IF YOU’RE SOMEONE who is addicted to podcasts then you’re always on the lookout for something slightly different. Well 30 for 30′s latest offering ‘Bikram’ is guaranteed to intrigue you.
Available NOW, our first ever serialized podcast. #30for30Podcasts presents #Bikram, the story of a yoga revolution and the complicated guru who created it. Hear all five episodes on @ApplePodcasts.
— ESPN Films 30 for 30 (@30for30) May 22, 2018
🎧: https://t.co/4ORfEYvxrB pic.twitter.com/tFtzHLNXgC
30 for 30 is a podcast from ESPN which chronicles interesting stories from the world of sport. The podcast launched last July but this is the first time they’ve devoted an entire season to one story – the rise and fall of Bikram Choudhury.
If the word Bikram sounds familiar it’s because Bikram yoga or hot yoga is one of the most popular forms of yoga around. Bikram Choudhury has claimed that he’s the one who created it and claimed that using it he saved Richard Nixon’s leg from being amputated in the 1970s.
Famous for his tight black speedos and no nonsense attitude, Bikram’s yoga made him brought him fame and money and many famous friends.
Told by journalist Julia Lowrie Henderson a Bikram instructor herself, ‘Bikram’ examines how Bikram Choudhury rose from a boy with nothing in Kolkata, India to having his name associated with one of the most popular forms of exercise in America in the 90s.
It delves into Bikram’s past, the claims he made about being a yoga champion in India, his dodgy dealings with business partners and the dark claims about the abuse his inflicted on his followers both verbally and sexually.
6 women have come forward in recent years alleging that Bikram raped or sexually assaulted them during his famous ‘Teacher Training’ courses. Bikram has since filed for bankruptcy and fled the States where there is a warrant for his arrest on unrelated charges.
What’s so riveting about this podcast is how fascinating and dark a character Bikram is. He’s deeply paranoid and controlling over every aspect of ‘his’ yoga. Anyone who defies him is immediately cast out from the community and faces losing everything. It was his way or no way at all.
The power he has over his followers is incredible. At one point he was earning $8 million a year from running two teaching training courses where each student paid $10,000 to be there.
They would do anything for him including following his ridiculous demands like not wearing the colour green for example or massaging him throughout his evening classes which could go on for hours. His creepy and predatory behaviour was let slide for a number of years because ‘that’s just Bikram’.
@julialhenderson & @jodyavirgan I was familiar w/the Choudhury story after the great piece on ‘Real Sports’, but this season’s @30for30 podcasts are so beyond next level. It’s really outstanding work & storytelling. You all should be very proud of the work. Incredibly impressive.
— Brett Baker🎙 (@BrettSBaker) May 29, 2018
In 5 episodes we learn how he managed to delude America into believing that he was the greatest yoga practitioner to walk the earth and how while helping tens of thousands of people with his yoga, he destroyed the lives of many in the process. We also learn about his undoing and his desperation to cover up his misdeeds which ultimately failed.
The way the story is told, you’d be forgiven for thinking that Bikram yoga is or was a cult but it does provide extraordinary insight into how far a con man can push the boundaries.
You can find it on most podcast platforms and it’s only 5 episodes long so it’s well worth a listen even if just to ask the question, can you separate the yoga from a man who is still yet to be brought to justice?
In the 1970's, Bikram Choudhury started a yoga revolution in America. But his guru status enabled increasingly dark behavior. All five episodes of #30for30Podcasts #Bikram is available now and is brought to you by @ZipRecruiter
— ESPN Films 30 for 30 (@30for30) May 30, 2018
🎧: https://t.co/4ORfEYvxrB pic.twitter.com/QdFPErY8Mw
