safehouse.

A place for information, resources, and support regarding harm caused to students and employees of Sattva Yoga Academy.

Everyone has the right to learn yoga safely, free from harm of all forms, and to make informed choices about where they invest their time and trust.

Content Warning: This site contains material of a sensitive nature, including accounts of emotionally disturbing sexual conduct.

Please note, safehouse does not have any current fundraising efforts, has not authorized any fundraising under the safehouse name, and is not associated with any fundraising by Bajrang Moran (aka Kelly Moran).

What’s Happening

Direct link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPkOWu3VQGo

Yoga guru, sexual abuse, silence—inside the allegations against Rishikesh’s Sattva Yoga Academy by Vitasta Kaul on ThePrint.in (July 6, 2026)

This website addresses a third wave of allegations of sexual misconduct involving students, staff, and the lead teacher, Anand Mehrotra, at Sattva Yoga Academy, located in Rishikesh, India.

These concerns are supported by sworn written statements from four impacted women. The sworn declarations detail both consensual and non-consensual conduct between the lead teacher of Sattva Yoga Academy and women in student and employee roles. One declaration is regarding an isolated incident and three of the declarations address conduct that occurred over the course of years.

These types of concerns have been raised on multiple prior occasions by other individuals. Those who came forward earlier and those who supported them were met with shaming, ostracism, manipulation, legal threats, and silencing. As in the past, those who are speaking up now have faced the same response from Sattva and its supporters, including legal actions filed against them.

For more details on how this wave has unfolded, please see the timeline.

To date, safehouse is not aware of any official statements from Sattva Yoga Academy regarding the allegations, other than a few messages that were circulated by Anand and his family members on Sattva community WhatsApp threads.The Sattva Yoga Academy website currently claims the school is in a period of “renewal.”

How You Can Help

Please help educate the community about these issues. Share it on social media. What has unfolded at Sattva is unfortunately, not an isolated incident, but part of a larger problem that needs to be addressed in the yoga community. The best way students can protect themselves is by being aware and informed, and the yoga community as a whole must stop looking away and enabling such misconduct to continue.

Please note that safehouse does not have any active fundraisers and has not authorized any current fundraising activities under the name of safehouse by Bajrang Moran.

This is a living website and repository. Updates will be made as new information is received.

Last update: July 28, 2026.

Suggestions Before Reading the Statements

  • Be in a place and setting where you feel grounded and regulated.

  • Notify a friend in advance that you may need support to process your emotions about it, or have them with you.

  • Stop reading whenever you need to. Take it slowly.

  • Reach out to members of the safehouse sangha to help process.

  • Join the next safehouse sangha healing space call.

Statements of Women Impacted

The following statements were made and sworn to under penalty of perjury of law by the women making them. The statements are prepared as they would be prepared for submission to a court. Additionally, they have been certified by two attorneys who heard the statements of the women and confirm that the written declarations reflect the information that was shared with attorneys. Additional materials, such as the women’s communications with Anand Mehrotra, will be made available to a court of law if necessary.

Woman 1 — Statement

Woman 2 — Statement

Woman 3 — Statement

Woman 4 — Letter to the Community, Statement,  Exhibit A

safehouse is also aware of multiple other women dating back to the early 2010s who may choose to come forward at a later date to share their experiences of sexual misconduct connected with Anand Mehrotra and/ or other Sattva Yoga Academy teachers.

Those who provided anonymous statements are providing their identities to formal institutions but have chosen to remain anonymous here.

Official Statement from Adam Schomer:

It’s been 19 years that I am knowing Anand Mehrotra as a friend, a brother, a teacher, a pilgrim. I’ve filmed three pilgrimages (as documentary films/series) with him as our guide. I consider Rishikesh, India my second home and I consider the Mehrotra family like a second family.  Thus when I think of this situation from the perspective of family, it’s very clear to me.   

If I’m in a family of many brothers and sisters, and I find out a brother has been accused of abusing his immense power over my sister and sexually abusing my sister … then it’s simple. I protect and stand by my sister. And do not defend my brother. I seek answers, not excuses. 

This isn’t a grey area or of great debate in my heart. 

I would urge my brother to come clean, take responsibility and live in truth.

And I would stand with the voices.

I do stand with and for the voices.

And those voices are often living in fear and threat and it’s not as easy to speak up as you might think, especially when a human being’s experience is often referred to as a “rumor.”  

These are my sisters.

These are my sisters.

These are my sisters.

The more I say it.

The clearer it is.

I do not defend my brother’s actions.    

I stand for truth.

I stand in support of the many voices that often go unheard and suppressed.

They are the ones who need to know we are there for them, with them, and willing to take the time to hear them.

I stand for truth.

I stand for dharma.

I stand for justice.

-       Adam Schomer

Statements of Other Student Impacts and Support

Statement of Christina Lizzi, Esq., June 11, 2026

Response Letter from Anand Mehrotra, circulated June 13, 2026

This letter was circulated on June 13, 2026 in the various sangha WhatsApp threads in response to those coming forward and apparently due to the development of the safehouse support group. It was transmitted by Sattva leadership in these public WhatsApp threads and subsequently shared in the safehouse sangha group.

Sattva Response Posted in Sattva Europe and North America WhatsApp Threads on June 17, 2026

We write to you at a difficult and sensitive time.

We categorically and unequivocally deny the allegations being circulated online. These claims are false, misleading, malicious, and selectively presented. They are based on one-sided narratives that have not been tested through any recognised legal or evidentiary process.

We understand that such material can cause confusion, concern, and distress. However, those presenting these allegations are not courts, tribunals, or legally empowered authorities. They have not conducted an independent investigation, examined evidence fairly, or heard both sides. A one-sided account cannot amount to verification.

All relevant material has been placed with legal counsel, and the matter will be addressed through the appropriate process.

Given the distress caused by recent events, Anand will be stepping away from teaching.

Accordingly, all upcoming trainings under Sattva Yoga Academy will be cancelled.

We remain deeply grateful to everyone who has walked this journey with sincerity, openness, and trust. Teachings will continue through you all.

-Sattva