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{{Short description|Indian yoga teacher Bikram Yoga}}
{{good article}}
{{Infobox person {{Infobox person
|name = Bikram Choudhury |name = Bikram Choudhury
|image = Bikram Choudhury.jpg |image = Bikram Choudhury.jpg
|image_size = 200px |caption = At a book signing in New York in 2007
|birth_date = <!--{{birth date and age|1944|2|10}}<ref>{{Cite web |title=Superior Court of the State of California |url=https://www.scribd.com/doc/290425855/Bikram-Petra-Starke-Complaint |website=scribd.com |access-date=1 February 2016}}</ref>-->1944<ref name="Horton 2019"/>
|caption = Bikram Choudhury at a book signing in New York in 2007.
|birth_date = {{birthdate and age|1946|2|10}} |birth_place = ], ]
|birth_place = ], ] |death_date =
|death_date = |death_place =
|nationality = ]n, ]
|death_place =
|nationality = ], ] |known = Founder of ]
|known = founder of ] |occupation = ]
|spouse = {{marriage|Rajashree Choudhury|1984|2016|end=div}}
|occupation = ] ]
|prizes =
|religion = ]
|spouse = ]
|footnotes =
}} }}
'''Bikram Choudhury''' (born <!--February 10, -->1944) is an Indian-American ],<ref name="Newcombe 2017">{{cite journal |last=Newcombe |first=Suzanne |author-link=Suzanne Newcombe |title=The Revival of Yoga in Contemporary India |journal=Religion |publisher=Oxford Research Encyclopedias |volume=1 |year=2017 |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.013.253|isbn=9780199340378 |url=http://oro.open.ac.uk/48147/1/April_Yoga_Revival_Newcombe.pdf }}</ref> and the founder of ], a form of ] consisting of ] practised in a hot environment of {{convert|40|C}}. The business became a success in the United States and then across the Western world, with a variety of celebrity pupils. His former wife Rajashree Choudhury assisted him in the yoga business.


In 2009, he began a series of copyright claims to protect the series of postures of Bikram Yoga; this was ultimately unsuccessful, and other studios continue to teach the series.
'''Bikram Choudhury''' (born February 10, 1946) is an ]n ] teacher and the founder of ], a form of ] performed in a series of 26 ] postures done in a hot (105 degrees Fahrenheit or greater) environment.

Choudhury was the subject of civil suits ] and discrimination against racial and sexual minorities. In 2017, a court awarded $7 million to his former lawyer, Minakshi Jafa-Bodden, who gained control of his yoga business when Choudhury fled to India without paying her. Since then he has continued to ] outside the United States in countries including Spain and Mexico.


==Life and work== ==Life and work==
Born in ], India, Bikram Choudhury began learning Hatha Yoga poses at the age of three. At five, he began studying with Bishnu Ghosh (]’s brother) and won the National India Yoga Championship for three consecutive years in his teens.<ref name=bodywork>{{cite news|url=http://www.laweekly.com/2003-10-02/news/body-work/|publisher=LA Weekly|date=September 25, 2003|author=Erika Schickel|title=Body Work}}</ref>


===Early life===
Bikram created a 26 posture series, which he claims restored his ]. The 105 degree heat in which Bikram yoga is practiced is, according to Choudhury, meant to mimic the climate of India.<ref name=bodywork />


Bikram Choudhury was born in ], ] in 1944. He claimed to have begun studying yoga under ],<ref>{{cite web |last1=Despres |first1=Loraine |title=Yoga's Bad Boy: Bikram Choudhury |url=https://www.yogajournal.com/lifestyle/yoga-s-bad-boy-bikram-choudhury |publisher=] |access-date=29 April 2020 |date=5 April 2017 |orig-year=2007}}</ref> and to have won the National India Yoga Championship for three consecutive years in his teens.<ref name="bodywork"/> However, the first ever Yoga competition in India took place in 1974, long after he had left the country.<ref name="bodywork">{{cite news |author=Schickel |first=Erica |title=Body Work |date=25 September 2003 |work=] |url=https://www.laweekly.com/body-work/}}</ref> Recent evidence from interviews for the podcast series "30for30" on Choudhury (2018, ]) and from ]'s book, ''Calcutta Yoga'', have proven his claim of winning the National India Yoga Championships to be false and also that he did not start his training under Ghosh at the age of 5 but rather in 1962 when he was 18. His initial focus was on bodybuilding and massage.<ref>{{cite AV media |last=Henderson |first=Julia L. |title=Bikram. ''30for30'', season 3, episodes 4&5 |publisher=] |date=2018 |url=https://30for30podcasts.com/bikram/}}</ref><ref name="Armstrong 2018">{{cite book |last1=Armstrong |first1=Jerome |author-link1=Jerome Armstrong |title=Calcutta Yoga : Buddha Bose & the yoga family of Bishnu Ghosh and Yogananda |date=2018 |publisher=Webstrong |isbn=978-0692116715}}</ref> A few years later, during 1969, Bikram completed in six months his training on ]s under Ghosh and other senior teachers, but he did not get the chance to finish his training on ] (breathing exercises), ] (bodily locks) or ] (focused meditation) before Ghosh died in 1970.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Armstrong |first1=Jerome |title=Calcutta Yoga |date=9 January 2020 |publisher=Pan Macmillan |isbn=978-1-5290-4811-7 |page=320 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QvjCDwAAQBAJ&dq=bikram+yoga-bayam&pg=PP321}}</ref>
At age 20, a weightlifting accident crippled Bikram. Although he was told he would never be able to walk again, with the help of Ghosh, he claims to have fully recovered within 6 months.<ref>Jordan Susman, Your Karma Ran Over My Dogma: Bikram Yoga and the (Im)Possibilities of Copyrighting Yoga, 25 Loy. L.A. Ent. L. Rev. 245 (2004)</ref> Choudhury emigrated to the United States in the 1970s and founded yoga studios in California and Hawaii.<ref name=money>{{cite journal|url=http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2005/03/money-pose|title=The Money Pose|publisher=Mother Jones|author=Joshua Kurlantzick
|date=March-April 2005}}</ref> In the 1990s he began offering nine-week teacher certification courses, and certified instructors now number in the thousands with Bikram Yoga studios all over the world.<ref name=laweekly>{{cite news|url=http://www.laweekly.com/2012-07-19/news/Bikram-yoga-greg-gumucio-bikram-choudhury/|title=Bikram Choudhury Battles for Control of the Hot Yoga Tradition he Invented|author=Rebecca Moss|date=July 19, 2012|publisher=LA Weekly}}</ref>


Choudhury developed ], by piecing together existing sequences from over 500 poses and variations created by Ghosh, and put it into his signature series which takes about ninety minutes to perform.<ref name=bodywork/> The {{cvt|40|C|order=flip}} heat in which Bikram Yoga is practiced is, according to Choudhury, meant to mimic the climate of India.<ref name=bodywork/> Choudhury was closely associated with the United States's ] from its inception; the annual ] is named after his teacher.<ref name="Pollack 2009">{{cite magazine |last1=Pollack |first1=Neal |title=Top Yogi |url=https://slate.com/culture/2009/02/a-dispatch-from-the-sixth-annual-international-yoga-championship.html |magazine=] |date=17 February 2009}}</ref>
Choudhury holds a copyright for the 26 poses which constitute Bikram yoga under the same theory which allows choreographic sequences to be copyrighted. In September, 2011, Choudhury filed an infringement suit against his former student, Greg Gumucio, founder of a competing chain of hot yoga studios. In June 2012, the ] (USCO) decided that since yoga poses claim to improve health, they are not eligible for copyright.<ref name=laweekly/>

The USCO's decision, however, did not relieve Gumucio of the need to defend the lawsuit against him. In December 2012 Gumucio settled the suit with Choudhury, agreeing to stop using the series of 26 poses by February 15, 2013.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://infoweb.newsbank.com/iw-search/we/InfoWeb?p_action=doc&p_topdoc=1&p_docnum=1&p_sort=YMD_date:D&p_product=AWNB&p_text_direct-0=document_id=%28%201431D68CEAA11DD0%20%29&p_docid=1431D68CEAA11DD0&p_theme=aggdocs&p_queryname=1431D68CEAA11DD0&f_openurl=yes&p_nbid=C5FS4ECBMTM1NjgwNTM1NC4zNjYzNzY6MToxMzoxOTIuMTYwLjIxNi4w&&p_multi=NAPY|title=NY yoga studio settles suit|publisher=Associated Press|date=December 13, 2012}}</ref>
===Yoga in the United States===
{{further|Bikram Yoga}}

In 1971, Choudhury emigrated to the ] and began to teach yoga. He opened his first studio in Los Angeles, teaching his own style of yoga.<ref name=money>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2005/03/money-pose |title=The Money Pose |magazine=Mother Jones |author=Joshua Kurlantzick |date=March–April 2005}}</ref> The author Brigid Delaney describes the atmosphere around him as "fawning":<ref name="Delaney 2019"/> he was, she writes, treated reverentially, as if he were a guru, though he was a "braggart" openly boasting about the film stars he had taught and the money he had made.<ref name="Delaney 2019"/> He was rude and insulting to students;<ref name="Delaney 2019"/> in ]'s 2019 documentary film, '']''<!--on Choudhury's life, work, and behaviour,--> directed by ], he uses abusive language and jeers at overweight pupils.<ref name="Delaney 2019">{{cite news |last=Delaney |first=Brigid |title=He made a fortune from his trademarked Bikram yoga, but now his empire is in tatters |url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2019/dec/03/he-made-a-fortune-from-his-trademarked-bikram-yoga-but-now-his-empire-is-in-tatters |work=] |date=2 December 2019}}</ref> The critic Adrian Horton writes that the film "visually synthesizes decades of archival footage with first-person testimony and filmed court depositions into a devastating portrait of an abusive narcissist protected from consequences by his own inflated cult of personality, wealth and professional power within the niche world of ]."<ref name="Horton 2019">{{cite news |last=Horton |first=Adrian |title='He got away with it': how the founder of Bikram yoga built an empire on abuse |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/nov/20/bikram-choudhury-yoga-founder-abuse-netflix-documentary |work=] |date=20 November 2019}}</ref>

All the same, Bikram Yoga expanded rapidly across the United States. In the 1990s, he began offering nine-week teacher certification courses, training thousands of instructors. Bikram Yoga studios were founded in many countries around the world.<ref name=laweekly>{{cite news |last=Moss |first=Rebecca |url=http://www.laweekly.com/2012-07-19/news/Bikram-yoga-greg-gumucio-bikram-choudhury/ |title=Bikram Choudhury Battles for Control of the Hot Yoga Tradition he Invented |date=19 July 2012 |newspaper=] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120723131044/http://www.laweekly.com/2012-07-19/news/Bikram-yoga-greg-gumucio-bikram-choudhury/ |archive-date=23 July 2012}}</ref> Choudhury taught celebrities such as the pop singers ] and ], and the footballer ], and claimed to have taught yoga to American presidents ], ] and ].<ref name="Rushe Guardian 2013"/>

<!--===Copyright claims===
{{main|Copyright claims on Bikram Yoga}}
-->
From 2009, Choudhury claimed that the series of 26 postures of his ] practice, ], was under ] and could not be taught or presented by anyone whom he had not authorized.<ref name=Forbes>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.forbes.com/forbes/2009/0921/entrepreneurs-franchising-bikram-yoga-new-twists.html |title=Bikram Yoga's New Twists |last=Farrell |first=Maureen |date=3 September 2009 |magazine=]}}</ref> Choudhury began making ] in 2012. In 2011 Choudhury started a lawsuit against ], a competing yoga studio founded by a former student and with a location near one of the Bikram Yoga studios in ]. As a result of that lawsuit, the ] issued a clarification that yoga postures ('']'') could not be copyrighted, and that Yoga to the People and others could continue to teach the series.<ref>{{cite web |last=Brack |first=Kate |url=http://brooklynbased.com/blog/2013/04/19/the-fallout-from-a-downward-facing-dog-fight/ |title=The Fallout From A Downward-Facing Dog Fight |website=Brooklyn Based |date=13 April 2013}}</ref>

{{anchor|Sexual abuse}}

=== Sexual assault and harassment allegations===
{{further|Sexual abuse by yoga gurus}}
] in his own style]]

Choudhury has faced lawsuits alleging sexual harassment, assault, racism and homophobia.<ref name="The Guardian">{{cite news |last=Godwin |first=Richard |title='He said he could do what he wanted': the Scandal that Rocked Bikram Yoga |url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/feb/18/bikram-hot-yoga-scandal-choudhury-what-he-wanted |newspaper=] |date=18 February 2017}}</ref><ref name=newyorker>{{cite magazine |title=Yoga Reconsiders the Role of the Guru in the Age of #MeToo |last=Griswold |first=Eliza |magazine=] |date=23 July 2019 |url=https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/yoga-reconsiders-the-role-of-the-guru-in-the-age-of-metoo}}</ref> By January 2014, five women were suing Bikram Choudhury with allegations including sexual harassment and sexual assault.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Wallace |first=Benjamin |url=https://www.vanityfair.com/society/2014/01/bikram-choudhury-yoga-sexual-harassment |title=Is Yoga Guru Bikram Choudhury Sexually Assaulting His Students? |magazine=] |date=19 December 2013}}</ref> Two lawsuits accusing Bikram Choudhury of rape were filed in May 2013, with other counts of sexual battery, false imprisonment, discrimination, and harassment. One suit describes a cult-like atmosphere where members of Choudhury's inner circle help him find young women to assault.<ref>{{cite web |title=Rape Accusations Against Bikram Choudury |publisher=] |url=http://blogs.yogajournal.com/yogabuzz/2013/05/rape-accusations-against-birkram-choudury.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130608022324/http://blogs.yogajournal.com/yogabuzz/2013/05/rape-accusations-against-birkram-choudury.html |archive-date=8 June 2013 |date=8 June 2013}}</ref> Another suit claims that Choudhury recruits volunteers from overseas who are "so in fear of defendant Bikram Choudhury's wrath that they will travel to the US and risk violating immigration laws in order to serve him."<ref name="Rushe Guardian 2013">{{cite news |last=Rushe |first=Dominic |title=Yoga guru Bikram Choudhury accused of rape in two new lawsuits |newspaper=] |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/may/14/bikram-yoga-sexual-assault-lawsuit |date=14 May 2013}}</ref> In 2016, Choudhury was ordered to pay a $6.8 million judgment for similar charges.<ref>{{Cite news |title=California: $6.5. Million Judgment Against Founder of Bikram Yoga |last=Associated Press |author-link=Associated Press |date=26 January 2016 |newspaper=] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/27/us/california-dollar6-5-million-judgment-against-founder-of-bikram-yoga.html}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Grochowski |first=Sarah |date=Jan 21, 2023 |title=Controversial Bikram yoga founder's planned Vancouver workshops raising flags |url=https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/controversial-bikram-yoga-founders-planned-vancouver-workshops-raising-flags |website=Vancouver Sun}}</ref>

Minakshi Jafa-Bodden served as Head of Legal and International Affairs from Spring 2011 to March 13, 2013, when she was "abruptly and unlawfully terminated". During the two years that Jafa-Bodden worked closely with Choudhury, she was both the victim of and witness to Choudhury's "severe, ongoing, pervasive and offensive conduct" toward women, homosexuals, African Americans and other minorities. Bikram Yoga teacher Sarah Baughn filed a sexual harassment suit in March, just before Jafa-Bodden was fired.<ref>''Yoga Dork'' "Former Bikram Legal Advisor Files Extremely Disturbing Lawsuit over Sexual Harassment, Discrimination, Assault" http://yogadork.com/news/lawsuit-asana/bikrams-former-head-of-legal-files-extremely-disturbing-complaint-involving-sexual-harassment-discrimination/ {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130814071724/http://yogadork.com/news/lawsuit-asana/bikrams-former-head-of-legal-files-extremely-disturbing-complaint-involving-sexual-harassment-discrimination/ |date=2013-08-14 }}</ref> On January 25, 2016, a jury awarded Jafa-Bodden $924,500 against Choudhury in actual damages, finding that Choudhury acted with malice, oppression and fraud.<ref>{{cite news |title=Yoga guru Bikram Choudhury must pay $900,000 to former employee, jury decides |newspaper=] |date=25 January 2016 |url=https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-yoga-guru-bikram-choudhury-20160125-story.html}}</ref> On January 26, 2016, the jury awarded Jafa-Bodden an additional $6.4 million in punitive damages.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Ceasar<!--sic--> |first=Stephen |title=Yoga guru Bikram Choudhury must pay $6.4 million in punitive damages, jury decides |url=https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-bikram-yoga-lawsuit-20160126-story.html |newspaper=] |date=26 January 2016}}</ref>

===Life after leaving the United States===
{{further|Postural yoga in India}}

In May 2016, Choudhury returned to India, where he began opening yoga studios.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.mid-day.com/articles/disgraced-hot-yoga-guru-bikram-choudhury-winds-up-us-business-sets-shop-in-lonavla/17272159 | title=Disgraced hot yoga guru Bikram Choudhury winds up US business, sets shop in Lonavla | date=26 May 2016}}</ref> In October 2016, Choudhury's attorney stated that his client would not return to the United States to defend himself in person at the other pending court cases.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.law360.com/articles/856055/yoga-guru-won-t-return-to-us-for-deposition-atty-says |title=Yoga Guru Won't Return to US for Deposition, Atty Says - Law360}}</ref> In a late 2016 interview on '']'', Bikram responded to the accusations by asking, "Why would I have to harass women? People spend one million dollars for a drop of my sperm", and calling his accusers "trash" and "psychopaths".<ref name="HuffPoBikramResponse">{{cite news |last=Hatch |first=Jenavieve |title=Bikram Yoga Creator Loses It When Asked About Sexual Assault Allegations |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bikram-choudhury-loses-it-when-asked-about-sexual-assault-allegations_us_58139871e4b0390e69d0014a |work=] |date=28 October 2016}}</ref>

In May 2017, a Los Angeles judge issued a warrant for Choudhury's arrest, on the grounds that he had fled the country without paying any of the $7 million owed to Jafa-Bodden in compensation and ].<ref name="People_20170525">{{cite magazine |last=Harris |first=Chris |title=Arrest Warrant Issued after Hot Yoga Founder Allegedly Fled U.S. Without Paying $7M Lawsuit |url=http://people.com/crime/arrest-warrant-issued-hot-yoga-founder-bikram-choudhury/ |magazine=] |access-date=26 May 2017}}</ref> The '']'' reported that luxury vehicles and other items of Choudhury's had been moved out of state, and that a court order preventing him from moving any of his other possessions out of warehouses in Florida and Nevada had been issued.<ref name="NYDN_20170526">{{cite news |last=Bodner |first=Brett | title=Arrest warrant issued for yoga mogul Bikram Choudhury in California |url=http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/arrest-warrant-issued-yoga-mogul-bikram-choudury-article-1.3194681 |newspaper=] |date=26 May 2017}}</ref>

Despite Choudhury's departure in disgrace, people continued to attend his teacher trainings, such as in ] and ] in 2019. The yoga teacher ] called it "bizarre" that people would still take his trainings after all the rape allegations against him.<ref>{{cite news |last=Hatch |first=Jenavieve |title=Why Are You Still Doing Bikram Yoga? {{!}} While disgraced yoga guru Bikram Choudhury hides out in Mexico amid allegations of rape and harassment, women all over the world are still giving him their money |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/why-are-you-still-doing-bikram-yoga_uk_5d4fdcf5e4b0820e0af69b91 |newspaper=] |date=8 November 2019}}</ref>

After the broadcast of the Netflix 2019 documentary ''Bikram: Yogi, Guru, Predator'', multiple studios removed "Bikram Yoga" from their name and replaced it with the term "Hot Yoga" instead, while others chose to maintain it.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Settembre |first1=Jeanette |title=Netflix's 'Bikram' doc prompts hot yoga studios to spend thousands on re-branding |url=https://www.foxbusiness.com/money/netflixs-bikram-doc-prompts-hot-yoga-studios-to-spend-thousands-on-re-branding |access-date=14 December 2021 |work=] |date=6 December 2019}}</ref>

In January 2023, despite public outcry and the possibility of arrest, it was reported that Choudhury was planning to teach yoga and give lectures in ].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Schettler |first=Renee Marie |date=2023-02-03 |title=He Faced Allegations of Sexual Assault and Rape From Students for Years. Now Bikram Choudhury is "Back" Teaching in Canada. |url=https://www.yogajournal.com/lifestyle/bikram-choudhury-teaching-yoga/ |access-date=2023-08-03 |website=Yoga Journal |language=en-US}}</ref>

==Personal life==

In 1984, Choudhury married Rajashree Choudhury, who assisted him in founding the United States Yoga Federation and the International Yoga Sports Federation (IYSF).<ref name="Barr Indy 2019">{{cite news |last=Barr |first=Sabrina |title=Bikram Choudhury: Who is the yoga guru accused of rape and sexual abuse? |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/bikram-choudhury-yoga-rape-sexual-abuse-netflix-documentary-who-a9210771.html |work=] |date=20 November 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Founder of International Yoga Sports Federation |url=http://i.yogasportsfederation.org/rajashree-choudhury |publisher=IYSF |access-date=5 June 2012}}</ref> She won the first National Yoga Championship held by the Yoga Federation of India in 1979, followed by four more consecutive years as National Yoga Champion.<ref name="Hart 2016">{{cite news |last=Hart |first=Anna |title=How Bikram Choudhury's divorce is tearing the yoga world apart |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/life/how-bikram-choudhurys-divorce-is-tearing-the-yoga-world-apart/ |newspaper=] |date=5 January 2016 |quote='I met my husband when I was balancing my body on swords — one of the acts as part of the competition', said Rajashree, five-time winner of the All-India Yoga Championship between 1979 to 1983.}}</ref> In December 2015, after 31 years of marriage, Rajashree filed for divorce citing irreconcilable differences. The divorce was finalized in May 2016. Rajashree was awarded the houses in ] and Los Angeles, and some of his luxury cars, while he kept the apartment in ]. The settlement indemnified Rajashree from financial responsibility in Bikram's pending (or possible future) lawsuits.<ref name="Hart 2016"/><ref>{{Cite news |last=Staufenberg |first=Jess |title=Bikram Yoga founder's wife seeks divorce after rape allegations |newspaper=] |date=28 December 2015 |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/bikram-yoga-founders-wife-seeks-divorce-after-rape-allegations-a6788331.html}}</ref>


==Books== ==Books==
* ''Bikram's Beginning Yoga Class''
* ''Bikram Yoga: The Guru Behind Hot Yoga Shows the Way to Radiant Health and Personal Fulfillment''


* {{cite book |last1=Choudhury |first1=Bikram |last2=Reynolds |first2=Bonnie Jones |year=2000 |orig-year=1978 |title=Bikram's Beginning Yoga Class |edition=New |editor=J. Goldstein |publisher=] |isbn=978-0007154999 |url=https://archive.org/details/bikramsbeginning00chou<!--limited preview--> |ref=none}}
== References ==
* {{cite book |last=Choudhury |first=Bikram |title=Bikram Yoga: The Guru Behind Hot Yoga Shows the Way to Radiant Health and Personal Fulfillment |publisher=] |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-06-056808-5 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/bikramyogagurube00chou |ref=none}}
{{Reflist}}

==See also==

* ]

==References==

{{Reflist|30em}}


==External links== ==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
*
*
*
* , ''Salon'', April 2003.


{{Yoga as exercise}}
{{Modern yoga gurus}}

{{Authority control}}


{{Authority control|VIAF=33116601}}
{{Persondata
|NAME=Choudhury, Bikram
|ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
|SHORT DESCRIPTION=Yogi
|DATE OF BIRTH=February 10, 1946
|PLACE OF BIRTH=], ]
|DATE OF DEATH=living
|PLACE OF DEATH=none
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Choudhury, Bikram}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Choudhury, Bikram}}
] ]
] ]
] ]
] ]
] ]
] ]
]

]
]
<!--lived in India for some 27 years-->

Latest revision as of 00:10, 4 January 2025

Indian yoga teacher Bikram Yoga

Bikram Choudhury
At a book signing in New York in 2007
Born1944
Calcutta, British India
NationalityIndian, American
OccupationYoga
Known forFounder of Bikram Yoga
Spouse Rajashree Choudhury ​ ​(m. 1984; div. 2016)

Bikram Choudhury (born 1944) is an Indian-American yoga guru, and the founder of Bikram Yoga, a form of hot yoga consisting of a fixed series of 26 postures practised in a hot environment of 40 °C (104 °F). The business became a success in the United States and then across the Western world, with a variety of celebrity pupils. His former wife Rajashree Choudhury assisted him in the yoga business.

In 2009, he began a series of copyright claims to protect the series of postures of Bikram Yoga; this was ultimately unsuccessful, and other studios continue to teach the series.

Choudhury was the subject of civil suits alleging sexual assault and discrimination against racial and sexual minorities. In 2017, a court awarded $7 million to his former lawyer, Minakshi Jafa-Bodden, who gained control of his yoga business when Choudhury fled to India without paying her. Since then he has continued to train yoga teachers outside the United States in countries including Spain and Mexico.

Life and work

Early life

Bikram Choudhury was born in Calcutta, British India in 1944. He claimed to have begun studying yoga under Bishnu Charan Ghosh, and to have won the National India Yoga Championship for three consecutive years in his teens. However, the first ever Yoga competition in India took place in 1974, long after he had left the country. Recent evidence from interviews for the podcast series "30for30" on Choudhury (2018, ESPN) and from Jerome Armstrong's book, Calcutta Yoga, have proven his claim of winning the National India Yoga Championships to be false and also that he did not start his training under Ghosh at the age of 5 but rather in 1962 when he was 18. His initial focus was on bodybuilding and massage. A few years later, during 1969, Bikram completed in six months his training on Asanas under Ghosh and other senior teachers, but he did not get the chance to finish his training on Pranayama (breathing exercises), Bandha (bodily locks) or Dhyāna (focused meditation) before Ghosh died in 1970.

Choudhury developed a 26-posture series, by piecing together existing sequences from over 500 poses and variations created by Ghosh, and put it into his signature series which takes about ninety minutes to perform. The 104 °F (40 °C) heat in which Bikram Yoga is practiced is, according to Choudhury, meant to mimic the climate of India. Choudhury was closely associated with the United States's competitive yoga from its inception; the annual Bishnu Charan Ghosh Cup is named after his teacher.

Yoga in the United States

Further information: Bikram Yoga

In 1971, Choudhury emigrated to the United States and began to teach yoga. He opened his first studio in Los Angeles, teaching his own style of yoga. The author Brigid Delaney describes the atmosphere around him as "fawning": he was, she writes, treated reverentially, as if he were a guru, though he was a "braggart" openly boasting about the film stars he had taught and the money he had made. He was rude and insulting to students; in Netflix's 2019 documentary film, Bikram: Yogi, Guru, Predator directed by Eva Orner, he uses abusive language and jeers at overweight pupils. The critic Adrian Horton writes that the film "visually synthesizes decades of archival footage with first-person testimony and filmed court depositions into a devastating portrait of an abusive narcissist protected from consequences by his own inflated cult of personality, wealth and professional power within the niche world of hot yoga."

All the same, Bikram Yoga expanded rapidly across the United States. In the 1990s, he began offering nine-week teacher certification courses, training thousands of instructors. Bikram Yoga studios were founded in many countries around the world. Choudhury taught celebrities such as the pop singers Madonna and Lady Gaga, and the footballer David Beckham, and claimed to have taught yoga to American presidents Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton.

From 2009, Choudhury claimed that the series of 26 postures of his yoga practice, Bikram Yoga, was under copyright and could not be taught or presented by anyone whom he had not authorized. Choudhury began making copyright claims on Bikram Yoga in 2012. In 2011 Choudhury started a lawsuit against Yoga to the People, a competing yoga studio founded by a former student and with a location near one of the Bikram Yoga studios in New York City. As a result of that lawsuit, the United States Copyright Office issued a clarification that yoga postures (asanas) could not be copyrighted, and that Yoga to the People and others could continue to teach the series.

Sexual assault and harassment allegations

Further information: Sexual abuse by yoga gurus
Choudhury assisting a pupil in Paschimottanasana in his own style

Choudhury has faced lawsuits alleging sexual harassment, assault, racism and homophobia. By January 2014, five women were suing Bikram Choudhury with allegations including sexual harassment and sexual assault. Two lawsuits accusing Bikram Choudhury of rape were filed in May 2013, with other counts of sexual battery, false imprisonment, discrimination, and harassment. One suit describes a cult-like atmosphere where members of Choudhury's inner circle help him find young women to assault. Another suit claims that Choudhury recruits volunteers from overseas who are "so in fear of defendant Bikram Choudhury's wrath that they will travel to the US and risk violating immigration laws in order to serve him." In 2016, Choudhury was ordered to pay a $6.8 million judgment for similar charges.

Minakshi Jafa-Bodden served as Head of Legal and International Affairs from Spring 2011 to March 13, 2013, when she was "abruptly and unlawfully terminated". During the two years that Jafa-Bodden worked closely with Choudhury, she was both the victim of and witness to Choudhury's "severe, ongoing, pervasive and offensive conduct" toward women, homosexuals, African Americans and other minorities. Bikram Yoga teacher Sarah Baughn filed a sexual harassment suit in March, just before Jafa-Bodden was fired. On January 25, 2016, a jury awarded Jafa-Bodden $924,500 against Choudhury in actual damages, finding that Choudhury acted with malice, oppression and fraud. On January 26, 2016, the jury awarded Jafa-Bodden an additional $6.4 million in punitive damages.

Life after leaving the United States

Further information: Postural yoga in India

In May 2016, Choudhury returned to India, where he began opening yoga studios. In October 2016, Choudhury's attorney stated that his client would not return to the United States to defend himself in person at the other pending court cases. In a late 2016 interview on Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, Bikram responded to the accusations by asking, "Why would I have to harass women? People spend one million dollars for a drop of my sperm", and calling his accusers "trash" and "psychopaths".

In May 2017, a Los Angeles judge issued a warrant for Choudhury's arrest, on the grounds that he had fled the country without paying any of the $7 million owed to Jafa-Bodden in compensation and punitive damages. The New York Daily News reported that luxury vehicles and other items of Choudhury's had been moved out of state, and that a court order preventing him from moving any of his other possessions out of warehouses in Florida and Nevada had been issued.

Despite Choudhury's departure in disgrace, people continued to attend his teacher trainings, such as in Murcia, Spain and Acapulco, Mexico in 2019. The yoga teacher Jessamyn Stanley called it "bizarre" that people would still take his trainings after all the rape allegations against him.

After the broadcast of the Netflix 2019 documentary Bikram: Yogi, Guru, Predator, multiple studios removed "Bikram Yoga" from their name and replaced it with the term "Hot Yoga" instead, while others chose to maintain it.

In January 2023, despite public outcry and the possibility of arrest, it was reported that Choudhury was planning to teach yoga and give lectures in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Personal life

In 1984, Choudhury married Rajashree Choudhury, who assisted him in founding the United States Yoga Federation and the International Yoga Sports Federation (IYSF). She won the first National Yoga Championship held by the Yoga Federation of India in 1979, followed by four more consecutive years as National Yoga Champion. In December 2015, after 31 years of marriage, Rajashree filed for divorce citing irreconcilable differences. The divorce was finalized in May 2016. Rajashree was awarded the houses in Beverly Hills and Los Angeles, and some of his luxury cars, while he kept the apartment in Hawaii. The settlement indemnified Rajashree from financial responsibility in Bikram's pending (or possible future) lawsuits.

Books

See also

References

  1. ^ Horton, Adrian (20 November 2019). "'He got away with it': how the founder of Bikram yoga built an empire on abuse". The Guardian.
  2. Newcombe, Suzanne (2017). "The Revival of Yoga in Contemporary India" (PDF). Religion. 1. Oxford Research Encyclopedias. doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.013.253. ISBN 9780199340378.
  3. Despres, Loraine (5 April 2017) . "Yoga's Bad Boy: Bikram Choudhury". Yoga Journal. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
  4. ^ Schickel, Erica (25 September 2003). "Body Work". L.A. Weekly.
  5. Henderson, Julia L. (2018). Bikram. 30for30, season 3, episodes 4&5. ESPN.
  6. Armstrong, Jerome (2018). Calcutta Yoga : Buddha Bose & the yoga family of Bishnu Ghosh and Yogananda. Webstrong. ISBN 978-0692116715.
  7. Armstrong, Jerome (9 January 2020). Calcutta Yoga. Pan Macmillan. p. 320. ISBN 978-1-5290-4811-7.
  8. Pollack, Neal (17 February 2009). "Top Yogi". Slate.
  9. Joshua Kurlantzick (March–April 2005). "The Money Pose". Mother Jones.
  10. ^ Delaney, Brigid (2 December 2019). "He made a fortune from his trademarked Bikram yoga, but now his empire is in tatters". The Guardian.
  11. Moss, Rebecca (19 July 2012). "Bikram Choudhury Battles for Control of the Hot Yoga Tradition he Invented". LA Weekly. Archived from the original on 23 July 2012.
  12. ^ Rushe, Dominic (14 May 2013). "Yoga guru Bikram Choudhury accused of rape in two new lawsuits". The Guardian.
  13. Farrell, Maureen (3 September 2009). "Bikram Yoga's New Twists". Forbes.
  14. Brack, Kate (13 April 2013). "The Fallout From A Downward-Facing Dog Fight". Brooklyn Based.
  15. Godwin, Richard (18 February 2017). "'He said he could do what he wanted': the Scandal that Rocked Bikram Yoga". The Guardian.
  16. Griswold, Eliza (23 July 2019). "Yoga Reconsiders the Role of the Guru in the Age of #MeToo". The New Yorker.
  17. Wallace, Benjamin (19 December 2013). "Is Yoga Guru Bikram Choudhury Sexually Assaulting His Students?". Vanity Fair.
  18. "Rape Accusations Against Bikram Choudury". Yoga Journal. 8 June 2013. Archived from the original on 8 June 2013.
  19. Associated Press (26 January 2016). "California: $6.5. Million Judgment Against Founder of Bikram Yoga". The New York Times.
  20. Grochowski, Sarah (Jan 21, 2023). "Controversial Bikram yoga founder's planned Vancouver workshops raising flags". Vancouver Sun.
  21. Yoga Dork "Former Bikram Legal Advisor Files Extremely Disturbing Lawsuit over Sexual Harassment, Discrimination, Assault" http://yogadork.com/news/lawsuit-asana/bikrams-former-head-of-legal-files-extremely-disturbing-complaint-involving-sexual-harassment-discrimination/ Archived 2013-08-14 at the Wayback Machine
  22. "Yoga guru Bikram Choudhury must pay $900,000 to former employee, jury decides". Los Angeles Times. 25 January 2016.
  23. Ceasar, Stephen (26 January 2016). "Yoga guru Bikram Choudhury must pay $6.4 million in punitive damages, jury decides". Los Angeles Times.
  24. "Disgraced hot yoga guru Bikram Choudhury winds up US business, sets shop in Lonavla". 26 May 2016.
  25. "Yoga Guru Won't Return to US for Deposition, Atty Says - Law360".
  26. Hatch, Jenavieve (28 October 2016). "Bikram Yoga Creator Loses It When Asked About Sexual Assault Allegations". Huffington Post.
  27. Harris, Chris. "Arrest Warrant Issued after Hot Yoga Founder Allegedly Fled U.S. Without Paying $7M Lawsuit". People Magazine. Retrieved 26 May 2017.
  28. Bodner, Brett (26 May 2017). "Arrest warrant issued for yoga mogul Bikram Choudhury in California". New York Daily News.
  29. Hatch, Jenavieve (8 November 2019). "Why Are You Still Doing Bikram Yoga? | While disgraced yoga guru Bikram Choudhury hides out in Mexico amid allegations of rape and harassment, women all over the world are still giving him their money". Huffington Post.
  30. Settembre, Jeanette (6 December 2019). "Netflix's 'Bikram' doc prompts hot yoga studios to spend thousands on re-branding". Fox Business. Retrieved 14 December 2021.
  31. Schettler, Renee Marie (2023-02-03). "He Faced Allegations of Sexual Assault and Rape From Students for Years. Now Bikram Choudhury is "Back" Teaching in Canada". Yoga Journal. Retrieved 2023-08-03.
  32. Barr, Sabrina (20 November 2019). "Bikram Choudhury: Who is the yoga guru accused of rape and sexual abuse?". The Independent.
  33. "Founder of International Yoga Sports Federation". IYSF. Retrieved 5 June 2012.
  34. ^ Hart, Anna (5 January 2016). "How Bikram Choudhury's divorce is tearing the yoga world apart". The Daily Telegraph. 'I met my husband when I was balancing my body on swords — one of the acts as part of the competition', said Rajashree, five-time winner of the All-India Yoga Championship between 1979 to 1983.
  35. Staufenberg, Jess (28 December 2015). "Bikram Yoga founder's wife seeks divorce after rape allegations". The Independent.

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