Yoga Guru Scandal

In what’s shaping up to the be latest in a long line of alleged yoga-guru scandals, a woman has

targeted popular New York City yoga studio Jivamukti with a $1.6 million sexual harassment lawsuit, saying it was “more akin to a cult.” Slate dove into those claims on Tuesday, finding an environment “where the lines between workplace and ashram were blurred and where supervisors doubled as gurus,” according to current and former teachers there.

“Now that I’m out of it, I’m like, yep, that’s a cult,” a teacher who left Jivamukti last year told Slate. She’s now digging herself out of the debt she amassed by following the tribe to yoga gatherings. “Everybody follows it so blindly,” she said.

The case, filed in February, hinges on the claims of Holly Faurot, who started a teacher-training program at Jivamukti in 2007. She was 27 at the time, recovering from an eating disorder and an abusive childhood, and felt that the yoga program would save her. “Jivamukti gives you this antidote. You have something now. You’ve been in therapy, you’ve done all these things, but you’re still not healed,” she said. “You feel like you want a way to move forward with your life and transform, and they give you something. They give you something you can dedicate your whole life to.”

Faurot wound up studying under Ruth Lauer-Manenti, aka Lady Ruth, and, soon thereafter, worshiping her, along with a tight circle of women who had been her apprentices. “You kind of felt like if you became her closer student, you would be further along the spiritual path,” she said. “The fact that she liked me so much, and I was her favorite, — somehow I felt so special. I really had never felt that way in my entire life, to feel that kind of love from an authority figure.”

But Faurot now believes that Lauer-Manenti took advantage of her devotion to sexually abuse her — sleeping in her bed, spooning and caressing her, and allegedly manipulating her into posing for nude photos that made her uncomfortable.

A statement on Jivamukti’s website disputes her claims: “We adamantly reject the very serious accusations against Ruth Lauer-Manenti and the New York City Jivamukti Yoga School that have recently appeared in the press. This negative campaign is being waged against our satsang, our principals and competency. These allegations are wrong and misguided, moving outside the realm of critical dialogue. There has been no proof to substantiate any of the allegations.”

Barre Classes are Redefining how Women Workout

Joni Hyde has always kept fitness as a main staple in her life, but rarely considered opening her own

studio. It was not until a week of tragedy completely turned her life around forced to start fresh and redefine fitness with her new studio The Workout Barre Classes.

Originally from Tampa Bay, Fla., Hyde began her career as an online fitness instructor in 1998. She reached a lot of success as an instructor as she has been featured in Shape magazine, written two fitness books and has a workout DVD inspired by her program “Workouts for Women.” In 2008, Hyde and her daughter faced a very tough week of losing her husband, losing her mother and nearly losing her online business as it had been hacked. She used her time of grief to reconsider many things in her life and business.

“It actually was a blessing for me in my career because it gave me a chance to assess some of the exercises and the way I was exercising. Having started so young, I already had tears in my hip flexors from all the pounding. I used that time to look at some new things. Barre was one of them because it’s non-impact.”

Barre is a type of workout derived from the instruction of Jewish dancer Lotte Berk in 1971. It features non-impact exercise that causes no injury and in result helps to heal past injury using no equipment with the exception of a mounted dance barre, small weights and a ball.

Hyde moved to Texas in 2010 to start fresh in her life and career and since and used her newfound workout style. After giving instruction online for a few years, she opened The Workout Barre in October 2015 to bring the approach in-person.

“The Workout Barre is a combination of all my years in the fitness industry, and the wisdom I’ve gained becoming older and seeing myself and a lot of other ladies have been my peers growing up in the fitness world all have injuries. I was really excited about barre because it combines the elements of pilates, and yoga, and working at the barre which is fabulous. You’re using your body weight. It’s all you, your core stabilizes you. It’s much more effective in toning and shaping you because you’re using all of those smaller muscles.”

The Workout Barre is a very nice, upscale boutique complete with a locker room, two personal training rooms, and large group studio. Classes are taught by elite instructors who have a range of background experience from dance, to group fitness, to cruise show performer. The types of classes offered include Cardio Barre, Sculpt Barre, Open Barre, Power Mat Pilates and personal sessions. Hyde encourages all new students to take part in a personal session to learn correct technique before going into a group class.

“Barre is one of those mind-body type exercise programs. You need to be in correct alignment. It’s a lot of strengthening your core to hold it in. You have to have the right posture in your knees. You need all the cues and corrections. I love when the ladies opt to take that one lesson beforehand.”

The hour long classes have a five minute warm up, 10 minutes of upper-body sculpting, 30 minutes of deep muscle conditioning at the barre using small weights and balls, 15 minutes of core strengthening and a quick cool down and stretch. Instructors leading the classes pay close attention to each student and take a hands-on approach to help the student achieve proper technique and safe exercises. Hyde says clients are able to feel and see results within 10 consistent workouts.

Hyde is very excited to have opened The Workout Barre in the Spring area. She knew North Houston did not have a strong presence of barre studios and thought this would be the perfect place to bring this new style of workout. She has future plans to expand her business within a few years and is looking to open more studios in Humble, Conroe and Montgomery County.

Veterans Reach For Yoga

Bearing the residual scars of combat, Colorado veterans are now reaching for Namaste and feeling a

a sense of hope.

The brave men and women who served our nation are united by service and now joined by breath. They are practicing yoga to cope with post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, along with other struggles.

Retired Marine Captain Sarah Pummel Taylor teaches yoga to veterans. She says yoga saved her.

She tells CBS4’s Britt Moreno “On the second deployment I was on death’s doorstep mentally and physically.”

After she was raped by another officer, she says “I had given up my will to live.”

Taylor found yoga and through the practice healed. Now she is a motivational speaker and life coach and has written an inspirational book.

Navy veteran Jordon Daniel says yoga teacher training boston helped him transition to civilian life. He says it can be hard to connect to life after serving.

He likes how he is surrounded by other veterans in yoga class, “We don’t heal in isolation, but in the community.”

Like so many veterans, Daniel lost friends in combat.

“Not all of us made it back. And those are the guys that I try to live my life honorably for because they didn’t make it back to live theirs,” said Daniel.

The non-profit Comeback Yoga recognizes the need to help veterans. Yoga classes are happening more often at veterans organizations and VA hospitals. People are weaning themselves off medications and therapy and instead of practicing yoga.

These yogis are also battle buddies and they are rising above trauma together.

The veterans’ yogi community is growing. Classes are offered at various Veterans organizations like the VFW Post One and VA hospitals. Kindness yoga launched donation-based classes for veterans and their families last month.

“I believe that people intuitively hold so many of the right answers within themselves and can discover them if they make the space to be still, ask the big questions, and listen,” Taylor says.

“As a wellness coach and the author of Just Roll With It, my work is about kindly but boldly nudging people to make the kind of small changes that carry big results in physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health.”

You can find more information on her book here.