Woman tries to stop Bikram Yoga event in Vancouver

@bikramyoga26/Twitter | EJ Nickerson/Shutterstock

A Vancouver woman who alleges she was groomed, sexually assaulted, and abused by yoga celebrity Bikram Choudhury is trying to stop a yoga event planned at a downtown Vancouver hotel later this month.

Jill Lawler says her abusive relationship with Choudhury started when she was just 18 — at a 2010 yoga teacher training in Las Vegas. She said Choudhury himself gave her special permission to attend even though she was three years younger than the official age requirement of 21.

She was devastated to learn that her alleged rapist could be coming to her hometown.

“I’m absolutely appalled. It’s horrifically re-traumatizing. It’s like my worst nightmare come true,” she told Daily Hive.

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.

Despite Choudhury’s downfall, a Canadian yoga group is hosting an event called “Boss is Back” at the JW Marriott Parq from February 20 to 24. Choudhury isn’t mentioned by name in promotional material for the event, but posters feature pictures of him.

Canada Yoga Sports Federation is collecting payment for the event — at USD 800 for the week or USD 75 per class.

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It’s not clear if Choudhury himself will attend the Vancouver event. He’s tweeted about a Bikram Yoga Teacher Training in Thailand this year but hasn’t mentioned anything about Vancouver.

BYTT Spring 2023 in Thailand

— Bikram Choudhury (@bikramyoga26) January 16, 2023

Adam Chipiuk, board president of Canada Yoga Sports Federation, confirmed Choudhury was invited but declined an interview with Daily Hive, saying, “Many journalists in the past and others today continue to print quotes out of context as they write their article.”

Canada Yoga Sports Federation’s board also includes Adam’s sister Eva Chipiuk, an Edmonton-based “advocate for rights and freedoms” and lawyer for Freedom Convoy organizer Tamara Lich. Also on the board is Brad Colwell, a Vancouver-based yoga teacher who characterized sexual assault allegations against Chaudhury as “water under the bridge” in an interview with the Vancouver Sun.

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Several Vancouverites have voiced their disapproval of the event ostensibly featuring Choudhury, including Lawler. She started an online petition that’s drawn hundreds of signatures, and Vancouverites have also emailed Daily Hive with their concerns.

“I am outraged that they are giving him a platform to speak and teach in Vancouver, where many of his victims reside. This is disgraceful and triggering behaviour,” Kim Hickey said in an email.

“I’m appalled that an event hosted by a known predator would even be considered in Vancouver. Don’t we pride ourselves on keeping women safe?” Samantha Turner said on the petition.

Teen yogi from Vancouver becomes famed teacher’s target

Lawler fell in love with yoga when she was 17 and was excited to attend Choudhury’s gruelling nine-week teacher training course in Las Vegas at 18.

Once in Las Vegas, alone and away from her family for the first time in her life, Lawler was allegedly summoned to Choudhury’s room along with another student to give him a massage. Chaudhury allegedly dismissed the other student from the room and forced himself on Lawler after she repeatedly told him no.

“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.

Despite the alleged rape by Chaudhury, Lawler didn’t want to lose the community she’d found in yoga. She attended more conferences and saw Choudhury several times from 2010 to 2013, during which she alleges he continued sexually assaulting her — and she felt too scared to do anything but freeze.

The trauma of the ordeal led Lawler to develop an eating disorder and complex PTSD. She’s now in the process of suing Choudhury in the US.

She also wants to speak out to raise awareness about sexual grooming and trauma bonding to help others who’ve lived through it.

“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 for this article.

With files from Daily Hive’s Nikitha Martins