five questions about Atman, the “tantric yoga federation” whose guru was arrested

A vast raid against an international yoga sect led, on Tuesday, to the arrest of 41 people, including its guru Gregorian Bivolaru.

Sectarian excesses under the guise of yoga practice. Tuesday, November 28, 41 people were arrested, suspected of being linked to the multinational Atman sect. Among those arrested is Gregorian Bivolaru, the guru and founder of this controversial international tantric yoga movement. Sect, excesses, yoga, tantrism… what exactly are we talking about? Franceinfo takes stock.

How do you define a sect?

French law does not provide a legal definition of what a sect is. This absence, Miviludes, the interministerial mission of vigilance and fight against sectarian abuses, explains it this way: “Respectful of all beliefs and faithful to the principle of secularism, the legislator has always refused to define the notions of sects and religions.” In France, everyone has the right to believe what they want and to practice the religion they want. This is what we call freedom of belief, opinion or religion, which is notably defined in article 11 of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen.

What are “sectarian deviations”?

Here again, sectarian aberrations are not a legal concept in French law. It is an “operational concept”, that is to say a way of behaving, of operating. According to Miviludes, there are several criteria that make it possible to identify this type of behavior. In particular “mental destabilization”, but also the fact of demanding exorbitant sums of money, of forcing the victim of these abuses to break up with their loved ones or even the existence of attacks on their physical integrity.

For there to be sectarian drift, several of these criteria are necessary. Not all of them are equally important, but mental destabilization, that is, subjugating someone psychologically, is always present. And this is very important, because the Penal Code punishes the abuse of weakness on a person who is in a state of “psychological subjection”. The penalty can be up to three years in prison and a fine of 375,000 euros. It’s even five years and a fine of 750,000 euros when this abuse of weakness is committed by the head of a group which, according to the Penal Code, “pursues activities aimed at creating psychological or physical subjection to persons participating in these activities”.

This is what Gregorian Bivolaru incurs. Last July, a judicial investigation was opened against this guru and Atman, his organization, in particular for “abuse of weakness in a gang organized by a member of a sect”, “rape” and “trafficking in human beings in an organized gang” .

What is Atman, the international yoga sect dismantled on Tuesday?

Gregorian Bivolaru founded Misa (Movement for Spiritual Integration towards the Absolute) in 1990 in Romania. It is the ancestor of the Atman, renamed as such during its expansion outside Romania. This yoga federation is present in around thirty countries, including France, where it operates under the name of the “Yoga integra” association. According to the first elements of the investigation, this international sect is notably based on the practice of a certain type of yoga (see below). This teaching is intended to “conditioning victims to accept sexual relations via mental manipulation techniques aimed at removing any notion of consent”.

Still according to the investigation, the courses conducted by Gregorian Bivolaru were intended to involve people in sexual and/or physical activities. The guru incited female victims “to accept sexual relations” with him and/or “indulging in paid pornographic practices in France and abroad”.

Many women of different nationalities declared that they had been victims of the actions of this guru. At the time of his arrest, 26 women were taken from the house where he was staying. They were held “in conditions of cramped conditions and deplorable hygiene”, according to a source close to the matter.

What do we mean by “tantric yoga”?

According to Release (paying), the followers of the Atman were “attracted by the mention of tantrism”. “This type of course is rare”says one of the German victims, who adds that “Tantrism also opens a door to a form of sexuality that we do not talk about in our societies.”

“Tantra has, in the contemporary Western imagination, a sulphurous reputation, which ranges from unbridled sexual practices to so-called sacred sexuality,” says Zineb Fahsi, yoga teacher and trainer, author of the book Yoga, the new spirit of capitalism. “Yet tantra is much more vast and complex than these images we inherit today, she emphasizesthe tantras are texts which appear around the 5th and 6th centuries in northern India.

HASToday, the author and specialists prefer to talk about “neo-tantra”“a recent development, the result of the reformulation of certain tantric practices through the prism of the concerns of a certain Western public in search of bodily and sexual liberation”. In the case of Atman“neo-tantric yoga practices fuel predatory sexual behavior”, laments Zineb Fahsi.

Is the sectarian phenomenon important in France?

There are no precise figures, but there are estimates. Still according to Miviludes, there are around 500 sectarian groups in France today, which have around 500,000 followers. The organization also estimates that currently, 60,000 to 80,000 children are raised in a sectarian context. The number of reports for sectarian aberrations is increasing “86% increase in five years”, alerted the president of Miviludes last March. Faced with this growing number, the government presented a bill, in particular to strengthen the legal arsenal. It will be debated in mid-December in Parliament.