Matthew S. Remski (born 1971) is ayoga practitioner and author who has written on the connection between yoga and conspiracy theories. His work has been informed by his past experience as a cult member.[1][2][3][4] Remski was instrumental in exposinginappropriate physical contact in Yoga classes through an article that he wrote forThe Walrus in 2018.[5][6] He has followed this up with books on the same theme such as his 2019Practice and All is Coming and his 2024Surviving Modern Yoga.
Matthew Remski was born in Michigan in 1971 and schooled as a Roman Catholic at Michael's Choir School, Toronto. From 1990 he worked as a church organist and choir conductor. From 1991 to 1994 he studied English literature at theUniversity of Toronto, but did not graduate.[7]
In 1996 Remski began "an extensive study" ofMichael Roach's approach toGelukpa Tibetan Buddhism. He received a Tantric initiation from Roach'slama, Khen Rinpoche Geshe Lobsang Tharchin, in 1998, visited India andSera Mey monastery in Tibet, and studied Tibetan. From 2000, he lived in Endeavour Academy, Wisconsin Dells, in thekundalini-style cult of Charles Anderson. In 2003 he trained inKripalu-styleyoga with Darren John Main in Costa Rica, and in 2004 began to teach yoga, in his view prematurely, in Wisconsin. In 2005 he obtained a250-hour certificate inyoga therapy at theRocky Mountain Institute of Yoga and Ayurveda. In 2007 he began to teach yoga andayurveda in Toronto. In 2008 Remski studied Jyotish Shastra, an East Indian form ofastrology, at the Vidya Institute.[7] He began to blog on issues to do with yoga, especiallysexual abuse by yoga gurus and his "What are We Actually Doing in Asana" project,[8] and is viewed as a leading thinker on these topics by other yoga practitioners.[2][9] In 2014 he obtained a 500-hour yoga educator certificate from the Nosara Yoga Institute.[7]
The chair of theBritish Wheel of Yoga, Gillian Osborne, writes of Remski's 2019 book aboutsexual abuse by yoga gurus,Practice and All is Coming, that "the stories are shocking but entirely believable".[10] In her view, the book embodies "considered, informed opinion and original thought".[10]
Tara Henley, reviewingPractice and All is Coming forThe Globe and Mail, writes that Remski's "riveting" book "takes a deep dive into the 'toxic group dynamics' at play, mainly in the context ofAshtanga yoga, referencing numerous interviews Remski conducted with women who allege its late founderPattabhi Jois sexually assaulted them".[11] Remski examines the "'classic cultic triad' of deception, dependence and dread of leaving", isolating the follower and preventing them from thinking clearly about what is happening.[11]
Remski has written many articles on yoga and related topics, including:
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