Untold: The Retreat
4.8/5
Critic Rating
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. Thousands of people go on Goenka retreats every year. People rave about them. But some people go to these meditation 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.
Critic Reviews
Score: 5
Rachel Cunliffe • New Statesman • Mar 20, 2024
"I went into this expecting a tale of corruption, abuse and financial exploitation. In some ways, it sounds a lot like a cult. But no one is making any money and there is no cult leader (Satya Narayan Goenka, who popularised the technique, died in 2013). Instead, this story “is about a growing number of untrained people playing at the margins of some dangerous forces, all under the seemingly innocuous guise of self-improvement”. Which, in its own way, is even more terrifying."
Score: 4
James Marriot • The Times UK • Jan 31, 2024
"The series is presented by the quite wonderfully named Madison Marriage, whose haunting RP tones are well fitted to these unhappy tales of upper-middle-class seekers gone awry. This one is new and unexpected. Marriage’s programme is dense with information, dense with emotion and dense with stories. I was gripped."
Score: 5
Lauren Passell • Podcast The Newsletter • Jan 29, 2024
"The trailer is really good—it starts with this haunting gong and eerie sense of place, putting you inside what it’s like to be on day three of this retreat."
Score: 5
Devin • Podstack • Jan 4, 2024
"It’s unsettling and intriguing, with strong narrative production pulling you in. Then you learn that it also happened to this person’s twin sister. The plot thickens, bring on episode two. "
