What’s supposed to be a place of calm breathing and inner peace turned into a political pressure cooker last weekend — and it wasn’t Washington doing the yelling.
A Minneapolis CorePower Yoga studio became the scene of a jaw-dropping meltdown after a group of spandex-clad activists unleashed a verbal barrage on two young female staffers, accusing them of being “complicit” in federal immigration enforcement because the company hadn’t loudly condemned ICE.
The bizarre confrontation — captured on video and later posted online — shows at least 13 women surrounding the front desk after a Sunday class, aggressively demanding political declarations from employees who clearly had no authority to give them.
The video was uploaded by Heather Anderson, 51, who says she’s been a regular at the studio for nearly a decade. In the clip, Anderson can be heard interrogating a visibly shaken staffer, pushing her to publicly denounce Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“Give us answers, let’s go…let’s hear it – why are you being silent?” Anderson says as the camera zeroes in on a wide-eyed blonde employee.
Moments later, Anderson escalates.
@twinmom740 Today, my amazing friend led a protest out of @CorePower Yoga. Please know that the corporation has silenced staff, forced local people to take signs down, and sent these to people to quiet us down. #corepoweryoga #corepoweryogasculpt #corepowerteacher #iceoutofminneapolisnow #quitcorepower ♬ original sound – Twinmom74
“Let’s hear it, Delaney, loud and proud, baby. You want to say it, let’s f–king say it.
“You should have well-rehearsed corporate action and words ready to go…Delaney, let’s hear a goddamn answer.”
As other customers snap and cheer in the background, one voice chimes in ominously: “The silence is deafening.”
When the employee tries to gather herself and says she’s “taking a pause,” Anderson explodes again.
“No, don’t take a pause! Come on, you came here to silence teachers…be loud with CorePower corporate’s answers – let’s f–king go! What do you gotta say? Louder, Delaney!”
Not satisfied, Anderson swivels her fury toward another worker behind the counter.
“Person in the glasses, you have a good answer? Delaney can’t seem to cough it up.”
At one point, a staffer attempts to explain the obvious.
“Well, I mean, we’re being berated right now.”
That only fuels the fire.
“You’re not being berated – you’re being asked hard questions…berating is what our neighbors are living through,” Anderson shouts, before demanding to know whether the employees are going to “put the ICE sign back on the front door.”
“Is that the ask?” one employee cautiously responds.
That’s when yet another customer launches into a full-blown rant, accusing the company of moral crimes.
“CorePower is a major corporation, they’re all over this country, and the fact that they are staying silent about what is happening in Minneapolis – not only staying silent but trying to silence us in speaking out…that is complicit. It’s not okay. People are being murdered and abducted and attacked here, and it is heinous…this is our community and this is bulls–t!”
She adds, to applause: “We can f–cking get a yoga studio someplace else.”
Adding to the absurdity, Lionel Richie’s “All Night Long” plays cheerfully in the background while the lobby descends into chaos.
According to Anderson, the outrage stemmed from studio gossip that CorePower’s corporate office had instructed management to remove an anti-ICE sign from the window.
“By the way, every single business in Minneapolis has something on their door right now — it’s not like we were asking for something out of the loop,” she told The Post.
CorePower Yoga, a Denver-based chain with more than 200 studios nationwide, responded days later with a series of Instagram statements saying it does not support the “violent ICE raids happening in Minneapolis” and that it had “distributed approved ICE signage to our studios.”
In other words: the mob won.
The company also confirmed it had “taken steps to address the situation,” which included permanently banning Anderson from its studios — though no Minnesota teachers were fired, despite an unverified email claiming otherwise.
Anderson, for her part, has no regrets.
“What I said in that video landed,” she insisted. “When that happens and the other party doesn’t want to engage with a learning stance — there’s a self-preservation stance — then they just dismiss you. They have more power than me, they have a corporation behind them — I am easy to swat away.”
What’s missing from her reflection is any acknowledgment that she and her fellow activists were screaming profanities at low-level employees who came to work to teach yoga — not to issue immigration policy.
In today’s activist culture, even stretching in silence isn’t allowed anymore. If you won’t chant the right slogans, you’re “complicit.” And if you won’t condemn federal law enforcement on demand, the mob will make sure your “safe space” becomes anything but.
Namaste.
