Bikram Choudhury claimed to heal President Nixon's thrombosis and developed his own form of yoga that became an international brand. The brash, tale-telling, foul-mouthed yoga teacher built an empire around his teacher training courses. But he was also a predator and abuser. Where did Brikram yoga come from? (Spoiler: it's a long story about colonialism in India) Why do we think physical training requires verbal abuse? Is Bikra, the Vince McMahon of yoga? We'll answer all of these questions and more this week!

Follow us on the socials at @cultfavoritepod.

Production assistance from the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Alabama.

Theme music produced with Udio.

Pull up a chair or twenty, and join us for a conversation about Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets (2023). Made famous in the mainstream for their TLC reality show 19 Kids and Counting, Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar presented a very specific image of a very large family within the “Quiverfull” movement whose children were reliably obedient and mild-mannered. Behind the literal and figurative scenes, however, the line between authority and abuse was often a blurry one, both for the family and for the Institute in Basic Life Principles, whose teachings were reflected by the Duggars at every turn. Merinda has logistical questions about big families and returns to the mundane workings of power. Mike watches cartoons and muses about strategies within group mobilization. As always, we think together about how/when/why “cult” rhetoric appears, who wields it, and what its effects are. #cultfavorite #duggars #studyreligion

Links:

Danielle Lindemann, True Story: What Reality TV Says about Us (2022) https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374720964/truestory/

Nathan O. Hatch, The Democratization of American Christianity (1991)

https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300050608/the-democratization-of-american-christianity/

Follow us on the socials at @cultfavoritepod.

Production assistance from the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Alabama.

Theme music produced with Udio.

This week, we’re talking about Chaos: The Manson Murders (Netflix, 2025). Most stories about Charles Manson depict him as a special brand of villain: a personification of evil incarnate, a manipulative mastermind who lured vulnerable hippies to their murderous doom, a sociopath who looked for hidden meanings in Beatles’ lyrics and foretold an apocalyptic race war. In this documentary’s treatment, investigative reporter Tom O’Neill presents Manson as a CIA pawn who learned his mind-control techniques from his own ostensible time in the covert MKUltra program. Our conversation doesn’t try to get to the truth of the matter. Instead, we discuss how and why people turn to exceptionalism narratives to make sense of the mundane. In the process, we learn that Mike’s never seen The Manchurian Candidate or Rosemary’s Baby! So send us your classic movie recommendations as we try to get him caught up to speed.

Links:

Celisia Stanton’s Truer Crime podcast episodes on the Manson murders: https://truercrimepodcast.com/manson-pt-1/