Having left the music business, Gärdestad made a brief and unsuccessful attempt at acting and shortly thereafter began exploring meditation and Eastern religions. He became involved with the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (also known as Osho) movement and publicly renounced his earlier life. In an interview with Swedish newspaper "Aftonbladet" in mid-1983, he said he no longer wanted to be addressed as "Ted Gärdestad," his name was now Swami Sangit Upasani. Like all Bhagwan disciples, he wore clothes in a specific shade of orange. Gärdestad distanced himself from his friends in the music business and his family as his involvement in the movement gradually took over his life, affecting his personality. In June 1983, one month before his second child with actress Ann Zacharias was born, he unexpectedly left his family and friends and moved to the movement's headquarters in Oregon, United States. Three years later, after Rajneesh was convicted for immigration fraud, tax evasion, embezzlement of his disciples' funds and bioterror attacks on the citizens of The Dalles and subsequently deported from the US, Gärdestad's family persuaded him to move back to Sweden. His severe mental health problems became increasingly apparent.