TORONTO – A Vancouver woman has filed a lawsuit against famed yoga guru Bikram Choudhury, alleging he sexually assaulted her in 2010 during a training course in Las Vegas.
According to the lawsuit filed in California Superior Court on Feb. 13, Jill Lawler alleges she was “preyed” upon by Choudhury, 69, and that she was “repeatedly sexually assaulted, raped and harassed” while attending a nine-week intensive yoga instructor training course that cost her $10,000.
Choudhury is the famed guru behind Bikram yoga, a style combining 26 yoga postures performed in a sweltering room heated to 40 C. The popular style quickly spread around the world with more than 650 studios bearing his name. He runs Bikram’s Yoga College of India and has developed a following of millions worldwide, including celebrities like Beyonce and Madonna.
Lawler has become the sixth person to file a lawsuit against Choudhury claiming rape or assault.
In the lawsuit, Lawler outlines disturbing details about her time studying under Choudhury that began when she was 18, after personally writing to the famed yoga instructor to allow her into the training program despite not meeting the required age of 21.
The lawsuit alleges the unwanted sexual advances began when she was ordered to massage Choudhury’s feet during mandatory viewings of Bollywood movies until 3 a.m. most nights.
“Jill was still required to massage Choudhury’s feet, night after night, for three hours at a stretch until her hands cramped and her fingers blistered,” the suit alleged. At one point Choudhury put his hand on her thigh and then attempted to put his hand inside her pants before she quickly stood up and left the room in shock, it said.
The sexual advances escalated over the duration of the training course when Lawler says she was forced to accompany Choudhury to a hotel room where she claims he raped her.
“After a short time, Defendant Bikram Choudhury climaxed and stopped sexually assaulting her. He callously demanded that she go ‘clean up’ in his bathroom, and after she had, he asked what time her class was,” the lawsuit said.
Lawler alleged Choudhury assaulted her again on other occasions over the coming years while she was working at his studios, including at his home in Los Angeles, at a separate training course, and while on a training trip in India.
She says she felt threatened by Choudhury if she did “not comply with his physical and sexual abuse.”
“Defendant Bikram Choudhury made repeated statements to the effect that he knew ‘all of the police’ and many other powerful people, he warned students, including Plaintiff, not to ‘f*** with him,’ and frequently stated that ‘people who don’t listen to me, they die,’” the lawsuit said.
A statement to Global News issued by Choudhury’s lawyers said that “Mr. Choudhury did not sexually assault any of these women.”
“Mr. Choudhury and the Yoga College are disappointed that these women have made lurid accusations apparently to exploit the legal system for financial gain,” the statement read. “Their claims are false, needlessly bring shame upon the Yoga Community, and dishonor the health and spiritual benefits that Bikram Yoga has brought to the lives of millions of practitioners throughout the world.”
Lawyer Mary Shea Hagebols, who is also representing Lawler along with five other women in lawsuits against Choudhury, said Lawler was not doing interviews at this time and that her client is suing for undisclosed damages, including lost wages, mental pain and anguish and emotional distress, plus punitive damages.
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