Like many communities, yoga is grappling with its own #MeToo reckoning. There’s the issue of consent and hands-on adjustments in class as well as more straightforward examples of abuses of power and violence.
But has there been a bigger fall from grace than that of Bikram Choudhury? From his base in Los Angeles, Choudhury made a fortune from a trademarked yoga routine, only to have his empire in tatters following multiple civil suits and allegations of rape and sexual assault.
And in common with the stories of the girls in the Jeffrey Epstein case, there is also the depressing state of the Californian legal system that is not fleet-footed or motivated enough to bring sexual predators to justice.
The rise and fall (and maybe rise again?) of Choudhury is rich material, and the Australian film-maker Eva Orner (Taxi to the Dark Side, Chasing Asylum) uses it well in Bikram: Yogi, Guru, Predator. She makes excellent use of the copious amounts of footage of Choudhury from his early days in India to now, aged in his mid-70s. Complementing this trove, Orner was able to access and interview people from Choudhury’s inner circle and several of his accusers.
Choudhury was sued by former students alleging sexual assault and discrimination against racial and sexual minorities. In 2017 a court awarded $6.8m to his former lawyer, Minakshi Jafa-Boden, but she was unable to recover damages as he had fled the country. Bikram has denied the allegations.
But the documentary is at its most intriguing when it looks at what the allegations against Choudhury did to the community. Some of those supporting accusers were ostracised, others struggled to break their loyalty to him and the yoga that was now a core part of their identity.
In the early 2000s I met Choudhury. I was a reporter for the Sydney Morning Herald and he was opening his first studio in Australia. As part of the story, I went to one of the early classes and was shocked. What the hell was this practice? The yoga took place in a room heated to around 41C. It was packed and it stunk. There were mirrors everywhere and the room was carpeted, which absorbed the stench and the sweat.
This won’t take off, I thought.
Later that day I had an audience with him. He was staying in an apartment with panoramic views of the Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. An entourage sat around him, literally at his feet. The vibe was fawning. When I spoke to some members of his entourage, they discussed him with a degree of reverence usually reserved for a religious figure or guru, not the founder of an LA-based yoga school. Then there was Choudhury himself. I didn’t mind that he was a braggart – name-dropping Hollywood celebrities who had done his yoga, boasting about his wealth. After all, he had a product to promote and that is what he was doing. I did object however when, without warning, he looked me up and down and declared that I was overweight and needed to do his yoga.
What an unpleasant man, I thought as I returned to the office.
Despite the bragging and the insults, his yoga was a great success. At the height of his powers there were around 650 Bikram studios around the world.
Bikram yoga came along at just the right time, when wellness became a multitrillion-dollar industry.
Yoga was a key plank in the industry, promising not just to make you look good, but also feel as if you’d tapped into an ancient eastern tradition. It was more than just an exercise – it promised community and a way of life.
It turns out, the odd dynamic that I experienced that day in Sydney was Choudhury’s usual MO and in many ways was the key to both his success and his downfall.
In the documentary he is seen abusing people, calling one woman a “bitch” and “chicken shit”. He mocked another student for being overweight.
But there was also a docility about his students – answering to his beck and call and unwilling to challenge him.
This is in part connected to the money side of things. People’s livelihoods depended on his yoga: they ran Bikram studios; they were franchisees; they spent thousands of dollars on their studios and training.
Much of the documentary’s early, pivotal moments are set during Choudhury’s nine-week teacher training course – an intense yoga gulag where specifically chosen yogis (giving the training a cult-like vibe) are taught the Bikram method. According to one of those interviewed, “You’re starving hungry, you’re sleep-deprived, this yoga just wipes you out – then you’re ripe for whatever it needs to be entered into next.”
This documentary is an important addition to the chronicling of the #MeToo movement, but it also shows how much is yet to be achieved.
• Bikram: Yogi, Guru, Predator is available on Netflix
