Teal Swan

Teal Swan (born Mary Teal Bosworth, June 16, 1984, in Santa Fe, New Mexico) is a contemporary American author and online spiritual teacher who built a large following through her weekly “Ask Teal” YouTube videos beginning in the early 2010s.

Adopting the moniker “the Spiritual Catalyst,” she founded the company Teal Eye in 2012 and became an in-demand new-age figure addressing trauma, emotional pain, suicidal ideation, and self-worth. Her 2016 book The Completion Process, published by Hay House, sets out a multi-step method for revisiting difficult experiences within an imagined “mental sanctuary,” validating the emotions attached to them, and working toward integration and relief.

Swan is also a figure of documented and serious controversy, and the Atlas treats this calmly and factually rather than as endorsement or dismissal. Mainstream outlets including the BBC, The Guardian, and a Gizmodo podcast/documentary (The Gateway) have scrutinized her teachings, and some critics have argued that her handling of trauma and suicidal feelings may be harmful; more than one follower’s death by suicide has been linked by critics to her influence, claims she and her supporters dispute.

Within the knowledge system this caution is recorded in the skeptical literature. She is described here as a sincere-experiment node in the field, not as a validated method.