My experience with Hot Spot changed after a hurtful incident during class. By then, I had attended more than 700 yoga classes without incident.
Afterward, ownership wanted to talk to me. I said no. I was overwhelmed and needed time. I also made clear that I did not hold ownership responsible for another member's behavior.
I have a disability. Hot Spot later conditioned my participation on a private meeting with ownership. I explained that I was not comfortable with that and requested an accommodation.
Before returning, I put my boundaries in writing. If Hot Spot intended to restrict my access or refuse my business, I needed to be told in writing before I arrived. I also asked that prior issues stay out of the studio and not become gossip among instructors, staff, or members.
There was a reason. I had already experienced an incident outside the studio in which a member of ownership approached me from behind while I was leaving, grabbed me, and swung me around after I had said I did not want the confrontation. After that, my boundary was simple: if I am leaving, let me leave.
I received no written restriction.
I returned for class under my current name. The instructor was the owner's husband. I had a good class and posted a positive review because I believed we had moved forward.
I came back the next morning for the 9:30 class. Again, I registered under my current name. The owner's husband recognized me and said, "Welcome." Employees and other students knew me.
Hot Spot later characterized my attendance as "sneaking in." I registered under my name, walked through the front door, was recognized by ownership, and attended the entire class. There was nothing hidden about my presence.
At the end of class, I asked where the other fire exit was because I could not identify another usable exit and had concerns about accessibility. The instructor then told me the owner's husband was waiting in the lobby and that I needed to speak with him.
I did not want that conversation.
When I entered the lobby, the first words out of my mouth were, "I'm scared of you."
He told me he had reviewed all of my files and that I knew I was not allowed there until I spoke privately with his wife, the owner.
I did not know that. I had asked for written notice before any restriction was enforced. I had received none.
People from the Yakima Valley community were coming and going.
An employee had her phone up in a way that made me believe she was recording. Another student was sitting next to me. I had practiced around her hundreds of times and had never spoken to her.
She said, "You should really leave. Nobody wants you here."
I still do not know what she had been told about me or what had circulated that made her feel I deserved to hear that.
That was the moment I ran to the back of the studio and hid.
My belongings were still at the front, next to the owner's husband, the instructor, and that student. I could not leave without going back toward the people I was afraid of, and I could not identify another usable exit from the back.
That left me trapped inside the building.
I was not refusing to leave. I was trying to get my belongings and leave safely.
I called 911.
Police gave me a choice: leave without a formal trespass or have the studio formally trespass me. I chose the formal trespass because I wanted a record that the studio was refusing me service after I had raised disability-related concerns and requested an accommodation.
Hot Spot can decide it does not want my business. I had already told them how to communicate that decision without putting me into another confrontation or a situation likely to activate my disability.
I had more than 700 yoga classes behind me before any of this began. Yoga mattered enough to me that I still wanted to return to Hot Spot.
I asked for space at the beginning. I asked for a safe way to handle things at the end.
There were many opportunities in between to choose something kinder read more
