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Untold: The Retreat Financial Times
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Untold is a new podcast from the special investigations team at the Financial Times. On Untold: The Retreat, host Madison Marriage examines the world of the Goenka network, which promotes a type of intensive meditation known as Vipassana. Thousands of people go on Goenka retreats every year. People rave about them. But some go to these meditation retreats, and they suffer. They might feel a deep sense of terror, or a break with reality. And on the other side, they’re not themselves anymore. Untold: The Retreat launches Jan. 24.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Another Death
Madison Marriage hears of another death, one that happened five years before Jaqui’s. Was the Goenka network aware of the dangers of intensive meditation? Marriage asks what the organisation is doing, if anything, to protect people from harm.
For support or more information about adverse meditation experiences, take a look at the Cheetah House website.
If you are in need of urgent mental health support, please contact your local emergency services or reach out to a mental health helpline, such as the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline in the US, or Samaritans in the UK.
Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. -
Jaqui’s Story
Jaqui was 22 when she signed up to a 10-day Goenka retreat. It was the last known thing she did before she died. This is Jaqui’s story.
For support or more information about adverse meditation experiences, take a look at the Cheetah House website.
If you are in need of urgent mental health support, please contact your local emergency services or reach out to a mental health helpline, such as the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline in the US or Samaritans in the UK.
Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. -
Ten Long Days
Emily’s twin sister spirals after going on a Goenka retreat, and she’s not the only one. Madison Marriage hears multiple accounts of terror, hallucinations and psychosis. Was meditation just the catalyst that unleashed psychological problems? Or did this network of silent meditation retreats actually cause their suffering?
For support or more information about adverse meditation experiences, take a look at the Cheetah House website.
We also spoke to Miguel Farias and Jonny Say to corroborate claims in the podcast about adverse meditation experiences. You can find out more about Farias’s work here, and Say’s here.
If you are in need of urgent mental health support, please contact your local emergency services or reach out to a mental health helpline, such as the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline in the US or Samaritans in the UK.
Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. -
Dear Madison
Madison Marriage receives an email from a desperate father named Stephen. Over the past five years, he says, his twin daughters have changed drastically. They were bright and outgoing, with exciting plans for their future. But over their early twenties, they became increasingly distressed, struggling to eat or sleep and disassociating from normal life. Stephen believes the root of his daughters’ problems is a particular network of intensive meditation retreats.
For support or more information about adverse meditation experiences, take a look at the Cheetah House website.
If you are in need of urgent mental health support, please contact your local emergency services or reach out to a mental health helpline, such as the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline in the US or Samaritans in the UK.
Note: This podcast previously included a YouTube clip that described a Vipassana meditation retreat that was not linked to the Goenka network, as originally implied.
Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. -
Introducing Untold: The Retreat
Introducing Untold, a new podcast from the special investigations team at the Financial Times. In its first series, The Retreat, host Madison Marriage examines the world of the Goenka network, which promotes a type of intensive meditation known as Vipassana. Thousands of people go on Goenka retreats every year. People rave about them. But some people go to these meditation retreats, and they suffer. They might feel a deep sense of terror, or a break with reality. And on the other side, they’re not themselves anymore. Untold: The Retreat launches Jan. 24.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Kundenrezensionen
Shallow Research and Mystified Reporting
Neutral reporting is essential for a healthy development of opinions in society. Please consider that for future series.
I am usually a big fan of FT, and its neutral positioning. However, this seems like a very biased documentation based on a single story.
A single subjective data-set (experience within a single family) makes it nothing but an opinion piece based on very limited research. When you listen to the podcast, replace the word „Vipassana“ with Psychotherapy and you will realize how absurd calling it a „special investigation“ is.
Most statements made, apply to psychotherapy in even a more extreme manner:
- Causes Psychological Breakdowns, for some even leading to suicide.
- Patients need to overcome certain mental pains, sometimes traumatic experiences in order to overcome their disease
- Therapeutic practices recommend patients to accept that there will be lows within the process (in which it is really critical to leave)
Are Psychotherapeutic practices a cult because of that? - No!
I am not intending to compare Vipassana with psychotherapy - just want to use it to highlight the absurdity of positioning an organisation based on a single opinion.
Eg. In my network I find many people who had negative experiences with psychotherapy - do I think it is bad (or good?) because of that? - No, it is simply a technique, a tool that can be used to improve ones life.
Does it work for everyone? - Certainly not. But this has never been the claim of the Vipassana organisation (while it has been for psychotherapy). Vipassana’s org-goal is to generate awareness for the technique- just as it would be good to increase awareness and acceptance for psychotherapy in society.
The two girls were obsessed with meditating - just as with any other action, substance or habit - they become unhealthy if you clinch to. When they take up to much space and meaning in your life they become harmful (btw., that is part of the Vipassana teachings).
I would expect more from a FT Journalist, eg. Visiting a center, interviewing a teacher, highlighting some life’s for which it has been beneficial to.
Neutral reporting is essential for a healthy development of opinions in society. Please consider that for future series.