In a large Chinese banquet hall in Boston hung with open-mouthed dragons and bulbous red lanterns, the hot yogis have taken over. Seventy Bikram yoga teachers are sprawled between the tables. At the helm of it all, clad in a black silk suit, a rhinestone tie, and a diamond-encrusted Rolex, is one of the worlds most famous yoga instructors, Bikram Choudhury.

The small, svelte man from Calcutta runs his hands anxiously through thin, wiry hair that falls past his shoulders from a mostly bare crown. Despite his diminutive looks, his presence clearly commands the room. Heads flick in his direction from other tables, eager for proximity toand attention fromthe man they consider to be their personal guru.

Everyone here practices the Bikram method of yoga, a series of 26 postures and two breathing sequences performed for 90 minutes in a climate-controlled environment of 105 degrees. Its the only correct way to practice yoga, Bikram insists. Everything else is shit.

I have been granted the seat of honor beside him. While everyone else is discussing yoga, we are talking about one of the ugliest lawsuits to occur in this otherwise tranquil world.

I am going to go to trial to get him punishment, to make him an example, so no one will ever have the guts to do that same kind of shit, says Bikram, a man so synonymous with yoga that people are often surprised to learn he is still living and not just a mythical icon.

In September, he sued Greg Gumucio, his former student and right hand man, for copyright infringement. Gumucio once occupied the chair where I now sit. But for the past several years, he has distanced himself from his former mentor, starting his own chain of competing studios, Yoga to the People.

Since 2006, Gumucio has been growing a strong business on the coasts. He charges only $8 for a single class, while a standard Bikram class costs between $15 and $25. The result has been a billowing client roster. A total of nearly 1,000 students pass through Gumucios four New York City studios every day.

Bikram originally turned a blind eye to Gumucios hotter hot yoga until last September, when a Bikram studio in Manhattan was forced to close due to competition from two YTTP studios thriving nearby. Thats when Bikram decided to sue Gumucio for copyright and trademark infringement, unfair business practices, and breach of contract.

Although yoga is a centuries-old tradition, Bikram had copyrighted his particular version under the same protections afforded to choreographers. And he had used it to bat down competitors from practicing it without paying franchise fees.

But Gumucio proved the greatest threat to his multimillion-dollar empire.

Go here to read the rest:
The Hot Yoga War