London, August 5 (ANI): A popular New York yoga studio is accusing their competitor of ripping off their teaching style at bargain prices.
It started last week when Bikram Yoga Manhattan announced their Penn Station location would close on Thursday, Aug. 11.
In a letter posted to the studio's website, founder and director Raffael Pacitti specifically blamed the closing on competitor Yoga to the People, which had recently opened up three locations within walking distance of Penn Station, reports the New York Daily News.
"Over the past few years, the presence of our competitors, YTTP's Greg Gumucio, who offers Bikram Yoga classes under the guise of "hot" or "traditional" yoga without certified Bikram teachers, has made it impossible to continue," Pacitti wrote.
Both studios offer a similar type of yoga - a special sequence of 26 Hatha yoga poses and breathing exercises executed in a room heated to 105 degrees. But while BYM's classes cost 20 dollars each, Yoga to the People sessions cost only 8 dollars.
"They are offering Bikram yoga at a substantial discount," Pacitti told the daily.
"There's nothing wrong with competition, but to directly copy us is deeply offensive and contrary to the foundation of yoga."
Meanwhile, Gumucio says that Pacitti is just playing the blame game.
"We do offer the same kind of yoga at a much cheaper rate, and we're obviously doing a really good job," he said. "It makes it very convenient to him to blame us."
He said his only goal in opening his studios was to offer a less expensive alternative. (ANI)
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