i was studying a little bit with this woman Uma Inder, Umaa for a few months about 3 years ago before seeing a few strange and not very nice things and behaviour. later, after leaving what i felt was very cultish atmosphere i saw recently she was not working at the yoga studio anymore and wondering why. i don't really want to email others from the group to find out though. i spoke to some of them for a while after, not too long though.

for me, there is something not quite right with this woman and group, using tantra, kundalini and yoga. as far as i know she is still in Ubud, Bali, maybe she has moved on though. My instinct got me out of there, but I do wonder about the others still there.

anyone else with any more information? i think there are some weird things written on her website.

www.umaa.info

Interesting story here.

[www.thejakartapost.com]

Corboy: Nothing is ever said in these yogi stories about problems such as malaria, leeches, ameobic dysentery, fungal infections.


[www.google.com]

Your instinct was right to get you out of there. She is a narcissist and a psychopath who thinks she is a 'special human'. I think she really hurt some people and they were determined to stop her, in Bali at least. You can see from her 'pinch of salt' bio and her attempt on bringing so called 'professionals' to testify and justify her otherwise. But she is highly manipulative and will shine everything so she is painted with the best light and special access to God. She will verbally abuse you and manipulate in the quest of 'Truth', her own distorted version that is and justify her abuse as 'blessings'. What did you see and what was your experience? I hope more people will come forward or the people who did 'give a good lynching' use their resources to educate and prevent further. I hear she is teaching worldwide now instead.

hi phoenix86.

i was only there for a bit really, but there was all this disturbing stuff people were talking about on an online forum and i saw some of it, but i didn't want to get involved. i read some things of some people and it was strange. there was also some violence spoken about which made me feel really uncomfortable. things seemed very strange. and there was all this talk about signing some documents a waiver type one and a non disclosure agreement. its just seemed so weird.

also on the website is says about people not changing their names in one of the testimonials. thats not true. when i was there i knew maybe 2, maybe more had new names from uma.

i wonder what your experience was? yes, i was in touch with someone else who left this week and then i found out uma is currently teaching in mexico.

Here's an article on spiritual discernment, published January of 2016

[hevria.com]


One person wrote this in the comments section.

Quote

I really enjoyed your article, humorous and poignant to where I'm living in a 'spiritual place, Bali'. I see these types of guys all the time in Ubud, Bali, it's one of those places where they can practice their 'spirituality' on many young women. What I would like to see to express the balance, as I don't think it's fair to just single out men, is an article that also addresses the women who play the same 'spiritual' game. The predatory behaviour is slightly different, but they exist and essentially it's about power and control over others.

She didn't enjoy any statement that doesn't align with her version and quest of 'truth' so she attacked me and people close to me, some grandeur guru trip spiels on things that are not true at all. If she was elsewhere she wouldn't complete psychological test on care taking of child she uses as shield and more self-serving 'greatness' and 'goodness' special being she is. She is currently in Mexico? I think she is trying to spread out as she's banned from teaching legally in Bali.

Phoenix wrote:

Quote

She didn't enjoy any statement that doesn't align with her version and quest of 'truth' so she attacked me and people close to me, some grandeur guru trip spiels on things that are not true at all.

Someone who calls themselves a teacher yet cannot respond respectfully to any
difference of opinion or new information is someone who is actually fragile and can only get power and feel powerful by assembling a bunch of adulators.

For persons trying to make sense of the social issues that affect yoga, Corboy
recommends a website, Decolonizing Yoga.

[www.decolonizingyoga.com]

Decolonizing Yoga addresses yoga and a myriad of social justice issues. Long,
thoughtfully written articles, carefully footnoted.

Matthew Remski has written a series of articles about problems that developed
for Jivamukti Yoga.

[www.google.com]

More articles by Matthew Remski


Matthew Remski identifies some hazards indigenous to yoga assemblies:

* Victim blaming

* The habit of obedience, mental and bodily obedience to trusted teachers.

Victim Blaming

[www.decolonizingyoga.com] .

Quote

“I found his comments ill-informed and unfortunate,” Faurot said. “He’s someone who’s been in the New York yoga community for a long time, and he instantly contributed to victim-blaming culture, which enables abuse, and silences those who would speak up.”

Thomas Shanahan, Faurot’s lawyer, was also on the call.

“From a legal perspective,” Shanahan said, “what’s stunning about Kaminoff’s comments is that with all of his years of experience in the yoga world, it’s clear he has absolutely no idea that under New York state law, Holly could never have consented to a sexual relationship with someone who controlled her employment.

“It’s shocking to me,” Shanahan said. “Maybe he figures that Eastern philosophy trumps Western law.”

“This is why this stuff happens over and over again,” said Faurot. “Victims speak out, and then people like him, who could be offering some guidance, make comments that are just wrong.

and

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faithful to a modern yoga tradition of minimizing and whitewashing patterns of abuse in teacher-student relations.

“People keep saying, ‘Don’t give your power away.’” Faurot says.

“But I didn’t know I had any power when I came to Jivamukti. My self-esteem was that unhealthy. I can see it now because I’ve done a lot of therapy.”

Boundaries are crossed after a teacher establishes trust.

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“I was in a freeze pattern”

“My apprenticeship with Ruth started out as highly formal, and I loved it,” said Faurot.

“The rule was that I couldn’t study with her until I could read and write in Sanskrit. She had high standards and expectations. In the beginning she showed herself to be a very firm, professional teacher who knew a lot and had a lot of experience. Once that trust was built, then the lines started getting crossed.

And

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“Getting things as an adult that I’d never received as a child was very powerful. I felt safe with Ruth. She made me feel very loved. I gained older sisters, who were her prior apprentices. I became part of this small privileged family within the larger context of the Jivamukti community.

“Acceptance into this family required unquestionable devotion to Ruth, and in return she agreed to be our teacher, our guru. It was assumed that all of us would work together to serve and take care of her.

“I learned quickly that to question her, to disagree, to see other points of view, or to even subtly to shift the focus away from her, was to bring on disapproval and the risk of rejection or being shunned.”

Quote

Over time, Faurot’s practice and sense of her body underwent a disempowering shift.

“Ruth would spend the night with me on Sundays and I would always take her class Monday morning. Those classes were always very difficult. My body would feel off, heavy– like a wet noodle that could be bent into any shape. Looking back this was clearly my body’s response to the violations taking place.

“I was in a freeze pattern. I had a deeply ingrained habit of dissociation due to both my childhood and the eating disorder I developed as a young adult. Because of that, it was perhaps easier for Ruth, my ‘guru’ – the person I was taught to trust more than my own instincts – to gain control and possession over my person.”

Ingrained Obedience in the Yoga Community - lack of boundaries.

Students trained to be obedient to their yoga teachers will be more likely
to give that same obedience to a new guru brought in by their teacher.

Jivamukti and Geshe Michael Roach: The Cross-Marketing Tangle of Magic Teachers

[www.decolonizingyoga.com]

Quote

The Jivamukti/Roach connection formalized in 2003 through a yoga of business opportunity and political necessity. Jivamukti was expanding both operations and overhead, and Roach was quickly exhausting his welcome on the Tibetan Buddhist teaching circuit......

(Corboy: Later, Michael Roach's operation got into serious trouble.

[www.google.com])

“Sharon and David raised us to be very respectful of teachers,” said the source. “You don’t point your feet at your teachers. You don’t lie down or eat when your teacher is speaking. It was very formal. And I think that’s nice in a way. In the West, we’re not very humble or respectful of elders.

“What they did well was to raise a culture of students who were reverent. Is that a cult? I don’t think so. Is it traditional? Maybe. Is there a power imbalance? Yes.

“Geshe Michael came to these big groups and he saw the perfectly-behaved students of Jivamukti. And he was very impressed by that.”

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/11/2016 11:10PM by corboy.

What was the online forum? Would be good to bring that out to public domain.

This reminds me so much of how much she inflates herself... You can clearly see she is unstable

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[www.instagram.com]

Hi Phoenix.

Well done tracking down where she is teaching.

There was a google group forum and later a phb? something type forum which was called "svakul reality check" or something like that if my memory serves me right.

There was a lot of people's deeply personal information on the forums following Uma's rule of "transparency". I guess here transparency here is like the confessionals in cults. At least that's what it felt like.

Wow if she's banned from teaching in Bali something must have gone down. Corboy your writing and links to Matthew remskis articles is super interesting. Yep I saw people in weird worship of her and I found it unnerving.

Here are some links from a discussion thread on yoga, just in case the
information is useful.



[forum.culteducation.com]

Signs to look for when evaluating a yoga retreat in a foreign country

[forum.culteducation.com]