Introducing Untold: The Retreat
Unhedged
January 15, 2024
Introducing Untold, a new podcast from the special investigations team at the Financial Times. In its first series, The Retreat, host Madison Marriage examines the world of the Goenka network, which promotes a type of intensive meditation known as Vipassana.
Speakers Madison Marriage
TopicsInvestingBusinessNewsBusiness News
Madison Marriage (0:09)
The gong bangs at 4 a.m. It's still dark outside, but you get up and get dressed. With the others, you head into the meditation hall. You try not to make eye contact. A volunteer gives you a cushion and directs you to find a spot. You sit and begin. Your goal is to focus your mind. Your back hurts, your knees hurt, and you're pretty hungry. You've been here three days, and you have seven more.
Some people go to these retreats, and they suffer. They might feel a deep sense of terror, or a break with reality. And on the other side, they're not themselves anymore.
Yesterday, you asked about leaving. But leaving is a bad idea, they say.
From the Special Investigations team at the Financial Times, this is The Retreat. I went into what I would consider a psychotic break. It was like being in a torture chamber for my mind for six months. The Retreat.
SPEAKER_2 (1:37)
The final rule is to purify the mind.
Madison Marriage (1:45)
The Retreat is the first series from Untold, a new Financial Times investigative podcast. Coming this January.
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