtangi, who knew nothing about what really happened in Mysore (or any time Pattabhi Jois was teaching, apparently), this book was like a bomb going off. Not only were the stories absolutely horrific, the absolute refusal of many "elite" Ashtangis to believe or accept them was completely appalling. Another example of why blindly following a leader, being in their thrall and never questioning anything, is so incredibly dangerous and damaging.
June 6, 2024
As a person who is newer to the practice of yoga, I've felt pretty comfortable in the yoga studios where I've taken classes. Most teachers are not doing hands-on adjustments these days. The teachers and their overly familiar interactions with their students is, thankfully, nothing I ever witnessed or experienced.
The author brings in many voices of others who did experience trauma at the hands of a yoga teacher. Their recounting of these incidents is so disturbing that this book could be a trigger for those who have experienced physical trauma at the hands of someone else.
Those who have been in the yoga world for years will probably know more of the names and places. It's definitely a tough read but an interesting facet of yoga studios or styles taught by one person who loses respect for their students' autonomy.
The author brings in many voices of others who did experience trauma at the hands of a yoga teacher. Their recounting of these incidents is so disturbing that this book could be a trigger for those who have experienced physical trauma at the hands of someone else.
Those who have been in the yoga world for years will probably know more of the names and places. It's definitely a tough read but an interesting facet of yoga studios or styles taught by one person who loses respect for their students' autonomy.
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January 17, 2024I’ve been listening to Conspirituality for years and of course read and enjoyed Conspirituality: How New Age Conspiracy Theories Became a Public Health Threat.
Surviving Modern Yoga: Cult Dynamics, Charismatic Leaders, and What Survivors Can Teach Us is a greatly needed book that looks at the abuse of power that has happened within the yoga world through interviews with survivors and the gaslighting and denial they found when speaking their truth.
I just reviewed Surviving Modern Yoga by Matthew Remski. #SurvivingModernYoga #NetGalley
Surviving Modern Yoga: Cult Dynamics, Charismatic Leaders, and What Survivors Can Teach Us is a greatly needed book that looks at the abuse of power that has happened within the yoga world through interviews with survivors and the gaslighting and denial they found when speaking their truth.
I just reviewed Surviving Modern Yoga by Matthew Remski. #SurvivingModernYoga #NetGalley
February 13, 2024
Me, a Conspirituality fan here: I was super happy to read another book by the same author, written in the same great language, filled with the same great analysis, with the same great insights, all en pair with the standards set by Conspirituality book and podcast. Only this time it is yoga and specifically Ashtanga yoga leader Pattabhi Jois.
An absolute must-read for everyone who has been in the world of modern yoga.
An absolute must-read for everyone who has been in the world of modern yoga.
August 13, 2024
Physical abuse (broken bones, ripped muscles), sexual, and psychological, the dynamics of high demand groups, charismatic leaders who get away with, victim blaming and shaming, a legacy of trauma. This review may be enough and you might skip the book. It isn’t a fun book, and certainly not about how practice heals everything.
February 8, 2025
Glad that I read this as I commence a 350-hour trauma-informed yoga teacher training course that has its foundations in the Ashtanga tradition. The author has given me lots to reflect on and I am particularly grateful for his ‘scope of practice’ pledge which I plan to adapt for myself.
Recommended reading for anyone who practices yoga.
Recommended reading for anyone who practices yoga.
February 21, 2025
I self-assigned myself this book as part of my 200 hr YTT program. The author is clearly biased in some respects (as he freely admits), but uses the abuses of the Ashtanga community to help reframe how to think about yoga, yoga philosophy, etc. I would’ve appreciated some more comparisons across yogic lineages, but overall, great read.
March 12, 2025
I have been practicing yoga for thirteen years so I feel pretty well versed in how cult like it can be, this book still managed to shock me. This is a really fascinating exploration of how yoga systems parallel cult systems. Remski is thorough and writes insightfully with reflections on his own experience in a cult.
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April 3, 2025Scary how people in power can manipulate history and others for their benefit
August 25, 2024
I’m so thankful for this book.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews