About Us
Why are we hosting this Unculted Podcast?
We were both in a spiritual cult for over a decade (yikes). But it wasn’t your typical ‘kool-aid sex scandal financial extortion’ kind of cult. It was more like your ‘love and light new age spiritual enlightenment let’s pretend we are all one big happy family (until anyone dares to question anything or leave) while being abused, controlled and gaslit by the guru’ - kind of cult.
We went from being blinded by the love and light in our ‘spiritual community’, to doing mental gymnastics to explain away all of the shady shit we started seeing, to trying to change it from the inside, until we realised that the ‘guru’ wanted things this way and was never going to change. Once we saw what was really going on, and after spending the last years in an intense healing journey back to ourselves, we want to raise awareness and help others to steer clear of all kinds of cultish dynamics and scenarios, and abusive relationships (basically the same).
For us, getting out of our cult was a relatively quick process, but healing from it has been a far longer journey. Our cult mentality was so engrained we’ve had to nit pick the programming and turn every stone to find what was true amidst the self-serving spiritual lies. Oh, and then there’s the grief from our spiritual teacher being a fraud and losing so many friends when we left. Did we mention it has been a long journey?
So, yes, anyone in a cult needs to get out, but we also need to make sure that we get the cult out of us; we get Unculted.
Meet the Hosts
About Cristina Coello
I’m a therapist, writer, cult survivor and a multi-passionate creative.
I have been through a lot: anxiety and panic attacks, sexual abuse, narcissistic abuse, complicated relationships, switching careers, moving countries, perfectionism, ADHD.
I get it. I also know you can heal from all that.
With over 20 years of experience, I have extensively explored the inward journey and human nature. My own personal growth, heartbreaks, qualifications and discoveries have equipped me with the understanding to help you navigate your own path.
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I love the quote: “Your mind is your temple, keep it beautiful and free. Don't let an egg get laid in it by something you can't see.”
- Bob Dylan
About Sandy Newbigging
I am a therapeutic coach, meditator, ex-monk, and author.
I’ve been fascinated by ‘the mind’, personal development, and spiritual growth, since a young age. This interest got me into my work as a therapist (in 2005). It also got me into being a ‘monk’ in a ‘spiritual community’ (in 2008). which turned out to be a cult!
Since leaving, I’ve gone through an intense healing process, and investigated what was genuinely ‘true’ and ‘helpful’. Instead of giving up on personal and spiritual growth, I’m now an advocate for engaging self-help, therapy, meditation and spirituality in healthy and empowering ways.
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I love the quote: “What you are aware of you can control, what you are not aware of is usually in control of you.”
- Anthony De Mello
Why the ‘fingerprint’ logo?
Cults rob us of our individuality, whereas fingerprints are a part of us that make us all unique. The design also symbolises a kind of ‘hypnotic trance’, which many end up in when in cults. We don’t know about you, but we also see a ‘sound wave’ in the symbol, which is perfect for a podcast. Finally, we wanted the finger print to be full of colour, again, to represent us getting Unculted - moving from a washed-out watered-down version of ourself - returning to our unique self.