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The Modern Crusade Against Spirituality

“Twisted Yoga” and the Ego: Clarifying a Misunderstood Spiritual Teaching

1. The Context: “Twisted Yoga” and the Question of the Ego The recent documentary on Apple TV named Twisted Yoga presents testimonies from former members of a yoga movement associated with organizations such as MISA (Movement for Spiritual Integration into the Absolute) and other affiliate member schools of Atman – The International…
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Twisted TV: How a Documentary Bent the Facts Out of Shape. 3. The “Victims”

Written by Massimo Introvigne and Rosita Šorytė “Apostate” ex-members have a right to express their distress, and their stories should be carefully considered. But are they always believable? Article 3 of 4. Read article 1 and article 2. Recruited by Hugues Gascan or not, “Twisted Yoga” presents the experiences of some of the…
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Twisted TV: How a Documentary Bent the Facts Out of Shape. 2. Enter Hugues Gascan

Written by Massimo Introvigne and Rosita Šorytė The strange but important role of a shadowy figure in instigating the prosecution of Bivolaru and MISA in France. Article 2 of 4. Read article 1. A brief but impactful appearance in the “Twisted Yoga” series is by Hugues Gascan, the shadowy founder of a small French anti-cult…
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Twisted TV: How a Documentary Bent the Facts Out of Shape. 1. MISA in Romania

Written by Massimo Introvigne and Rosita Šorytė An Apple TV series against Gregorian Bivolaru and his movement even rehabilitates the notorious Securitate police of Ceausescu. Article 1 of 4. On February 16, 2026, one of us (Introvigne) received an email from Vince Calvi, Senior Manager at the company producing a documentary titled…
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Twisted Narratives. 4. The Larger Pattern: Media Narratives and the War Against Spiritual Communities

How Media Stories Are Built Around Spiritual Movements – Part 4 In the previous articles of this series (read part 1, part 2 and part 3), we examined how Twisted Yoga constructs its story. We saw that the documentary relies on a series of narrative techniques that influence how viewers interpret what they see. Some of these techniques…
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Twisted Narratives. 3. Strategic Omissions: How “Twisted Yoga” Shapes the Story by Leaving Things Out

How Media Stories Are Built Around Spiritual Movements – Part 3 In the previous article we looked at how Twisted Yoga builds its narrative through techniques such as emotional priming, negative reframing, and deviance amplification. But documentaries do not shape perception only through what they show. They also shape it through what…
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