Do you need to eat to live? Most people would say yes. But there is a small group of people—self-proclaimed “Breatharians”—who might say, “no, not necessarily.”

Though the fringe philosophy has existed in its modern incarnation since at least the 1970s, and is modeled after religious ascetics of old, I hadn’t heard of Breatharians until a New York Post article that went viral in early June. The title, like most tabloid headlines, is a complete sentence that reads like a factual, vetted discovery: “Breatharian couple survives on ‘the universe’s energy’ instead of food.” That couple, a life-coaching duo named Akahi Ricardo and Camila Castillo, belong to a community of people who believe you don’t need food to live, that surviving on non-food substances like sunlight, air, and “prana” allows people to live more evolved, healthy, spiritual lives.

I poke around the Internet and discover Ricardo and Castillo’s website. I learn that they spent years as fire dancers and performers in South America. I find a Snopes page debunking their claims. I learn that there are multiple deaths associated with following Breatharianism, and several infamous Breatharian gurus.

I get morbidly obsessed with their videos. Ricardo is zealous, almost panting from exertion in some of his long rants. The best optics come when Castillo is at his side, looking beatific and occasionally chiming in. The clips have buzzy names like, “How to transform problems into opportunities.” But beneath every inspirational message is the thrumming question. Are these people really not eating?

Ricardo and Castillo’s website says they are hosting a retreat in California. I e-mail them and ask if I can join.

I am a California native. I have been to drum circles, visited psychics, participated in Cacao ceremonies. I’m no stranger to the various incarnations of woo. And to be honest, I’m curious about these people. They’ve got to be wrong or lying. But what if they’re not? What if they’ve stumbled on some secret that could help every human on Earth thumb their nose at the basic rules of mortality?

At the retreat, six people from around the U.S. will stay in a rented house together. They’re a ragtag group, and they lack obvious commonalities aside from an interest in spiritual development and a suspicion that food is holding them back. None appears wildly rich or eccentric. Most have “normal” jobs, families, and personal lives, filled with the same unpredictable successes and failures as everyone else. But they’re looking for a trap door. Breatharianism, they hope, is a hack to the human condition.

All of the retreat-goers intend to complete the suggested fast: no food or water for three days, and only juice for another four. Going without water is something that most doctors consider dangerous, but for Breatharians, an “initiation” fast is essential to beginning a life where food is optional. There will be no doctors present at the retreat, and the only thing remotely resembling medical oversight will be a white box called a Bio-Well that supposedly measures the human energy field and chakra alignment, and that ends up having broken in transit on its way to the retreat.

This 8-Day Process, as Ricardo has coined it, seems to be in demand. Ricardo is flying in from Costa Rica, where he just finished doing the same retreat (priced at $1,080 per person) with fourteen people, and will fly to Poland to lead a 20-person retreat afterward.

Ricardo’s “process," which he’s agreed to let me drop in on, is supposed to be a gentler, safer version of the better-known 21-day Breatharian process, which has been blamed for multiple deaths. It dangerously excludes both food and water for one week, followed by two weeks of juice or water fasting.