Devastated parents reveal how a married couple from Michigan coerced their ... trends now

The last time Louise Cole heard from her 28-year-old daughter, Stephanie, was in 2019. 

By then, Stephanie had fallen deep under the spell of a twisted new age cult that promised its followers a path to meeting their 'twin flame,' a person created by God to be their divine soulmate. 

'All of a sudden, out of nowhere [Stephanie] said that these people that she found online told her that she could find fame and fortune and love all from this one group,' said Louise.

'That's when she effectively disappeared.'  

Within a matter of weeks, Stephanie was on a plane to Switzerland to marry her 'twin flame,' a person that she had never met before: a trans male named Kiran.

Her mother and twin sister found out about the marriage (also known in the Twin Flame Universe as a 'harmonious union') via Facebook. 

Today Stephanie and Kiran are the poster children for the Twin Flame Ascension School, a new age self-help program run by two unassuming Michigan YouTubers named Jeff and Shaleia Ayan.

Preying on those who feel lost and alone, the program guarantees a path to finding true love...provided they are willing to fork over $8,888 for the services.

Now family members and victims are coming forward in an explosive new Netflix documentary, 'Escaping Twin Flames'—which details how the cult coerces clients into transitioning genders, encourages stalking behavior (which in some cases has led to restraining orders), and has torn countless families apart.

'He took my child,' said Cole, in the docuseries.

'He twisted her memories, her mind.' 

For many victims, their lives have been turned upside down. 

Some have left successful jobs to peddle the Twin Flames gospel, a lot have cut off  contact with 'unsupportive' family members, many have transitioned genders (after never having questioned their identity prior), some had run-ins with the law — all under the fake promise that these sacrifices will result in 'harmonious union.'

Jeff and Shaleia met on Facebook sometime in 2012. 

At the time, Jeff was fresh out of business school, living in Hawaii and going by the alias 'Ender Ayanethos;' an online persona that he created as a new age lifestyle guru.

In one old video, he jokes, 'Maybe I should start a cult?' 

Shaleia, a free spirit from Canada who's real name is Megan Plante, was living in Arizona at the time 'journeying with a spiritual teacher' when she sensed that Jeff was her twin flame.

A crass pick-up line sealed the deal and within a few years the couple created the Twin Flame Universe — a virtual 'healing business' for lovesick students that blended theories of numerology, spirituality, crystals and Christianity.

'Jeff and Shaleia were a married couple and they seemed to have all of these answers about relationships and that's something that I was looking for,' explains Keely, an early devotee of the Twin Flames Universe. 

'I clicked the link on their website which brought me to their Facebook page and there was this whole giant community of people working together to heal to try to find love.'

The couple claimed to have a special connection with God, and charged hefty sums of money for access to the 'Twin Flame Ascension School' which gives students access to exclusive online workshops and one-on-one coaching sessions known as 'Mind Alignment Process' (MAP). 

Keely introduced her younger sister, Marlee to the group, and before long, Jeff declared that a man named Josh was her soul mate.

'I had no idea who he was,' said Marlee. 'He was just some random guy that joined the Twin Flames Universe open forum on Facebook and he started messaging me. He was a total stranger.' 

'I did not like this person, he seemed creepy.' 

Nevertheless, Marlee moved cross-country and to enter a 'harmonious union' with Josh that turned out to be toxic and abusive.

Josh suffered from schizoaffective disorder and on one occasion he was sent to jail after he 'chased her down' in a domestic dispute. 

During a MAP session, Jeff and Shaleia encouraged Marlee to stay in the relationship and was told that providing a 'happy, supportive and loving environment' would heal all their problems.

'It was the most traumatic time in my life,' she says on the doc. 'It was just survival, survival, survival.' 

Similarly, another former member named Elle was working in a bio-engineering lab at Stanford University doing cancer research when she discovered the lovelorn community online. 

She had just come out of a two year relationship with a man who increasingly wanted nothing to do with her. 

'I wasn't in a relationship with him, but I was told to believe that I was,' she tells Netflix. 'Jeff taught us to pursue our twin flames at all costs.'

Eventually, Elle's boyfriend filed a restraining order which led to her being arrested and charged with stalking. 

Despite this, Elle said she was encouraged to continue texting and calling her ex.

'I was brought into a session and was told by a coach that the restraining order wasn't real, and that it really didn't exist.' 

'There were other people who had restraining orders and it was sort-of seen as something you had to work on within yourself, if you heal yourself then you are able to heal the relationship,' she adds.

According to the Twin Flames Facebook page, 'The MAP Healing Program is proven to resolve trauma at the core.' 

In reality, the program uses brainwashing techniques to exert control and extort deep seated secrets from its members. 

Elle was falsely convinced that she suffered from sexual trauma as a child, and was told to cut off all contact with her family. 'It was a memory that was planted inside of me,' she realizes now.

The final straw that led to her arrest happened one evening when she showed up at the same nightclub as her ex-boyfriend, though she maintains (to this day) that it was purely by accident.

Elle spent a month in jail and her parents put up their retirement savings to bail her out. Later in class, Jeff congratulated her for having faith in the process. 'It gives me enormous trust in you, when before I had none,' he said. 

In exchange for her devotion to his teachings, Jeff promoted Elle to a role within the Twin Flames Universe as social media manager and offered her the costly Life Purpose courses for 'free.'

Like so many others, Elle wasn't being paid for her work within the organization, which essentially rendered her an indentured servant.

Jeff preached that following one's life

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