June 21 is celebrated as the International Yoga Day across the globe. Not just India, but even foreigners have been participating in Yoga after realising its health benefits. Many famous Yoga gurus around the world have been promoting it and its benefits. One of them is Bikram Choudhury, who is an Indian-American yoga guru from Kolkata. He is the founder of Bikram Yoga, where he taught hot yogas to his client in a 40-degree Celsius environment and claimed to have come up with 26 unique yoga postures. He quickly became a popular name and is reported to have had a net worth of Rs 600 crore.
Born in Kolkata in 1946, Bikram Choudhury went to the USA in the 1970s and started his yoga studios in places like California and Hawaii. Bikram Choudhury’s business became a huge success in the USA and other parts of the world. He had many high-profile celebrities as his clientele. He was assisted by his wife, Rajashree Choudhury in the business. Due to the hot ambience he offered, he was majorly seen dressed in minimal clothes and so were his students.
As reported, he used to conduct training sessions twice a year. This was attended by more than 400 students who readily paid in lakhs for his session. He used to teach yoga for 9 weeks which then made them certified Bikram Choudhury yoga teachers. He has taught pop singers like Madonna and Lady Gaga and footballer David Beckham. He also claimed to have taught yoga to American presidents like Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton. Reportedly, he became the owner of more than Rs 600 crore worthy property and also had about 43 swanky cars.
As per Time Magazine, he is said to be associated with 720 yoga schools which mushroomed in more than 200 countries. Apart from this, he has hundreds of studios across the globe. As per reports, he had 650 studios in the USA alone. His business took a great hit after many of his students accused him of rape. He was also subjected to civil suits alleging sexual assault and discrimination.
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