For many people, yoga can be beneficial for mind and body. Meditation can relieve stress. Crystal healing sessions seem to provide some intangible benefits. But for a small minority, wellness – and the gurus who practice it – have provided a gateway to a much darker way of seeing the world.
What begins with meditating in a room with your mates, can end in an unhealthy obsession with population control, fears of world government and other popular conspiracy theories.
The author and journalist James Ball, whose book The Other Pandemic addresses the phenomenon, talks with Michael Safi about the connection between wellness and conspiracy theories. And considers what happens when a friend or family member has gone through the pipeline: how do you pull them back?
Illustration: Susanna Gentili/The Guardian
Support The Guardian
The Guardian is editorially independent.
And we want to keep our journalism open and accessible to all.
But we increasingly need our readers to fund our work.
