Apple TV: “Twisted Yoga” Sheds Light on Abuse and Healing
There’s a deeply human desire to find purpose in the world. Some look to science, others to art, more to religion. This pursuit of a larger calling is deeply personal, and it’s as much internal as it is external because a certain vulnerability must exist in those who search to better themselves. Unfortunately, that profound sense of vulnerability also opens the door for abuse of power by those claiming they can lead the way to enlightenment. The upcoming Apple TV series Twisted Yoga centers on ex-members of a tantric yoga school who are finally given the platform to speak about the abuse they endured.
The three-part series directed by Rowan Deacon chronicles the abuse women experienced while practicing tantric yoga under the supervision of Gregorian Bivolaru. Hailing from Romania, Bivolaru created the Movement for Spiritual Integration into the Absolute (MISA). It’s an international program with a name that varies depending on where in the world you are: Natha, Tara, Satya, and Atman Federation. Twisted Yoga focuses primarily on Ashleigh, who joined at the recommendation of an old friend. What started as a desire to make sense of her youthful wanderings turned into a firsthand look at sex trafficking, abuse, and assault.
courtesy of Apple TV
Twisted Yoga is the middle of this story. Ashleigh is currently fighting for justice in French courts and, because of that, there’s no tidy resolution at the end of the series. A common refrain from Ashleigh and other subjects is that while the events they’re referring to in the series may be a few years old at this point, it’s very possible others are going through it now. Their desire to tell their stories is a choice of defiance of everything they were taught in this organization. If you open a tab on your computer and look up the Atman Federation, you’ll find the website is still active. The release of the Twisted Yoga series creates a path for these people to find a way out. They likely took their first yoga class because they wanted to be part of something, and few things are harder than leaving a place that was supposed to be the source of freedom.
“We can’t just keep a gaze up to the light while we’re standing in a pile of shit,” says one of the women who is an ex-member of the group. It’s a sentiment that sums up the emotions of many of the women who participated in this docuseries and one that also speaks to our current state of affairs. We cannot be reaching for a happily ever after when we’re surrounded by a colossal mess. Cults and organizations like the one featured in this series promise an escape that doesn’t fix the world, but does save someone from it. Twisted Yoga is an empathetic study of the pursuit of belonging and how this primal need pushes us past glaring red flags in the hope that an answer to this confusing life of ours lies right around the corner.
Twisted Yoga premieres on Friday, March 13, 2026, exclusively on Apple TV.
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