Uncover - Uncover Introduces | The BBC’s investigative podcast World of Secrets: The Bad Guru

Episode Date: January 4, 2025

In the latest season of the BBC’s World of Secrets: The Bad Guru Miranda’s search for inner peace through yoga leads to allegations of grooming, trafficking and exploitation. “You just get sucked in so gradually... that you don't realize,” says her mother Penny. This series contains explicit sexual content, some strong language and allegations of sexual exploitation. More episodes are available at: https://BBC.lnk.to/WoSRF

This is a CBC Podcast. You're about to hear a trailer for the brand new series of the BBC's investigative podcast World of Secrets, The Bad Guru. This season investigates a yoga movement which promised spiritual enlightenment. But one woman, Miranda, a university tutor from London, says she was brainwashed into performing on a live pornographic web-caming channel. Keep listening to hear how Miranda's search for inner peace through yoga leads to allegations of grooming, trafficking, and exploitation. Yoga is more than just exercise. It's the spiritual practice that millions swear by. And in 2017, Miranda, a university tutor from London, joins a yoga school that promises profound transformation. It felt a really safe and welcoming space. After the yoga classes I felt amazing. But soon, that calm, welcoming atmosphere

leads to something far darker, a journey that leads to allegations of grooming, trafficking and exploitation across international borders. I don't have my passport, I don't have my phone, I don't have my bank cards, I have nothing. The passport being taken, the being in a house and not feeling like they can leave. World of Secrets is where untold stories are unveiled and hidden realities are exposed. In this new series, we're confronting the dark side of the wellness industry,

where the hope of a spiritual breakthrough gives way to disturbing accusations. You just get sucked in so gradually and it's done so skillfully that you don't realise. And it's like this, the secret that's there. I wanted to believe that, you know, that whatever they were doing, even if it seemed gross to me, was for some spiritual reason that I couldn't yet understand. Revealing the hidden secrets of a global yoga network. I feel that I have no other choice. The only thing I can do is to speak about this and to put my reputation and everything else on the line. I want truth and justice.

And for other people to not be hurt, for things to be different in the future. To bring it into the light and almost alchemize some of that evil stuff that went on and take back the power. World of Secrets, season six, The Bad Guru. Listen wherever you get your podcasts. That was the trailer for The Bad Guru, season six of the BBC's World of Secrets. You can listen to more episodes wherever you get your podcasts.

For more CBC podcasts, go to cbc.ca slash podcasts.