6 episodes
Untold: Power for Sale Financial Times
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- News
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3.8 • 16 Ratings
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On December 2022, offices at the European parliament were raided and lawmakers and their families were arrested. They were accused of being part of a corruption ring that was taking bribes from Qatar. Never before had there been anything like this at the parliament. But within four months, all the suspects were released, and the case is still pending. Why were members of parliament accused of taking bribes from Qatar? Is the European parliament rotten?
Valentina Pop and a team of FT correspondents set out to investigate. Power for Sale launches May 29.
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Introducing Untold: Power for Sale
Introducing Power for Sale, a new season of Untold from the Financial Times. In Untold: Power for Sale, host Valentina Pop and a team of FT correspondents from all over Europe investigate what happened in the Qatargate scandal, where EU lawmakers were accused of accepting payments from Qatar to whitewash its image.
Untold: Power for Sale airs May 29. Follow wherever you listen.
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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
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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
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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.
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Customer Reviews
Fascinating
This is really really interesting and I believe a very necessary exploration of the dark side of meditation in excess such as is practiced in Vipassana retreats. Meditation can be a wonderful tool and practice but like every other practice it can be done to excess and in ways that are destructive and punishing. Thank you so much Madison Marriage!
Awfully biased
A potentially interesting topic. There is certainly a potentially negative side of meditation. But this is horribly biased journalism. Very biased language throughout to give a distorted one-sides perspective of these ‘retreats’.