CONSPIRITUALITY

Conspirituality examines the growing movement of influencers who have curdled New Age spirituality and wellness with a politics of paranoia, and why it's really ramped up in recent years, when Instagram feeds that had been serving up green smoothie recipes and Mary Oliver poems suddenly became firehoses of Fox News links, memes from 4chan, and prophecies of global transformation.

The authors come at this from a unique perspective: all three are successful wellness practitioners as well as dogged skeptics about the hucksters, snake oil salesmen, and bad actors who prey on people under the guise of "wellness." Two of them are former cult members who escaped. Another was shunned when he got cancer by his community, told he must have done something wrong to have gotten the disease.

How is that a community supposedly centered on health has become obsessed with what were previously fringe conspiracy theories? Since May 2020, the authors have used their Conspirituality podcast to expose countless facets of the intersection of alt-health practitioners with far-right conspiracy trolls. Now this expansive and revelatory book unpacks the follies, frauds, cons and cults that dominate the New Age and wellness spheres and betray the trust of people who seek genuine relief in this uncertain age.

Conspirituality looks at how much overlap there is between the wellness community and communities usually associated with the far Right - Qanon, the Covid "plandemic," antivax disinformation, and 5G, among others - and show exactly how smart, curious, and educated people can descend into a rabbit warren of dangerous conspiracy theories and become victims of snake oil salesmen peddling nonsense. From bad science communication from the people in charge during to the ways in which some of these conspiracies are just perverted versions of legitimate religious and spiritual pillars, Conspirituality looks at how this creep happens, and how we can learn to become more knowledgeable consumers and slow its spread.

With analytical rigor and irreverent humor, Conspirituality offers an antidote to our times, helping readers recognize wellness grifts, engage with loved ones who've fallen under the influence, and counter lies and distortions with insight and empathy.

DEREK BERES is an author and media expert based in Los Angeles. He is the Head of Content Marketing and Community at Centered and co-host of the Conspirituality podcast. A former reporter and magazine editor, he has written for dozens of publications, including Rolling Stone, National Geographic, Women's Health, Big Think, and Yoga Journal. Derek taught group fitness at Equinox Fitness for 17 years, where he also created Flow Play, an innovative program at the intersection of music, neuroscience, and movement. Derek received his degree in religion from Rutgers University in 1997.

MATTHEW REMSKI is an author and freelance journalist, with bylines in The Walrus and GEN by Medium. He's published eight books of poetry, fiction, and non-fiction, including Threads of Yoga: a remix of Patanjali's Sutras with commentary and reverie. His most recent book, Practice and All is Coming: Abuse, Cult Dynamics, and Healing in Yoga and Beyond has earned international praise as a groundbreaking resource for critical thinking and community health. He lives in Toronto with his partner and their two sons.

JULIAN WALKER grew up in South Africa and has been teaching yoga in Los Angeles for 27 years. He also facilitates and DJs a weekly ecstatic dance event, runs a busy bodywork practice, and is a trained yoga instructor. Julian has taught at Esalen Institute and Kripalu, and co-created the Awakened Heart, Embodied Mind teacher training. He has been writing critically about New Age spirituality, gurus, and Western yoga culture since 2004. Julian has also made several appearances presenting his experiential synthesis of mindfulness, movement, neuroscience, and somatic psychology techniques at the UCLA Interpersonal Neurobiology conference.