Dear Bikram Choudhury,

I went to the Doctor the other day.  I've had a cold for nearly one month and an ear infection for nearly two weeks.  Stepping on the scale hasn't really been an issue for me over the last ten years because I've worked hard to maintain the 30 pound loss of weight that I worked my ass off for almost a decade ago.

This time, however, was a little different.  I'd gained some weight.  A lot, actually.  And I wondered how this was possible when I maintain a regular and consistent yoga practice.

And then, I wanted to slap myself.

See, women ask me all the time how much weight they can lose through the practice of yoga.  And, typically, I hug these women and calmly explain that there's no way that I can promise them weight loss.  And, there's no way I can promise them a svelte figure through a practice.

I support women in their practice, daily.  I support women who desire change.  I support them through losses, divorce, break-ups and nasty habits and just bad days.  I also support them in their fight to come Home to their beautiful bodies.  I support their desire for change, growth and healing.  I support these women because I have been in places so dark, I couldn't even find the wall to search for a light switch.  I know what they seek and I have some experience finding the light through my own practice and it makes my heart swell when I can share that with my Sisters.  

I have never practiced your style of yoga- and I'm not all that interested in supporting you, thus I steer far from your method.  See, Mr. Choudhury, you don't practice MY yoga.  What you've brought to this community couldn't be further from yoga, in my mind.  You've raped the purpose of yoga.  That's a strong word and I'm using it in order to make a point.  I've actually lost count of the current number of sexual charges currently held against you and every article I read posts a range of numbers.

That you exploit women through the path of something as sacred as the practice of yoga isn't really all that surprising...I mean, let's be honest, plenty of Spiritual sanctuaries have exploited people in the name of Faith and Practice.  I'm just a lot closer to yoga than anything other Spiritual practice and so, for me, your part in obscuring this practice as a way by which you  cultivate a sexualized damnation against womens' bodies is abhorrent.  

Shame on you, Mr. Choudhury.

This practice isn't about me as a sexually attractive female, with a super-hot body who swoops in to the arms of some perverted Guru. It's about ME, It's about MY space on the mat.  

It's where I talk to God.

It's the space I give myself.  It's where everyone and everything ceases to exist.

It's where I find the strength to push through challenging postures as a way to cultivate that same strength OFF the mat.  

And I wish there were more men who supported women in this practice.  And you had every opportunity to DO that- and you didn't.  You had the charm and the resources right in your hands and you blew every chance you had to be a male role model.  You could have been the man to teach awareness to male teachers.  You could have cultivated a practice that cherished womens' bodies as the Temples they are.  You could have started programs that instilled  self- confidence and support.

You could have been that man.

Thank Siva we DO have those men.