5 episodes
Untold: The Retreat Financial Times
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3.7 • 243 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
We should pay attention
I have a friend who has been very badly affected by these 10 day retreats and I wish the organisation had had the courage to give a detailed response to the journalist. Of course, not everyone will be impacted in the same way … that should go without saying. But, having seen first hand the damage inflicted on the person I know I really feel there needs to be at the very least a thorough review of the practices of the organisation. Other reviews of the podcast state that everyone is a volunteer and no one makes any money as if this is automatically a good thing …. Altruistic as this may be, the fact that it is run by volunteers is actually more worrying for me … I wonder what kind of training they get? They should, at the very least, I feel be required to take the excellent mental health first aid training that is now readily available. Are their good safeguarding protocols in place? Just two questions that spring to mind of many that were prompted by the podcast. I hope it will prompt a deeper investigation…Nothing about this podcast said to me that all meditation was bad …. What it did highlight was what I already knew first hand that some of these practices can be very harmful and that much better care needs to taken of people’s lives.
Painfully shallow and reductionistic
This type of sensationalism is nothing less than desperate journalism covered up as investigative. It’s using Malcom Gladwell’s formula of audio storytelling, but making a mockery of an ancient and well studied process which has huge benefits for 99% of people. By focusing on a tiny percentage of people who vipassana retreats aren’t right for them you are misrepresenting an incredible healing modality.
Enjoyed this
Really enjoyed this. Appreciate that they weren’t able to speak to people from the organisation but the levels of exhaustion and lack of communication will undoubtedly have had an impact on people’s mental health.