It’s a terrible thing to hear about anyone getting viciously attacked. Unfortunately, we received an email just a short while ago alerting us to news of a yoga teacher and his partner getting jumped on the street and brutally beaten early Sunday morning, just after midnight in Washington D.C.
Michael Joel Hall, a well-known local yoga teacher and his partner, Michael Roike, were attacked by a gang of about 5 teenagers as they were walking home from a restaurant in the Eckington section of northeast D. Hall was severely beaten, sustaining facial injuries including a broken jaw and fractured cheekbone, while Roike suffered injuries from the attack, but thankfully no broken bones.
The couple are openly gay and the attack is being investigated as a hate crime. Parents of the victims had always feared the worst:
“Every morning, get up and turn Channel 4 news on and see if he was alive or not, who got killed or stabbed,” [father] Mike Hall said.
“My biggest nightmare was that this would happen eventually,” [mother] Gail Hall said.
Roike’s mother, Michelle, says she is convinced the men would have been killed had it not been for a woman and her boyfriend who intervened.
To make matters worse, though it’s no surprise, Hall has no health insurance and friends and family are asking for help in covering his medical bills.
They’ve set up a facebook page and a paypal donation page to support the cause if you’re inclined to donate.
The attackers are still at large.
Sending our namaste wishes for a speedy recovery and a peaceful resolution.
——
Earlier…
- Scholars Seek to Decipher “Roots of Yoga” Once and For All With New Book Project
- DFW Opens Yoga Studio in Bid to Become Healthiest Airport
- YogaDork Giveaway: Yoga for Meditators by Charlotte Bell
- World’s Largest GLBL Yoga Event Fails to Raise Over Half a Million Dollars, Gets Postponed to 2013
- What They Don’t Tell You Before You Sign Up for Yoga Teacher Training
That’s very sad. I wish them both a speedy recovery!
SO sad. Lots of fundraising classes are being set up in the DC-area: https://www.facebook.com/DCYoga2/posts/424931827545918.
Thanks so much for posting – I’ve known Michael Hall for over a decade and he is one of the sweetest people in the world. We really appreciate you helping to get the word out to your readers.
thank you for sharing this with the yoga nation. michael is one of the best people i have ever met. he is genuine & kind & has touched so many lives in the DC community. he is truly a gift.
It’s nice to see so many yoga studios and yogis in DC holding and attending donation classes. I wonder if this would be a good opportunity as well for people to ask their yoga studios if they offer health insurance for their instructors. I’m not a yoga instructor, but I’ve worked as an independent contractor as I think many yoga instructors do. It seems especially ironic if studios do not offer insurance is this is obviously a health and wellness related field.