The Art of Yoga
When the ancient art of Yoga went mainstream, there was a culture clash that occurred, both good and bad. Certainly, the positive aspects cannot be denied. Whether Yoga is practiced for its meditative or physical attributes or both it has helped millions. With the rise of popularity, we have seen new fashions, instruction modules, new “equipment” and new techniques. However, we have also seen an increase in “predators.” That is where sexual abuse and sexual harassment come into play.
Charlotte Yoga
Charlotte, North Carolina had for years boasted of a well-known and celebrated yoga teacher named Kyle Conti. He owned a studio named Charlotte Yoga. He has left the Charlotte area but not before he did his damage.
Two former employees have accused him of sexual assault and sexual harassment. When he was accused by former employees in 2018, he fired them. Their claim is that he fired them after they rejected his demands for sex. The employees filed a lawsuit in 2019 claiming “intentional infliction of emotional distress, sexual assault and battery, and wrongful termination.” Naturally, and through his attorney the studio owner is said to have “vehemently denies the allegations.”
The question is being asked, and I must re-state it, is a question of safety. Yoga, by its nature, leaves practitioners in “vulnerable” positions. Touching, in terms of correcting postures and such, is essential. Trust between teachers and students is a given. Unfortunately, sexual predators such as Kyle Conti know this.
Conti has trained many instructors in the Charlotte area. As good as he was reputed to be, he was said to have made “lurid public comments about his customers and employees while bragging that he’d slept with many of them. The accusers also say Conti made a habit of inappropriately touching attractive students.”
Despite the fact that he denied all of the allegations, in a bizarre (and telling twist) when his case was about to be adjudicated by the EEOC, he posted a picture of himself on social media where he wore nothing but a towel. He said he was looking forward to seeing the women!
Gets Stranger and More Frightening
As the EEOC suit unfolded others stepped up and added additional comments: a mother, who was another Charlotte Yoga employee claims that Conti sexually assaulted her young daughter. Conti denied this took place. Then there was another earlier case of a woman who wore a T-shirt with the Charlotte Yoga logo that depicted “’an explicit and vulgar pornographic image’ of a man improperly assisting a female in a yoga pose.”
Kyle Conti as the owner of the studio carried a certain amount of power as employer of the instructors. In his mind, he could rationalize touching them – even inappropriate touching as he was an acknowledged Yoga expert. In truth, he was approaching them from a sexual predation standpoint. As he figured it was his word against theirs, it was a matter of an opportunity borne out of a lack of oversite. It worked until the employees gained the courage to confront him.
Should Yoga instructors and other “health professionals” receive sexual harassment training? While it may be a new concept to an ancient art, it may not be such a bad idea.
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