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Bikram Choudhury to Pay for Sexual Harassment Against Lawyer

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By Amanda Griffin

Posted on January 27, 2016

Summary: The founder of the popular Bikram yoga is facing several sexual assault lawsuits. In one, he has been ordered to pay over $900,000 to a lawyer he fired for investigating the claims.

A lawyer hired to investigate allegations of sexual harassment by the founder of a hot yoga method will be paid $924,500 after being fired for doing her job. Bikram Choudhury has been ordered to pay attorney Minakshi Jafa-Bodden in compensatory damages.

The founder of the popular hot yoga method was found by a Los Angeles jury to have subjected Jafa-Bodden to harassment and retaliation. She may be awarded punitive damages as well.

Choudhury sexually harassed Jafa-Bodden by touching her inappropriately and trying to persuade her to stay with him in a hotel suite. She was then fired in 2013 when she started investigating claims by other women of sexual assault.

Bikram yoga, a rigorous 90-minute routine to be performed in a room at 100 degrees or so is taught at over 650 studios across the world. There is a group of devoted followers to the style of yoga founded by Choudhury.

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Choudhury has been facing a slew of bad news lately. In October he was denied the ability to copyright the sequence of 26 poses and two breathing exercises by an appeals court. The 9^th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals stated that since his hot yoga is for improving health, it is not covered by copyright laws.

He is also being sued by six women that claim he sexually assaulted them. One of the lawsuits alleges that he raped a woman that used $10,000 from her college funds to cover the cost of a nine-week teaching class so she could become a teacher of Bikram yoga.