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
Published: December 9, 2024 — 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. In England, the guru’s followers run a registered charity called Tara Yoga Centre, which has working studios in London, Oxford and Plymouth, and has run classes in Cambridge, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Leicester, Burton-on-Trent and Woking, as well as in Dublin, in the Republic of Ireland. Presented by documentary filmmaker Cat McShane, series six of World of Secrets returns to BBC Sounds on December 9 with The Bad Guru.
There are thousands of yoga studios in Britain, where each week half a million of us bend, breathe and meditate our way towards clearer minds and stronger bodies. The majority of us have positive experiences, but is it really possible that aspiring yogis who join classes in the UK might potentially be left vulnerable to sexual exploitation and, in some cases, even trafficking?
This is what one university tutor from Oxfordshire claims happened to her. Searching for a way to mindfully manage life’s challenges, 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. Now, seven years on, Miranda is telling her story publicly, on the record, for the first time.
The Tara Yoga Centre is an affiliate of the Atman federation, a UK-registered umbrella organisation which has affiliates in 29 countries. 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.
We have uncovered evidence that some of Tara’s teachers were helping to arrange trips for other students to see the fugitive guru. Miranda’s trip was arranged by two people she met through the school, but not by the school itself.
Many people attend Tara Yoga Centre without any problems, and when Miranda finally confided in other students, she says they were shocked to hear her account of the meeting with Gregorian Bivolaru – as far as they knew Tara Yoga Centre was just a place they went for yoga and meditation. This lack of awareness may be due in part to the level of secrecy demanded within the international movement; Miranda claims that she took multiple vows of secrecy and had been persuaded she would suffer spiritual and health consequences if she broke those vows.
Speaking on the podcast about her experience in the movement, Miranda says, “I wanted to believe that whatever they were doing, even if it seemed gross to me, and inappropriate and hyper-sexualized, was for some spiritual reason that I couldn’t yet understand. The only thing I can do now is to speak about this and to put my reputation and everything else on the line. But I want truth and justice and for people to not be hurt, for things to be different in the future.”
Cat McShane, Presenter, says, “Yoga is the spiritual practice millions swear by – there is an expectation that it’s supposed to be good for you, so you let your guard down. The women I met are intelligent women, who quite unremarkably joined a yoga class. But what happened to them is anything but unremarkable. Over the last four years, I’ve heard some deeply worrying accounts of coercion and sexual exploitation for profit, after they became involved with one of the affiliates of the Atman federation. It is important that these stories are heard.”
Daniel Clarke, Factual Commissioning Editor at Radio 4, says, “The idea that yoga studios in towns across the UK can be connected to the kinds of allegations made in this series is truly shocking. The Bad Guru takes us into a world that shows us how the promise of salvation and spiritual growth can groom and condition people in truly strange and frightening ways. This series follows previous World of Secrets investigations including The Abercrombie Guys, which exposed appalling cases of exploitation and misconduct. This is the kind of international investigation the BBC does best.”
Tara Yoga Centre and the Atman federation both told the BBC that they unequivocally condemn all forms of abuse. Both said they have been advised not to comment further due to legal proceedings. The Atman federation told the BBC it operates entirely autonomously of all its member schools. BBC Studios approached Gregorian Bivolaru through his lawyer for comment but did not receive a response. Misa, a yoga organisation associated with Mr Bivolaru, strongly defended him, stating that he has been the victim of political persecution and false allegations and that his teachings are followed by more than 40,000 people around the world. They point out that in the case of his conviction for a sex offence, the victim now claims she was coerced by the Romanian police into making a false statement.
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.
Credits:
Host: Cat McShane
Producers: Emma Weatherill and Cat McShane
Sound design: Melvin Rickarby
Unit Manager: Lucy Bannister
Executive Producer: Innes Bowen
Commissioning Editor: Dan Clarke
Commissioning Executive: Tracy Williams
Source
BBC Sounds
