Sarah Landry – The Nithyananda Cult and Red Flags in Spiritual Communities | TCM #25 (Part 1)

Laura Matsue speaks to Sarah Landry, an ex-member of Nithyananda’s Hindu cult, who is currently facing charges of rape and child abuse. The case about Nithyananda is extraordinary in these times of cults being exposed: not only has he fled the country to evade these charges of rape and abuse, but ex-members like Sarah are speaking out about the appalling activities that occurred in his ashram; including getting children to abuse each other, using brainwashing techniques on them, attempting to train youth to use black magick and punishing them when they did not develop siddhi’s (extrasensory abilities). Sarah defected from the cult a couple of years ago and has since been speaking out against cult abuse on her Youtube channel. Based on her experiences in this cult she shares about what she witnessed within this cult, the mind control techniques and cult brainwashing that were used, coming to terms with her own cognitive dissonance, how to detect red flags in spiritual communities, fake gurus, the dangers of group-think, the romanticization of spirituality, guru projections, and much more. Sarah's Etsy shop, offering Natural Gemstone and Crystal Jewelry: The Art of Gems Video: Show Notes Part 1: * Sarah's story of starting to expose the cult she was part of * Child abuse, kidnapping, and kids being mistreated by Nithyananda and cult members * Creation of fake FB Facebook accounts and campaigns to fish for more members * Mental, Psychological and Sexual abuse * Anyone speaking out against Nithyanandaor trying to sue him were attacked with fake cases of smear campaigns * Children being brainwashed and turned against their parents * Nithyananda using hypnosis techniques to fake spiritual powers * People can be very suggestive for manipulation in altered states based on spiritual practices or manipulated "spiritual experiences" initiated by the Guru * Guru worship can cut off the connection to the Divine * Spiritual psychic abilities/powers don't imply that a person is awakened or has a high level of Being * Nithyananda giving his followers Kundalini awakening experiences deliberately and charged $15000 for it * Sarah's experience of cognitive dissonance and being under Nithyananda's spell * Nithyananda demanded to be worshipped like a god/deity, convincing his followers that he's the embodiment of Shiva * Nithyananda being a conduit for dark demonic entities working through him * Nithyananda and Teal Swan both ripping off and plagiarizing other people's work * Sarah's story of becoming a mouthpiece of Nithyananda due to being brainwashed by him * Sarah's process of disillusionment and cult deprogramming * The trap of clinging to "spiritual experiences" * Negative occult forces/entities posing as positive/divine beings working through pathological gurus * The importance of combining spiritual work/practices with psychological work * The age of the guru is over In Part 2 (only for members) we’ll be going deeper into: * What is a healthy spiritual community? * Red flags in spiritual communities/organizations that hint at being a cult * Hierarchies, enforced rules and conditions extending into your private life * Enforced mandatory diet restrictions * Strict rules about your physical appearance * Sleep-Deprivation, physical labor and lack of nutritional food (high carb,