Have you ever felt an instant connection with another person that was so strong, it almost felt as if you were destined to meet? Love can be a powerful drug, and the founders of Twin Flames Universe, an online community that promises members unique soul connections, claim they have the ability to find it for you in the form of your “twin flame” — an unequivocal soul connection that’s perfect for you in every way. But what happens when the people who promise to help you find your match have their own agenda?

New docuseries Escaping Twin Flames pulls back the curtain on Twin Flames Universe and its founders, married couple Jeff and Shaleia Ayan. In the series, former members of TFU come forward to put a spotlight on the coercive practices of the group’s leaders, who made them feel trapped before they ultimately left the community.

Who are Jeff  and Shaleia Ayan?

Jeff and Shaleia are the founders of Twin Flames Universe. From a young age, Jeff has had various business ideas and wanted to be a millionaire, investigative journalist Sarah Berman says in the series. In 2011, Jeff moved to Hawaii after graduating from business school and changed his name to Ender Ayanethos, attempting to market himself as a lifestyle guru. Within a few years, Jeff and Shaleia met online, got married, and moved to Michigan together. At that time, they started a number of websites dedicated to spiritual healing and finding true love. 

As for Shaleia, her birth name is Megan Plante, though she came to the name Shaleia after doing work with a spiritual teacher. “She is the one who really started [Jeff] down this path of spiritual awakening and New Agey practices, the tarot cards,” Berman says in the series.

In Escaping Twin Flames, former members of Twin Flames Universe claim that Jeff and Shaleia preyed on people looking for love, employing tactics of social isolation and manipulation, separating individuals from their offline communities, and convincing them that their soul person was within the group. Jeff and Shaleia told their followers that they were the only people who had the spiritual power to confirm others’ twin flames because they’d reached “harmonious union,” as they said. Jeff even told members that he had the power to channel a person’s true twin flame. But TFU followers were encouraged to pursue their twin flames “at all costs.”

The series also describes how Jeff and Shaleia’s recruitment targeted vulnerable online communities, including message boards dedicated to people seeking help for mental and physical illnesses. In Escaping Twin Flames, former members of the group share stories of alleged emotional and psychological abuse and manipulation, including being verbally berated by Jeff. Former members interviewed in the series say they were expected to volunteer their labor to build TFU programs — from which Jeff and Shaleia would profit. 

How does Twin Flames Universe membership work?

Followers of the group are required to buy Jeff and Shaleia’s book, Twin Flames: Finding Your Ultimate Lover. Over time, TFU students interviewed in the documentary say they were pressured to purchase a number of classes, workshops, seminars, and diet regimes in their pursuit of love, wealth, and happiness. Through coaching and additional courses, they could also become coaches themselves. Students would pay anywhere from $200 for one-on-one coaching sessions to $2,222 for unlimited access to relationship videos, according to Berman’s Vice investigation.

Does Twin Flames Universe still exist? 

The group still exists and continues to recruit new members. According to former member Keely Griffin, Jeff wanted to avoid paying taxes on revenue generated by Twin Flames Universe — and thus, Church of Union was born. In Episode 3 of Escaping Twin Flames, former member  Griffin says that Jeff was trying to open the group’s first physical location in Michigan, where followers would be expected to live in trailers on the property and renovate the facility. There, members would also start having “golden children” with other TFU followers. 

In April 2023, Jeff and Shaleia’s daughter, Grace Violet Divine, who they say is their third twin flame, was born. 

Today, family members of TFU followers and former supporters have been working together to stop Jeff and Shaleia. Paula Cole — whose twin sister Stephanie wrote to the family in 2018 that she was ending her relationships with them — has been working with former members to gather evidence of abuse within the group.