Twisted Yoga: Ashleigh Freckleton on Atman/MISA and Gregorian Bivolaru
A Little Bit Culty
Sarah Edmondson & Anthony “Nippy” Ames
4.6 • 3K Ratings
🗓️ 26 March 2026
⏱️ 63 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this episode, we finally sit down with Ashleigh Freckleton, one of the central voices in the Apple TV docuseries Twisted Yoga and a former devotee of MISA/Atman Yoga, the transnational yoga-tantra empire orbiting fugitive guru Gregorian Bivolaru. We’ve been trying to line this conversation up for years, and it was worth every time-zone fail and calendar mishap to get her in the (virtual) studio.
Ashleigh takes us back to the moment yoga and meditation felt like the only things keeping her afloat—and how that genuine relief became the doorway into a “serious spiritual school” that slowly revealed itself as a high-control group with a global footprint. She walks us through the pipeline: starting with online Atman classes, moving into the in-person community at the Tara Yoga Centre in London, and eventually realizing the whole network feeds back to one very problematic “master” in hiding.
We also get into how these groups weaponize spiritual language to train you to ignore that constant low-grade anxiety buzzing in the background. Ashleigh describes what it’s like to see her story hit the screen after years of healing: the stress before the doc dropped, the relief of being believed, and the weird emotional whiplash of dragging an old, well-filed trauma box back out of the closet and cracking it open for millions of strangers. If you’ve ever wondered whether your “intense” yoga or tantra scene is actually…a little bit culty, this one’s for you.
Be sure to check out Twisted Yoga on Apple TV and follow Ashleigh on Instagram @afreckle_ and CULTivate Awareness @cultawareness_.
Trigger warning: This episode contains frank discussion of spiritual and emotional abuse, pornography, sexual abuse allegations, anxiety, and trauma responses.
Also…let it be known that:
The views and opinions expressed on A Little Bit Culty do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the podcast. Any content provided by our guests, bloggers, sponsors or authors are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, group, club, organization, business, individual, anyone or anything. Nobody’s mad at you, just don’t be a culty fuckwad.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | These days, I'm really trying to embrace a buy fewer things, but make them fabulous philosophy. |
| 0:04.5 | Because my closet has previously been what experts might call a graveyard of questionable impulse purchases. |
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| 0:16.7 | and the kind of effortless style that makes it look like you have your life together, even if you obviously do not. |
| 0:21.4 | For example, my very generous mother just took myself and our family to Europe for spring break, |
| 0:26.7 | and I wanted to, you know, look stylish and European, and I didn't have the accessories. |
| 0:31.3 | So I went to quince.com, and I got two key pieces specifically for this trip, |
| 0:36.3 | an Italian leather diamond stitch sling in black |
| 0:39.6 | because I didn't want to bring like a fanny pack and a purse. So this is like a upscale |
| 0:43.9 | fanny pack. And I looked pretty stylish, I think. What's also cool about quince is that it works |
| 0:48.9 | directly with safe, ethical factories and cuts out the middlemen. So you're getting luxury level |
| 0:53.2 | quality without the markup, which means you can look expensive or fancy or European without having to emotionally |
| 0:59.2 | process that credit card bill. Quince is consistently rated 4.5 to 5 stars by thousands of customers, |
| 1:04.7 | which feels correct. Once you start wearing their stuff, you realize the secret isn't about |
| 1:08.4 | having more clothes, it's about having better ones. So right now, go to quince.com slash culti for free shipping and 365 day returns. That's a full year to wear it and love it, and you will. Now available in Canada to, woo-w-w-w-w-oh, Canada. And don't keep settling for clothes that don't last. Go to Q-U-I-N-C-com slash culti for free shipping and 365-day returns. Quince.com |
| 1:29.8 | slash culty. Happy shopping. This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be |
| 1:35.9 | considered legal, medical, or mental health advice. The views and opinions express do not |
| 1:40.2 | necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the podcast and are not intended to malign any religion, group, club, organization, business, individual, anyone, or anything. |
| 1:59.4 | I'm Sarah Edmondson. |
| 2:03.7 | And I'm Anthony Nippy Ames, and this is a little bit culty. We woke up from a cult, and that journey was captured in The Vow on HBO and in my memoir, Scarred. |
| 2:09.1 | Now, in this podcast, we break down the shame and secrets that make these experiences so destructive with honest conversations on how seemingly benign groups can cross into the cultaverse |
| 2:18.0 | and how to spot and recover from trouble if it happens to you. Each week, we bring an expert, |
... |
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