Swedish yoga guru, 71, is arrested and 26 women freed from ‘deplorable conditions’ in France after kidnap and rape probe into sect ‘reminiscent of the Mafia’ where followers were coerced into ‘sexual initiations’

A Swedish yoga guru is among 41 people arrested by French authorities in raids against a controversial sect accused of exploiting young women for sex.

Swedish-Romanian Gregorian Bivolaru, 71, and his group, the Movement for Spiritual Integration in the Absolute (MISA), are accused of several charges, including holding women against their will.

The people were arrested in the Paris region and southern France, including other key members of the sect, the source added.

Bivolaru himself was arrested in a house in Ivry-sur-Seine, near Paris.

About 175 police officers were deployed in the operation, during which 26 women – some of whom were held against their will – were released.

The women released today were “held in appalling conditions,” both in terms of space and hygiene, the source said

They were “kept in appalling conditions,” both in terms of space and hygiene, the source said.

The investigation was sparked by the French Human Rights League, a human rights NGO, which contacted the prosecutor’s office after receiving statements from 12 former MISA members, a judicial source said.

Under Bivolaru, MISA has been repeatedly in the crosshairs of judicial authorities in Romania, Sweden and France in recent years, a source close to the investigation said.

MISA, which became known as ATMAN after its expansion outside Romania, taught tantric yoga with the aim of “conditioning victims to accept sexual relations through mental manipulation techniques that attempted to eliminate any idea of ​​consent,” the source said.

Bivolaru is said to have brought female followers to his personal home for ‘sexual initiation’ into tantric yoga.

Several women, of different nationalities, said they had been victims of the MISA organization and its leader, the source said.

Women were encouraged to accept sexual relations with the group’s leader and “agree to participate in paid pornographic practices in France and abroad,” the source said.

The judicial source told AFP that so-called yoga workshops were paid for by female members through sex chats and by men with manual labor.

The workshops were “clearly dedicated solely to satisfying the prime suspect’s desires,” the source said.

A French judicial source said the sect had “several hundred” members, but no precise figures were available.

The arrests follow an investigation into the sect launched in July by Paris prosecutors on suspicion of kidnapping, rape and human trafficking, among other things.

Several women, of different nationalities, said they had been victims of the MISA organization and its leader

On its official website, yogaesoteric, the group describes itself as the ‘largest yoga school in Romania and Europe’ and Bivolaru as its ‘spiritual mentor’.

MISA was expelled from the International Yoga Federation and the European Yoga Alliance in 2008 after its commercial practices were deemed ‘illegal’

A kidnapping charge can result in a prison sentence of up to 30 years under French law.

The case is “insane,” a source close to the case added, because it involves “a group reminiscent of the mafia and pimps disguised as philosophy.”

The yoga esoteric website listed an address in Bucharest for the Romanian MISA association, and one in Vienna for the European ATMAN network.

About 300 million people practice yoga regularly, according to yogaearth, a website dedicated to the discipline.

Practitioners cite stress reduction, improved mood and mental well-being as key benefits.

The network, called Movement for Spiritual Integration into the Absolute (MISA), runs several yoga schools and related activities.

On its official website, yogaesoteric, the group describes itself as the “largest yoga school in Romania and Europe” and Bivolaru as its “spiritual mentor.”

Its success ‘arises from a traditional rigorous approach to the yoga system, from a large number of studied both theoretical and practical aspects and from the coherent integration of the yoga values ​​and practices into the Western cultural environment’.

The tantra yoga section now contains tips on ‘amorous energy management techniques’, ‘erotic postures’ and ‘the road to ecstasy’.

The site also includes a page dedicated to ‘alien civilizations’.

MISA was expelled from the International Yoga Federation and the European Yoga Alliance in 2008 after its commercial practices were deemed “illegal,” the source said.