SAN DIEGO (KGTV) - The crackdown of free beach yoga classes continues as the City of San Diego closes the loopholes in its street vending ordinance. Yogis are pushing back, calling the city's latest move unconstitutional.
ABC 10News has spent the past six months following yoga instructor Nama Steve through each step of his fight to be able to teach yoga in public spaces.
It's quiet now at Sunset Cliffs, but just six months ago, this space was filled with almost 50 yogis practicing their exercises. That's according to Steve Hubbard, who teaches yoga himself. But right now, he can't teach yoga in parks.
"All I see are rangers, all I see are rangers and tickets," said Hubbard. "It reads like a novel at this point. Seven of them."
Starting in May of 2024, Hubbard started getting citations from park rangers for teaching yoga. We talked to him right after he started getting the tickets.
Hubbard said he stopped teaching outdoor classes because of the citations. To get around the issue, Hubbard started teaching classes from his home.
He'd be in his backyard with his followers streaming his sessions on YouTube from Sunset Cliffs.
Although he wasn't physically present on the city of San Diego property, he said he still got a citation.
"Continuing to do what I do, stream and make this practice accessible to people," said Hubbard. "Then have to come out of my house and have a ranger waiting for me to give me a ticket for something that happened in a public park that they know I wasn't even in is crazy."
The city ordinance considers yoga to be a service, saying it's unlawful to carry on or conduct commercial activity or services without the written consent of the City Manager.
But Hubbard's lawyer said these restrictions have gone too far.
"The city has stepped up enforcement and now they're issuing citations for not only teaching yoga in a park but also issuing citations for streaming yoga classes on YouTube because they may be viewed in a park, which just an extreme overreach and shows the extent to which the city is violating free speech rights," said Bryan Pease, Hubbard's lawyer. "That's why we filed this latest lawsuit."
For now, Hubbard said he wants to stop these citations and declare the city's actions unconstitutional.
"It's why we live here when we have a right to be out here, right to practice yoga," said Hubbard.
ABC 10News reached out to the City Attorney's office, who said they are unable to comment on pending litigation.
