Was I In A Cult? - Falun Gong P1: “Karma Claus... He’s Always Watching"

Episode Date: October 7, 2024

When her mother fell sick, young Angela had no idea that she would spend her childhood growing up in a dangerous cult. Falun Gong, a Chinese spiritual movement-slash-religion-slash-cult, known for its Shen Yun dancers and its ties to 'The Epoch Times’ entangled her family in its facade of meditation and enlightenment. In this two-part episode, Angela recounts her experience in a world where karma is not just a bitch, but a force that can dictate life and death… with suffering seen as path to salvation and modern medicine demonized as an obstacle to spiritual purity. And just when you think it can’t get any wilder, the Capitol Insurrection storms into the story…  Stay tuned next week for Part Two.   ____ Angela on TikTok: @workplace_doodles Follow us on Instagram/TikTok/FB: @wasiinacult  Have your own story? Email us: [e-mail]  Please support Was I In A Cult? Through Patreon (we appreciate the hell out of you guys): https://www.patreon.com/wasiinacult   Merch is here! www.wasiinacult.com  Tyler’s Boring Book Club addition: "How We Got to Now: Six Innovations That Made the Modern World"  

Shinyun is everywhere, the epic times is growing, and they seem to have a really large influence over people. And there are a lot of people who are interested in Falun Gong as well, like joining the cult, not even realizing what it is. It seems a little dangerous, and I want to warn people. Welcome to Was in a Cult? He's Tyler Meesum. And she's Liz Iacuzzi. And this is a show featuring people who have been in situations that left them asking, Wait, hold on. was I in a cult?

And we give those people a chance to share their story in a self-empowered way. And some of our guests come to the cult conclusion quickly, while others why it takes some time. And today's guest knew right away when she left that she had left a cult. Yes, she is an outspoken TikToker who openly talks about her journey in Falun Gong, a spiritual movement slash cult that was founded in the 1990s in China. Now, for those of you who have not heard of this huge organization, little crazy fact, this cult is behind Epic Times and those Shenyang dancers your aunt keeps telling you to see.

And what compelled her to speak out in the first place is mostly because of one very heartbreaking reason, which of course we will let her tell you herself. We discovered Angela because of her TikTok. And let me tell you, she is fearless, young, wise, and real as hell about the cult's impact on her and her family. And like us, you might not know just how deep and wide this cult's roots run. Spoiler alert, guys. It's huge. Huge. It's all caps huge.

It is all caps huge. And with that, by goodness, Liz, let's stop the yammer and let's dive in. Shut up, Tyler. stop talking so much. I told you, I gotta keep talking a little bit. True, keep going. Set it up. Keep going, finish, finish the intro. I'm trying, but you keep talking.

Come on, Tyler, get it out. It is a two-parter, everyone, and it deserves to be a two-parter, because it's pretty kick-ass. So guys, sit back, take a deep inhale, exhale out all the bullshit, and join me in welcoming today's badass guest. Hello, my name is Angela. I grew up in Rowland Heights, California. It's a small town, but it's in the suburbs of Los Angeles.

My mom is from Shanghai and my dad is from Taiwan. They immigrated to the United States and went to Pasadena College together. Go Lancers! Pasadena College Lancers! That's in your backyard, isn't that? I do drive by the Pasadena College every once in a while. It's rather small, but nice. They also worked at the same place. I believe it was a news company at the time, and my mom was an anchor and my dad was the cameraman, and that was a really cute love story.

I was an only child. At first I spoke Mandarin exclusively with my parents, but they also taught me English, so I would speak to them in English and they would speak to me in Mandarin when I was five years old. My mom was in and out of hospitals. She had really bad stomach aches and she was losing weight rapidly. The doctors would not give her any diagnosis. They didn't know what was wrong. They called it a modern disease, which is basically doctors speak for. We have no goddamn idea what's wrong with you. Here's some morphine and call me in the morning. And it was just chronic pain. She went to the hospital and got three shots of

morphine from the nurse, which is when she decided that maybe she was not going to last very long. So my mom went back to China to see her family one last time, since she believed it was such a dire situation. I went back to China with them at the time, and it was an interesting experience. I was watching all that happen with her. So it was pretty rough, I'd say. And when you have a serious illness with no answers from doctors,

well, you might be willing to try just about anything. Like your grandmother's cure-all, vinegar and hot pepper garlic rub. An Epsom salt. Don't forget to take an Epsom salt bath. I do take lots of Epsom salt baths actually. Do you? I do. I don't even know what that is.

You don't? I just think it's a funny word. No, I don't. Love an Epsom salt bath. Don't take baths? That's why you're so uptight. Because I don't take baths? That's possible. It is possible. I would say that most men don't salt baths. I don't take baths? That's why you're so uptight. Cause I don't take baths? That's possible.

And it's possible. I would say that most men don't take baths. Oh, I know why you don't take baths. Cause you take all your time sitting on the toilet taking a shit. What in the fuck are you guys doing? Get it out and move on with the day. You don't know what we're doing in there, Liz.

It's kind of a guy's secret. We kind of keep things together in our little secret laboratory called the bathroom. I mean, that's when I manage my correspondences generally. It's literally every single man. It doesn't matter. I'm glad that I know that I'm not the only man who spends an inordinate amount of time. Every single man. You know what's so funny about that is I actually made it a goal to spend less time sitting on the John. That's literally an action item for me,

less time on the John. So. This is why men rule the world. My mom went to as many places as she could seek treatment. She went to Chinese medical clinics, all sorts of doctors, tried every qigong in China when a relative introduced her to Falun Gong and it was free. Guys we've said it how many times, nothing in life is free. The books are free, the exercises were free, and so she actually started practicing in China where it was illegal at the time and still is,

so that was very dangerous. She could have been found out, but luckily she wasn't. That's correct guys. Falun Gong, the quote peaceful spiritual movement that blends meditation, Qigong with some Buddhism and Taoism beliefs, started in China in the 1990s. But today it's banned from the country. But don't worry, we'll get more into that in a bit. And one of the key tenets of this religion slash movement slash cult is a strong disbelief in modern medicine. Every time she took medicine, she felt like it was a poison in her body.

And she took that as a sign to stop going to hospitals, stop taking medicine, and to believe Falun Gong fully. So she took that leap of faith and started practicing Falun Gong by itself. Her diagnosis was karma. That's what we called a substance that you get when you do bad things and it comes to bite you later on. And any illness or bad luck that you had was a result of karma. So let me get this straight. You're telling me I got the flu because I cheated on a French test in high school, not because some asshole coughed on me on the plane.

Yeah, it's not germs, Liz. It's solely because you are a morally bankrupt human being and you deserve, like the rest of us, no joy in life. This long slog of an existence. This is why you need a bath. It's really hard to identify where your karma comes from. All you have to know, it's all your fault. And the reason why you have this illness in the first place is because you did something, and you need to get rid of it. And you do that by suffering and not taking medicine. But here's the tricky thing about cults. When the pitch for the cult actually works, it's game over.

So she stopped taking medicine while she was in China and eventually she got better. They never really figured out what the disease was. She didn't feel pain anymore so there was no reason for her to go back to doctors for a diagnosis. I wanted to believe that Falun Gong healed her otherwise why would my mom be so invested in this? She put Falun Gong over me, over my dad. Why would she give her whole life to this unless this really did save her life and brought our family together instead of tearing it apart? I believe that Falun Gong gave her something to hold on to and I think it saved her in that aspect.

Medically, I don't believe it saved her. Nevertheless, she came back to the States. A full practitioner. You know, I recently took a nice trip to Mexico with my husband and child. I brought my swimsuit, my drinking goggles, my cheerful demeanor, and my love of ceviche. Quite enough to fill your carry-on bag at least. But you know what I didn't bring with me? Body odor.

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Pits, underboobs, thigh folds, belly buttons, butt cracks, vulvas, and you know what? You can say the last one because it kind of embarrasses me. Feet. You can say vulvas but not feet. I just made you say vulva. Nice. So even your hidden areas can smell like lavender sage, which yes is my favorite flavor. Seriously guys, you should try it.

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code in a cult at L-U-M-E-D-E-O-D-O-R-A-N-T dot com. You know, one thing we can all agree on, we love getting boxes in the mail. And today I got a nice delivery. What, your subscription to mundane facts monthly? It's funny, Liz, but no, it's a box. It's a box from Viahamp. And I'm gonna open it. It says on the top, curated for Tyler.

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Cloud Nine is like mellow. Dreams. Oh, I love the dreams. I just take like a half. I'm good for the night. This one's High Love. High Love is fun. I'm guessing it's for making high love.

Mm-hmm. Yeah, lots of good stuff in here. Those are awesome. And they also have microdose drops, which are great when you still need to do things like record a podcast. VIA is well known for their premium THCA flowers grown indoors in state-of-the-art facilities and harvested at peak THCA levels to emphasize a natural aroma and flavor. Yep, free from harsh pesticides or nasty chemicals, guys. And the best part? Vaya legally ships to nearly all states in the United States with discreet packaging directly to your door. No medical card required.

So be like one of the over half million customers served by trying some Via Hemp today. And it's a great time because... If you're over 21, you head to ViaHemp.com and use the code INACULT and receive 15% off. That's VIIAHEMP.com and use code inocult at checkout. Please support our show and tell them we sent you. This fall enhance your everyday with Vaya. On the surface, Falun Gong is advertised as a peaceful meditation practice. It's kind of like Tai Chi. You can do these exercises that are very slow and soft and it helps you calm down. Sounds harmless, like some stretch in, some deep breaths.

Like it's like yoga without that one sweaty guy in the back corner making back farts the whole time. You know what I mean? He needs a bath. That guy and he doesn't mean to, and then he pretends like his back's not farting and then you're just like, Hey back farter, can you keep it down, man? I'm trying to get my zen on. I don't know what a back fart is.

Because his back suctions to the yoga mat. So when he comes up, it's like. Pfft. Pfft. Sure it's his back? No, we're not sure. We gotta ban the back farter from yoga. You know what I mean?

I don't think he means to do it. Now you're defending the back farter? I mean, how do you know what I mean? I don't think he means to do it. Now you're defending the backfarter? I mean, how do you control a backfart? You're sweaty, your back's got a little bit of girth to it. Back girth. Ladies love the back girth. The principles are truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance, but on a more deeper level,

they believe in a lot of weird conspiracies, like that the Communist Party of China is actually a demon from hell coming to battle Falun Gong practitioners. They believe that they themselves are gods here to rescue humanity from reincarnation. They believe that illness is a test and that if you take medicine then you are failing that test.

There's a book called The Turning Wheel. So I remember my mom, she introduced me to The Turning Wheel when I was five years old and she opened up to the first page was this chubby little Chinese man with soft eyes and a blue tie and black suit and she said this is Master Li. He has all the superpowers. He has law bodies that look after us. He has law bodies that look after us. Law bodies are projections of Master Li, so he's with us in spirit. Can you see him? And I looked around the room. No, I can't see him.

Where is he? And she says, that's because you're not supposed to see him. But he can see you. He can see everything that you do. So you better behave. You better not lie to me because Master Lee knows everything, like Santa Claus. Except this guy doesn't come down a chimney. No, he's just in your room chilling, sitting

on your bluey chair watching you at all times. He's a pedophile's dream. Being raised Mormon, I remember being taught in church, don't masturbate because your ancestors are angels and they're watching you do it. So now I can't even get an erection unless I summon up my great, great, great, great, great, great pioneer grand aunt watching me from the corner of my room. Also, like, why are all the dead ancestors just, like, creepy? Like, do something else with your dead person time. Yeah, you're in heaven. Don't you have something better to do?

Right. They've never even been able to binge watch Game of Thrones or Oz or anything like do that. Can't you time travel like? Heaven is great. I get to watch my descendants jack off. So I'm gonna go do that. That's one of the reasons you work hard to get to heaven, Rob.

Another win for the Mormons. Hey, there are some perks. At the time I was five, so I wasn't really creeped out by it. I already had imaginary friends, but now I had one that had all these cool superpowers, and he can read my mind. So I used him as a little mental diary so I would talk to him in my mind. So this mysterious, creeping, peeping Tom with superpowers, known as Master Li, is Li

Hongzhu, the founder of Falun Gong. Master Li is a very mysterious man in my eyes. He was very hush-hush about his past. People asking about where he came from or who his parents were and he would be like, we don't talk about that. From what I know he was a big Qigong master in China in the 1990s and of course his practice was the most popular at festivals or events. He had great healing powers and a lot of people flocked to him to treat illnesses, but he was very adamant about self-cultivation rather than seeking healing from him himself. Master Li started Falun Gong in 1992. It was actually praised

by the Chinese communist government. There was a huge boom in Qigong practice in the 1990s. There was an estimate of 10 million people following him in China. It's a pretty big estimate though. It's from the Falun Gong members themselves. So I'm not exactly sure. I think it was huge. I'm sure it was huge. If they're saying it's huge, it's huge. The people are there and they're doing spiritual things. I'm sure it was big and I think it was in China and I'm pretty sure we're in China.

I've spoken to the biggest crowds. Nobody's spoken to crowds bigger than me. But it seemed like Falun Gong was taking over China. And of course, the Chinese government can't have that, so they outlawed Falun Gong was taking over China and of course the Chinese government can't have that so they outlawed Falun Gong. July 21st 1999 that's a big date for Falun Gong. On that date a lot of practitioners worldwide will hold candlelit memorials for Falun Gong members still in China who are being arrested. China was like wait hold, hold up, get the hell out of here. There's only room for one mega cult in this country. And that's me.

The seat's taken, motherfucker. Of course, Falun Gong members are very vocal about protesting the Chinese government, which is why they are such a problem in China as well. Falun Gong is willing to do anything to say their truth. So they have hacked into TV channels and set balloons adrift, where after the balloons pop, thousands of paper flyers would come raining down onto the city so people can read,

oh, Falun Gong is good. It's a great meditation practice. Why would you outlaw it? And then the crackdown began, and a lot of them reportedly got arrested. And now for the holy shit this is fucked up portion of our show. There's rumor to be re-education camps.

They're actually tortured. When I was seven my parents took me to Santa Monica, the Palisades Park, that's where we hold a lot of the protests actually every week on Sunday to talk about the persecution of Falun Gong. And there are very graphic images of people with black faces because they had been Electrocuted in the face for hours by Chinese officers more traumatizing is organ harvesting

they believe that the Chinese government is allowing doctors to take the organs of practitioners and sell them to to take the organs of practitioners and sell them to high paying customers on the black market. I believe all of it. I do too. They had a little skit put on in Santa Monica Park for years where practitioners would dress up as Falun Gong members and one practitioner was like laying on the table, while another practitioner was pretending to be a doctor. The practitioner on the table had a blanket over them,

and the doctor was pretending to like take the organs out. And that was our form of protest for a really long time. You might be cringing right now, but imagine me at seven years old taking all this in. Ugh, just horrifying. Yeah, why play on the swings or go down the slide when you can instead learn about harvested kidneys on the black market? So these followers of Falun Gong call themselves practitioners. So we believe that if practitioners were very good, they could have powers as well.

A lot of practitioners could levitate and see into other dimensions too. I've never seen anybody levitate and I was really disappointed, but of course they had a way to explain that away. Like, oh, people who levitate will never show you that they levitate, because otherwise it would be too easy for you to believe in Falun Gong. You need to pass that test first, and then you will levitate, and then you will understand not to show people that you levitate.

And I believed in it. I was like, wow, that's so deep. I guess I'll never levitate because I would want to show everybody. But getting to the point where you can levitate isn't easy for Falongong members. You must do everything that is required. What we have to do every day is the exercises. There are four standing ones.

It includes a lot of like stretches, moving our arms about, keeping our arms up or down, kind of like Tai Chi, very slow movements, very boring. And one meditation exercise where we would sit down, put our legs up in this lotus position, and we would meditate for about an hour. And we had to read Master Li's teachings every day. Some people read one lecture a day, and some people would read the whole book. In the beginning, it was pretty normal aside from this thing called sending righteous thoughts, where we sit down and we basically kind of,

it's kind of like praying, sending out good vibes for 15 minutes, four times a day, including at midnight, which my family and I decided to skip. But a lot of practitioners actually get up in the middle of the night and send righteous thoughts for 15 minutes. Now, if I'm getting up in the middle of the night, it's to have a threesome with Roger Federer, Michael Jordan, and Anthony Rizzo. I know that's a foursome, but I threw an MJ in there, because why not? Four fingers up. Yeah, you got your two Chicago boys. That's a mental image I don't need. Thank you, though. Don't pretend like you wouldn't get in on the Rizzo action, Tyler. I mean...

2016 World Series winning Chicago Cubs Rizzo, but not Pinstripe Rizzo. Thank you though. But there were certain rules that my mom was willing to break for the comfort of our home. Other than that, she was very devoted. Like we weren't allowed to have pets because we believe that having pets within a very spiritual home would cause the pet to become demonic and try to ruin our lives.

Because all living things want to reach enlightenment. And if the dog found out about cultivating, it would want to reach enlightenment and accidentally become a demon. Oh, well, that makes no sense at all. Right. Because being a demon is much more likely to come from a cat. You know what I'm talking about, cat owners. They do have those demon eyes. And the last thing that we had to do, at least weekly, was to do some kind of volunteering

for Falun Gong. We called it spreading awareness or telling the truth. We did a lot of advertisement at parades. There was always a following on floats like 4th of July parades, Thanksgiving parades. We would hand out brochures to people who watched. We would go to parks and do the meditation practices and people would be interested and be like who are these people? They look so peaceful and happy. I want to try. And that would get a lot of people to sign up as well.

And like every cult, there is an us versus them. We thought non practitioners were people to be saved. We pitied them a little bit because they didn't know the truth and we wanted to save them by any means possible. So saving would mean either you become a Falun Gong practitioner and you become one of us gods and you can have your own little universe once you become enlightened, or you can interact with Falun Gong related contact and be saved and become a citizen in one of our universes. You can still go to heaven, but I will be the king of that heaven and you will be one of my little civilians.

If I save you, that is. Hold on, I thought I was just doing some breath work, working on cultivating more tolerance and compassion, and now you're saying that I can only go to heaven if you save me? You, Liz, did not read the fine print. You've got to read the fine print of these cults, man. Falun Gong members themselves do not consider it a religion. It says explicitly in the teachings that we're not a religion, but it is a religion. We believe in a god and we follow the teachings of that god very closely.

So in my eyes, it is a religion. So the fun thing about Falun Gong is that you can practice it from the comfort of your own home. At first, there was no community that we went to in the beginning. We would do the exercises and read the book together. But Angela's mom… Eventually, she read the lecture that says, you should go to a community. So we found the community and we went to this little office warehouse in the suburbs of

Los Angeles and that's where we would read the book and do group sharing. The group sessions were once a week, every Saturday, in the evening about three hours long. The adults went and did their thing, read the book, did the group sharing. The book is, like I said, the turning wheel. It was the series of lectures that Master Li had transcribed, and it was basically just about cultivating yourself, devoting yourself to Falun Gong, how Falun Gong is the only way to reach enlightenment, things like that.

Sorry, folks, this one will not be added to Tyler's Boring Book Club. No, it is not something we will add to Tyler's Boring Book Club, but if we did add something to Tyler's Boring Book Club, it would be the book How We Got to Now, Six Innovations That Made the Modern World by Steven Johnson. It's a great book.

Why bring it up now? Why are you plugging this book right now? Because it's a great book. It's what I'm reading right? Because it's a great book. It's what I'm reading right now. It's a great book. I've read this other book called Wonderland. That's a good one as well.

Well, I'm glad I learned to read last week. I before E, accept after C. How does it go? The purpose of the exercises is to cleanse yourself spiritually. They described it as what you wanted to achieve was basically sitting in an eggshell. You want to get rid of all your thoughts, all your feelings in that moment. Enlightenment comes from getting rid of your attachments or worldly desires, your emotions, all likes and dislikes, a robot of a person essentially.

The exercises were two hours long and of course that was really boring. I didn't want to do them anymore because I was in the little warehouse playing with my friends who were also kids of the cult members. We were just climbing on the warehouse walls, no adult supervision, stealing coffee from the lounge. But of course we're practitioners kids, we're also held to this high moral standard that our parents are constantly beating into us. We have one leader for each group. They don't really have much power over the group directly, but they are trusted people who have a direct line to Master Li.

In our minds, we were dealing with him every day. His law bodies are right there watching us, so whatever he's telling us is through his teachings and he's constantly putting out new lectures online. Of course, Master Li is held at a very high regard. He is the god of the universe. We all wanted to be like him. I'm not sure exactly how the adults talked about him at the time, but I remember I was with my group of girls hanging out in the meeting room while the adults are a group sharing in the other room. We were watching the B-movie and I was listening to this new

Taylor Swift song that had just come out and this girl I had known for years, we were both 12 at the time, she like turned around and glared at me while I was listening to the song. And she was like, you shouldn't be listening to Taylor Swift because she's demonic. Cue Swifties across the world, suiting up, ready for battle. Not a fight I want to engage. Can you imagine Masper Lee listening to We Are Never Ever Ever getting back together? I don't think so. A lot of sass and I had

nothing to say to that because like she was kind of right like he would not listen to Taylor Swift. I started to think about it because what can Masperly do? I can't imagine him shopping at Gap Kids or going to Target or eating a Big Mac. Like, what does he eat anyways? He was just a guy with no interests or hobbies. He just sat around meditating and giving lectures all day. He sounds like the human equivalent of a beige wall. I prefer taupe.

I don't think he's deserved it of taupe. Taupe is kind of a pretty color. I didn't want to be like him, but I couldn't tell her that because that's what everyone wanted to be. And we will be right back. I do love the summer, but when summer turns to autumn, my mind goes to crisp air and falling leaves. And my wardrobe? Well it goes from shorts and tees to jeans and sweaters. It's all about the layers people.

Layers! And that is why we get our nicest fall outfits from Quince. Premium fabrics and finishes for that luxury feel in every piece. I have so much stuff from Quince guys because they have so many categories. Clothes for me, clothes for my kid, bedding, even travel stuff. I just got their organizing cubes and I am obsessed. Quince is known for their Mongolian cashmere sweaters for $50. My wife and I both have one.

Love them. And I just got my 80 year old dad their lightweight puffer for his birthday. And he loves it. That's one of the things I've been called a lightweight puffer. And Quince certainly fits our meager podcaster budget. All Quince items are priced 50 to 80% less than similar brands. Which means I can get a shirt and a sports coat without any buyer's remorse. It's good enough for Tyler, guys.

Certainly good enough for you. And the quality is really great. It makes me rethink the entire clothing industry as a whole, but that's an entirely different podcast. Go to quince.com slash cult for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. That's q-u-i-n-c-e.com slash cult to get free shipping and 365 day returns. Support our show and go to quince, quince.com slash cult.

For years, Tim Ballard has been championed as a modern day superhero. The first time I saw one of the kids from the video and it like changed my life. He was the face of Operation Underground Railroad, a movement that inspired hope around the world by rescuing children from human traffickers. However, Ballard's crusade to save innocent lives

has always hidden a darker secret. Oh, I think he's a pathological liar. Beneath the accolades and the applause, a dark storm has been brewing. I mean, I can't find a time that he's told the truth about anything. Shocking allegations of sexual misconduct have surfaced, casting a shadow over his once unquestioned reputation.

I am host Sarah James McLaughlin, and in this new season of The Opportunist, we explore the rise and the fall of Tim Ballard. Join us this October for Tim Ballard Unmasking a Hero. Subscribe to a new season of The Opportunist now wherever you get your podcasts. So when I was seven years old, my parents took me to see this show. It was called New Tongue Dynasty TV's New Year's Spectacular Show. Most of the people who went to see the show at the time were practitioners. It was a very shabby show, to say the least. Very handmade props and not so great costumes. Pretty good dancing, I'd say. And a lot of kind of folktales and skits put on by practitioners. So basically a middle school production. And of course, there was the token persecution dance that we had, the propaganda dance, where

a mother got ripped away from her daughter by the Chinese government. Except for the propaganda part. Eventually, Master Li heard about this performance and started Shen Yun. Shen Yun dancers. Now, this is the part that was fascinating to me. I have seen the banners, I've seen the billboards, the commercials, but I had no idea that it was linked to a cult. You do now. The dance company tours annually and has grown in popularity over the years, but many don't know the truth behind the dance and the hidden messaging within the performance.

messaging within the performance. So Shen means God or Goddess, and Yun is like the feeling behind a movement, the feeling of movements behind gods. Like only gods can move like this because they are so morally righteous and pure. There's no overall plotline to the performance. It's a bunch of little performances, probably four to five minutes long, of like dances with props like sleeves and fans, traditional Chinese dance. And sprinkled in there are some skits and of course also the propaganda pieces that talk about the persecution of Chinese practitioners in Falun Gong. It's always like there's a Falun Gong practitioner, they're peacefully practicing this meditation, and suddenly communist police decide to beat them up and harvest their organs. Oh, it's an absolutely beautiful performance, besides the persecution part.

Besides that small detail. The dancers are of course very well trained. They've been dancing since they were little kids. There's a live orchestra with both Chinese and Western instruments. The whole thing is beautifully put together, but there's also like a weird undertone to it though. They do opera singing and they're all lyrics written by Master Li and it talks about the end of the world, science is fake, the theory of evolution is fake. It's like not subtle,

but it's like sprinkled in. There's like a double goal here. The first one is of course to make money for the cult. There's the propaganda aspect to it. They want to get people to become more aware of what's going on in China and the fact that China has banned them. Xinyun is a touring company. All of the dancers practice together and do all the choreography in New York. And then there are five groups that tour the world at the same time. There's like a North American group and that's where Master Li usually is. He tours with the company while they're dancing, usually, because he's the art director. But isn't he already at every show and Spirit Tyler just creepily watching the young female dancers break their bodies in the name of, wait, what is this one in the name of again?

I forgot. I honestly, I've lost the thread. Still thinking about a bath. Oh, spiritual, spiritual enlightenment. A lot of people have gone to see the shows who aren't practitioners. I'd say most people now are not practitioners. In the early years, it was mostly us buying our own tickets, filling up the seats. But because of the excessive advertising everywhere, people are curious and want to go see it.

Experience art with 5,000 years of history, inspired by the divine. Experience Jae Yun. And what about Angela? Was she too one of those trained dancers? When I was nine, my mom signed me up for a dance class. An ex-Shen Yun teacher had come to Los Angeles and she decided to hold a class for little

girls and little boys to start learning Chinese traditional dance to help us become Shin Yun dancers eventually down the line. That was an interesting experience because it was my first time meeting anyone from Shin Yun. It was my first time meeting anyone from Shenin. I actually lived with her for a whole summer, kind of like a boarding school type situation, except it wasn't really a school, it was her apartment turned into a dance studio. So a bunch of girls and I would live there in little sleeping bags on the hardwood dance studio floor. And we would get up at 7am in the morning, do the exercises,

dance for like five hours a day, and practice Falun Gong with her. And I looked up to her very much when I was little. She clearly had favorites within that class. The dancers who were amazing were among her favorites and I was not because she could tell I was just there for shits and giggles. I wasn't really serious about dance. But she, I know she also knew that I really admired her. Like, she knew that I would do anything she said. So during one of the dance lessons, she sat us all in a group and began group sharing.

We were talking about attachments and worldly desires, things like that. All of a sudden, out of nowhere, goes, I know who the worst practitioner here is. And everybody is so interested, like, who is it? And she goes, oh oh yeah it's Angela and I just sit there like okay this is weird like why me? She's like have you seen the way she looks at food? She has so many attachments and then she started copying me she's was like, oh my gosh, gogurt, ice cream, fried rice. And everybody starts laughing.

But I didn't realize that made me a bad practitioner, let alone the worst practitioner. And that was the first time anybody had said that kind of thing to me so publicly. Again, I was nine. What did gogurt ever do to you, lady? Don't take your go-gurt trauma out on this poor nine-year-old. Call the Swifties. They'll handle it. This amazing chenille teacher is telling me that I'm the worst because I like to eat. Wow. If I eat so much, maybe I can't be a good practitioner.

It's going to cause me harm in the future because of all the karma and spiritual things going on. So I felt really bad and I was the skinniest one in that class. I had no body issues at the time but like suddenly I did. Like I would stop eating because I didn't want to feel like I was indulging too much in things that I liked. Eventually that turned into like not wanting to eat to feel satisfied because then that would be an attachment to food as well. Attachment to anything was frowned upon, really. Everyone had their attachments, whether it was food, pop music, my dad, World War II documentaries, my mom, Cosip Girl.

Everyone had their attachments that they wanted to get rid of. And it wasn't only interests, it was also emotions, anything that you felt strongly about, except for Falun Gong, of course. Ah, the convenient bullshit of every cult. Don't place any importance on anything but the cult itself. So sometimes my family and I would have little group sharings at our own little dinner table and we would talk about our attachments and I would always say my attachment was food because, oh, you know, the teacher gave that to me and maybe the reason why my parents are so angry all the time is because I'm not a good practitioner. Maybe if I cut off food I will be a better version of myself. For a while, nobody really knew about it because

like I would just say I was on a diet. I didn't tell my parents about it either because I thought that they would side with the teacher, but when I was 16, I had the wonderful chance of auditioning with Master Lee himself in Long Beach, California, Terrace Theater. I remember the exact date because it was the most embarrassing day of my life. And that's it for today, guys. Please join us next week to hear the rest of Angela's mind-blowing story, how the cult tightened its grip on her family, pushed them to the brink, and how Angela finally found the strength to break free, leading her to bravely speak out today.

The elevator door is open and I'm face to face with Master Li himself. It's a surreal experience because my mom is there and she's trying not to fall over on her knees and be like, oh Master Li, it's you. And she walks me over to him. This whole time I'm like trying to keep my mind blank because he can read minds. I don't want him to like see something but of course he knows everything so what's the point? Thank you for listening and supporting the show. A special thanks to our newest

Patreon members Grace Johnson, Christina Hambrick, and Morgan Eerly. Thank you guys for your support. We really appreciate it. We sure do. Was I in a Cult is written, produced and hosted by me, the very tolerant Tyler Meesom. And me, the meditative Liz Iacuzzi. Our sound design and edit is by the compassionate Rob Para. Isn't that true, Rob? Oh yeah, he's full of it.

I give you my blessings. Thank you. Go with God. And our assistant editor is the peaceful Greta Stromquist. Social media magic by the karma. Ring, ring, ring. True teller, Shani Payton. And the man with all the superpowers himself, our executive producer, Stephen Labrum.

All hail. All right, I'm gonna go take a bath or maybe sit on the john. I don't know which one. I gotta say do one then the other. Not at the same time. Good idea. Thank you. Or just go sit on the bath and then take a shit in the bath. Take out your knife Purify me

Don't spare my life Crucify me