What we do
Dismantling New Age cults, wellness grifters, and conspiracy-mad yogis.
At best, the conspirituality movement attacks public health efforts in times of crisis. At worst, it fronts and recruits for the fever-dream of QAnon.
As the alt-right and New Age horseshoe toward each other in a blur of disinformation, clear discourse and good intentions get smothered. Charismatic influencers exploit their followers by co-opting conspiracy theories on a spectrum of intensity ranging from vaccines to child trafficking. In the process, spiritual beliefs that have nurtured creativity and meaning are transforming into memes of a quickly-globalizing paranoia.
Conspirituality Podcast attempts to bring understanding to this landscape. A journalist, a cult researcher, and a philosophical skeptic discuss the stories, cognitive dissonances, and cultic dynamics tearing through the yoga, wellness, and new spirituality worlds. Mainstream outlets have noticed the problem. We crowd-source, research, analyze, and dream answers to it.
The term “conspirituality” first appeared in 2009 as the name of a Vancouver rap group that unironically dropped conspiracy keywords into beats calling for political awakening. In 2011, Charlotte Ward and David Voas used the term academically to analyze the growing overlap between the paranoid conspiracism of right-wingers and the New Age’s yearning for spiritual transformation. David has given us permission to publish the entire paper on our site, which you can download here. (Disclaimer: Please listen to EP 123 for the story of Charlotte Ward’s conflict of interest in co-authoring this paper.)
Who we are
Derek Beres Derek Beres is a multi-faceted author, speaker, and podcaster based in Portland, Oregon. He has served in senior editorial positions at a number of tech companies and has years of experience in health, science, and music writing. He regularly speaks on science and media literacy.
Matthew Remski is a cult survivor and researcher. His 2019 book, Practice and All is Coming: Abuse, Cult Dynamics and Healing in Yoga and Beyond, is the first systematic analysis of pervasive cultism in the modern yoga world. He researches and writes on abuse in spiritual movements here, as well as for publications like GEN by Medium and The Walrus. His current research is pivoting to look at cultic dynamics in conspirituality and eco-justice movements. He lives in Toronto with his partner and their two sons.
Julian Walker grew up in Zimbabwe and South Africa and has lived in LA since 1990. He is fascinated with the intersections of yoga/meditation, psychology, science, and culture. He has written extensively on cults and gurus, spiritual bypass and quantum woo in New Age circles, trauma and the body, and neuroscience and somatic psychology informing the practice and teaching of yoga. His writing can be found on Elephant Journal, Medium, Freedom Becomes You, and in the 2011 book, 21st Century Yoga. He teaches yoga and runs teacher-training programs in and around LA. Julian is also a bodyworker and the ecstatic dance DJ/facilitator for his Dance Tribe events.
Mallory DeMille, Conspirituality’s TikTok Correspondent, is based in Victoria, BC and reports on troublesome trends and questionable quack creators. Mallory’s background is in marketing and brand communication. She has worked in social media for a decade, focusing on organic content and distribution. She reports on the conspiracy and pseudoscience digital landscape on Twitter and TikTok. Mallory also had a background in fitness with years of experience teaching different group modalities.