Twisted Yoga Review: Survivors of Movement for Spiritual Integration into the Absolute (MISA) discuss their time around its leader, Gregorian Bivolaru, and the ordeal they had to go through in the name of learning tantric yoga.
Twisted Yoga Apple TV+ Director
Rowan Deacon
The documentary series has 3 episodes, each with a runtime of around 45 minutes.
Twisted Yoga Review
In Twisted Yoga, we dive into the world of an alleged cult that lured people in with the promise to believers of providing enlightenment and, instead, pushed them into sexual slavery and worse. The series, with only three episodes, dives deep into this maddening spiral with the help of survivors who either fled the cult or got out years later. It’s a shocking documentary that makes you feel extremely uncomfortable, and the psychological manipulation that we see in front of our eyes is nothing short of baffling.
The series is extremely heavy, which is obvious thanks to the real stories of the victims being portrayed so rawly and intensely. Its focus on the voices of the survivors is possibly its strongest suit – they are emotional and unsettling, and no one beats around the bush. These are people from all walks of life who are left destroyed by a power-hungry person’s twisted fetishes, but their fight to get justice is what stays with us when the episodes come to an end.
The series takes a slow-burning investigative approach, gradually increasing the intensity as the process of indoctrination also gets more and more intense. I was left speechless after realising that these ordinary people were just out there to find a yoga studio for some good workout and maybe some deeper understanding. But, to eventually find themselves being abused, mistreated and forced into sex work is such a horrifying escalation that it almost feels like it comes out of nowhere.
The extent to which Gregorian Bivolaru took his sick fantasies is honestly mind-boggling. You constantly ask yourself what kind of sick person would even come up with such a shockingly exploitative “business” as the victims continue to tell us one harrowing story after another. But then again, Jonestown existed, so you know, human beings can truly be horrible.
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The series discusses how promises of giving women a deeper understanding of their bodies, peace and spirituality resulted in hundreds of women getting abused, and the stories just don’t stop at one or two. The brave victims, including Agnes, Bonnie, Miranda, Andrea, Ash and others, bring forth one shocking fact after another, leaving us to grapple with our emotions as the suffering doesn’t seem to end. There’s depth to the investigation, as the series talks to detectives, lawyers and journalists to piece together different aspects of the case and how justice can be delivered.
Final Thoughts
Twisted Yoga is intense, as it highlights how easily a random, charismatic man can just bring vulnerable people under his control with the promise of showing them something beyond this world. The series is a harrowing watch and isn’t for the faint of heart, as the ordeals that are depicted here are straight out of a nightmare. The isolating and dangerous situations that the women found themselves in are terrifying, and further reading into the matter will shed light on just what the documentary might have missed.
What are your thoughts on Twisted Yoga? Let us know in the comments below!
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“You constantly ask yourself what kind of sick person would even come up with such a shockingly exploitative “business” as the victims continue to tell us one harrowing story after another.”
If this was an exploitative business, this “business” would have been stopped long time ago by the law.
You have a few “victims”, but there are tens of thousands of men and women that continue to practice hatha and tantra yoga at this school.
So maybe it’s the other way around: these people are suffering from attacks in the media or internet, like from this stupid documentary, and the few people in the documentary completely misunderstood this practice.
Real spiritual paths are testing you in many ways. Some fall, others succeed.
Amongst those who fall, some blame the path and the master for their own failure.
This is the case here.
Remember what Jesus said:
“But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it”.
This is a typical response from a cult member, who can’t see beyond their tiny sick world.
@Anonymous March 14, 2026 At 3:59 am
Come on, you ridiculous caricature, do you really want to bring up those old, worn-out arguments again?
We’re talking about serious crimes here: rape, psychological manipulation, kidnapping, etc.
“Real spiritual paths are testing you in many ways”
Sure, the cult and its leaders test you to see if you drink urine in a group, if you have sex with as many people as possible, and how much money you make on porn video chats.
Leave Jesus alone.
Just remember how many lives were lost in that wretched cult, how many cases of cancer blossomed—especially among the exploited women who were forced into bed with that monster Bivolaru.
“We’re talking about serious crimes here: rape, psychological manipulation, kidnapping, etc.”
This is your opinion, not necessarily the truth.
The states people have in these situations are highly subjective
and can differ from one extreme to another. Ask the other girls…
“Sure, the cult and its leaders test you to see if you drink urine in a group, if you have sex with as many people as possible, and how much money you make on porn video chats.”
Now who’s the caricature? 😀
“Leave Jesus alone.
Just remember how many lives were lost in that wretched cult, how many cases of cancer blossomed—especially among the exploited women who were forced into bed with that monster Bivolaru.”
His recommendations saved hundreds of lives. What do you want, to save them all?
Typical MISA/ATMAN stupid argument: “Ask the other girls..”
If someone rapes a woman, can he be excused because 100 other women haven’t been raped by him and have a good opinion of him?
I was also a MISA student and teacher for many many years until I realised that under the surface it’s an orginazed criminal cult. Many of us who realised this fact have left.
Nowadays only the most brainwashed, blind and hopeless people remained who are still worshipping Grieg until their whole lives are ruined.
If you still could not wake up after all this, then I’m sorry for you. You’re doomed.
Let justice decide upon the rape accusation. Or maybe you don’t know what rape is.
Thing is, I already woke up, with the help of his teachings and his support.
I feel sorry for you and others who didn’t.
Fake guru. Fake spirituality. Blind, brainwashed student.
The producer is top in Epstein files and ”chosen tribe” donor. All the rest is just sterile Bla-Bla-Bla…
A
Couldn’t a great Master, a true Spiritual Guide, have found another way to burn the karma of young, beautiful women while respecting the laws of the country?
And if he was being sought by the police, out of fear of being caught, does that justify subjecting these women to suffering – blindfolding them, taking their documents, locking them in, surrounding them with bodyguards.? Sorry, but this is called kidnapping. Holding them hostage.
Anyone who supports such practices – I doubt they are women.
If your daughter was going through this, how would you feel?
A true spiritual hero, a person of high ideals and character, sacrifices himself for the good of others. He does not expose vulnerable young women to hardship in order to protect himself.
If a Master is truly enlightened- the greatest on the planet, as it is claimed in MISA/ATMAN – could he not have found other ways to -burn karma- for young, beautiful women, in his immense compassion, instead of deceiving them with an invitation for a discussion, only for them to discover that an erotic relationship is mandatory?
Without the women even knowing him beforehand?
They were only shown pictures of the Guide from his youth.
Could there not have been other liberating initiations—without confiscating their IDs, passports, and bank cards, without locking them in rooms that could only be opened from the outside, without forcing them to swear oaths on their health and spiritual evolution – practically an omertà?
Without constant punishments – such as shaving their heads – which diminishes a woman’s power, giving them expired food, taking their money through fines, forcing them into webcam work or sending them to the so called temples of pleasure, without even knowing how long they would be kept there?
These are conditions worse than prison.
If the Guide or his defenders were treated this way in prison – fed expired food, forced into oaths about their health and spiritual evolution, or filmed naked – they would protest loudly about human rights.
And finally, the cherry on top: the women are not allowed to leave unless they give a statement – while being naked – saying how good everything was.
It is good that this entire mechanism is now known, so that such practices can be abandoned in the future.
Why were men not invited? Why not older women?
Why only young, beautiful women?
Why so many constraints?
Why does ATMAN/MISA blame the women, accusing them of betrayal?
It feels similar to how, in some places, a woman is blamed for being raped.
You’re wrong when you say “erotic relationship was mandatory”. I know someone who was there, and she was really afraid he would make love to her, because she didn’t want to, she was even trembling all over, but she went anyway and they just talked. He didn’t force her to do anything. And what relief she felt after! And I’m sure the same thing would have happened with Ashleigh if she had only “conquered her demons,” as she herself said, and just went there to talk to him. NO WOMAN EVER SAID THAT BIVOLARU LITERALLY RAPED HER.
Madalina Dumitru said she was offered 350,000 Euro to speak out against him and the school in a filmed interview and she refused. It’s very likely that these girls received similar offers and, most likely accepted them, to steer the interview in the direction desired by the sponsor. That’s why it’s best not to put all our trust in what they say. An emotional film is not an act of justice.
Who would offer such a large sum of money just for that? Think about it.
And where did they get those videos of girls reading that final statement that they were not trafficked and so on? Most likely, they were confiscated by the police during raids, and if the film’s producers obtained them, it means they had access to the case file, which is illegal and suspicious.