Apr 27, 2016

Jivamukti, Dark and Light: Holly Faurot, Sharon Gannon, and David Life Speak Out

Holly Faurot tells more about her experience at Jivamukti; Sharon Gannon and David Life publicly respond to allegations of sexual assault and battery against senior Jivamukti teacher “Lady” Ruth Lauer-Manenti.

Matthew Remski
decolonizingyoga.com
April 24, 2016

 
Jivamukti
On April 5th, Slate.com reported on the allegations of sexual assault and battery against yoga teacher “Lady” Ruth Lauer-Manenti, brought by Holly Faurot, her student at Jivamukti Yoga School in New York City.  The suit names Jivamukti founders Sharon Gannon and David Life, as well as studio director Carlos Menjivar, as co-defendants for covering up and condoning Lauer-Manenti’s alleged actions.

Lauer-Manenti admitted to the relationship in a conversation secretly recorded by Faurot in 2014.  New York State has a one-party consent law, which means that Faurot was not legally obliged to tell Lauer-Manenti she was recording.

In a step up from the earlier tabloid treatment of the story, Slate columnist Michelle Goldberg interviewed Faurot and several off-record Jivamukti sources. But she framed the story through the views of renowned New York based yoga educator Leslie Kaminoff, who worked at Jivamukti in the 1990s. Kaminoff told Goldberg that Faurot’s story sounded like that of a jilted lover, and that she should now chant the mantra, “What the fuck was I thinking?

On April 8th, I interviewed Faurot by phone. I started by asking her what she thought of Kaminoff’s assessment of her suit.

Read complete article at: http://www.decolonizingyoga.com/jivamukti-dark-and-light-remski/#sthash.ZlmHyl7v.dpuf

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