If you have your own story of being in a cult or a high control group, or if you've had an experience with manipulation or abuse of power, you'd like to share, shoot us an email at TrustMePod at gmail.com.

If you think that one person has all the answers, don't!

Welcome to TrustMe, the podcast about cult, extreme belief, and the abuse of power from two unenlightened beings who've actually experienced it, I am Lola Block.

And I am Megan Elizabeth, speak for yourself on the unenlightenment talk.

Oh really?

Yeah, really, you're gonna be more enlightened than me, okay?

I actually took acid and became one-third enlightened a couple years ago.

That's true, I'm only like one-sixteenth enlightened.

Today, our guest is Natai Joseph, he is a former Harry Krishnamunk, with a master's degree in the psychology of coercive control.

This is part two of our interview with him, and today we're gonna go in a sort of different direction, and we're gonna discuss his work with Cheetah House, which is an organization devoted to helping people recover from adverse effects in response to meditation practices.

We're gonna talk about how, while often beneficial, meditation isn't necessarily always right for everyone.

Some of the known potential adverse effects, and how people like Sam Harris have contributed to the widespread perception, but it's always good.

And if it's not working, you're doing it wrong.

Plus, we discuss whether you can separate a historically religious practice from the religion it was originally employed in service of, and whether transcending the self is always a good thing.

Okay, this is honestly, this is such an interesting conversation, and I know I say this in the interview, but I was really resistant to this kind of discussion initially, because I was a bit brainwashed about how meditation is always good.

And I still love meditation, by the way, but we'll get into all that soon.

Megan, tell me your coldiest thing.

Okay, well, this week I got two letters in the mail. I was so excited, two handwritten letters to me.

But when I opened them, they were both from Jehovah's Witnesses, handwritten, again, letters telling me about the religion and inviting me to a celebration of Jesus.

So there was a reference at the end of one of the letters that said something along the lines of like, I know y'all have had a bad experience with religion in the past, but this is different.

So I assume they're talking about you and I, and that's why I got two letters, but did only one of them say that reference that.

Yes, that is so interesting.

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