The Orgasm Cult

5. Inside the OM Houses

This podcast is now the subject of a legal complaint by Nicole Daedone, Rachel Cherwitz, OneTaste Incorporated, the Institute of OM LLC and OM IP Co. Many One Taste members lived in communal houses, known as OM houses. They would practice Orgasmic Meditation together multiple times a day while also working for One Taste selling and running courses.Some people moved in to the OM houses only weeks after their first encounter with One Taste.Some were attracted by the possibility of lots of sex, but others were looking for meaning, purpose or community in their lives.And everyone was captivated by One Taste’s charismatic co-founder Nicole Daedone.Former members tell us how exciting it was at first – but things soon got complicated.The company was struggling to make money, and as the price tags for courses went up, the sales tactics got more and more predatory.If you’ve been affected by any of the issues raised in this programme, help and advice are available at bbc.co.uk/actionline.Presenter: Nastaran Tavakoli-Far
Producer: Lucy Burns
Editor: Penny Murphy

This podcast is now the subject of a legal complaint by Nicole Daedone, Rachel Cherwitz, OneTaste Incorporated, the Institute of OM LLC and OM IP Co.In the search for wellness, how far would you go?Nicole Daedone, the charismatic co-founder of wellness company One Taste believed that orgasm would one day sit alongside yoga and meditation as the self-care practice for the modern empowered women. Except that now the FBI is making enquiries in to One Taste over allegations including sex trafficking, prostitution and violations of labour law.How did Orgasmic Meditation go from hippy beginnings to a sleek, million-dollar operation? How did this wellness practise – touted as the next big thing everywhere from Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop to the New York Times – lead to isolation, debt and abuse?Why is women’s health and pain still not taken seriously by conventional medicine? The Orgasm Cult is a story about people desperate for connection and how far they would go to find it. Join Nastaran Tavakoli-Far as she investigates One Taste through exclusive interviews with former employees and asks big questions about the wellness industry.