'Hot yoga' teacher loses job after calling out influencer for breaking class rule in 105F studio
A New York City hot yoga instructor lost her job after an influencer claimed she was bullied for trying to drink water during class.
Roma Abdesselam, 29, settled into a 6pm class at Bode NYC on the Upper East Side on January 26, when she suddenly became thirsty in the 105 degree Fahrenheit room.
At that point, she dropped her pose, leaned down to pick up her Fiji water bottle and took a sip, the New York Times reports.
But then, she claimed the instructor - only identified as Irena - 'bullies me, calls me out in front of everyone and is like "It's not time to drink water. You drink water when I want you to drink water.
'Is this normal?' she asked her 660,000 followers on TikTok in a video taken shortly after she left the studio.
'Of course I would get water,' Abdesselam, who identifies herself on the video sharing platform as a stay-at-home daughter.
'Is that news to you that I would get water at a f***ing hot yoga class?'
Many who saw the video, which has been viewed more than two million times, agreed that the instructor was out of line.
Roma Abdesselam, 29, claimed in a TikTok video that a hot yoga instructor bullied her when she tried to drink water during class
'Denying hydration in ANY workout class is a huge red flag,' one TikTok user commented.
'That person must have control issues, that's really bizarre behavior,' another claimed, while a third said she has done hot yoga 'for years' and 'not allowing water is not normal.'
But traditionally in Bikram yoga, which is more commonly referred to as hot yoga, practitioners are discouraged from drinking water until they reach the eagle pose - about half an hour in.
Those traditionalists say they discourage drinking early on in the course because it disrupts internal heat and lowers body temperature - which they say results in less flexibility and potential discomfort or nausea, and breaks concentration during the flow.
At the class in January, Irena said she didn't 'command' Abdesselam from drinking water, but instead asked her to 'please try to refrain' until the appointed time.
She also claims she explained the rule at the beginning of the class - something Abdesselam denied.
'I was a little taken aback because, like I said, I've taken the class before and I never had an instructor say that to me at all,' the influencer told the Times.
The incident happened at Bode NYC in Manahttan's Upper East Side
In the aftermath, Bode NYC co-founder Jen Lobo Plamondon held an all-staff video meeting to go over the company's policies and to emphasize to teachers that external reviews are taken seriously.
She also announced at the time that the studio and Irena had parted ways, according to the Times.
'One-off reviews are not going to jeopardize your job,' Lobo Plamondon explained. 'But when it spirals like this and we see that other people had a similar experience, it's not going to be tolerated.'
She then posted her own video response to TikTok, saying Irena's behavior 'does not align' with the studio's standards and they don't 'micromanage when or how much water people drink.'
Yet just last month, another Bode NYC student, Monica Carbone, 28, said she had a similar experience.
She said she was about 25 minutes into the class and was holding a pose with one leg up and her foot clasped in her hand when she began to feel lightheaded and decided to take a sip from her water bottle.
Bode NYC co-founder Jen Lobo Plamondon posted her own TikTok video in the aftermath, saying Irena's behavior 'does not align' with the studio's standards and they don't 'micromanage when or how much water people drink'
The unidentified instructor then asked the class to wait until the pose was completed to take a water break.
'It just felt targeted at me,' Carbone said. 'I was sitting in the front row and whether or not that was the case, it definitely made me feel a little bit uncomfortable.'
She said that when she got up to leave the room after starting to feel thirsty again, the instructor stopped her and offered to refill her bottle for her.
Carbone declined, and instead went to the front desk to explain to a manager what had happened.
'He was like, "Yeah, I think she's one of the more traditional teachers. And traditionally you only leave Bikram classes when you do one of the three Ps: puke, pee or pass out,' she recounted.
