Woman Takes Yoga Class—Not Ready For How Instructor ‘Humiliates’ Her
3 hours ago
4,239
A routine yoga class took an unexpected turn for one woman who says she left feeling humiliated.
On TikTok, user Joanna Mae (@joannacollegeprep) shared a video explaining that she is actively looking for a new yoga studio after feeling personally attacked by the instructor.
The overlaid text reads, “POV: you take a yoga class for the first time, and the instructor absolutely humiliates you for taking a spot in the front, saying it’s reserved for her regulars.”
The video has now been viewed more than seven million times, and Joanna noted in the comments that she has been contacted by the specific studio, asking her to take down the video.
The clip prompted an outpouring of responses from viewers who said they had witnessed or experienced similar moments in workout settings.
“I swear, Pilates and yoga have been taken over by mean girls from HS. Same with nursing,” one TikTok user wrote.
Another encouraged her to keep the video online, writing, “You have every right to post. Don’t delete this.”
A third viewer questioned why people feel pressure to remain in uncomfortable situations during paid classes: “Can we normalize walking out when instructors do this kind of stuff?”
In another video, Joanna Mae explained that she is not trying to harm a business or target an individual, and does not support harassment or cancel culture.
“I’m not asking anyone to take action for me,” she pointed out, adding that she simply wanted to tell her story.
In another follow-up video, Joanna Mae said the backlash had intensified since she posted her original video.
‘Really nasty comments’
She claimed to have received emails from people claiming to be students at the studio, as well as anonymous messages from multiple TikTok accounts.
She described the messages as “really nasty comments” that were harassing and verbally abusive. Some warned they would contact her employer, she said, and others told her she needed therapy or suggested she was “the toxic one.”
However, she revealed in another video that she had received an apology from the studio’s owner.
Similar Stories
This isn’t the first time concerns about conduct in workout spaces have attracted online attention.
One previous Newsweek story reported on a group of men—referred to as “gym bros”—who had been forced to eat their words after taking part in a Pilates class that they initially thought they’d ace.
“Before the class, all of the boys were very confident—as you can see, they’re very strong from their physiques—but during the class, they were humbled,” the instructor told the outlet.
Another Newsweek story covered a woman who was returning an attachment for some gym equipment when a man nearby reached out his hand.
Claiming later that she was still half asleep, she put her hand out to shake his in return—not realizing he was actually trying to grab the attachment.
Newsweek has reached out to @joannacollegeprep for comment via TikTok. We could not verify the details of the case.
To read how Newsweek uses AI as a newsroom tool, click here.
Um die besten Erfahrungen zu bieten, verwenden wir Technologien wie Cookies, um Geräteinformationen zu speichern und/oder darauf zuzugreifen. Wenn Sie diesen Technologien zustimmen, können wir Daten wie das Surfverhalten oder eindeutige IDs auf dieser Website verarbeiten. Die Nichteinwilligung oder der Widerruf der Einwilligung kann bestimmte Merkmale und Funktionen beeinträchtigen.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
