Yoga Reconsiders the Role of the Guru in the Age of #MeToo
For The New Yorker, Eliza Griswold reports on sexual assault allegations against Pattabhi Jois, the influential founder of Ashtanga yoga, who died in 2009. More than a dozen of his former students have accused him of sexually assaulting them in yoga studios in India and the United States. Griswold writes, “This is only the latest in a string of scandals involving powerful men within the yoga community that date back decades.” The allegations put a focus on yoga culture and the authority of popular yogis, who in the Western context can be treated like rock stars.