From the village of Saint-Michel-les-Portes, in Isère, it is impossible to see what is happening in the yoga school. The ashram, located on 20 hectares in the Vercors mountains, south of Grenoble, is difficult to access. To reach the Martinet estate, this September morning when the mist follows the rain, you have to go down a winding path, full of crevices and stones, for long minutes, before reaching two imposing statues of lions which mark the entrance.
On the land crossed by a torrent, a large barn and a room are dedicated to “kundalini yoga”. This variation of yoga has become very popular and practiced by tens of thousands of followers in France in well-established centers. It claims to release psychic force through long rapid breathing exercises, postures and recitation of mantras. Sometimes, in the summer, songs and cries escape from the bottom of the valley, say several inhabitants of the region.
The place, shrouded in mystery, is intriguing: what does the training provided by the founder of the establishment, Jean-Louis Astoul, consist of? Few people know this. Better known by his spiritual names of Karta Singh or Satyavrati Yogi, the teacher asks each participant not to discuss his teachings outside. Smiling, Jean-Louis Astoul, 73, receives guests on the ground floor of a gîte. With white hair pulled up in a bun, the teacher with the long beard enters after his morning kundalini practice, in a long tunic and socks, dressed all in white.
At his side, Prem Jot, his partner, a former German fashion designer who presents herself as a pioneer of “upcycling” become “project manager” from the yoga school, sits cross-legged on an armchair, eyes half-closed. She will not move for more than half of the two and a half hour interview. Barely seated, the owner suddenly becomes suspicious and suddenly extends his finger : “Who sent you? You’ve been investigating me for several months, I know. » He has reason to be defensive. According to the Grenoble public prosecutor’s office, he is the subject of an investigation for “potential sectarian drift” and at least three sexual assaults allegedly committed against employees and students of his ashram. On Thursday, October 19, the kundalini yoga teacher was taken into police custody, confirms the public prosecutor Eric Vaillant.
Testing methods
Jean-Louis Astoul is one of the most famous practitioners of kundalini (“energy”, in Sanskrit) in France and abroad. The master yogi boasts of having taught all over the world, to Chinese, Russians and even “pygmy tribes” in central Africa. Created in 2000, its school was the first to specialize in the training of future instructors. You must obtain three levels of learning, for the sum of approximately 10,000 euros, to be able to run courses. At the rate of around a hundred people per year, the septuagenarian has trained several thousand teachers, far more than all the other kundalini schools. The rest of the time, the “master” also offers a series of retreats of a few days called Awakening of Self (795 euros for seven days, accommodation not included) or The 12 sacred nights (1,295 euros for twelve days, accommodation not included) .
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