Bikram
Forbes recently reported that multi-billionaire Bikram Choudhury, the father of the hot yoga phenomoenon in America–Bikram Yoga, wants to impose franchising fees on studios teaching practices using his name. Bikram raked in some $5.7 billion last year, but that’s apparently not enough to maintain his lavish Beverly Hills lifestyle. Did you know the India native was granted a US visa in 1972 by Nixon after he helped the ailing president overcome phlebitis? True story. He now lives in an 8000-square-foot mansion in the 90210.
Anyway, the yogi and his lawyers will require that existing studios implenting Bikram yoga practices will be subject to franchise fees of 1% of revenues while new studios will pay out 5% of revenues or $1000, whichever comes first.
This is on top of the $10,000 per session training costs to get certified at his Bikram Yoga College.
I love hot yoga and I guess I love Bikram for spreading it far and wide across the US. But come on. Does he need more money?
We end each session at 90 Degrees with some sort of meditation on life. You know what they never revolve around? Money. Perhaps Mr. Bikram should take another look at the yoga sutras, which highlight non-violence, truth in word, and, oh, non-possesiveness among others.
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