Tula Yoga

This is a timeline of events of our last encounter with this individual. A police report was filed and I was advised that I had enough evidence to file a restraining order.

On July 7, 2021, Michael arrived to the studio around 7:20PM. He came up to one of our instructors asking if she could turn the lights a little lower. She informed him that she couldn’t turn the lights too low due to our Zoom students online as well as the other students being able to see. During the class Michael was very upset and unhappy. He would constantly try to make eye contact with her and if he did, he’d point his finger down and mouth, “lower!” Towards the end of class Michael sat up abruptly from his mat and crossed his arms, put his head down, and was huffing and puffing. She asked if he was okay and he loudly says, “No! I’m not happy!” As class was coming to an end and she put the students in shavasana, Michael starts to pack up his belongings. She let him know that he could leave his props he used and they would put them back for him. She proceeded to walk him to the door since it was locked and when they got past the desk a bit that’s when it started to escalate. He loudly yells, “I’m so disappointed in you!” She immediately says, “Michael let’s please step outside.” in order to not interrupt the other students in the class. Once they stepped outside he proceeds to yell at her. He told her she broke his trust, that she lied to him and that he is so disappointed in her. He also said that he can’t come to her classes anymore. He continues saying that he didn’t feel comfortable. As he gets more and more angry he begins to walk closer to her closing the space between them and even gets in her face. She steps back to keep her distance as he keeps yelling at her. Once he finished yelling at her she says, “I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy class tonight Michael, but I do have a class to finish. Have a great night.” As she walks away from him he says, “You hurt me. I’m so disappointed.” He then runs away crying.

On July 8 around 3PM, text messages were received starting with, “Hi I have a complaint and would like to speak with , Please ask her to call me from a secure line”. We went back and forth and he would not say who he was. He was even using a different number then the number he put on his profile with us. I stated my instructor does not handle complaints and that once he shares his name I’d be happy to help. He said, “she knows who I am. The violation happened last night. She committed the violation, therefore she handles it. It’s how responsibility works.” I stated that if he wasn’t going to share his name the conversation was over. He continued to text things like, “I’ll be waiting. None of you will the like alternative.” “I am a person you do not ever F with.” “F’ing cowards.” He then calls the phone and gets no answer but hears the voicemail with my name and realizes who he is talking to. His last messages were, “F you to Frank. You’re a F’ing A……. I’m coming down there.”

Around 6:40PM, Michael runs into the yoga studio and begins cursing and threatening people. A class was just ending and in front of over 20 people he is shouting and while I repeatedly ask him to leave. A student saw this and immediately jumped up to assist. He approached him and said to him, “you need to leave.” Michael’s response was F off and threatened him. The student grabbed him and brought him into the lobby, he saw me and the student let him go since he was not sure about the whole situation. I said he needs to leave and repeated to Michael he needed to leave. He still wouldn’t cooperate so the student cuffed his mouth, and tried to get him out the door, when another student gave them both a shove out the door. Then after more of his threats, he went up the street to try and get help. When the student was leaving he drove back up that way to see what he was doing, and make sure he wasn’t coming back. Michael was sitting in the middle of the street on 6th and Main.

He came back twice, once around 6:50PM and again around 7:02PM, we had locked the door so he was knocking on the window trying to get my attention.

An email was sent to Michael no longer welcoming him to the studio and explaining that his card had been refunded for the remainder of his current period he prepaid for. He responded to the email between 3AM and 4AM with 4 different emails. Excerpts ranged from, “Do you know who I am yet?” to “You forced this course of action upon us. It was your choice. Not mine. I would have chosen a different way.” The last email ended with “Thanks Frank. You're cute BTW.”

On that Friday evening, he returned to the studio to hand out flyers. Stating he was a victim of attempted murder at the studio, which he named in big bold letters. He was calling out the police department for not helping him including officers names and badge numbers. The flyers were taped up around downtown, including on our back door.