Kumbaya Confessional

The wellness-to-alt-right pipeline has led many Americans to a diet that we didn't even know we were on. Find out what's true, half-true and completely false in a sea of claims about beef liver, regenerative agriculture, raw milk, raw carrot salad, cow colostrum, bioavailability, seed oils, HTMA tests, nutritional therapy practitioners, Weston A Price, collagen, adrenal cocktails, ancestral eating, tallow skincare, the big-money vegan agenda, hormones, sourdough, fertility, cholesterol, remineralization, naked carbs, blood sugar, antinutrients, DIY baby formula, supplements, and tradwives.

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?

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.

Delving all the way into the spicy past and present of the two biggest multi-level marketing corporations in the spiritual and holistic wellness world: Young Living and doTerra. A story about fake certifications, bogus product lines and a guy named Donald Gary Young.

This season finale episode tackles the woo-sphere's epidemic of bad medical advice- featuring alternative health superstars Joseph Mercola and the Medical Medium- and the question of how exactly do you figure out what health advice is trustworthy when you can't trust the Western medical establishment either?

How do you gently, firmly and effectively "call someone in" when they're doing harm...and what happens when it doesn't work? Is it ever ethical or spiritually sound to call someone out, or even "cancel" them? This episode talks about Kindness Yoga, JK Rowling and most of all, our old friend Dr. Nicole LePera, aka The Holistic Psychologist. Be prepared for fraud, anti-Blackness and some spicy DMs.

Listener-submitted Q&A featuring why we tell spiritual women to stop competing with each other, how to balance not being a charlatan with not being driven by impostor syndrome, how the show almost made Katya break up with woo, and "What's the deal with The Holistic Psychologist?"

Two woo-sphere hallmarks and the antics that come with them Resources mentioned: The Yoga is Dead Podcast, Susanna Barkataki, @abcdyogi

While purity culture is usually associated with Christianity, the woo-sphere has its own pretty intense purity culture around sex, bodies, food, water, healthcare, thoughts, emotions, EMFs...we've got detoxes and diseasemongering all day long. What's more toxic: toxins, or obsessing about toxins?

Cults are fascinating, horrifying and in the woo-sphere, they're popular. But how do we know what's a cult and what isn't? This episode discusses the Landmark Forum, a mystery school cult from the eyes of a survivor, MLMs (again) and...Mormon fortune telling? Featuring interviews by Erin Aquarian and Katie Smith, LPCC Resources mentioned: the Landmark Article, Stronger After, the McKenna Denson Article, Decolonizing Therapy, the Conspirituality and IndoctriNation Podcasts.

With intuitive modalities such as astrology, tarot, runes, spirit communication, etc., there are two ways readings go badly: the person doing the reading isn't actually as skilled in that modality as they think they are... and/or the person goes about doing the reading in unethical ways. Katya is joined by therapist-astrologer Kris Rahbany (@the.celestial.alchemist on IG) to talk about four elements of ethical readings for any intuitive modality.

Why does the woo-sphere have such an epidemic of predators masquerading as gurus? What is divine masculinity work and how does it tie into all this? https://www.yogaisdeadpodcast.com/episodes/2019/7/21/guruskilledyoga

Why are so many people on your social media feed posting about child trafficking and #savethechildren lately? Why are so many of these anti-child trafficking activists also anti-Black Lives Matter? Why is this such a big trend in the woo-sphere in particular...and what do Mormons have to do with all this? Most importantly, is this kind of activism effective in doing the important work of fighting human trafficking? This episode discusses indoctrinated gullibility, the fetishization of all things "alternative," and selective empathy.

Last week's episode laid out spiritual boss babe culture- now let's talk about what it looks like to be a truly, wildly successful spiritual girl boss, through the examples of Teal Swan and Kaia Ra. What does it look like to be a woman who makes money- a LOT of money- off spiritual teachings, programs and merchandise?  CW: mention of suicide at 19:10-19:35 Music by Will Shish, art by Chelsea Amato, episode co-researched by Aubrey Zinaich

Is girl boss culture actually empowering for working women? What about when spiritualized by the woo-sphere doctrine of divine femininity? What does all that look like?  #bossbabe #femmepreneur #mompreneur #girlboss #drinkthatsacredliquid Female spiritual entrepreneurs shouted out in this episode, by instagram handle: @cosmic.mama.herbalism, @ladyspeech, @davidia.turner, @mynameisjessamyn, @aubrey.zinaich, @yogawithkeis

How can positivity be so...negative? This episode breaks down spiritual gaslighting, spiritual bypassing in its two different types, boundary-shaming, anger repression, high-vibe-low-vibe culture, and toxic manifestation ideology. Hosted by Katya Weiss-Andersson, music by Will Shishmanian, art by Chelsea Amato. 

Three words: toxic positivity culture.

Believe it or not, the holistic wellness & spirituality world has a massive love affair with extreme right-wing conspiracy theory. How did that happen, how did it become so widespread among the woo-sphere, what does it look like, and what does all the pro-Trump, anti-Semitic conspiracy theory play in the world of Love&Light? This episode is all about 5G, chemtrails, anti-vaxxers and QAnon. Hosted by Katya Weiss-Andersson, music by Will Shish, art by Chelsea Amato

The woo-sphere is full of weird contradictions, perhaps none bigger than the spectacle of "sacred capitalism." This looks like small children being paid next to nothing to mine the rose quartz on your altar, or women in the Philippines being paid next to nothing to make you inspirational memes for your brand's Instagram. Is it possible to come up with a version of capitalism that can truly coincide with spiritual and wellness principles?

This episode explores how certain trendy "spiritual" buzzwords normalize and even glamorize some particularly harmful dynamics, using the examples of "empath" and "twin flame." Hosted by Katya Weiss-Andersson, Music by Will Shish, Art by Chelsea Amato

Very few things are more bizarre than spiritual influencer culture. Kumbaya Confessional describes this strange breed of "sacred" capitalism and how it played out for the late Denver yoga giant Kindness Yoga, as well as an aspiring wellness influencer and her brand, The Goddess Ceremony. Music by Will Shishmanian Art by Chelsea Amato IG @kumbaya.confessional

Illegal pyramid schemes have always been extremely popular in the woo-sphere- particularly in divine femininity circles- but why? Learn how this classic scammer trick is now wreaking more havoc than ever amidst spiritual and holistic communities.