Disgraced hot yoga guru winds up US business, sets shop in Lonavla

Bad publicity continues to dog hot yoga guru Bikram Choudhury who was in the news early this year when he paid 75 million as punitive damages to his former lawyer who accused him of sexual harassment As a string of harassment and rape lawsuits began to sink his yoga empire in the US the 69yearold packed his bags and moved to India this month making Lonavlarsquos Aamby Valley his basemiddayrsquos January 28 interview with Mandeep Sandhu whose testimony nailed the yoga guruMeenakshi JaffaBodden the woman who won the lawsuit against Choudhury in January wrote back to midday ldquoBikram closed his international headquarters and flagship studio in Los Angeles following the verdict in the case and has moved his teacher training to a resort in India at Aamby Valley In the US we understand his teacher training numbers are significantly down with less than 50 paid attendeesrdquoBikram Choudhury has already begun a yoga training session at his new base at Aamby Valley File picWhen this reporter contacted Choudhuryrsquos niece Manali who also works in his organisation she refused to comment on whether he had made the move due to bad publicity from the reported sexual harassment cases She merely said that Choudhury was out of the countrySettled in AambyChoudhury has already set the ball rolling with two yearly teacherrsquos training courses at the Lonavla resort township Each of the courses will last 63 days and the first one is already underwayConfirming the news Amresh Sahay from the sales department at Aamby Valley City said ldquoWe have created a 15000 sqft closed space which can accommodate 500 people where he conducts his sessions at a temperature of 42 degrees Celsius The first one started on May 1 and will end on July 3rdquoSahay added that Choudhury is also planning to set up a wellness centre at the luxury township ldquoIt will offer packages with 34 nights and 67 nights for people who want to rejuvenate lose weight and improve their healthrdquoNext stop MumbaiThe yoga teacherrsquos next step is to open a centre in Mumbai as well It was a Mumbaibased student Mandeep Sandhu who had nailed the yoga guru in the sexual harassment lawsuit with her testimony about her own horrific experience with him Now the 30yearold has her own practice in Andheri West but does not feel threatened by his plansldquoIt is a yoga gurursquos responsibility to maintain a pure and peaceful relationship with his students When I went for his teacherrsquos training in Las Vegas in 2009 I already had a degree in yoga I joined him to improve my knowledge Those teachers in the city who only teach his signature 26 poses might be affected I have nothing to fear as I combine power ashtanga and pranayam in my own style of hot yogardquo said SandhuNeither are other hot yoga instructors threatened by the return of the big daddy of yogaAccording to 27yearold Swati Swati Semwal yoga doesnrsquot end at the concentrated series of the 26 poses that Choudhury has designed ldquoSure he made it technical and fashionable in a way that was palatable to the West but there is much more to it I am from Rishikesh where yoga was born We have designed a Nuage hot yoga that bases its roots on the science of chakras and pranasrdquo said Semwal who runs a studio at DN Nagar Andheri West along with her 40yearold partner Bansoor Baluch a former Bikram Yoga studentOverheard in the courtroomCalfornia With Minakshi JafaBodden case closed Bikram has at least five others pending On May 5 a Superior Court Judge Ruth A Kwan ordered the yoga guru to show up for a deposition over claims he raped a former teacher trainee The judge was visibly agitated after Choudhuryrsquos lawyer Linda Hurvitz said the yoga guru was presently ldquoconsumedrdquo with a nineweek yoga teacher training in India The judge said Choudhury canrsquot testify by video just because hersquos conducting trainings in India75 mnThe amount Choudhury paid as damages to his former lawyer in a sexual harassment case