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His brand of yoga has attracted thousands from all over the world, but Bikram Choudhury, founder of Bikram Yoga is now feeling the heat, with a barrage of rape claims from former yoga students who attended his training seminars. Last week the “hot yoga” guru was slapped with yet another lawsuit from a woman accusing him of repeated sexual assaults. The suit filed last week in California by Jill Lawler alleges that Choudhury sexually harassed her repeatedly and raped her from 2010 to 2014, Law360 reported.
The lawsuit was filed Feb. 13, the same day that a judge ruled that Choudhury would have to face the majority of the claims brought against him by a Colorado woman who is suing him for similar charges.
In 2010, when Lawler was 18, she took a yoga teacher training course at Choudhury’s Yoga College of India LP school. The suit asserts that Choudhury’s sexual advances began there when he asked her to give him intimate massages. Lawler says she convinced herself that her discomfort stemmed from cultural differences. The advances escalated, and several sexual assaults occurred, the suit contends. Lawler eventually became employed by the Yoga College of India LP, and the suit states that she feared losing her certification and being barred from teaching Bikram Yoga, therefore, losing her livelihood, if she defied Choudhury’s advances
In another incident during training, he took Lawler up to his hotel room and allegedly made more lewd sexual advances. When she refused, the suit alleges he raped her. After the training classes, Lawler alleges Choudhury continued to seek her out for sex, and one occasion flew her out to Los Angeles before assaulting her.
Lawler left the company in July 2014.
Choudhury faces nine claims, including sexual harassment, sex discrimination and violations of state civil rights.
At the Feb. 13 hearing at the Los Angeles Superior Court, the plaintiff, who appeared in the court, and identified in the complaint as Jane Doe No. 2, alleged Choudhury raped her in 2010 after her boyfriend gave her a gift of a $13,000 nine-week teacher training program at the millionaire yoga guru’s studio in San Diego. The judge however denied a defense motion to dismiss the woman’s punitive damages claim, mynewsLA.com reported.
