Enlightenment With a Price Tag

MINI SERIES REVIEW
Twisted Yoga
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Genre: Documentary, True Crime
Year Released: 2026
Runtime: 3 Episodes
Director(s): Rachel Dretzin
Where to Watch: premieres globally on March 13, 2026

RAVING REVIEW: There’s something uniquely unsettling about watching belief unravel in real time. And possibly even more so in watching that belief being wrapped into something that makes you trust in it, just to have it pulled out from under you while you’re still grasping for that trust. TWISTED YOGA isn’t interested in sensationalism. It’s interested in seduction. How does a global tantric yoga movement promise empowerment and belonging, then slowly morph into something coercive, secretive, and allegedly criminal? The series doesn’t rush to answer that. It slowly reconstructs the path and lets you see what broke.

Structured across three tightly focused episodes, the Apple TV docuseries traces the rise and exposure of a spiritual organization built around Gregorian Bivolaru and the Movement for Spiritual Integration into the Absolute, widely known as MISA. The allegations are serious, including sexual exploitation, manipulation, systemic abuse, and more. Bivolaru denies wrongdoing, and the cases remain under active legal investigation, a fact the series makes clear. That framing matters because this isn’t about placing blame, but about focusing on the issues with the system that allowed it to be, and on the ones that can’t push hard enough to correct the wrongs committed.

Chapter One centers on recruitment. Through Ashleigh’s story, the show illustrates how vulnerability and curiosity intersect. She moves to a new city. She wants to find a connection. The studio feels intense but purposeful. The language of growth, transcendence, and sacred sexuality is introduced slowly, almost innocently. The early sequences are among the series’ strongest because they demonstrate that manipulation rarely appears as harm.

The second episode, Initiation, shifts tone. By the time Ashleigh travels to Paris to meet the guru in charge, the organization's structure is clearer. Hierarchy. Devotion. Expectations disguised as tests to see the spirit and what spirituality means to the larger picture of the structure being shared. The tension builds not through dramatic music or exaggerated editing, but through testimony. When Ashleigh begins to understand what the initiation truly entails, the discomfort is undeniable.

Chapter Three expands exponentially outward. We see the authorities raid compounds. Former members coordinate with each other and authorities across borders. The narrative becomes investigative rather than personal. The discovery of dozens of women inside Bivolaru’s properties marks a pivot from introspection to accountability. Still, the series avoids framing itself as a triumphant exposé. The focus remains on the human cost.

Rachel Dretzin’s direction is key to why the series never tips into exploitation. Her background in investigative documentary filmmaking shows in the structure. She allows testimony to breathe. There’s space between revelations, which gives viewers time to process rather than react impulsively. That pacing reinforces the idea that manipulation doesn’t happen in a single moment. It accumulates over time. The series isn’t edited for outrage; it’s edited for recognition. By prioritizing coherence over delirium, Dretzin ensures the story feels more credible. This isn’t just for shock; it's got a genuine focus behind it.

The idea and execution that separates TWISTED YOGA from more sensational cult documentaries is its restraint. It doesn’t lean too heavily into shock tactics. Instead, it examines the mechanics of belief. Why are intelligent, capable people drawn to charismatic spiritual leaders? How does language become a tool for eroding autonomy? The series suggests that the desire for meaning can be weaponized when combined with power structures that discourage dissent.

The series maintains a clean, contemporary, almost-sterile aesthetic at times. Interviews are framed. Archival footage and promotional materials from the movement are carefully integrated. There’s no flashy reconstruction. That minimalism works in its favor. The subject matter doesn’t require embellishment.

Where the series excels most is in its treatment of former members. They aren’t reduced to victims for impact. Their intelligence, initial optimism, and eventual self-doubt are treated with respect. The emotional throughline is not humiliation. It’s recovery. That said, there are moments when the documentary could have dug deeper into the broader institutional context. The legal complexities, the international jurisdiction issues, and the timeline of allegations sometimes move quickly. Viewers wanting granular detail on court proceedings may find that layer thinner than expected. Maybe a sequel series TBD?

TWISTED YOGA frames itself as a study of power disguised as spirituality. The promise of enlightenment becomes a means of control. The language of freedom becomes a cage. In the crowded landscape of cult and true-crime documentaries, it would be easy for this series to feel repetitive. It doesn’t. Its focus on tantra, sacred sexuality, and expansion adds specificity. The emphasis on ongoing legal scrutiny keeps it grounded rather than sensational. TWISTED YOGA delivers a composed, human-centered examination of belief and betrayal. It doesn’t scream its outrage. It lets the testimony do the work. And that quiet confidence makes it more unsettling than any dramatic flourish could.

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[photo courtesy of APPLE TV, LADYWELL FILMS, LIGHTBOX]

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