Escaping Twin Flames is a Netflix documentary series exploring the repercussions of two individuals who transformed the notion of a twin flame union into a business venture.
Jeff and Shaleia Ayan, founders of the Twin Flames Universe, have been accused of coercive control, threats, and forced gender change by former members
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Highlights
- Netflix doc highlights coercive control by Twin Flames leaders.
- Members allege forced gender changes and emotional abuse.
- Expensive courses and pressures reported in the organization.
- Ayans sued ex-members despite being exposed for coercion.
Spanning three episodes, the series delves into the narrative of Jeff and Shaleia Divine's Twin Flames Universe—an organization purporting to aid individuals in discovering their twin flame through various courses, coaching, and exercises.
What initially appears to be a straightforward mission—assisting people in finding love—unravels in the documentary as former members unveil the darker aspects of a tightly controlled group and the alleged coercive practices that members are compelled to engage in.
The couple created the organization in 2017, promising people to find their "twin flame" through a series of exercises
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Established in 2017 by Jeff and Shaleia Ayan, the Twin Flames Universe operates as an online community and organization, but one might say it is a cult.
It asserts its mission to guide individuals in discovering their twin flame union through a series of coaching sessions and exercises designed to attract their respective partners.
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According to Mind Body Green, a twin flame is an intense soul connection with someone thought to be a person's other half, sometimes called a "mirror soul." It's based on the idea that sometimes one soul gets split into two bodies.
Netflix's Escaping Twin Flames documentary exposed Jeff and Shaleia's controversial practices
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The couple manages the business from their residence in Michigan, having relocated there a few years after initiating their relationship in 2012.
Access to the Twin Flames Universe involves participation in the "Twin Flame Ascension Course" conducted by the leading couple, which includes regular online classes where twin flame unions are analyzed among fellow members.
But just like any organized spiritual group managed by one or multiple individuals withholding absolute control and power, there is a dark side that has sparked victims to denounce certain practices, as seen in the Netflix docuseries.
Filmmakers Cecilia Peck and Inbal B. Lessner told People: "They are very good at identifying people who may be at a moment of transition or vulnerability, luring them in, and then slowly indoctrinating them.”
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Former Twin Flames Universe members have come out with traumatizing experiences of being forced to change their gender identity, spending a tremendous amount of money, and even alleging being subjected to emotional abuse.
In fact, the filmmakers have reportedly made the series with the hopes it will “help prevent more people from joining this and other high-control groups” and help viewers to “see the former members of Twin Flames Universe as having survived intensive, systematic coercive control.”
Former Twin Flames Universe members have come out with traumatizing experiences
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In Escaping Twin Flames, the recurring classes that have been discussed emerged as a primary method through which Jeff and Shaleia exerted influence and maintained control over individuals.
The documentary depicted instances of Jeff adopting a more assertive and occasionally aggressive stance towards members who did not promptly adhere to his guidance.
Participation in these classes came at a considerable cost, with fees amounting to thousands of dollars, and "The Everything Package" specifically priced at $8,888, according to the Twin Flames Universe website.
Subsequently, Jeff and Shaleia have broadened the scope of the Twin Flames Universe to encompass avenues for members to transition into coaching roles within the Twin Flames Ascension School.
They have introduced a cookbook claiming to offer the ideal diet for sustaining a twin flame union, the Mind Alignment Process purportedly designed to address trauma, and even established a new religious entity named the Church of Union.
"They are very good at identifying people who may be at a moment of transition or vulnerability," filmmakers said of the group leaders
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Numerous individuals featured in the docuseries have either departed from the organization or are related to people still involved.
Members had to partake in classes that came at a considerable cost
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Keely, a once high-ranking member, opened up about the repercussions of the harm she may have inflicted on the members she coached, as well as her separation from her ex-husband and her partner in the organization's inaugural "twin flame union”.
Angie, prominently featured in the series, has recognized the ethical misstep in how Jeff and Shaleia lured vulnerable individuals with the promise of genuine love.
In the series, Angie said: “What Jeff and Shaleia do has nothing to do with love. It’s control.
“When someone tries to control you, it’s not love.
“When someone abuses you, when someone calls you names, it’s not love."
Abusive practices included blackmailing, threats, and forcing people to change their gender identity
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A certain Paula spoke about her twin sister Stephanie, who still features as a prominent twin flame union on the website along with her “twin flame” Kiran, whom she was seen marrying in the documentary.
Stephanie lives in Switzerland with Kiran, and admitted to Vice in 2020 that Twin Flames Universe had taught her “how to have happy, healthy relationships” and that she now felt “the full spectrum of [her] emotions for the first time in [her] entire life.”
In a follow-up feature of its original bombshell portrait of the organization, Vice revealed that a former member named Jessi Hersey was assigned a new gender identity in 2020 whilst on a Zoom call, despite identifying as a cisgender woman for her whole life.
One of the many ways Jeff and Shaleia asserted power over their members was through a principle based on strict heteronormative standards where a couple can only consist of a “divine masculine” and a “divine feminine”.
In the Netflix specials, former members recounted instances of being forced to fit a stereotypical norm for one specific gender in order to be accepted as a twin flame couple, a principle which quickly became problematic for same-sex couples.
Numerous individuals featured in the docuseries have either departed from the organization or are related to people still involved
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With expensive courses and pressures from the group, which have been reported to resort to blackmailing and threats, Jessi was one of the members who cracked to the pressure and needed to make additional money, prompting the need to become a coach.
According to Vice, Jessi had to buy the newest courses and products to stay in good standing, as well as having a monthly coach license fee.
You can watch Escaping Twin Flames' trailer below:
“What happens in a high-control group like this is it’s not just the leader who abuses the members, but in the end, everyone ends up being a perpetrator in a way, because you’re groomed and trained to go after each other,” cult expert Janja Lalich told filmmaker Cecilia Peck in the Netflix series Escaping Twin Flames.
The Ayans have notoriously fought back against any allegations deemed negative to their image and their organization.
In June 2020, the controversial couple filed a pair of lawsuits against seven ex-members and one parent.
As Vice reported, the litigation dragged on for nearly a year, until a judge ruled in March 2021 that Michigan courts were not the proper jurisdiction.
The judge noted the “apparent bad faith” behind the legal action and declined to transfer to a different court.
The documentary stunned many viewers
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