A Little Bit Culty

In Part 1 of our episode with Melissa Duge Spiers, she pulls back the curtain on Seventh‑day Adventism (SDA)—a massive but strangely invisible denomination she describes as a classic end‑times cult built on control of food, bodies, and behavior. She traces the movement’s roots through prophet Ellen G. White, mad‑hatters‑era health fads, Kellogg’s cornflakes‑as‑anti‑masturbation tool, and the church’s global education and medical empire, which still funnels power to “crusty old white men” in Washington while aggressively proselytizing in vulnerable communities.
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Melissa zoomed into her own multi‑generational SDA family: a great‑grandmother pulled in by a job and schooling for her kids, generations of Adventist doctors, and parents who enforced extreme modesty, hair and weight control, media bans, and purity culture so intense that even nail polish and books were policed. Gymnastics, banned Saturday competitions, secret library runs, and a “shirt” virginity metaphor all shaped her sexuality and body image. As a teen, she decided to reclaim her agency by deliberately “losing” her virginity to a public‑school athlete, only to replay the same patriarchal script later through older conservative partners and dysfunctional marriages that echoed SDA-style submission without the theology.

Be sure to pick up Melissa’s memoir, Holy Disobedience, when it launches this week, and follow her at The Glory Whole on Instagram and TikTok or on her Substack page: substack.com/@melissadugespiers
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Trigger warning: This episode contains frank discussion of religious and spiritual abuse, body‑ and weight‑shaming, coercive purity culture and sexual scripts, and child corporal punishment.

Also…let it be known that:
The views and opinions expressed on A Little Bit Culty do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the podcast. Any content provided by our guests, bloggers, sponsors or authors are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, group, club, organization, business, individual, anyone or anything. Nobody’s mad at you, just don’t be a culty fuckwad.

Buy the A Little Bit Culty book on Amazon!
Check out our amazing sponsors
Join A Little Bit Culty on Patreon
Get poppin’ fresh ALBC Swag
Support the pod and smash this link
Check out our cult awareness and recovery resources
Watch Sarah's TED Talk and buy her memoir, Scarred

CREDITS:
Executive Producers: Sarah Edmondson & Anthony Ames
Production Partner: Citizens of Sound
Co-Creator: Jess Tardy
Audio production: Will Retherford
Production Coordinator: Lesli Dinsmore
Writer: Sandra Nomoto
Social media team: Eric Skwarzynski and Brooke Keane
Theme Song: “Cultivated” by Jon Bryant co-written with Nygel Asselin

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In this episode, we finally sit down with Ashleigh Freckleton, one of the central voices in the Apple TV docuseries Twisted Yoga and a former devotee of MISA/Atman Yoga, the transnational yoga-tantra empire orbiting fugitive guru Gregorian Bivolaru. We’ve been trying to line this conversation up for years, and it was worth every time-zone fail and calendar mishap to get her in the (virtual) studio.

Ashleigh takes us back to the moment yoga and meditation felt like the only things keeping her afloat—and how that genuine relief became the doorway into a “serious spiritual school” that slowly revealed itself as a high-control group with a global footprint. She walks us through the pipeline: starting with online Atman classes, moving into the in-person community at the Tara Yoga Centre in London, and eventually realizing the whole network feeds back to one very problematic “master” in hiding.

We also get into how these groups weaponize spiritual language to train you to ignore that constant low-grade anxiety buzzing in the background. Ashleigh describes what it’s like to see her story hit the screen after years of healing: the stress before the doc dropped, the relief of being believed, and the weird emotional whiplash of dragging an old, well-filed trauma box back out of the closet and cracking it open for millions of strangers. If you’ve ever wondered whether your “intense” yoga or tantra scene is actually…a little bit culty, this one’s for you.

Be sure to check out Twisted Yoga on Apple TV and follow Ashleigh on Instagram @afreckle_ and CULTivate Awareness @cultawareness_.

Trigger warning: This episode contains frank discussion of spiritual and emotional abuse, pornography, sexual abuse allegations, anxiety, and trauma responses.

Also…let it be known that:
The views and opinions expressed on A Little Bit Culty do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the podcast. Any content provided by our guests, bloggers, sponsors or authors are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, group, club, organization, business, individual, anyone or anything. Nobody’s mad at you, just don’t be a culty fuckwad.

Buy the A Little Bit Culty book on Amazon!
Check out our amazing sponsors
Join A Little Bit Culty on Patreon
Get poppin’ fresh ALBC Swag
Support the pod and smash this link
Check out our cult awareness and recovery resources
Watch Sarah's TED Talk and buy her memoir, Scarred

CREDITS:
Executive Producers: Sarah Edmondson & Anthony Ames
Production Partner: Citizens of Sound
Co-Creator: Jess Tardy
Audio production: Will Retherford
Production Coordinator: Lesli Dinsmore
Writer: Sandra Nomoto
Social media team: Eric Skwarzynski and Brooke Keane
Theme Song: “Cultivated” by Jon Bryant co-written with Nygel Asselin

SUPPORT OUR SPONSOR:
If you’re ready to start searching safely online, go to surfshark.com/culty or use code CULTY at checkout to get 4 extra months of Surfshark VPN.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode, Liz Gale shares what it means to be a third‑generation Scientologist, born into a fanatical family where every aspect of childhood—schooling, discipline, even getting sick—was filtered through L. Ron Hubbard’s “technology.” She describes being audited from before birth, sent to a Scientology boarding school at eight, and subjected to invasive “sec checks” by her own mother using the e‑meter, eroding any sense of privacy, autonomy, or secure attachment.

Liz traces the devastating impact Scientology’s beliefs had on her family, including her brother’s highly planned suicide at MIT on Hubbard’s birthday and the way the church’s anti‑psychiatry stance and perfectionism left him and others without real help. She talks about slowly deprogramming through community college and early‑childhood education, recognizing how abusive the system of raising kids in Scientology really is, and ultimately going “no contact” with her still‑in mother to protect her own children from becoming fourth‑generation Scientologists. Now living in Oregon, Liz reflects on boundary‑setting, suspected surveillance and harassment, and the grief of losing both her brother and her inheritance in the name of “family legacy” and the church.

Follow Liz Gale on her website, liz-gale.com, or follow her on TikTok or YouTube.

Trigger warning: This episode contains frank discussion of childhood emotional abuse and coercive control, spiritual abuse, invasive interrogations of children, family estrangement, and suicide.

Also…let it be known that:
The views and opinions expressed on A Little Bit Culty do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the podcast. Any content provided by our guests, bloggers, sponsors or authors are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, group, club, organization, business, individual, anyone or anything. Nobody’s mad at you, just don’t be a culty fuckwad.

Buy the A Little Bit Culty book on Amazon!
Check out our amazing sponsors
Join A Little Bit Culty on Patreon
Get poppin’ fresh ALBC Swag
Support the pod and smash this link
Check out our cult awareness and recovery resources
Watch Sarah's TED Talk and buy her memoir, Scarred

CREDITS:
Executive Producers: Sarah Edmondson & Anthony Ames
Production Partner: Citizens of Sound
Co-Creator: Jess Tardy
Audio production: Will Retherford
Production Coordinator: Lesli Dinsmore
Writer: Sandra Nomoto
Social media team: Eric Skwarzynski and Brooke Keane
Theme Song: “Cultivated” by Jon Bryant co-written with Nygel Asselin

SUPPORT OUR SPONSOR:
If you’re ready to start searching safely online, go to surfshark.com/culty or use code CULTY at checkout to get 4 extra months of Surfshark VPN.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In Part 2 of our conversation with Dr. Nancy Ross, we dig deeper into the fascinating (and frankly under-discussed) world of Mormon temple garments, the sacred undergarments worn by many devoted members of the LDS Church. Building on the research we introduced in Part 1, Nancy walks us through the results of her large survey examining how these garments actually impact people’s daily lives, especially Mormon women. We talk about everything from comfort and body awareness to modesty culture and the unspoken rules that shape how members think about their bodies, sexuality, and spiritual worthiness.

Nancy shares what hundreds of respondents revealed about the lived experience of wearing temple garments: the physical realities and the complicated mix of devotion, obligation, and identity tied up in this uniquely Mormon practice. We also explore how conversations around modesty, sexuality, and religious obedience in the LDS Church can shape women’s sense of autonomy and self-trust, and how everyday practices can reinforce belonging, control, and silence around discomfort.

For more in-depth info on her survey, pick up her book, Mormon Garments, and follow her on YouTube, Instagram, or TikTok.

Trigger warning: This episode contains frank discussion of religious control, modesty culture, sexuality, body shame, and sensitive topics related to women’s bodies.

Also…let it be known that:
The views and opinions expressed on A Little Bit Culty do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the podcast. Any content provided by our guests, bloggers, sponsors or authors are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, group, club, organization, business, individual, anyone or anything. Nobody’s mad at you, just don’t be a culty fuckwad.

**PRE-ORDER Sarah and Nippy's newest book here
Check out our amazing sponsors
Join A Little Bit Culty on Patreon
Get poppin’ fresh ALBC Swag
Support the pod and smash this link
Check out our cult awareness and recovery resources
Watch Sarah's TED Talk and buy her memoir, Scarred

CREDITS:
Executive Producers: Sarah Edmondson & Anthony Ames
Production Partner: Citizens of Sound
Co-Creator: Jess Tardy
Audio production: Will Retherford
Production Coordinator: Lesli Dinsmore
Writer: Sandra Nomoto
Social media team: Eric Skwarzynski and Brooke Keane
Theme Song: “Cultivated” by Jon Bryant co-written with Nygel Asselin

SUPPORT OUR SPONSOR:
If you’re ready to start searching safely online, go to surfshark.com/culty or use code CULTY at checkout to get 4 extra months of Surfshark VPN.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

A Little Bit Culty: Navigating Cults, Control and Coercion dropped on Amazon this past weekend and has already hit #1 new release in the psychology & religion category!

The Kindle version is coming any day now, and the book will be up at other online retailers in the next few weeks. Thank you! We love you!

Also…let it be known that:
The views and opinions expressed on A Little Bit Culty do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the podcast. Any content provided by our guests, bloggers, sponsors or authors are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, group, club, organization, business, individual, anyone or anything. Nobody’s mad at you, just don’t be a culty fuckwad.

Buy the A Little Bit Culty book on Amazon!
Check out our amazing sponsors
Join A Little Bit Culty on Patreon
Get poppin’ fresh ALBC Swag
Support the pod and smash this link
Check out our cult awareness and recovery resources
Watch Sarah's TED Talk and buy her memoir, Scarred

CREDITS:
Executive Producers: Sarah Edmondson & Anthony Ames
Production Partner: Citizens of Sound
Co-Creator: Jess Tardy
Audio production: Will Retherford
Production Coordinator: Lesli Dinsmore
Writer: Sandra Nomoto
Social media team: Eric Skwarzynski and Brooke Keane
Theme Song: “Cultivated” by Jon Bryant co-written with Nygel Asselin

SUPPORT OUR SPONSOR:
If you’re ready to start searching safely online, go to surfshark.com/culty or use code CULTY at checkout to get 4 extra months of Surfshark VPN.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.