5 episodes
Untold: The Retreat Financial Times
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3.9 • 15 Ratings
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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.
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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
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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
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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.
Customer Reviews
Weird scope
Having attended a Goenka Retreat, I find myself somewhat disappointed with the narrow scope of this podcast. There are several concerns I have regarding both the organization and its methodologies that go unaddressed. From my standpoint, one of the main issue doesn't lie with the meditation practice itself, but rather with the overt systematic control imposed on individuals, as well as brainwashing techniques.
Small evidence, big conclusions…
I have no relation to the organization under scrutiny, nor do I meditate, but I can tell you that this podcast is not into scientific thinking, sample size or evidence based claims. 5-10 examples of anecdotal evidence vs. the thousands that must necessarily be taking this course every year, hardly seems sufficient for the claims made that this is a very dangerous practice. It seems to me that if you survey everyone that, let’s say, fly from Berlin to Boston in a year, you will find that 5-10 of them afterwards had a mental health breakdown. The correlation does not prove anything, and even if there is a causal chain between the retreat and the breakdowns, the percentage of people who have breakdowns, in relation to the total sum of people doing the retreat is minimal. Hardly enough to justify the claims made about the alleged danger to participants in general. I honestly have no relation to any of this and am not on a mission, just got provoked by the methodology. I do feel so sorry for the people who had bad experiences and their families.