Small initial requests often increase the likelihood that someone will later accept larger ones, especially when they believe they are in a safe environment and that the person making the request has their best interests at heart.

The case of the yoga guru Gregorian Bivolaru — and the numerous accusations of human trafficking and sexual assault surrounding him — became the subject of the 2026 Apple TV documentary Twisted Yoga. The film highlights how deeply vulnerable human beings can become when they place absolute trust in an authority figure and conform to the norms of a closed group to which they now feel they belong.

Multiple allegations and investigative lines place Bivolaru at the center of an organized network connected to international MISA entities. Publicly, these organizations promote yoga teachings; privately or covertly, according to investigative authorities and testimonies, they facilitate, or allegedly facilitate, the recruitment of women for Bivolaru to initiate and sexually exploit.

The case serves as a powerful example of how strategies of manipulation can co‑opt traditional spiritual doctrines to advance self‑serving and damaging interests.

The Yoga Guru

For followers of the various yoga institutions that regard Gregorian Bivolaru as their spiritual guide, he is seen as a modern-day Gandhi — a Romanian leader persecuted, in their view, for spreading world peace through yoga. A martyr, an enlightened being beyond suspicion.

It is true that Bivolaru was detained for practicing yoga when it was prohibited under the communist regime. What is not openly disclosed is that he was institutionalized as mentally unstable and deemed incapable of understanding the consequences of his actions, and that he had previously been detained for distributing pornography.

After the regime change, he was released and later faced additional accusations, many involving sexual assault, including of minors — a pattern some believe reflects an obsession dating back to his adolescence.

He spent years as a fugitive wanted by Interpol, lived for several years in Sweden where he sought asylum, and was eventually arrested in France in 2023, where he remains in preventive detention awaiting trial.

If these suspicions are confirmed — as they increasingly appear to be — he chose the perfect approach to draw women into his network: tantra.

Tantra

In ancient Hindu and Buddhist traditions, Tantra was understood as a complex spiritual path embedded in a cultural context where religious practice involved ritual, discipline, and the transmission of knowledge from master to disciple.

Its central aim was not pleasure, but the expansion of consciousness through symbols, meditation, and, in some specific and highly restricted contexts, practices involving bodily energy as part of a deeply philosophical system.

Over time, especially in the modern Western context, the term was simplified and appropriated, often reduced almost exclusively to sexuality or used superficially for commercial or even manipulative purposes.

In the Bivolaru case, former participants reported that the group’s philosophy framed tantra — understood as the study of love — as the pinnacle of spiritual development and unity. To reach this state, they were encouraged to set aside the ego and free themselves from sexual inhibitions, seeking a higher connection with creation through initiation.

Every year, several women who already attended yoga classes were invited to a women-only gathering in another country, usually Paris. Upon arrival, their communication was cut off, and they underwent a recorded interview while naked.

The event ended with a bikini contest and a ritual that allegedly involved an orgy and a requirement that all participants urinate into a container and then drink from it. According to testimony, most complied, though refusal was technically allowed. Bivolaru did not attend these gatherings in person but watched the recordings and apparently selected the contest winner.

According to the group’s doctrine, the core of the teachings could only be transmitted through initiation into tantra, and only those deemed “prepared” were invited to be initiated by the master. Little was said about what the initiation entailed, and participants were required to maintain secrecy, though many suspected it involved sexual acts.

The Initiation

Many women were invited to be initiated by the master — an honor, according to the group. They traveled in secret from all over the world, blindfolded, with all communication to the outside world cut off for an indefinite period.

During the initiation, they discovered that it consisted of yoga sessions mixed with various Kama Sutra positions to be performed with an elderly Bivolaru, sometimes for up to four hours. They were encouraged to practice “transfiguration,” seeing him not as a physical body but as an expression of the divine.

Some women only realized what had happened once they returned home. Others were invited back multiple times. A few were asked to stay longer to ‘advance further,’ performing sensual acts on camera for other men without receiving any compensation, while the group — or Bivolaru himself — profited from their exploitation.

Before being released, all women were required to record a video testimony stating that everything they had done was of their own free will.

The Perfect Influence? A Warning

Two behavioral biases were especially evident in the Bivolaru case: authority bias and conformity bias.

Authority bias

Authority bias describes the human tendency to assign greater credibility and value to the opinions of perceived authority figures, regardless of the actual quality of the information. This bias is deeply rooted in social and evolutionary mechanisms — trusting leaders or experts has often been beneficial for collective organization.

However, this inclination can lead individuals to suspend critical thinking and accept guidance solely based on the status of the person delivering it.

When authority is built through charisma, status, or claims of exclusive knowledge — as often happens in spiritual or institutional settings — the risk of undue influence becomes even greater.

Group Conformity

Conformity bias refers to the tendency to adjust behaviors, beliefs, or decisions to align with a group. This can occur through explicit pressure or subtle social cues, driven by the desire for belonging or fear of rejection.

In environments where norms and practices are collectively shared, conformity can reduce an individual’s willingness to question or disagree, even in the face of discomfort or contradiction.

When combined with authority bias, conformity creates a particularly powerful dynamic: group validation and the perceived legitimacy of leadership reinforce each other, enabling behaviors that would otherwise be readily challenged.

Final Thoughts

To some extent, we are all vulnerable to the things we wish were true — the idea of a wise being with direct access to the source, free from vices and commercial interests. We long for universal laws that apply perfectly, for consensus on the meaning of love, and for definitive answers about what happens after death.

But such answers are abstractions, and this is precisely the danger of accepting precise decrees about how spiritual evolution supposedly works.

From personal experience, I fear that any spiritual path is ultimately individual, regardless of its denomination or philosophical lineage. At most, example inspires.

Be cautious of hidden agendas behind religious or spiritual authorities. You are living in the earthly realm.