Police in Bali said the organizer of an “orgasm retreat” that went viral last week did not violate any law because the event was canceled, after authorities apprehended him following mounting condemnation.
Related — Bali ‘orgasm retreat’ canceled after online backlash, police investigating
The organizer, an Australian national identified by his initials AB, was released from police custody after questioning on Friday.
“[He was released] because [the event] didn’t happen, he also explained that this is some sort of yoga training for sexual therapy. Because it did not take place, we don’t see that there’s a criminal offense,” I Dewa Made Adnyana, Chief of Gianyar Precinct, said on Saturday.
Police say that AB decided to cancel his event after receiving online backlash, explaining that a hotel in Ubud was previously booked as a location before the abrupt cancellation last week.
The four-day retreat, titled “Tantric Full Body Energy Orgasm Retreat,” was initially scheduled to start on March 6. AB’s acquaintance who was also questioned by the police, identified by her initials TL, said that six people had signed up for the retreat but only gave away their initials.
The event was initially shared publicly on Facebook, but promptly taken down following some reports from various news outlets. The page had suggested that participants will get to “cultivate and sublimate your sexual energy into a creative life force” and is intended for people who want “to go deeper into their energetic sexual expansion.”
Among the things one can expect to learn — after paying US$600 — is how to open one’s “tantric energy pathways to support heightened states of sexual ecstatic full-bodied orgasmic bliss.”
The page also included information about the event facilitator towards the end, a man corresponding to the initial AB who was accused of rape and sexual assault in 2018, according to cult reporting blog The Guru Magazine.
