Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Rape and Sexual Harrasment Claims Filed Against Yoga "Guru" Bikram

A few years ago, I wrote a post about the greed of the Bikram yoga empire. In it, I also spoke about the guy's blatant sexism and sexualized teaching, both of which you'd think would be big enough red flags for folks. The response to the post was mixed, which has been the case for many stories I've seen about Bikram and his yoga program.

Now he's got a power abuse scandal on his hands. Students accusing him of rape, sexual coercion, and all sorts of rotten shit.

Some of the Bikram branded studios are breaking away from his corporation, which is a start. Perhaps this will also be the wake up call some of his devoted followers seem to desperately need.

But the thornier issues of guru/teacher worship, power dynamics in classes, creating an identity based solely around your spiritual practice, and turning spiritual/religious practices into capitalist products remain.

Bikram is just the latest in a long line of mostly male power abusing spiritual and religious leaders. It's a tired, old story that we humans just seem prone to repeating, despite all our best efforts to not do so.







3 comments:

Bob said...

"99 bottles of beer on the wall,
99 bottles of beer --
you take one down,
you pass it around,
98 bottles of beer on the wall."

Nathan said...

Yep. Lots of drinking to go 'round.

Magpie said...

I finally, after many years of a hardcore Bikram practice made the choice to switch studios, it was tough, and I love my studio owners, but I felt too conflicted knowing that a portion of my money was supposting that. Sucks.