Bikram Choudhury: Who is the yoga guru accused of rape and sexual abuse?

Netflix releases documentary titled: ‘Bikram: Yogi, Guru, Predator’

Anyone who regularly partakes in yoga will likely be familiar with Bikram yoga, a form of the exercise that is practised in a 40C, humid room for 90 minutes and consists of a 26-posture sequence and two breathing exercises.

However, not all will be familiar with the controversial, scandal-ridden man who founded it.

Bikram Choudhury, after whom the exercise takes its name, popularised his style of yoga in the 1970s after emigrating from India to the US, and opening yoga studios in California and Hawaii.

Through his work, he developed a dedicated following of yoga enthusiasts, resulting in him acquiring fame and renown in the world of fitness.

In the past few years, several women who were under Choudhury’s tutelage have made allegations against him of sexual assault and rape, which have been explored in the new Netflix documentary Bikram: Yogi, Guru, Predator.

Released on the streaming platform today, the illuminating film has been directed by Academy Award-winning film director Eva Orner.

Those featured in the documentary, who personally learnt from him, highlight the contradiction of his character; how he was able to inspire them while simultaneously creating a toxic culture of control.

“Bikram was so good at getting inside of our brains,” one interviewee says in the film.

“I’d seen flashes of megalomania, but I didn’t know how diabolical he actually was,” another states.

The first of the lawsuits filed against Choudhury came to light in 2013, when he was accused of rape and creating an intimidating atmosphere in his classes akin to a cult.

By January the following year, five women sued the yoga instructor on charges including sexual harassment and rape.

Minakshi “Micki” Jaffa-Bodden, who served as head of legal and international affairs at Choudhury’s yoga school from 2011 to 2013, filed a lawsuit against Choudhury in 2013 after she said she was “abruptly and unlawfully terminated” from her position.

“Bikram Choudhury created a hyper-sexualised, offensive and degrading environment for women by, among other things, demanding that female staffers brush his hair and give him massages,” Ms Jafa-Bodden stated in her 2013 lawsuit.

Two years after the first lawsuit was filed against Choudhury, his wife of more than three decades, United States Yoga Federation founder Rajashree Choudhury, filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences.

In May 2016, Choudhury fled to India without paying any of the $7m (£5.42m) owed to Ms Jafa-Bodden.

He continued to open yoga studios in India, in addition to advertising training camps for budding yoga instructors that cost around £10,000.

“That’s so concerning for us,” Ms Jafa-Bodden said in February 2017. “Innocent and impressionable young trainees might be going to these camps in jurisdictions where there may not be as many protections.”

Choudhury, who was born in Kolkata, India in 1944, has not faced any criminal charges.

Last year, reporter and regular Bikram yoga practitioner Julia Lowrie Henderson produced a five-part podcast series about the “complicated world of Bikram yoga”.

The form of hot yoga has previously boasted celebrity fans including David Beckham, Jennifer Aniston and Kate Hudson.

You can contact the Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Centre helpline by calling 0808 802 9999. The helpline is open daily from 12pm to 2.30pm and from 7pm to 9.30pm.