Bikram yoga guru faces legal action over 'sex attacks'

 
Accused: Bikram Choudhury, who founded hot yoga
Rashid Razaq27 February 2015

The founder of Bikram yoga — the famously hot method popular with celebrities such as Madonna, Gwyneth Paltrow and Andy Murray — is facing legal action from six women over allegations of rape and sex attacks.

In the most recent case, Bikram Choudhury is alleged to have sexually assaulted a Canadian woman who paid $10,000 (£6,500) from her college fund for a nine-week class so she could teach the technique to others.

Jill Lawler said she went into the class elated to learn from the master, but things quickly turned wrong as she was expected to massage him while watching Bollywood movies into the night.

In a lawsuit filed on February 13 in Los Angeles Superior Court, she alleges: “Throughout the sexual abuse, defendant Bikram Choudhury offered multiple explanations and justifications for his behaviour. He would say, ‘I’m dying, I need you to save me. If I don’t have sex I will die. You are saving my life, you are helping me.’”

Lawyers representing Choudhury and Bikram’s Yoga College of India said he had never assaulted any of the women and that prosecutors had declined to bring charges: “Their claims are false, needlessly bring shame upon the yoga community, and dishonour the health and spiritual benefits Bikram Yoga has brought to the lives of millions of practitioners.”

The Los Angeles district attorney declined to bring charges in a 2013 case against Choudhury for lack of evidence, spokesman Ricardo Santiago said.

Choudhury, 69, has throngs of devotees of what he calls McYoga for its consistency — 90-minute classes taught the same way in rooms heated to 40C.

Sarah Baughn, a yoga champion, was the first of his female followers to accuse Choudhury of sexual assault.

Ms Baughn, 29, said there was such a cult-like atmosphere among the Bikram community that she endured Choudhury’s sexual assaults as something that went with the territory.

Others told her to separate the man from the teacher. She said she was able to do that for a long time, gaining benefit from a practice that had helped her overcome scoliosis and depression. She claimed she was afraid to leave because Choudhury boasted of how he got people banished from the yoga world. Her lawsuit will go to trial in August.

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