Scamfluencers - The Yoga Hustler | The Notorious G.U.R.U | Part One

Episode Date: July 11, 2022

Ever since childhood, Katie Griggs has been searching for her purpose in life. When she discovers kundalini yoga, she becomes convinced she’s finally found it. She follows her vision and decides to start her own yoga studio in Los Angeles. RA MA Institute attracts celebrities, garners glowing press, and expands into a global yoga empire. But behind the scenes, the woman who now calls herself Guru Jagat isn’t nearly as enlightened — or as trustworthy — as she seems.Please support us by supporting our sponsors!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey, prime members, you can listen to scam influencers ad-free on Amazon music. Download the app today. A heads up to our listeners. Today's episode discusses rape and sexual assault. Listen with care. [♪ Music playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in that only we can answer. Is there anything you don't want a white person to teach you? Yeah, there are maybe like a hundred things. Okay, name the top.

70. Okay, I would not want them to teach me how to dance or cook non-white cuisine probably. All right, well Sarah as an actual Indian person, my list is exceptionally long, but I think high at the top of it is probably yoga. That's fair. Yeah, I'll do it.

I'll give the nice lady my money so I'm forced to stretch for like 20 minutes or whatever, but I always feel funny at the end of the class when she tells us to say namaste. You mean namaste? Yeah, namaste and bed. Namaste all day with Rose. Oh, that one really hurts my feelings. But I'm asking you this because the story I have for you is a little bit about cultural appropriation.

It's a little bit about yearning for spiritual peace and it's a lot about how far you can get in a fraud. If you change your name, wear a turban and hit a gong. Oh my god, strap me in. It's April 2017 and just another sunny 75-degree day in Venice Beach, California. It's the perfect backdrop for an afternoon of spiritual bliss at the Rama Institute of Kandallini, the most popular yoga studio in LA, and tons of celebrities take this class. But at the Rama Institute, there's only one true star,

Guru Jagat. Guru Jagat breezes into her pack studio 15 minutes late, as usual. She's 37 and dressed in all white. Her long blonde hair is tucked up into a turban, which has been over her phone sending rapid fire texts. And she's trailed by an entourage of assistance. One of them holds her laptop.

Another one carries her $50 smoothie, and a third lugs around her bag. It's a huge colorful sack hand woven by Colombian women. That's exactly the bag I picture her carrying. Yes, absolutely. So everyone heads into the practice room where Guru Juggit sits on a raised platform in between a giant gong and frame photos of herself.

As the kids say, it's a vibe. Gurujuggit starts guiding her clients through vigorous poses and exercises. And then she begins one of her classic stream of consciousness lectures. It cleans your blood so that when you get into that kind of recycled oxygen environment, you can keep yourself from having the kind of jet lag experience. This is Guru Juggit at the height of her power. Sold out classes, movie star clients, yoga studios around the world. This new age influencer has it all.

Until she stumbles down a dark path, preaching about crazy diets, killer robots, and alien warfare. In her world, Guru Jagat is untouchable. Or so it seems. Grue juggett is untouchable. Or so it seems. I love my kid, but is a new comedy parenting podcast from Wondry that shares a refreshingly honest and insightful take on parenting.

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Follow Dis and Tell wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to AdFree on the Amazon Music or Wondery app. From Wondery, I'm Sachi Cole and I'm Sarah Hagi and this is Scam Fluencers. The story I'm gonna tell you today is probably my least and most favorite style of scam. It's about someone who rips folks off, not just financially, but spiritually, by appropriating a culture she barely understands.

And for me, there's just something uniquely insulting about a white person stealing, culture, and rituals that belong to brown people, and then repackaging them, and making them much more expensive, and significantly dumber. Oh my god. The story of Guru Jagat is a Greek tragedy,

a lifelong seeker on a mission to discover her purpose on Earth, and she finally finds it. But in the process, she loses her moral compass, her empathy, and her sanity. This is episode one of our two-part series. I'm calling it the notorious GURU. Oh, amazing title.

Alright, Sarah. So before Guru Jagat becomes a world famous yogi, she's just Katie Griggs. Shut up, straight up. Oh my god, she's just a girl named Katie? Yes, she's born in Colorado in 1979 and raised in the suburbs of DC by a single mother. And Katie's mom, Nancy, is super new AG. So she raises Katie and her brothers on tofu sandwiches and transcendental meditation.

I found this clip from the fullest podcast of Katie talking about her childhood. My childhood was definitely kind of unusual in certain ways because there was not just certain ways, you know, if I'd rather be a Mark Christian, you know, it was a whole, we became vegetarian. It was a lot of like exploration. And Katie's an ambitious kid. She's determined to live a big, fabulous life. And she sets out to do that in New York City. Katie later

tells Vogue that she went to college in New York at just 16 years old. But New York doesn't work out the way Katie hopes. She gets caught up in partying and drops out of school. Eventually, she feels pulled to find something deeper, more spiritual. And then, one night, she has a vision. A nameless guru comes to her, and he tells her that she has a bigger destiny in life. So Katie sets out to find it. And she starts by taking just about every yoga class offered in New York.

But she says that the yoga scene there is to quote, self-indulgent. OK, how do people always have visions? Like, I have never once had a vision where someone came to me. And this just seems to happen to people. Do you think that like the ghosts that are talking to them just don't find us interesting?

I think we're not doing enough drugs. Oh, that's it. Okay. And Sarah, before I get too deep into this, I just want to say, I know there's a lot of conjecture about how to say kondollini. Why people say kondollini? Most of the people in the story say kondollini. I called my dad and I asked him. And when I said said Kundalini to him he got very upset and corrected me and said that it's Kundalini. So in the pursuit of making sure that my father doesn't call me to discuss this later, I'm just going to say it Kundalini. Okay, so back to Katie Griggs. In the early 2000s, she's invited to a Kundalini class and suddenly everything makes sense. She describes the experience

on this new age YouTube channel called Sounds True. Listen to this. I got into a Kundalini yoga class, and within 20 seconds had the kind of experience that I was hunting for, where all this energy kind of rushed and moved up my spine and opened up. Oh my god. Have you ever done anything for 20 seconds and had a reaction? No, unless I'm eating really good bite of food. That's different.

So a little bit about condolony. It means coiled snake and sunscript. It's all about releasing the divine feminine energy at the base of the spine in order to be spiritually liberated. And Katie is hooked. This is the practice she's been looking for, and then she finds out about the guy who introduced Kandallani Yoga to the West, Yogi Bajan,

and she becomes obsessed with meeting him. So, she books a flight to go meet the master. Okay, Sarah, if I say huge yoga party, what comes to mind for you? I think something bad is going to happen to me here. This is a spin-off of Get Out. Alright, so Katie gets off the plane in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and she heads straight to an ashram called Haseyenda de Guru Dham Das. It's in this tiny remote town called Espanola,

only about 10,000 people live there. And Katie's here just in time for the annual summer solstice gathering. More than 1,000 white turbaned hippies are at the ranch for the big bash. They wake up at 3.30 a.m. for prayers and yoga and meditation. You know what, Sarah?

I actually have a photo from the Ashram's website, and I would love if you could take a look and describe it for us. Okay, this looks like a traditional temple space. And it looks kind of like cosplay. Yeah, they're holding swords. It doesn't look quite right. But here's the thing, Katie is not here to party. She did enough of that in college.

She's here to meet the man himself, yogi budget. She says that she does a three-day, white, tantric yoga meditation with budget. Is that sex? Here's what I'm gonna tell you. You're gonna wanna put a pin in that thought for later. Just put a pin in it, trust. Okay.

By this time, he's in his early 70s and he has a long white, bushy beard and he's sick. He has heart disease and diabetes and one of his followers wheels him to lectures in a wheelchair. I am very curious, who is Yogi Bajan? Why is he so important? Is he well-known?

Excellent question. Yogi Bajan immigrated from India to Canada in the 60s and then he landed in Los Angeles just as Yogi was exploding in popularity there. And he started teaching a type of Yogi called Kandallini. Bajan once told the Miami Herald that he learned Kandallini by helicoptering to a cave in the Himalayas. And here I just also have to add my dad pronounces Himalayas, but there's a limit to how much of him I can listen to. And there, he kneeled outside for three days until the yogi master inside agreed to teach him.

That sounds like a movie. And I just want to be clear, Budgeon didn't invent kondollini. It is thousands of years old. But he was a truly gifted marketer, and he knew how to package it for an American audience. was a truly gifted marketer and he knew how to package it for an American audience. He told his followers to give up drinking, drugs, meat, and to use food as medicine. Oh, and he preached monogamy and claimed to be celibate, even though he was married with children. And Kandallini blew up. Not long after arriving in the US, Budgeon moved his headquarters to the New Mexico ranch. He split his time between India, New Mexico, and Beverly Hills.

He also collected gems and had several roles' voices. You know, typical Yogi Guru shit, right? Yeah, that's exactly what an extremely humble person who, you know, just wants to better the world and people around them. They always have a role's voice. Okay, Guru Juggit is mesmerized by him. And she says that Yogi Bajan is the one who gave her the name Guru Juggit, which is Sanskrit for Bringer of Light to the Universe.

And okay, Sarah, Yogi Bajan's company literally has a website where anyone can pay $40 to get their own spiritual name. No. And Sarah, I applied for one. No. And they never got back to me. Oh my God. I feel a little ripped off. I think it's because you already have a spiritual sounding name.

Yeah, I mean, I didn't want to say it, but I was thinking like, do you think they looked at my name and we're like, you know what, she's good. She has plenty. But Katie is taking her new name really seriously. She thinks that it's a sign that Budgin is giving her a position of power in his world. All right, Sarah, this is the part in the episode where I have to tell you some other things about Yogi Budgin. Mainly that he had some truly fucked up beliefs, like downright disgusting, to call them controversial would be frankly

a huge understatement. In a 1978 lecture, Bunchan argued that victims of rape were basically asking for it. Here he is in his own words. First of all, nobody can be raped until you do not invite it. Rape is always invited, it never happens. A person who's raped is always providing subconsciously the environment and the arrangements. It's completely vile.

And by the time Katie goes to Summer Solstice, at least one former follower has sued budget for sexual abuse. And at this point, is it kind of well-known information that he was sued for sexual abuse or that he says these kinds of things? Like, does she know this, basically? Yeah, I mean, it's possible that she didn't know that horrific talk he gave about rape happened in 1978, which was a year before she was born, but we just can't say for sure. What is obvious is that Kandallini is filling some kind of

spiritual void for her. And she's ready to go all in. Katie spends two summers at Haseyanda Daydanda. And she says that Yogi Budgeon tells her to go to LA and teach Kandallini there. Juggit thinks that she's been chosen. So she packs her things and heads west to evangelize for the spiritual practice that's changed her life. When Katie arrives in LA in 2003, she's 24 years old.

Around this time, she starts calling herself Kandallini Katie. No, wow. She wears gauzy, white, flowy outfits and a turban. And she fits right in a budget studio, yoga west, where she starts teaching classes. But then, a year after she moved to Los Angeles, Katie gets terrible news.

At the age of 75, Yogi Budgeon is dead. His funeral is October 9th, 2004, and it's practically a national holiday in the Yogi world. Nearly 1,000 people come to Hacienda de Guudanadas to pay their respects. And Katie's there in her turbine, of course, and she's overcome with emotion.

And after hours of prayers and eulogies, Yogi Budgins corpse is cremated in front of the entire crowd. Sixth belief cremating the body makes it easier for the soul to leave the earth. Katie and hundreds of other Yogi's watch their mentor turn to literal dust. Wow, that is very intense to witness a cremation.

I don't think that typically happens. Not really in North America, for sure. And needless to say, it's a huge moment for Katie. With Yogi Budgeon gone, there's a void in the Kandallini community. And she decides there and then that she's ready to step up and fill it. Not only that, she'll make sure that Budgeon's teachings

reach the most successful, powerful people in the world, even if it means taking on some of her mentors' most sinister qualities. Alright, Sarah, let's fast forward about a decade to 2013. Katie's now 33 years old, and she's spent the last 10 years teaching full time at Yoga West. But she's also branching out, hosting sold out classes in her West LA apartment. She's getting fans of her own, just as Instagram is taking off. And Katie is great at Instagram. She's a pro at self-promotion, she loves attention, and she speaks fluent pop culture.

And then, one day in 2013, she's at Yoga West for a special event called a Gong Lie Out. That's like a sound bath, but, you know, it's with a Gong. I've done a sound bath before, and it was very soothing and imagining the addition of a Gong. Yeah, it's not ideal. No. Katie walks into the studio, and she finds a place

on the woodland at Florida layout her sheepskin mat She lies down looking up at the twinkle light strung across the ceiling and then the ceremony starts Katie releases the tension in her body and her mind and then a voice comes to her it says Start a new condolony studio here in Los Angeles and do it for Hari Jivan. I'm sorry, who? Who is this guy? Hari Jivan, aka Steve Aukson Handler. Steve is another budge and follower at Yoga West. He's white and he has a long white beard and a curly villain mustache like, you know, the kind that you would twist as you're tying a woman

to the train tracks. And he wears all the typical Kandallini drip. Turban, you know, the kind that you would twist as you're tying a woman to the train tracks. And he wears all the typical condolony drip. Turban, white clothes, sandals. And when Katie meets him, he's 71. Oh, and before becoming a full-time yogi, how did Jivan was a part-time criminal working for his mob boss? Oh, yogi budget. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

In 2000, he went to jail for two years for ripping off more than 500 people and a scam involving printer toner. And news reports called him, Sarah, you're gonna love this, the toner bandit. Bitch, what? Now, according to Katie's Gong Vision, she's supposed to open an Institute of Condolony

for the toner bandit, which is weird because she's told others that she doesn't even like Harijivan. But the thing about Katie is she's prone to following visions, and she wants more than anything to spread the word of Bucin. And what she does next will propel her to yogic super stardom, bringing her fame, followers, and a dangerously big platform. Katie is obsessed with opening the new studio, And she knows just the place to do it. Venice Beach. Sarah, you love LA, I know you love LA, I hate LA.

Does it make sense for her to open the studio there? That is the neighborhood to open something kind of crunchy, bohemian, hippie. But for people who aren't really authentically that way, it seems more like people who can afford to pretend to be hippies. Right. But to actually build the studio, she needs cash.

So she hits up someone who truly believes in her and her vision. Her first spiritual teacher, her mom, Nancy. Nancy gives her a 20 grand and the Rama Institute for Applied Yogic Science and Technology is born. It's called Rama for short, which Katie says means Sun Moon in Sunscript. Mm-hmm. Like, mom! I need $20,000 to open my Rama Institute for Applied Science, Yogic, whatever technology. And I need to do it in the name of the toner bandage. Yeah, I hate his guts, but a vision came to me during this gong sound, but it's a long story, mom. And Nancy's like, okay.

And around the time Rama opens in 2013, Kandallani Katie, or probably Kundalini Katie, officially takes on the name Guru Jagat. She's a charismatic teacher and right away her classes are super popular. And with her own studio and a fancy new name, Groot Juckith is ready for her close-up. But as Groot Juckith's fame grows, so does her ego. She starts acting more manipulative, even toxic.

She's a guru for the cameras, but behind the scenes, things are getting downright culty. So a few days before Christmas, Guru Jagat uploads a video to her channel, and in the video, she's wearing a white turban and a white gauzy top because of course she is. And she's also wearing one of those microphone headsets like she's Britney Spears in the 2000s. Okay, this is crazy. She's literally just like any influencer, but she looks the part of hippie. She's wearing her head wrap, her hairs out and curly, she's wearing all white,

she's wearing more rings every time I see her. And Gurajugath knows that a lot of her followers are heading home for the holidays, and she has some advice on how to deal with family. Listen to this video she posted on her YouTube page. So the teaching is that after 18, which is a very specific life cycle, you are not supposed to, or it's not advantageous to spend more than 72 hours under the same roof as your parents. What she's talking about that you shouldn't be around your parents after you're 18, this has to my knowledge, no grounding in any religious text.

It's also like fundamentally at odds with how brown families were. I know. My parents straight up expected me to stay at home until I got married. So I don't know what the hell she's talking about, but this is like not at all how brown families work. Also, riddle me this, Katie.

You're telling people that they shouldn't be that close with their families? Yet your mom, Nancy, gave you 20k to start this yogic technological institute of bullshit. Yes, correct. It's obviously very like what's convenient to her. And it's a huge red flag to tell people not to see their families, right? Absolutely, this is crazy. Like, ugh, go on. Jucket starts shelling out more and more lifestyle advice. She offers tips on everything from sex, to beauty, to motherhood, and her teachings are

getting more culty and more fringe. She says that daily cold showers can cure depression, and she encourages her students to try the melon monod diet or pea fruit set, where you only eat fruits starting with the letter P for up to seven weeks at a time. This is like one of those games where you're just bored in a car and you're like, okay, we're gonna play the letter game

what fruit start with pea? What fruits do start with pea? Pear's pineapple, plumums, passion fruit, papaya, peach, pomegranate. Wow, you're so good at this game. I would survive on this diet purely because I can think of fruits. This is crazy because that is the most arbitrary, like all diets are somewhat arbitrary and crazy, but like, this one's really rough. This is takes it to another level,

because what starts in the P in English might not start with a P in another language. That's an excellent point. You're literally just making shit up right now. Uh, yeah, it's fucking wild, but obviously people actually do it. And here's Juggeth on our YouTube channel, Ram Alive, explaining why a seven-day diet of just eating melon is a good idea.

Oh my lord. It's brain-brain de-placking and pineal gland de-calcifying. And both things we need right now. And why? Well, the melon, it works with the melon. Foods that look like brains are do something for your brain. What the hell is brain-de-placking? And your third eye is getting decalcified with melons?

What on earth is happening here? Yeah, man. I don't know. But Guru Juckit wants her followers isolated from their families, malnourished, and a hundred percent devoted to her. But even that isn't enough. She wants more. More clicks, more likes, more subscribers, so she decides to take her poisonous teachings around the globe.

She's conquered Venice Beach. Next up, the world. No! Don't let her travel! In 2015, Gurajugud sets her site on Mallorca, Spain, which Sarah, I don't know if you've ever been, it looks like a screensaver, bright blue water, white sand beaches. It's a trendification spot for the wealthy and well-connected.

I will just say that I know Mallorca from reality TV that takes place in the UK, They're going to Mallorca. And Gurujucket wants to open a Rama studio there with a partner named Philippa Hughes. Philippa is actually from Mallorca. She used to have a cushy job in the yacht industry, but now she's a yoga teacher and dola. She's also a single mom to a three-year-old son. Gurujucket goes to Mallorca to help set up the studio.

She moves into Philippa's one bedroom apartment, crashing in the living room. And for five months, they work non-stop to put the studio together. The grand opening is set for March 21, 2016, with a full day of activities to celebrate the equinox. That morning, Gurujuckith takes the stage and welcomes everyone.

Philippa watches from the wings. She's waiting to be introduced and she waits. She waits and she waits. And then finally, Jagat says there's one person she couldn't have opened the studio without. And Guru Jagat welcomes to the stage. Howdy Jeevan. Um, she moved into this single mom's apartment and she's like, you know what, coming to the stage just dude I freaking hate. Yes, exactly. And Philippa is shocked. Juggeth never invites her up, never gives her props or shouts her out, nothing.

And what's even weirder is Philippa doesn't even know who Haryjivan is because Juggeth never even mentioned him. And Harry Jivan isn't exactly humble about the whole thing either. Actually, Philippa says that he's a downright dick about it. And she later told Insider that he acted like he was, and I quote, literally the fucking king. This is so messed up. Yeah, just wait.

Just wait. A week later, Jagat calls Philippa in demands that she wire Hari Jivan $1,900 for showing up to their launch party. And then Philippa realizes, Guru Jagat might be the public face of Rama, but Hari Jivan is the real puppet master. She starts to rethink her relationship with Guru Jagat. She knows she's in the business with a shady lady,

but she doesn't quite know how or when to get out. And then she gets a call from some former Kandallini fans in Boulder, Colorado, who tell her that Gurujuggit totally screwed them over. Wait, when was she in Boulder? What did she do? Well, Gurujuggit opened a studio there in August 2015 with three partners. And then she stole $13,000 from that studio so she could pay off her debts at the Venice location. And Sarah, I'm saving this for the next episode, but I actually took a Rama class a few weeks ago in New York

and I have a significant amount to tell you about it. You went to this. I went to this. I actually don't believe that. I think you're lying to me. Next week, you'll find out. So back to the Boulder studio. It closes in the summer of 2016,

just as Mallorca is getting on its feet. But for Philippa, the last draw comes when Guru Jagat asks her to sleep on the couch with her son, so that Guru Jagat can have the bedroom. Oh, wo-wo-wo-wo-wo-wo-wo-wo-wo-wo-wo-wo-wo-wo-wo-wo. Yeah, yeah. She is telling her to sleep on the couch with her... ...child in her own home.

Yeah. One day, soon after, according to Insider, Philippa shows up to the Rama studio and is confronted by members of Gurujuggit's entourage. They start screaming at her, saying things like, she's your teacher. How dare you not serve. Ooh, that is some scary shit.

Yeah. And at this point, Philippa is over it. She kicks Gurdjuggett out of her house and she dissolves the business relationship. She rebrands her studio and the worst part, Philippa never even got paid, not a cent for 10 months of work. Okay, wait, I lied.

This is actually maybe the worst part. A few months later, Groot Juggett opens another Rama in Mallorca down the street from Phillipa Studio. That's a level of petty I didn't think should reach. And despite this unforgivable behavior, Groot Juggett star keeps on rising. She's gaining a loyal worldwide following

in mal fairness of mostly white people who are hungry for meaning, including tons of celebrities like Demi Moore, Kate Hudson, and Russell Brand. All those names track for someone who would be a part of this, but what is it about Guru Jagat that, like, these famous people particularly want to be a part of? I mean, I think it might be because she preaches

that it's okay to want material things like money and fame. You can be both spiritual and a rabid capitalist. She combines millennial girlboss feminism and Instagram-friendly spiritualism. And naturally, all of these celebrities elevate Guru Jagat even more. And before long, she's on her way to becoming a global force in the yoga wellness world. And she'll stop at nothing to become the most famous guru of the 21st century. The real queen of the Aquarian Age.

But Guru Jagat's raw ambition and the secrets and messiness at the core of her yoga empire won't stay hidden forever. And I feel like a... like a... In January of 2017, four years after the studio opens, a journalist named Sophie Chalacey goes to a class at Rama and brings a camera crew for a segment on Entertainment Tonight. Whoa.

Guru Jagat puts on a full charm offensive for the cameras. And in the segment, Sophie and Guru Jagat are standing in front of the class, and Jagat is walking Sophie through a series of mantras and yoga poses, and there's a lot of unrelating and wiggling in front of a gong, basically. Listen to this. I'm doing that mantra every day since the Chinese New Year last year.

So we're almost up on a year. It just makes you rich and beautiful and stuff. I think it's working. Then later, in a new pose, she says, Yogi Bajin said, this exercise puts such circulation and beauty into your cheeks that you will never need cosmetics. I mean, Sarah, you can kind of see why she's popular. You know, she's promising her students

ever lasting youth and beauty in a matter of minutes. Months later, Grewd Juckith is interviewed for Vogue and Harper's Bizarre. Okay, Sachi, I have to ask, and any of these interviews, does her race ever come up? But because it is a pretty glaring detail. As I'm sure you can predict, no one's really interrogating anything about her back story. No one's thinking about the fact that this is a white lady who's changed her name to

Guru Juckith and who's walking around wearing a turban and appropriating all this stuff from India basically. And no one's thinking about what credential she might actually have to call herself a Guru. And the other thing is, by the time that Guru Juggit's getting all this media attention, she's already got her own full-blown media empire. It includes a podcast called, Please Never Forget This, Reality Riffing. And I'm here, Guter Juggit on Reality Riffing,

Ramma Radio. A video series called, Ramma TV. I hope we're catching all of this on Ramma TV. And a memoir slash self-help book called, Invincible Living. Oh, and in 2017, Hadeshivans banned White Sun,

even wins a Grammy for Best New Age album. Sarah, they beat Enya! Oh, and of course, all three members of White Sun are, let me hear it! They're white. Ugh, they beat Enya! They beat Enya. I don't know why that is like totally hurting my soul right now, like, Enya's like a queen.

From the outside, it looks like the institute is flourishing. But the truth is, Rama is in bad financial shape. Actually, it's falling apart. And Guru Jagatth is going to have to take desperate measures to avoid losing everything. While Rama expands and Guru Jagat continues to court the press, one of her key employees has reached the end of her rope. Elizabeth Grigno has been keeping Rama's books for months now.

And Sarah, things are bleak. She can't deal with one more bounce check. When she was hired back in 2015, Elizabeth was just a devoted student who couldn't afford to take any more classes. So when Gourood Juggeth offered her free classes in exchange for keeping Rama's books, Elizabeth was thrilled. She got to keep practicing kandallani and to hang with her rock star teacher. She was in the inner circle, but when she opens Rama's books, what she finds is really disturbing. Elizabeth finds out that Rama is two years behind on its taxes, and employees and vendors haven't been paid for months.

Meanwhile, grew juggit is living like an emperor. She refuses to wear the same outfit twice. She only flies business class. She stays at five star hotels, and she orders expensive meals on postmates up to five times a day. So she's getting her melons that start with the letter P on postmates

up to five times a day? She's getting five shipments of melons on postmates a day. How? And all the while. Wait a second. Wait a day. And all the while, wait a second. Why? Okay, I love that to both of us,

the most offensive part of this is ordering food five. It's like that shit adds up. Well, that's how you know you and I are actually ethnic where we're like, you're good, I'm sorry. Delivery five times a day. If I do it once a month, I straight up call my mom

and I'm like, I did something really irresponsible. So while Katie Griggs is ordering postmates five times a day, her employees are working over time, at minimum wage, with no health benefits. And on top of that, Elizabeth says that the work environment was riddled with emotional and mental abuse. She says Gory Juggith would ask about her employees'

most intimate traumas. And then later, she would throw that incredibly personal information in their faces to punish them. Like, one day, Grewd Juggeth's assistant brings her lunch. And apparently, she forgot to add sour cream to her burrito bowl from Whole Foods, no melons to be seen. And Elizabeth watched in horror as Grewudge-jugget went nuclear.

She starts screaming at the girl saying, Enough with this, I'm mad at mommy BS. Don't take it out on me because you're mad that your mommy used to fuck right in front of you. Oh my god, that is shocking. Elizabeth says that sleep deprivation and low-calorie diets turned rama employees into zombies. It's pretty hard to stand up for yourself

when you literally can't stand up. Well, there you go, like she's put them in this position where they cannot do anything. Yes, for sure. But after a year of this, Elizabeth is disgusted with Guru Jagatth, and she leaves the job. She wants to get out before it's too late. And Elizabeth isn't the only one.

More and more employees and students are defecting. But Goura Juggith isn't paying attention. She's so obsessed with growing her empire, acquiring more money, more power, and more fame, that she brushes off the haters. She thinks she's invincible, and for a time she is. But little does she know, a firestorm is brewing. And it's about to shatter the legacy of her spiritual mentor

and reveal her dark side to the world. It's 2019 and 76-year-old Pamela Dyson sits at her kitchen table in Maui, staring at her manuscript. She's beside herself with nerves. In the 1960s, she was a devout follower of Yogi Budgeon. She was a secretary, and she had a sexual relationship with him. And now, she's written an explosive memoir

that unmasks him as a serial predator. In the first chapter, she writes about when Yogi Budgeon pressured her to get an abortion. And she had to keep it a secret because she writes about when Yogi Budgeon pressured her to get an abortion. And she had to keep it a secret, because she writes, quote, he was a spiritual teacher to thousands, and he advocated monogamy and abstinence prior to marriage. In the book, Pamela alleges that Budgeon sexually, emotionally, and spiritually abused her over the course of 16 years.

And even though it's been three decades and he's literally dead, she's still terrified to publish it. Oh, that is so rough. Yeah, I told you this was gonna get really dark. But one night she goes to sleep and she has a dream that Yogi Budgeon is hovering in the air. He's trapped and he can't get out.

When Pamela wakes up, she realizes that Yogi Budgeon is stuck in what Buddhist call the hell realm. And the only way to set him free is to share her truth about him, no matter how ugly and painful it is. And once Pamela goes public, Gourge-Juggets will be forced to make a choice. Stand with a victim and denounce her former mentor, or defend Yogi Bajan's unthinkable abuses.

Sarah, you've spent a little time with Guru Jagat now. What do you think she does? I'm gonna say she doubles down with her support. Yeah, and it tears the Kandallini community apart. And by doubling down on Budgeon's bad behavior and batshit beliefs, Guru Jagat only draws attention to herself. In the fallout, Guru Jagat's business will unravel, her abuses will be exposed, and she'll unleash some truly unhinged conspiracy theories

about alien wars, white supremacy, and killer robots. If you thought this was messy before, buckle the fuck up. This gong session is about to get real. Hey, prime members. You can listen to scamful answers, add free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today, or you can listen add free with Wondery Plus and Apple podcasts. Before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short survey at Wondery.com slash survey. This is episode one of our two-part series, The Yoga Hustler.

I'm Sachi Cole, and I'm Sarah Hackie. We use many sources in our research. A few that were particularly helpful were Haley Faelin's article for Vanity Fair, Haven O'Reckioe Aggressives article for Insider, Cassidy George's article for Vice, Steffi Nelson's article for Los Angeles Magazine, and Marissa Melter's article for Harvest Bazaar. Rose Serna wrote this episode, additional writing by us, Sachi Cole and Sarah Hagi, our senior producer is Jen Swan. Charlotte Miller and Tate Busby are our associate producers. Our story editor is Sarah Enne.

Our senior story editor is Rachel B. Doyle. Sound Design is by J. Rothman. Additional audio assistance provided by Adrian Tapia. Our music supervisor is Scott Velasquez for FreeZonSync. Our executive producers are Janine Cornelow, Stephanie Gens, and Marsha Louis for Wundery. And just a note, a previous version of this episode mistated the location where the confrontation

between Philippa and Guru Jagat's entourage took place. We regret the error and have corrected the episode.