In this episode, Tamara names how high‑control religion—especially in its LDS expression—turns money, sexuality, and safety into tools of control, all in the name of obedience and love of the gospel.

She weaves together whistleblower reports on LDS finances, mental‑health statements on worthiness interviews, and domestic‑violence research on strangulation risk to show that what many were taught was “faithfulness” was, in fact, systematic exploitation.​

You’ll hear about:

• Economic exploitation:
  • Tithing as a de‑facto requirement for worthiness and temple access, taught to be paid before rent, food, or medical bills.
    ​​
  • The Bishop’s Storehouse as “help” that actually reinforces dependency and keeps financial control in the bishop’s hands.
  • How this wires your nervous system to associate money with danger, shame, and power—even long after leaving.​
• Sexual exploitation:
  • Worthiness interviews where untrained bishops ask minors explicit sexual questions in closed‑door settings, documented in thousands of accounts and challenged by clinicians in the Mormon Mental Health Association.
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  • Why this is best understood as spiritual sexual abuse, especially for children already carrying sexual‑abuse trauma.​
• Physical exploitation:
  • How patriarchal teachings and “eternal marriage” messaging keep women in unsafe relationships, even when strangulation—a major homicide predictor—is present.​
  • Tamara’s own stories from abusive marriages, and how religious authority figures told her to return and “work on it” instead of prioritizing safety.

Tamara then introduces Dr. Steven Hassan’s BITE Model (Behavior, Information, Thought, Emotional control) to show that this isn’t just “imperfect people”—it’s a high‑control system that owns every part of life.
​

Finally, she offers gentle, nervous‑system‑aware practices to begin reclaiming:

• Your money (small “sovereignty” steps and new money scripts)
• Your body and sexuality (simple somatic affirmations: “This

Send us a text

If your nervous system feels tired—and you’re longing for a deeper, more embodied connection with the Divine—I’d love to invite you to my free Sacred Intimacy Snapshot. In just a few minutes, you’ll discover which area of intimacy in your life is asking for care right now—and you’ll receive a gentle four-part mini-course to help you tend what’s next on your journey. You can take it at innerlightcompanion.com

Tamara is developing a four‑week online retreat called Awakening Your Inner Light, created specifically for people coming out of high‑control religion who want to learn meditation, trust their intuition, and rebuild a direct connection with the Divine. If you’d like to be on the Early Access list for this retreat, email her at tamara@innerlightcompanion.com.

A quiet invitation to Grace's World appears in this episode.

🌿 The Inner Light Companion is hosted by Tamara Ridge, LMFT — guiding spiritually curious souls into deeper connection, intuitive healing, and divine remembrance.

💌 Connect with me:
Website & Guest Submissions: www.innerlightcompanion.com
Spiritual Counseling: www.guidinglightspiritualcounseling.com
Instagram: @innerlightcompanion

🎧 Subscribe for weekly stories, tools & reflections to help you reconnect with your inner light.

However you show up on this path, your story is sacred.
Let’s walk it together. 💫

In this bonus episode of the Reclaiming Your Sacred Freedoms series, Tamara names one of the most invisible forms of religious abuse: the theft of identity and the right to grow into who you really are.

She shares how high‑control Mormonism shaped her personality, choices, and life path—from marriage and motherhood to callings and clothing—until there was no space left for the 18‑year‑old artist who first discovered she could draw. For 41 years, her love of art was diverted into the “Plan of Happiness,” and her sense of self was measured against worthiness, obedience, and group expectations.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

• The art story: discovering drawing at 18, feeling “this is me,” and then burying that spark for decades to be the “righteous Mormon woman.”
• How group pressure chose her first marriage at 23, and how “temple‑married Mormon woman” became more real than her right to be unharmed.
• Leaving the Church and walking straight into a nine‑year abusive marriage, repeating the pattern of handing identity and authority to someone else.
• The 10‑year spiritual blackout after leaving Mormonism—feeling outside the reach of God and not knowing who she was without the role of “faithful member.”
• Early acts of rebellion and autonomy: tattoos, piercings, tank tops, coffee, and paint‑by‑number kits as first steps toward meeting herself.
• Choosing Yogananda and Kriya Yoga as the first spiritual path she selected because it resonated with her inner experience, not because it was approved.
• A before‑and‑after moment with her current partner, who said, “You MUST put yourself first,” modeling what autonomy‑honoring love looks like.

Tamara then offers gentle, trauma‑informed practices to begin reclaiming your freedom of identity and self‑development—giving yourself permission not to know who you are yet, making small autonomous decisions, journaling your “borrowed” vs. “authentic” identity, and finding at least one safe relationship where you don’t have to perform.

Stay close to this work

If today’s episod

Send us a text

If your nervous system feels tired—and you’re longing for a deeper, more embodied connection with the Divine—I’d love to invite you to my free Sacred Intimacy Snapshot. In just a few minutes, you’ll discover which area of intimacy in your life is asking for care right now—and you’ll receive a gentle four-part mini-course to help you tend what’s next on your journey. You can take it at innerlightcompanion.com

Tamara is developing a four‑week online retreat called Awakening Your Inner Light, created specifically for people coming out of high‑control religion who want to learn meditation, trust their intuition, and rebuild a direct connection with the Divine. If you’d like to be on the Early Access list for this retreat, email her at tamara@innerlightcompanion.com.

A quiet invitation to Grace's World appears in this episode.

🌿 The Inner Light Companion is hosted by Tamara Ridge, LMFT — guiding spiritually curious souls into deeper connection, intuitive healing, and divine remembrance.

💌 Connect with me:
Website & Guest Submissions: www.innerlightcompanion.com
Spiritual Counseling: www.guidinglightspiritualcounseling.com
Instagram: @innerlightcompanion

🎧 Subscribe for weekly stories, tools & reflections to help you reconnect with your inner light.

However you show up on this path, your story is sacred.
Let’s walk it together. 💫

This episode is a deep breath after the heaviness of the Religious Freedoms series. Tamara turns toward the timeless teachings of the masters—Paramahansa Yogananda, the Bhagavad Gita, and Patanjali—to offer core spiritual principles that don’t require permission, performance, or perfection.
​

You’ll explore:

• Why the second coming of Christ is an inner awakening of Christ Consciousness, not a physical return
• How high‑control religion trains you to believe “spirituality is a transaction”—and why spirituality actually can’t be bought with tithing, service, or sacrifice
• The four big lies: you are a sinner, spirituality is pay‑to‑play, spiritual experiences need institutional approval, and meditation is dangerous—plus their impact on your nervous system
• How meditation and action together create direct contact with the Divine, and why your intuition can become a better therapist than any you could hire
• What Yogananda’s view of superconsciousness reveals about your own capacity for direct knowing, peace, and inner light
  ​

Tamara also guides you through a grounding practice—breath, affirmation, and a simple prayer—to help you feel the light within your own body and begin rebuilding trust in your intuition.

If you’re ready to step out of fear‑based, transactional religion and into a living, daily spirituality that honors your agency and inner wisdom, this episode will meet you right where you are.

Stay close to this work
If today’s episode spoke to your heart and you’d like gentle support for your own sacred intimacy with the Divine, you’re welcome to join my Inner Light Companion email list. Each week I send a brief reflection, a simple spiritual practice, and a question to pray or journal with—so you can keep deepening your relationship with God in the middle of your real life.

Work with me 1:1
If you’re longing for a soul friend to walk beside you in this season—someone to hold quiet, sacred space as you

Send us a text

If your nervous system feels tired—and you’re longing for a deeper, more embodied connection with the Divine—I’d love to invite you to my free Sacred Intimacy Snapshot. In just a few minutes, you’ll discover which area of intimacy in your life is asking for care right now—and you’ll receive a gentle four-part mini-course to help you tend what’s next on your journey. You can take it at innerlightcompanion.com

Tamara is developing a four‑week online retreat called Awakening Your Inner Light, created specifically for people coming out of high‑control religion who want to learn meditation, trust their intuition, and rebuild a direct connection with the Divine. If you’d like to be on the Early Access list for this retreat, email her at tamara@innerlightcompanion.com.

A quiet invitation to Grace's World appears in this episode.

🌿 The Inner Light Companion is hosted by Tamara Ridge, LMFT — guiding spiritually curious souls into deeper connection, intuitive healing, and divine remembrance.

💌 Connect with me:
Website & Guest Submissions: www.innerlightcompanion.com
Spiritual Counseling: www.guidinglightspiritualcounseling.com
Instagram: @innerlightcompanion

🎧 Subscribe for weekly stories, tools & reflections to help you reconnect with your inner light.

However you show up on this path, your story is sacred.
Let’s walk it together. 💫