Sexual abuse by yoga gurus is the exploitation of the position of trust occupied by a master of any branch of
yoga
Yoga (; sa, योग, lit=yoke' or 'union ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India and aim to control (yoke) and still the mind, recognizing a detached witness-consci ...
for personal sexual pleasure. Allegations of such
abuse have been made against
modern yoga gurus such as
Bikram Choudhury,
Kausthub Desikachar,
Amrit Desai,
and
K. Pattabhi Jois.
There have been some
criminal conviction
In law, a conviction is the verdict reached by a court of law finding a defendant Guilty (law), guilty of a crime. The opposite of a conviction is an acquittal (that is, "not guilty"). In Scotland, there can also be a verdict of "not proven", w ...
s and lawsuits for
civil damages
At common law, damages are a remedy in the form of a monetary award to be paid to a claimant as compensation for loss or injury. To warrant the award, the claimant must show that a breach of duty has caused foreseeable loss. To be recognised at ...
.
Multiple allegations
The ''
Indian Express
''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932. It is published in Mumbai by the Indian Express Group. In 1999, eight years after the group's founder Ramnath Goenka's death in 1991, the group was split be ...
'', listing allegations of
sexual abuse
Sexual abuse or sex abuse, also referred to as molestation, is abusive sexual behavior by one person upon another. It is often perpetrated using force or by taking advantage of another. Molestation often refers to an instance of sexual assa ...
against multiple yoga
guru
Guru ( sa, गुरु, IAST: ''guru;'' Pali'': garu'') is a Sanskrit term for a "mentor, guide, expert, or master" of certain knowledge or field. In pan-Indian traditions, a guru is more than a teacher: traditionally, the guru is a reverential ...
s (
Bikram Choudhury, creator of
Bikram Yoga
Bikram Yoga is a system of hot yoga, a type of yoga as exercise, devised by Bikram Choudhury and based on the teachings of B. C. Ghosh, that became popular in the early 1970s. Classes consist of a fixed sequence of 26 postures, practised in a ro ...
;
Kausthub Desikachar, grandson of the "father of modern yoga"
Krishnamacharya; and
Swami Satchidananda
Satchidananda Saraswati (; 22 December 1914 – 19 August 2002), born C. K. Ramaswamy Gounder and usually known as Swami Satchidananda, was an Indian yoga guru
Modern yoga gurus are people widely acknowledged to be gurus of modern yoga in a ...
), noted that several other gurus had been similarly accused, but released "without a befitting punishment".
Other sources listed those same gurus, and named others including
John Friend,
Satya Sai Baba
Sathya Sai Baba (born Ratnakaram Sathyanarayana Raju; 23 November 192624 April 2011) was an Indian guru. At the age of fourteen he claimed that he was the reincarnation of Shirdi Sai Baba, and left his home to serve his devotees.
Sai Baba's b ...
;
Amrit Desai, creator of
Kripalu Yoga;
Muktananda
Swami Muktananda Paramahamsa (16 May 1908 – 2 October 1982), born Krishna Rai, was a yoga guru, the founder of Siddha Yoga. He was a disciple of Bhagavan Nityananda. He wrote books on the subjects of Kundalini Shakti, Vedanta, and Kashm ...
, founder of
Siddha Yoga
Siddha Yoga is a spiritual path founded by Swami Muktananda (1908–1982). The organization states in its literature that the Siddha Yoga tradition is "based mainly on eastern philosophies". It also states that it "draws many of its teachings f ...
;
Swami Shyam, a Vedic meditation guru;
Swami Rama, founder of the
Himalayan Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy
The Himalayan Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy is an international non-profit organization, which promotes yoga and holistic health through yoga retreats, residential programs, health products and services, media publications including ''Yo ...
; and
Swami Akhandananda
Swami Akhandananda (1864–1937) was a swami and direct disciple of Sri Ramakrishna, a 19th-century mystic. He was the third president of the Ramakrishna Mission.
Early life
Initial Years
Akhandananda was born as Gangadhar Ghatak (Gang ...
at one of
Swami Satyananda
Satyananda Saraswati (25 December 1923 – 5 December 2009), was a Sanyasi, yoga teacher and guru in both his native India and the West. He was a student of Sivananda Saraswati, the founder of the Divine Life Society, and founded the Bihar Sc ...
's ashrams,
noting "the deafening silence in the US yoga community
bout sexual abuse by yoga gurusand widespread failure to acknowledge these allegations."
''
The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally.
It was f ...
'', reporting on the Australian
, stated that Swami Satyananda "engaged in 'aggressive, violent sex' with numerous women and may have raped a seven-year-old" child, although no finding was made against Satyananda in the Commission's final report.
Shankarananda was reported to have had "tantric" sex with some 40 of his yoga school pupils. ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' records that John Battista, an
Agni Yoga
Agni Yoga (russian: А́гни Йо́га) or the Living Ethics (russian: links=no, Жива́я Э́тика), or the Teaching of Life (russian: links=no, Уче́ние Жи́зни), is a Neo-Theosophical religious doctrine transmitted by ...
guru in New York State, was charged with sexually abusing four of his female followers in 1993.
Harbhajan Singh Khalsa (Yogi Bhajan) has been posthumously accused of sexual misconduct; an investigation found the allegations "more likely than not" to be true. The
Sivananda Yoga organisation has investigated allegations of abuse and rape made against its former leader
Vishnudevananda. In 2002, several students of the yoga teacher
Rodney Yee
Rodney Yee is an American yoga instructor who rose to national prominence in the mid-1990s when he was featured on the cover of ''Yoga Journal'' magazine and later starred in a series of Gaiam/Living Arts yoga instructional videos and DVDs. Yee h ...
stated that they had been having sexual relations with Yee for some time;
Yee was sued for breach of contract, the claim alleging multiple sexual affairs with his students.
In 2018 ''Swami Vivekananda Saraswati'', a
Romanian
Romanian may refer to:
*anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania
**Romanians, an ethnic group
**Romanian language, a Romance language
*** Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language
** Romanian cuisine, tradition ...
yoga instructor, born as
Narcis Tarcau, who is the founder and leader of the Agama Yoga center on the island of
Koh Pha Ngan in
Thaliand was accused by at least 14 yoga students of sexual assault and rape.
''
Yoga Journal
''Yoga Journal'' is a website and digital journal, formerly a print magazine, on yoga as exercise founded in California in 1975 with the goal of combining the essence of traditional yoga with scientific understanding. It has produced live events ...
'' accused
K. Pattabhi Jois, founder of
Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga, of making different adjustments of yoga postures for his female students than for men.
''YogaDork'' stated that Jois touched women inappropriately, as did ''Yoga Journal'',
''
The Walrus
''The Walrus'' is an independent, non-profit Canadian media organization. It is multi-platform and produces an 8-issue-per-year magazine and online editorial content that includes current affairs, fiction, poetry, and podcasts, a national s ...
'' magazine, and ''YogaCity NYC''.
Yoga to the People Yoga to the People was a chain of United States-based yoga studios that offered free or donation-funded modern yoga classes to any kind of student, including casual practitioners.
Services
Yoga to the People had a business model that tried to provi ...
, an American chain of yoga studios, was closed in 2020 following "hundreds" of accusations of abuse.
There have been some
criminal conviction
In law, a conviction is the verdict reached by a court of law finding a defendant Guilty (law), guilty of a crime. The opposite of a conviction is an acquittal (that is, "not guilty"). In Scotland, there can also be a verdict of "not proven", w ...
s and lawsuits for
civil damages
At common law, damages are a remedy in the form of a monetary award to be paid to a claimant as compensation for loss or injury. To warrant the award, the claimant must show that a breach of duty has caused foreseeable loss. To be recognised at ...
. For example, a guru,
Asaram Bapu
Asumal Sirumalani Harpalani (born 17 April 1941), known by devotees as Asaram Bapu, is an Indian religious leader and convicted rapist, who started to come into the limelight in the early 1970s. By 2013, he was estimated to have established ov ...
, who has some 400
ashram
An ashram ( sa, आश्रम, ) is a spiritual hermitage or a monastery
A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or a ...
s around the world, was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2018 for rape by a court in
Jodhpur
Jodhpur (; ) is the second-largest city in the Indian state of Rajasthan and officially the second metropolitan city of the state. It was formerly the seat of the princely state of Jodhpur State. Jodhpur was historically the capital of the Ki ...
,
and at least six women have brought sexual assault lawsuits against Choudhury. In 2016 he was ordered to pay Minakshi Jafa-Bodden over $900,000 for sexual harassment and her dismissal from the ashram.
Debate over causes
The changing role of the guru
Yoga as exercise
Yoga as exercise is a physical activity consisting mainly of postures, often connected by flowing sequences, sometimes accompanied by breathing exercises, and frequently ending with relaxation lying down or meditation. Yoga in this form has ...
was created by the blending of Western styles of
gymnastics
Gymnastics is a type of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, dedication and endurance. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, shou ...
with postures from
Haṭha yoga
Haṭha yoga is a branch of yoga which uses physical techniques to try to preserve and channel the vital force or energy. The Sanskrit word हठ ''haṭha'' literally means "force", alluding to a system of physical techniques. Some haṭha ...
in India in the 20th century, influenced by the popular
physical culture
Physical culture, also known as Body culture, is a health and strength training movement that originated during the 19th century in Germany, the UK and the US.
Origins
The physical culture movement in the United States during the 19th century ...
of the time. Before then,
hatha yoga
Haṭha yoga is a branch of yoga which uses physical techniques to try to preserve and channel the vital force or energy. The Sanskrit word हठ ''haṭha'' literally means "force", alluding to a system of physical techniques. Some haṭha ...
had been practised in secret by solitary, ascetic yogins, learning the tradition as a long-term pupil or
shishya apprenticed to their master or guru.
The scholars of modern yoga
Mark Singleton and Ellen Goldberg comment that the
globalisation
Globalization, or globalisation (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is the process of interaction and integration among people, companies, and governments worldwide. The term ''globalization'' first appeared in the early 20t ...
of yoga has radically changed the nature and role of the guru. The medieval relationship between guru and shishya was one-to-one, well-understood in traditional Hindu society, based on trust developed over many years of instruction. The modern situation may bring
modern yoga gurus such as celebrity yoga teachers into close contact with strangers, anywhere in the world, in "milieus where the religious affiliations, function, status, and role of the guru may not be well understood" and accordingly, the old restraints are no longer in place.
They note that the western world is distrustful of the guru system, not least because of the many guru scandals concerning money, sex, and power. Modern western political and social beliefs, such as
egalitarianism
Egalitarianism (), or equalitarianism, is a school of thought within political philosophy that builds from the concept of social equality, prioritizing it for all people. Egalitarian doctrines are generally characterized by the idea that all hu ...
and the
individualisation of the religious (finding "one's own truth") that they call "spiritual empiricism", also militate against respecting gurus, or indeed having one at all; the prevailing attitude is, they suggest, summed up in the title of the psychiatrist
Anthony Storr
Anthony Storr (18 May 1920 – 17 March 2001) was an English psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, and author.
Background and education
Born in London, Storr was educated at Winchester College, Christ's College, Cambridge, and Westminster Hospital. H ...
's 1997 study of gurus, ''Feet of Clay''. In India, too, the great wealth of some celebrity gurus has attracted suspicion, just as in the West.
Social mechanisms
The researcher Amanda Lucia, writing in the ''Journal of the
American Academy of Religion
The American Academy of Religion (AAR) is the world's largest association of scholarly method, scholars in the List of academic disciplines, field of religious studies and related topics. It is a nonprofit member association,
serving as a profes ...
'', analyses how the pupil's desire to be close to the guru and to "sacralize" bodily contact with the guru, along with authoritarian relationships between guru and pupils, facilitate sexual abuse by creating suitable social situations. She argues that instead of seeking causes in the personality or psychology of individual gurus, the root cause is "structural aspects of
guru-disciple physicality, haptic logics, which tend to produce these social effects."
Lucia notes that one element of this is the guru's
charisma
Charisma () is a personal quality of presence or charm that compels its subjects.
Scholars in sociology, political science, psychology, and management reserve the term for a type of leadership seen as extraordinary; in these fields, the term "ch ...
as described by
Max Weber
Maximilian Karl Emil Weber (; ; 21 April 186414 June 1920) was a German sociologist, historian, jurist and political economist, who is regarded as among the most important theorists of the development of modern Western society. His ideas profo ...
, reinforced by
Émile Durkheim
David Émile Durkheim ( or ; 15 April 1858 – 15 November 1917) was a French sociologist. Durkheim formally established the academic discipline of sociology and is commonly cited as one of the principal architects of modern social science, al ...
's concept of the way that the
sacred
Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspires awe or reverence among believers. The property is often ascribed to objects (a ...
is "generated, concentrated, and apotheosized."
She observes further that the spiritual power of gurus is created by belief among their devotees that they embody "cosmic energetic forces", personified in Hinduism as the goddess
Shakti
In Hinduism, especially Shaktism (a theological tradition of Hinduism), Shakti (Devanagari: शक्ति, IAST: Śakti; lit. "Energy, ability, strength, effort, power, capability") is the primordial cosmic energy, female in aspect, and rep ...
.
She quotes Tulasi Srinivas on how devotees physically longed for proximity to the guru
Sai Baba Sai Baba or Saibaba ( hi, साईं , "Swami", and , " Baba") is an honorific term for ascetics in India. It may refer in particular to:
People
* Sai Baba of Shirdi (–1918), Indian guru
* Sathya Sai Baba (1926–2011), born Sathya Narayana Ra ...
, experiencing the sight of him in
darshan as "like receiving an electric charge",
and observes that "In modern global Hinduism, guru sex scandals have become so ubiquitous that they have become the foremost representation of the guru, certainly in the popular media", giving a long list of well-known gurus in the 2010s, and another list of those of an earlier generation in the 20th century.
The yoga scholar
Andrea Jain
Andrea is a given name which is common worldwide for both males and females, cognate to Andreas, Andrey, Andrej and Andrew.
Origin of the name
The name derives from the Greek language, Greek word ἀνήρ (''anēr''), genitive ἀνδρός ...
cites what Joel Kramer and Diana Alstad wrote in their 1994 book ''The Guru Papers'', that the guru-disciple relationship is dangerous because it embodies "the seductions, predictable patterns, and corruptions contained in any essentially authoritarian form".
Jain however suggests that "surrender to a guru and his or her spiritual wares is not necessarily quantitatively or qualitatively different than surrender to a brand",
both being linked to a person such as a guru, business leader, or "simply a celebrity".
The yoga teacher
Matthew Remski Matthew S. Remski (born 1971) is a Yoga as exercise, yoga practitioner and author who has written on the connection between yoga and conspiracy theories. His work has been informed by his past experience as a cult member. Remski was instrumental in ...
, who has written a book on the abuse and cult dynamics in Jois's Ashtanga yoga,
suggests in an interview with the
Mindful Yoga teacher
Cyndi Lee that the
modern guru-follower relationship lacks the checks and balances of traditional systems: a yoga master in a local monastery has a reputation, as he and his family are known personally. Further, he suggests, westerners attracted by an Indian wisdom tradition have no effective tools to use to judge whether a supposed guru is competent, as the whole tradition is unfamiliar to them.
The psychotherapist Josna Pankhania and the yoga teacher and researcher Jacqueline Hargreaves write that "shocking levels of abuse were deeply entrenched" in Satyananda's Mangrove Mountain ashram in Australia in the 1970s. In their view, this was protected by a "
culture of silence
A conspiracy of silence, or culture of silence, describes the behavior of a group of people of some size, as large as an entire national group or profession or as small as a group of colleagues, that by unspoken consensus does not mention, discuss ...
and denial
hich
Ij ( fa, ايج, also Romanized as Īj; also known as Hich and Īch) is a village in Golabar Rural District, in the Central District of Ijrud County, Zanjan Province, Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also ...
prevails at the highest level of the Satyananda Yoga community".
Policy
Sexual misconduct
The
Yoga Alliance The Yoga Alliance is a U.S.-based nonprofit membership trade and professional organization for yoga teachers. The organization is headquartered in Arlington, Virginia.
Registered Yoga Teacher, a title in the United States that designates a yoga ...
has published a policy on sexual misconduct; it describes the types of conduct considered inappropriate for yoga teachers in America, and the procedures for reporting, reviewing, and investigating a grievance. It defines sexual misconduct as "Unwelcomed conduct of a sexual nature, whether physical or verbal in nature."
It states that it is impossible to list all situations that might form such misconduct, but gives examples such as sexual advances with or without touching, sexual jokes, comments about sexual orientation, and questions about a person's sexual experiences. The Yoga Alliance notes that it does not have the powers or resources of a country's law enforcement agencies, and encourages people to make use of those systems. Violations of the policy can be punished by actions from education incorrect conduct up to "revocation of Yoga Alliance membership and credentials".
The
British Wheel of Yoga The British Wheel of Yoga was set up in 1965 by Wilfred Clark as a co-ordinating body for yoga groups throughout Britain that welcomed all schools of thought.
It provides level 4 yoga teacher training leading to the Certificate in Yoga Teaching an ...
's 'Equality and Diversity Policy' contains a section on
harassment
Harassment covers a wide range of behaviors of offensive nature. It is commonly understood as behavior that demeans, humiliates or embarrasses a person, and it is characteristically identified by its unlikelihood in terms of social and moral ...
, which describes the types of conduct that the British Wheel of Yoga, as the governing body of yoga in Britain, considers inappropriate for yoga teachers. It defines harassment as "any form of unwanted or unwelcome behaviour that violates people’s dignity or creates an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment."
A complaints procedure enables any person to raise a complaint about such treatment, and the equality and diversity policy states that disciplinary action will be taken if the policy is violated.
Use of touch
A particular issue is a yoga teacher's use of touch to adjust a client in a pose. This can present ethical challenges, and has long been controversial. In the specific context of
trauma-sensitive yoga
Trauma-sensitive yoga is yoga as exercise, adapted from 2002 onwards for work with individuals affected by psychological trauma. Its goal is to help trauma survivors to develop a greater sense of mind-body connection, to ease their physiological ...
, touch is explicitly excluded, as it could remind clients of their traumas.
In other contexts, the use of touch may not be addressed specifically. For example, the
American Counseling Association
The American Counseling Association (ACA) is a membership organization representing licensed professional counselors (LPCs), counseling students, and other counseling professionals in the United States. It is the world's largest association exclus ...
does not directly address the use of touch in its guidance to yoga and mindfulness practitioners.
Reaction
The
scholar-practitioner Theodora Wildcroft writes that
post-lineage yoga
Post-lineage yoga, also called non-lineage yoga, is a contemporary form of yoga practised outside any major school or guru's lineage. The term was introduced by the ethnographer and scholar-practitioner Theodora Wildcroft. She stated that with th ...
has arisen partly in reaction against the patriarchal and sometimes abusive lineages of yoga led by gurus.
References
{{Yoga as exercise
Yoga as exercise
Sexual abuse