San Diego Appeals Ruling that Suspended Beach Yoga Ban

The back-and-forth legal battle over yoga classes at San Diego beaches continues. The City of San Diego has filed an appeal to a recent court decision that temporarily lifted a ban that some viewed as controversial.

Earlier in June, an appeals court issued a preliminary injunction against San Diego’s prohibition on yoga classes with four or more people at public parks and beaches.

That judgement, which reversed a lower court ruling that yoga instruction is not protected by the First Amendment, clears the way for plaintiffs Steven Hubbard (aka “NamaSteve”) and Amy Baack to resume their fee-optional oceanfront yoga instruction.

For their 19-page opinion, Steve Hubbard, Amy Baack v. City of San Diego, No. 24-4613, the three-judge appellate panel reached back into the annals of yoga case law. They cited a 2015 9th Circuit ruling, Bikram’s Yoga College v. Evolation Yoga, No. 13-55763, which held that “a sequence of yoga poses and breathing exercises was not entitled to copyright protection.”

Along with First Amendment issues, the panel also addressed the City’s argument that “allowing Hubbard and Baack to teach yoga at shoreline parks ‘would lead to harmful public consequences to the City’s safe and effective regulation of its parks and beaches.’”

“Although public safety is a compelling interest,” the judges wrote, “the City has provided no explanation as to how teaching yoga would lead to harmful consequences to these interests, or even what those consequences might be. … Nor does the City even attempt to explain how teaching yoga presents a greater threat to public safety and enjoyment than teaching other subjects.”

The day after the ruling, that Hubbard “was back teaching yoga in a San Diego beachfront park.”

For many beach residents, the real issue was never litigated — that public space was being used for private interests. Even if the yoga was free, it still took over public space.

Meanwhile, in that vein Obcean Phil Rockhold has argued that “‘Too Much Attention Given to Yoga, Not Enough to Commercial Volleyball at the Beach — The Bigger Problem.”

Read the full court docs here from 10News