This yoga instructor is fighting the rise of QAnon in the wellness community – CBC.ca

Seane Corn never thought her duties as yoga instructor would one day include warningpeople about the dangers of an international right-wing conspiracy theory.

The Los Angelesyoga teacher is one of several high-profileInstagram influencers using their platforms to combat the rise of the QAnon conspiracy theory in wellness spaces.

"I just didn't think that I would be having to talk about things like a cabal of people in the U.S. that are kidnapping children and drinking their blood to gain power," Corn told As It Happens host Carol Off.

"I never thought that this would be a conversation I would have to have with my community to say, like, 'This isn't true. This isn't happening. Please use more discernment.'"

QAnonis a conspiracy theory thatposits thatU.S. President Donald Trump is secretly fighting an internationalcabal of Satan-worshipping, leftist eliteswho arerunning a global child sex traffickingring.

It tends to overlap with conspiracy theories that involve anti-vaccination and anti-mask beliefs, and has roots in anti-Semitism and white supremacy.

Once relegated to the fringes of the internet, QAnon hasrecently made its way into more mainstream spaces. QAnon supporterMarjorie Taylor Greene recently won the Republican nomination in Georgia's primary race, and the president himself has referred to the conspiracy theory's followers as people who "love our country."

But it's also started gainingsignificant traction among people who are into wellness,yoga, spiritualityand alternative medicine.

Conspirituality, a podcast that examines the links between wellness and conspiracy, has curated a listof more than two dozen wellness influencers who have alluded to QAnon in their posts.

Corn says she started to notice it creeping into her social media feed at the start of the pandemic, with its followersusing "yoga speak" and wellness branding to radicalize people online.

"The colours might be pastel. The fonts are very specific. There's maybe one post of someone doing yoga. Then the next day it's their food. The next day, it's a lifestyle shot," she said.

"But on maybe the fourth day, there's going to be a post that says, you know, very prettily "COVID is a hoax" and then a bunch of slides that keep giving misinformation and invite you to another link that then gives you more misinformation."

For Corn, the conspiracy theory's proliferation in her community is not all that surprising.

"In the wellness community, there's often a lot of magical thinking," she said.

For example, she says people may turn tocrystals or prayer as a Band-Aid solution for their life's problems, without engaging with those problems on a deeper level.

"I think that some of the messaging in QAnonis appealing to magical thinking. People are afraid. Their instincts are telling them that there's something else going on, but 'I just don't know what it is. I think I'm being lied to,'" she said.

"Someone is coming in and saying, 'Actually, you are,' and taking them down this rabbit hole."

Ali Breland,a reporter for Mother Jones who has been covering the overlap between QAnon and wellness, agrees.

He toldCBC Radio's Day 6 earlier this monththat wellness communities were already rife with anti-vaccination sentiment.

"[It's the idea that] these big powerful interests these external interests that are beyond us, like Big Pharma, that we can't conceptualize, are trying to hurt our children ... and we need to protect them because no one else will," she said.

"That's the prevailing belief of QAnon."

Annie Kelly, a researcher who studies digital extremism,recently wrote in the New York Times that QAnon's "ranks are populated by a noticeably high percentage of women."

While suburban moms with yoga mats might not be the first image that pops into most people's mindswhen they think about onlineconspiracy theorists, Corn says it actually makes a lot of sense especially as QAnon followersflood hashtags like #SaveTheChildren.

"There's a lot of women in this community who are sensitive and empathic. And so you bring in, you know, victimized children and you're going to appeal to that part of them that wants to do something, that wants to engage," Corn said.

Corn, with her 100,000 Instagram followers, is trying to stem the tide by sharing posts that attempt to neutralize the disinformation.

Others are also heeding the call. Shannon Algeo, aL.A. yoga and meditation teacher with 25,000 followers, is one of several influencers who shared an Instagram posttakingstand against the QAnon movement.

"I have a community that stands behind me, or rather stands with me," Corn said."I'm not alone in this effort."

It's the kind of stance that could, at best, cost them some of their followers and income, and at worst, invite harassment and even violence.

Last week, a Texaswoman was charged withaggravated assault with a deadly weapon after shestruck two strangers with her car. According to the arrest affidavits, she believed they were pedophiles. Two people who knew her told the website Right Wing Watch she followedQAnoncontentonline and sent them pro-QAnonmessages.

Still, Corn says she has to speak out. She's already done interviews with the New York Times, Rolling Stone and more.

"I would feel worse being silent. That would make me complicit, and I just can't live with myself in that way,"she said. "So, hopefully, I'll remain safe and we'll see what happens."

Written by Sheena Goodyear. Interview produced by Chloe Shantz-Hilkes.

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This yoga instructor is fighting the rise of QAnon in the wellness community - CBC.ca