THE INSTASCAMMER: Investigating Liana Shanti

In this full-length interview, Kacey speaks with Kristin about losing her sister to Liana Shanti's online community.Content note: this episode includes discussion of coercive control, recovered-memory and childhood-abuse allegations, and family estrangement. Support resources are below.Sources & credits:Lisa's story in her own words on Liana Shanti's podcast "Deep Throat": https://www.lianashantipodcast.com/dtpodcast/episode-six-believe-her-malana-hokulani-lisa-fiorvante-and-her-journey-to-heal-from-child-sexual-abuseAbout this series: THE INSTASCAMMER is an 11-part investigative audio documentary from The Cult Vault podcast into Liana Shanti (legal name Liane Wilson), the online wellness figure behind HMI Wellness, the Health Mastery Institute and Life Mastery Network. Built on court records, documents, recordings, former members, experts and the families affected, the series traces how a juice-cleanse following became a coaching business and a closed community. Hosted and produced by Kacey Baker, Vault Productions.Have you experienced something like this? Support & resources:If anything in this episode resonates with your own experience, you are not alone, and help is available.• Recovering from a cult or coercive group: R.A.I.S.E. CIC (UK) — cultic-abuse support and peer-led recovery — recoverautonomy.org.• Internationally: the International Cultic Studies Association — internationalculticstudies.org, [email protected].• If you’ve lost a loved one to a cult or coercion: The Family Survival Trust (UK) — thefamilysurvivaltrust.org/support.• Childhood or sexual abuse: US — RAINN, 1-800-656-4673 (24/7). UK — NAPAC, 0808 801 0331. • In emotional distress or crisis (including suicidal thoughts): UK & ROI — Samaritans, free on 116 123, 24/7. US — 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, call or text 988, 24/7.• Domestic abuse or coercive control: UK — National Domestic Abuse Helpline (Refuge), 0808 2000 247, 24/7. US — National Domestic Violence Hotline, 1-800-799-7233.  (If you are in immediate danger, contact your local emergency number.)  Verification & evidence:Much of what is described in this series is supported by recordings, documents, court filings and public records. If you are a journalist, researcher, or someone personally affected and you would like to verify what you’ve heard, you can reach the production at [email protected] note on names: To protect the privacy and safety of contributors and their families, some names and identifying details have been changed. Where individuals appear under their real names, they have consented to do so.

The finale.Across ten episodes we followed the people drawn into the community around the online wellness figure known as Liana Shanti; here we step back and ask who she is, and how the pattern worked. Drawing on the public record — court files, business filings, and published reporting — and on cult recovery specialists who lay out the mechanics of coercive influence, this episode traces the shape of the whole story, and ends with the plea of a mother still hoping to hear from her daughter. Where a matter is contested or unproven, the series makes no finding; facts are drawn from the record and attributed to it, and the experts speak in their professional opinion.Content note: this episode includes discussion of coercive control, recovered-memory andchildhood-abuse allegations, and family estrangement. Support resources are below.Sources & credits:A short excerpt of Liana Shanti’s own publicly published recording is used as her own words for the purpose of criticism, comment and review under fair dealing (UK) / fair use (US), credited below. Expert commentary is from original interviews conducted for this series. Published reporting referred to in this episode is credited below.• Archive from Liana Shanti, Healing from Narcissistic Relationships (Session Five),n.d. • Jennings Brown, The Daily Beast (2023)Joe Szimhart - Joseph Szimhart - YouTubeGerette Buglion - Home | Gerette Buglion | Cult-Recovery SpecialistAbout this series: THE INSTASCAMMER is an 11-part investigative audio documentary from The Cult Vault podcast into Liana Shanti (legal name Liane Wilson), the online wellness figure behind HMI Wellness, the Health Mastery Institute and Life Mastery Network. Built on court records, documents, recordings, former members, experts and the families affected, the series traces how a juice-cleanse following became a coaching business and a closed community. Hosted and produced by Kacey Baker, Vault Productions.Have you experienced something like this? Support & resources:If anything in this episode resonates with your own experience, you are not alone, and help is available.• Recovering from a cult or coercive group: R.A.I.S.E. CIC (UK) — cultic-abuse support and peer-led recovery — recoverautonomy.org.• Internationally: the International Cultic Studies Association — internationalculticstudies.org, [email protected].• If you’ve lost a loved one to a cult or coercion: The Family Survival Trust (UK) — thefamilysurvivaltrust.org/support.• Childhood or sexual abuse: US — RAINN, 1-800-656-4673 (24/7). UK — NAPAC, 0808801 0331.• In emotional distress or crisis (including suicidal thoughts): UK & ROI — Samaritans,free on 116 123, 24/7. US — 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, call or text 988, 24/7.• Domestic abuse or coercive control: UK — National Domestic Abuse Helpline (Refuge),0808 2000 247, 24/7. US — National Domestic Violence Hotline, 1-800-799-7233. (If you are in immediate danger, contact your local emergency number.) Verification & evidence: Much of what is described in this series is supported by recordings, documents, court filings and public records. If you are a journalist, researcher, or someone personally affected and you would like to verify what you’ve heard, you can reach the production at [email protected] note on names:To protect the privacy and safety of contributors and their families, some names and identifying details have been changed. Where individuals appear under their real names, they have consented to do so.

This is where it all comes apart.Former members describe the point at which the pattern became impossible to unsee — the shifting goalposts, the people built up and then turned on, the advertised health “protocols,” and the hardest thread of all: the recovered-memory allegations that spread through the community, which former members themselves describe with doubt. Where a matter is contested or unproven, the series makes no finding, and every contributor speaks for themselves. Facts drawn from court and public records are attributed to those records.Content note: this episode includes discussion of recovered-memory and childhood-sexual-abuse allegations, and the death of a pet. Support resources are below.Sources & credits: A short excerpt of Liana Shanti’s own publicly published recording is used as her own words for the purpose of criticism, comment and review under fair dealing (UK) / fair use (US), credited below.• Archive from Liana Shanti, Healing from Narcissistic Relationships (Session Five), n.d. About this series:THE INSTASCAMMER is an 11-part investigative audio documentary from The Cult Vault podcast into Liana Shanti (legal name Liane Wilson), the online wellness figure behind HMI Wellness, the Health Mastery Institute and Life Mastery Network. Built on court records, documents, recordings, former members, experts and the families affected, the series traces how a juice-cleanse following became a coaching business and a closed community. Hosted and produced by Kacey Baker, Vault Productions.Have you experienced something like this?Support & resources:If anything in this episode resonates with your own experience, you are not alone, and help is available.• Recovering from a cult or coercive group: R.A.I.S.E. CIC (UK) — cultic-abuse support and peer-led recovery — recoverautonomy.org.• Internationally: the International Cultic Studies Association — internationalculticstudies.org, [email protected].• If you’ve lost a loved one to a cult or coercion: The Family Survival Trust (UK) — thefamilysurvivaltrust.org/support.• Childhood or sexual abuse: US — RAINN, 1-800-656-4673 (24/7). UK — NAPAC, 0808801 0331.• In emotional distress or crisis (including suicidal thoughts): UK & ROI — Samaritans,free on 116 123, 24/7. US — 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, call or text 988, 24/7.• Domestic abuse or coercive control: UK — National Domestic Abuse Helpline (Refuge),0808 2000 247, 24/7. US — National Domestic Violence Hotline, 1-800-799-7233. (If you are in immediate danger, contact your local emergency number.) Verification & evidence: Much of what is described in this series is supported by recordings, documents, court filings and public records. If you are a journalist, researcher, or someone personally affected and you would like to verify what you’ve heard, you can reach the production at [email protected] note on names:To protect the privacy and safety of contributors and their families, some names and identifying details have been changed. Where individuals appear under their real names, they have consented to do so.

Leaving is rarely the end of the story — it’s the start of rebuilding a life while untangling what was real and what wasn’t.This episode follows Riley out of the community: the house in Florida, the slow accumulation of small moments that broke the spell, and one of the darkest threads in the series — the teaching that remembering could kill you. Riley’s father disputes the account of abuse, and the two have since reconnected; the series makes no finding on what did or did not happen. Every contributor speaks for themselves, and contested matters are left contested.Content note: this episode includes discussion of recovered-memory and childhood-abuse allegations, family estrangement, and suicidal ideation. Support resources are below.Sources & credits:This episode includes a short audio recording of Liana Shanti, in her own voice, provided to the production and confirmed by former members as her own words, used for the purpose of criticism, comment and review. All other audio is the contributors’ own accounts.About this series:THE INSTASCAMMER is an 11-part investigative audio documentary from The Cult Vault podcast into Liana Shanti (legal name Liane Wilson), the online wellness figure behind HMI Wellness, the Health Mastery Institute and Life Mastery Network. Built on court records, documents, recordings, former members, experts and the families affected, the series traces how a juice-cleanse following became a coaching business and a closed community. Hosted and produced by Kacey Baker, Vault Productions.Have you experienced something like this?Support & resources:If anything in this episode resonates with your own experience, you are not alone, and help is available.• Recovering from a cult or coercive group: R.A.I.S.E. CIC (UK) — cultic-abuse support and peer-led recovery — recoverautonomy.org.• Internationally: the International Cultic Studies Association — internationalculticstudies.org, [email protected].• If you’ve lost a loved one to a cult or coercion: The Family Survival Trust (UK) — thefamilysurvivaltrust.org/support.• Childhood or sexual abuse: US — RAINN, 1-800-656-4673 (24/7). UK — NAPAC, 0808801 0331.• In emotional distress or crisis (including suicidal thoughts): UK & ROI — Samaritans,free on 116 123, 24/7. US — 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, call or text 988, 24/7.• Domestic abuse or coercive control: UK — National Domestic Abuse Helpline (Refuge),0808 2000 247, 24/7. US — National Domestic Violence Hotline, 1-800-799-7233. (If you are in immediate danger, contact your local emergency number.) Verification & evidence: Much of what is described in this series is supported by recordings, documents, court filings and public records. If you are a journalist, researcher, or someone personally affected and you would like to verify what you’ve heard, you can reach the production at [email protected] note on names:To protect the privacy and safety of contributors and their families, some names and identifying details have been changed. Where individuals appear under their real names, they have consented to do so.

What does it look like when the teachings reach all the way into a family’s daily life — the children’s health, the marriage, the custody of kids?This episode follows parents describing a transformation in the people they loved, an advertised health “protocol” set against a dentist’s professional rebuttal, and one of the series’ hardest threads: a daughter’s recovered “memory” that her father abused her, and a therapist-obtained protective order the parents dispute. Where a matter is contested or unproven, the series makes no finding; court outcomes are stated neutrally from the record; and every contributor speaks for themselves.Content note: this episode includes discussion of recovered-memory and childhood-sexual-abuse allegations, family estrangement, and children’s medical care. Support resources are below.Sources & credits:This episode draws on the contributors’ own interviews together with court records and public documents. No third-party audio clips are used.About this series:THE INSTASCAMMER is an 11-part investigative audio documentary from The Cult Vault podcast into Liana Shanti (legal name Liane Wilson), the online wellness figure behind HMI Wellness, the Health Mastery Institute and Life Mastery Network. Built on court records, documents, recordings, former members, experts and the families affected, the series traces how a juice-cleanse following became a coaching business and a closed community. Hosted and produced by Kacey Baker, Vault Productions.Have you experienced something like this?Support & resources:If anything in this episode resonates with your own experience, you are not alone, and help is available.• Recovering from a cult or coercive group: R.A.I.S.E. CIC (UK) — cultic-abuse support and peer-led recovery — recoverautonomy.org.• Internationally: the International Cultic Studies Association — internationalculticstudies.org, [email protected].• If you’ve lost a loved one to a cult or coercion: The Family Survival Trust (UK) — thefamilysurvivaltrust.org/support.• Childhood or sexual abuse: US — RAINN, 1-800-656-4673 (24/7). UK — NAPAC, 0808801 0331.• In emotional distress or crisis (including suicidal thoughts): UK & ROI — Samaritans,free on 116 123, 24/7. US — 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, call or text 988, 24/7.• Domestic abuse or coercive control: UK — National Domestic Abuse Helpline (Refuge),0808 2000 247, 24/7. US — National Domestic Violence Hotline, 1-800-799-7233. (If you are in immediate danger, contact your local emergency number.) Verification & evidence: Much of what is described in this series is supported by recordings, documents, court filings and public records. If you are a journalist, researcher, or someone personally affected and you would like to verify what you’ve heard, you can reach the production at [email protected] note on names:To protect the privacy and safety of contributors and their families, some names and identifying details have been changed. Where individuals appear under their real names, they have consented to do so.