Wellness, healing & self-improvement
Is my wellness or healing group a cult?
Yoga, meditation, breathwork, retreats, coaching and self-development courses help a lot of people. Because they deal with your body, emotions and sense of self, they can also give a teacher unusual power over you.
What a healthy wellness community usually looks like
- Teachers encourage you to keep seeing your doctor and to trust your own body.
- Prices are clear up front, and there's no pressure to keep buying the next level.
- You can stop, take a break, or try a different teacher without being shamed.
- Touch, intensity and emotional exercises always need your consent, and you can opt out.
Warning signs in a wellness or self-help setting
- Discouraging medical care: being told to stop medication, avoid doctors or vaccines, or that illness is caused by your "energy", "blocks" or lack of belief.
- The teacher has special powers or insight no one may question, and their behaviour, however harmful, is framed as "teaching".
- Endless upselling: the next course, retreat, initiation or certification is always needed to finally be healed or free.
- Your feelings are reframed against you: discomfort is "resistance", doubt is "ego", and boundaries are "trauma you haven't cleared".
- Extreme practices such as sleep deprivation, fasting, isolation or very long intense sessions that leave you more suggestible.
- Sexual boundaries are blurred by a teacher or leader, sometimes presented as healing or spiritual growth.
- Pressure to recruit friends and family, or to cut off people who are "low vibration" or "toxic".
Why it's hard to see from inside
Wellness groups often find people at a vulnerable moment, such as illness, burnout, grief or anxiety, and really do help at first. When a practice is tied to your health or emotional healing, questioning the teacher can feel like rejecting your own recovery.
If you've been told to stop medical treatment, please speak to your GP or doctor before making any changes. It's your decision, and an independent opinion protects it.
Where to get help
- A counsellor experienced in coercive control or spiritual abuse. ICSA's directory lists specialists.
- If someone has abused you sexually: Rape Crisis (England & Wales) 0808 500 2222, RAINN (US) 1-800-656-4673
- More options: Get help