Woman speaking out against Bikram Yoga event gets disturbing pushback from organizer

Feb 6 2023, 11:18 pm

A Canadian yoga group is hosting a seminar purportedly featuring accused sexual predator Bikram Choudhury in Vancouver later this month, and one organizer suggested he could release a personal letter of a woman who’s speaking out against the event.

Jill Lawler has launched an online petition to stop Choudhury from coming to her hometown, saying the idea her alleged rapist could be leading classes at a luxury hotel is her “worst nightmare come true.”

She alleges Choudhury groomed, abused, and sexually assaulted her for several years starting in 2010. She’s in the process of suing him in the US  and says the trauma of the ordeal caused her to develop complex PTSD and an eating disorder. Her allegations against Chaudhury have not been proven in court.

Lawler is “absolutely appalled” that Canada Yoga Sports Federation is collecting payment for a planned Bikram Yoga event at the JW Marriott Parq Vancouver this month called “Boss is Back.” Although the event doesn’t mention Choudhury by name, its promotional posters feature images of him.

Bikram yoga event Vancouver

Canadayoga.org

It’s not clear if Choudhury himself will attend the event, although the group confirmed to Daily Hive he was invited.

Event organizer threatens to release Choudhury’s alleged victim’s private letter

Things took a troubling turn when Lawler raised her concerns with Vancouver event organizers.

Adam Chipiuk, board president of Canada Yoga Sports Federation, sent Lawler a photo of a private letter she’d written Choudhury more than a decade ago. She’d given the letter to a trusted friend at the time to deliver to Choudhury and has no idea how the Vancouver organizer got ahold of it.

Lawler met Choudhury in 2010 at a teacher training in Las Vegas when she was just 18 — with special permission from Choudhury himself to attend the training three years below the age limit. At the conference, Choudhury allegedly summoned Lawler to his room for a massage and then sexually assaulted her.

“I was exhausted having been awake for almost 24 hours and had been begging him not to make me do it,” Lawler writes in a blog post describing the experience.

But Lawler didn’t want to lose the community she’d found in the sport she loved, despite the alleged rape. She attended more conferences from 2010 to 2013, during which the alleged Choudhury continued to sexually assault her and she felt too scared to do anything but freeze.

She wrote the letter after an attempt to leave. In it, she expressed affectionate sentiments toward Choudhury while feeling ostracized by her beloved yoga community. She said it was a clear sign of a trauma bond — where the person being abused seeks validation from their abuser.

Lawler didn’t know whether Choudhury ever received the letter and said the photo from Chipiuk was the first time it’s been brought up since she wrote it.

In messages seen by Daily Hive, Chipiuk implies he might release the letter, and “let the world decide when they see both sides of the coin.”

“I’ll wait 24 hours to hear your response then reach out to my lawyers to see what steps to take next,” Chipiuk says.

To Lawler, the interaction seemed like an attempt to threaten and silence her. She reported it to the Vancouver Police Department. The VPD has not yet responded to Daily Hive’s request for comment.

Chipiuk did not answer Daily Hive’s questions about how he got ahold of the letter or why he suggested he might release it. Chipiuk denied an interview request and only offered to participate in a “live podcast interview,” saying “many journalists in the past and others today continue to print quotes out of context as they write their article.”

Chipiuk sits on the board of Canada Yoga Sports Federation alongside his sister Eva Chipiuk, who describes herself as an “advocate for rights and freedoms” as well as being Tamara Lich of the Freedom Convoy’s lawyer. Also on the board is Brad Colwell, a Vancouver-based yoga teacher who characterized sexual assault allegations against Chaudhury as “water under the bridge.

“It’s not water under the bridge. Sexual assault is never water under the bridge,” Lawler told Daily Hive. “And Adam threatening me with that letter, I almost felt as violated as when I was raped. It’s been awful.”

Choudhury accused by multiple women of sexual assault and misconduct

Choudhury rose to fame more than a decade ago as his style of hot yoga, named after himself, grew hugely popular in North America and around the world. But the yoga leader is now largely regarded as a predator after being accused of sexual assault by multiple women.

In 2016, a Los Angeles court order decided Choudhury must pay his former legal advisor nearly $7 million USD in damages after she said he sexually harassed her while she worked for him and fired her after she looked into claims he raped a yoga student.

Choudhury ended up fleeing the US to avoid arrest, and since then has been seen teaching yoga classes in Mexico. He was the subject of the 2019 Netflix documentary Bikram: Yogi, Guru, Predator.

But even after Choudhury’s reckoning, the Vancouver event organizers still support him — and are charging $800 USD for the event featuring his likeness.

Despite the distressing messages and realization that Chipiuk has access to her letter, Lawler won’t stay silent. She’d rather put her own privacy and reputation on the line than have others be subject to Choudhury’s dangerous behaviour.

“I legitimately fear for the wellbeing of anyone exposed to this man,” Lawler said.

The JW Marriot Parq Vancouver, the hotel where the event is being held, declined to comment.

With files from Daily Hive’s Nikitha Martins

 

Megan DevlinMegan Devlin

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